Old Style Hopi Carved Frog Traditional Rain Kachina Doll (Katsina Doll)

Description

Old Style Hopi Carved Frog Traditional Rain Katsina Doll by Layne Youvella

The Frog (Paqua) is the male partner of the Frog Maid (Paqua Mana) and is most likely a Water Clan Katsina. This Katsina is supposed to have originated in a prank at Shungopavi in the late 1960s. During a dance, rasping noises were heard coming from a huge box covered with painted paper. During a pause in the dance the paper broke and the Frog Katsinam hopped out. On a more serious side, water is truly the staff of life in the arid southwest and the frog would be a harbinger of rain and therefore a welcome sight in Hopiland. This sweet carving shows the frog carrying a dance plaque with the Hopi Raincloud on it. These sometimes are carried in the dancers hand like dance wands.