Since I started walking daily way back in March, I have come to admire the various forms of landscaping in residential yards. I have seen yards with a velvety carpet of lush green grass and yards with absolutely no grass at all — only an abundance of rocks, stones, green plants and flowers. Dotting these landscapes are bright sparks of color in the form of ceramic figurines, birdhouses, metal sculpture and whirligigs. Today for the first time, I see the figure of Kokopelli. I have seen this unusual word many times and know what a Kokopelli figure looks like. It is a popular form of décor on everything from beach towels to bedspreads. I never really knew what Kokopelli represented until now.
Myths
Among the Hopi, Kokopelli carries unborn children on his back and distributes them to women; for this reason, young girls often fear him. He often takes part in rituals relating to marriage, and Kokopelli himself is sometimes depicted with a consort, a woman called Kokopelmimi by the Hopi. It is said that Kokopelli can be seen on the full and waning moon, much like the "man" or the "rabbit" on the moon."
Kokopelli also presides over the reproduction of game animals, and for this reason, he is often depicted with animal companions such as rams and deer. Other common creatures associated with him include sun-bathing animals such as snakes or water-loving animals like lizards and insects.
In his domain over agriculture, Kokopelli's flute-playing chases away the winter and brings about spring. Many tribes, such as the Zuni, also associate Kokopelli with the rains. He frequently appears with Paiyatamu, another flutist, in depictions of maize-grinding ceremonies. Some tribes say he carries seeds and babies on his back.
In recent years, the emasculated version of Kokopelli has been adopted as a broader symbol of the Southwestern United States as a whole. His image adorns countless items such as T-shirts, ball caps, keychains and patio decor. A bicycle trail between Grand Junction, Colorado, and Moab, Utah, is now known as the Kokopelli Trail.
On May 30, 2020, Australian biker, Lachlan Morton, set a new record for completing the trail. His time of 11 hour 14 minutes beat the previous record holder's — Kurt Refsnider — time of 11 hours 52 minutes. Following his ride Morton stated that he did not begin the ride planning on setting a new record on his trip from Moab to Loma, but after the ride went so well on the first section, he decided to push himself to toward the end.
Origins and development
Kokopelli has been revered since at least the time of the Hohokam, Yuman and ancestral Puebloan peoples. According to the National Park Service website, the word Hohokam is borrowed from the O’odham language and is used by archaeologists to identify a group of people who lived in the Sonoran Desert. The first known images of Kokopelli appear on Hohokam pottery dated to sometime between 750 and 850 AD.
Kokopelli may have originally been a representation of Aztec traders, known as pochtecas, who may have traveled to this region from northern Mesoamerica. These traders brought their goods in sacks slung across their backs and this sack may have evolved into Kokopelli's familiar hump; some tribes consider Kokopelli to have been a trader. These men may also have used flutes to announce themselves as friendly as they approached a settlement. This origin is still in doubt, however, since the first known images of Kokopelli predate the major era of Mesoamerican-ancestral Pueblo peoples trade by several hundred years, as well as the Aztec Empire and its pochtecas.
Many believe that Kokopelli was more than a trader, and more significantly, an important conveyor of information and trinkets from afar. As a storyteller par excellence Kokopelli had the gift of languages with a formidable repertoire of body-language storytelling skills to complement his many talents. Kokopelli's usual noisy announcement upon arrival secured both the identity — and therefore the safety — of his unique presence into a community. Often accompanied by an apprentice in his travels and trade, Kokopelli was important in linking distant and diverse communities together. In the South American Andes, the “Ekeko” character functioned in much the same way. Upon arrival, his banging and clanging of his wares dangling all about his person signaled to all that a night of entertainment and trade of his goods and talismans was at hand.
Even today, occasional outside visitors may be called or referred to as “Kokopelli” when they bring news, stories and trinkets from the outside world to share with the little pueblos or villages.
Another theory is that Kokopelli is actually an anthropomorphic insect. Many of the earliest depictions of Kokopelli make him very insect-like in appearance. The name "Kokopelli" may be a combination of "Koko" — another Hopi and Zuni deity — and "pelli," the Hopi and Zuni word for the desert robber fly, an insect with a prominent proboscis and a rounded back, which is also noted for its zealous sexual proclivities. A more recent etymology is that Kokopelli means literally "kachina hump." Because the Hopi were the tribe from whom the Spanish explorers first learned of the god, their name is the one most commonly used.
Kokopelli is one of the most easily recognized figures found in the petroglyphs and pictographs of the Southwest. The earliest known petroglyph of the figure dates to about 1000 A.D. As with most kachinas, the Hopi Kokopelli was often represented by a human dancer. Kokopelli is a cottonwood sculpture often carved today.
A similar humpbacked figure is found in artifacts of the Mississippian culture of the United States southeast. Between approximately 1200 to 1400 A.D., water vessels were crafted in the shape of a humpbacked woman. These forms may represent a cultural heroine or founding ancestor and may also reflect concepts related to the life-giving blessings of water and fertility.
According to Kokopelli Legends & Lore at indigenouspeople.net, in Sacred Path Cards, the discovery of self through Native teachings by Jamie Sams:
If Kokopelli has lured you with his magical flute, it is time to listen to his song. This song is one of fertility. You are being asked to use your talents to create fertility in some area of your life. If things have been slow moving, Kokopelli's song is saying that whatever you intend to plant at this time will be very productive for you.
