Native American Hopi Carved Chasing Star Planetary Kachina Doll (Katsina Doll)--Blue

Description

Native American Hopi Carved Chasing Star Planetary Katsina Doll by Milton Howard

This blue star kachina doll represents Chasing Star, called Na-ngasohu in Hopi, carved by Hopi artist Milton Howard. The meaning isn't settled even among the Hopi themselves. Some see him as a planet. Others see a meteor streaking across the night sky. That disagreement is part of what makes him worth knowing. Chasing Star appears at the Bean Dance, also called Powamuya, and sometimes at Mixed Dances. His original function has been lost to time, one of the details that makes each Katsina figure a genuine piece of living history rather than a fixed symbol with a single answer.

The carving is unmistakable. A towering headdress of trailing eagle feathers, styled after the Plains Indian war bonnet, frames a case mask in turquoise, green, black, or yellow. A red-outlined star crosses the face. Red tab ears finish the piece.