Old Style Hopi Carved Bee Traditional Katsina Doll

Description

Old Style Hopi Carved Bee Traditional Katsina Doll by Troy Honahnie

Bee (Momo) appears in Mixed Dances and the Water Serpent Ceremony. He is a side dancer and focuses his attention on the children. He stings them by shooting tiny, blunt arrows with his little bow. If the child cries out in fear, Momo squirts a little water on the supposed wound and offers a tiny cup of honey from his headpiece. As part of the Powamu, Momo and the other Katsinam are welcomed back and asked for their aid in bringing spring and new growth to the land. In addition to his antennae, Momo's headpiece is crowned with a cluster of stalks which may end in flowers or fruit, or a stand of corn stalks. The Bee Katsina brings with him the gift of fertility for plants without which the people would starve.