What is the basket dance?

: a women’s vegetation dance of certain peoples of medieval Europe and certain American Indians of the southwestern U.S. that is performed with a basket serving as the focal prop.

What is the Hopi dance?

The Hopi Butterfly Dance is a two-day, ceremonial social dance for young people. During late summer and early fall in northern Arizona’s Hopi villages, the dance takes place when a person or family decides to sponsor it. The village men provide the prayer songs for the dance.

Did the Hopi have ceremonial baskets?

The Hopi people also participate in the ceremonial observances where baskets are preeminent. Woven in brilliant reds, greens, and yellows as well as black and white, Hopi weavings, then, not only are an arresting art form but also are highly symbolic of what is most important in Hopi life.

What are Hopi baskets used for?

Baskets are vital material elements in Hopi religious and social ceremonies associated with the annual corn harvest, rainmaking activities, and rites of passage. Domestic baskets are used in the preparation and serving of numerous traditional foods.

What are Hopi baskets made of?

Hopi Indian baskets are made from rabbit brush, sumac, dune brush and yucca. Hopi Native American Baskets are symbolic of Hopi Life past and present, religion, dances, rainmaking, corn harvest and rites of passage.

What are kachina dances?

“Kachina” refers both to ceremonial dances in which these impersonators appear and to carved and painted wooden dolls with masked symbolism. The Zuni word “kok’ko” (ko ‘ko) refers to spirits and supernatural beings which correspond generally and specifically to kachina of the Hopi.

What is the Hopi rain dance ceremony?

The Snake Dance is the grand finale of ceremonies to pray for rain, held by individual Hopi tribes in Arizona every two years. Hopis believe their ancestors originated in an underworld, and that their gods and the spirits of ancestors live there.

Why did the Hopi make baskets?

What is a Navajo wedding basket?

The Navajo Ceremonial Basket also called Navajo Wedding basket is viewed as a map through which the Navajo chart their lives. The central spot in the basket represents the sipapu, where the Navajo people emerged from the prior world through a reed. The inner coils of the basket are white to represent birth.

What tribes used Kachina dolls?

Kachina dolls originated with the Hopi tribe. They were given to Hopi children during ceremonies, then hung on the wall and studied afterward. Kachina dolls were made in the image of the spirits worshipped by the tribe. They were not toys to play with, but religious icons to celebrate and contemplate.

What is a Mudhead Kachina?

Kachina figures, known as the clown Kachina, or Koyemsi, are called Mudhead Kachina. Seen in most Hopi ceremonies, the Mudhead Kachinas play the role of entertainment and laughter at the Hopi dances. They drum, dance, play games and may act as announcers for events.

What kind of dances do the Hopi Indians do?

In November, another 16-day dance is held, the Wuwuchim, a Creation dance, honouring the sun with a fire dance and initiation for young men. In August the Snake dance is performed with venomous snakes. Every other year, this is substituted by a Flute dance.

How long does the Hopi bean dance last?

The dances last 16 days. In February, the Bean dance is held. Beans are sprouted in the kivas and distributed to the village. In an area starved of water, sprouted beans are a nutritious and efficient food source, which do not need to be cooked and have twice the nutrients of the dry seed.

What was the healing pipe ceremony for the Hopi?

The healing pipe ceremony is more a form of meditation and affirmation and can be performed at any time, with or without a priest. A mother thanks the sun for her newborn child, putting corn meal in its mouth and saying “This is what you are.” Historically, corn formed 90 percent of the Hopi diet.