Hopi White Buffalo Kachina Figurine. Inscribed "White Buffalo" and "Salinas" on bottom. Dated 4-21-77 on bottom. Beautifully hand-painted and carved figure preparing to dance and offer blessings. 

Size: 12 1/2 x 7 1/2 x 18 3/4 in.

#2388 . 

A kachina is a spirit being in the religious beliefs of the Pueblo people, Native American cultures located in the Southwestern part of the United States. Kachina rites are practiced by the Hopi, Hopi-Tewa, Zuni peoples and certain Keresan tribes, as well as in most Pueblo tribes in New Mexico. The kachina concept has three different aspects: the supernatural being, the kachina dancers, and kachina dolls (small dolls carved in the likeness of the kachina that are given only to those who will be responsible for the respectful care and well-being of the doll and the spirit it embodies). Kachinas are personifications of things in the real world that are believed to visit Hopi villages throughout the year. A kachina can represent anything in the natural world or cosmos from a revered ancestor to an element, a location, a quality, a natural phenomenon, or an   abstract concept. There are kachinas for the sun, stars, thunderstorms, wind, corn, insects, animals, war, famine, plague, and more. Although not worshiped in the Judeo-Christian sense, each is viewed as a powerful being who, if given veneration and respect, can use his particular power for human good (or sometimes as punishment), bringing rainfall, healing, fertility, or protection, for example. Beginning around 1900, the growing tourism industry generated a great deal of interest in the Kachina figurines, and the dolls became sought-after collectibles. For this reason, many Hopi began carving the figures commercially to make a living, the process, legality, and religious implications of which are still controversial and hotly debated within tribal groups. Of the nearly one hundred known kachina, Köcha Mosairu, called the White Buffalo, is the rarest and most revered of all the mesas and pueblos, and their appearance symbolizes major changes in the environment and the annihilation of the human race in preparation for the Fifth World.