Native American Hopi Carved Butterfly Maid Katsina Sculpture

Description

Native American Hopi Carved Butterfly Maid Sculpture by Virgil Long

Palhik Mana is a Butterfly Maiden; not a Katsina, but a woman dancer. She generally appears in August, as that is when the butterflies appear. The Butterfly Dance, a traditional social dance of the Hopi, is held in August after the gathering of the harvest and presentation of the Snake Dance. It is a thanksgiving dance for the harvest, chiefly for the corn crop, and features dancing by young Hopi women. This particular maid has her hair down which means she is a married woman. This sculpture shows the Sunface peeking out from beneath her manta.