Planting seeds for the future takes effort on your part, so now is the time to use your skill and resources to make use of the magic. If you have a project to begin or an idea to develop, the timing couldn't be better. Shift away from any old, limiting ideas and move forward. The time is now — the power is you!
The Ballad of Kokopelli
A strange lonely figure stares out of the past where engraved by an artist in stone Held firm by the sand in which he is cast, these last thousand years quite alone. Could he be listening, trying to hear moccasins scuffing the butte? Bringing the people once again near to hear Kokopelli's sweet flute?
His image inscribed on a thousand rock faces from east to the great western sea; From Sonora's hot sun to the north glaciers bases, proclaiming this loved tutelary. Though powers possessed and methods employed are often in open dispute; One thing is agreed, the people did love to hear Kokopelli's sweet flute.
This stick figure man, with a hump on his back seemed always to cast a good feeling; His magic perhaps, taken out of his pack would comfort the sick and do healing. Whatever his talents, they surely were grand, a fact no one cares to refute, As people would come from afar in the land, to hear Kokopelli's sweet flute.
Kokopelli play for me, So my heart may sing, Magic flute of mystery, Fruitful dreams you bring. Song of Aztlan, Fertile Fire, Canyons of my mind, Sacred union, Heart to heart, Speaks of the Divine.
Kokopelli's image varies as much as the legends about him, but he is generally depicted as a hunch-back flute player in a dancing pose with a festive crest on his head. Images painted on ceramics ten centuries ago by the Hohokam or Arizona Pueblo have become the prototype for modern representations.
Kokopelli's hump is sometimes represented as an arc which covers his entire back. Other times, it covers only the lower half of his back. His arms are usually represented as a "V" shape with his elbows pointing down toward the Earth. His forward leg is usually represented as a continuation of the curved line which outlines his hump. Likewise, his rear leg is usually represented as a continuation of the front line of his body. The flute, which is actually a nose flute, is usually represented as a straight line, or pair of straight lines. Sometimes, however, it is curved. Often, it has a bulbous end - like the end of a clarinet. An even number of crest elements are usually found on Kokopelli's head. In Pueblo culture, the festive crest represents the paired antennae of the katydid (grasshopper), with which he is sometimes associated. When being represented in the "Spirit World", he appears with feathers on his head. In other depictions, the crest on his head represents rays of light.
Legend
The legend of Kokopelli is wonderfully rich and entertaining. Though, his origin as a deity and the evolution of his role in Southwestern Indian culture is difficult, if not impossible, to reconstruct. Evidenced by a huge number of ancient artifacts, it is clear that Kokopelli was important to many Native American tribes. He is especially prominent in the ancient Anasazi culture of the "Four Corners" area — Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. Some have compared his importance to the Southwestern Indians to that of Abraham to the Jews and that of Paul to the Christians.
Still revered by current descendants of Native Americans — including the Hopi, Taos, and Acoma Pueblo peoples — he is truly one of the most intriguing and widespread images to have survived from ancient Indian mythology. His whimsical nature, charitable deeds and vital spirit are the primary reasons why he achieved such a prominent position in Native American mysticism. He possessed a playful, carefree nature that seemed to bring out the "good" in everyone. Kokopelli is so irresistibly charismatic that he has been reinvented time and time again for thousands of years by storytellers, artists and craftsmen.
Known to some as a magician, to others he was a storyteller, teacher, healer, trickster, trader or god of the harvest. Some even credit Kokopelli with being the "original" journalist. Almost universally however, he was regarded as a harbinger of fertility, assuring success in hunting, growing crops and human conception. The Anasazi — who were first to claim Kokopelli — were primarily farmers who grew corn, beans and squash on the Colorado Plateau. They regarded Kokopelli as a fertility symbol, and he was always welcomed during corn planting season. A visit from Kokopelli insured that a good harvest was in store. According to Navajo legend, Kokopelli was the God of Harvest and Plenty — a benign minor god who brought abundant rain and food to people. The Zuni also regarded him as a Rain Priest, able to make it rain at will.
Others regarded him as a Spiritual Priest with actual healing powers. When Hopi women could not bear children, they would seek him out because he was able to restore their childbearing powers. According to Hopi legend, Kokopelli spent most of his time sewing seed and seducing the daughters of the village while his wife — Kokopelli Mana — ran after the men!
The lore of southern Utah paints Kokopelli as a little man who used to travel throughout the villages carrying a bag of corn seed on his back, teaching the people how to plant as he traveled. He was also said to have traded beads and shells for pieces of turquoise. Some speculate that this image of Kokopelli may have been derived from traveling traders of the time who announced their arrival by playing a flute as they approached, a tradition that is still practiced in Central America.
Many different legends exist about what Kokopelli actually carried in his sack. In Pueblo myths, he carried seeds, babies and blankets to offer the maidens he seduced. According to the Navajo, his hump was made of clouds filled with seeds and rainbows. In the Hopi village of Oraibi, they believe he carried deer skin shirts and moccasins which he used to barter for brides or babies which he left with the young women. Others believe that Kokopelli's sack contained the seeds of all the plants and flowers of the world, which he scattered every spring.
According to San Ildefonso legend, Kokopelli was a wandering minstrel who carried songs on his back, trading new songs for old ones. According to this legend, Kokopelli brought good luck and prosperity to anyone who listened to his songs. Kokopelli embodied everything pure and spiritual about music. He and his magical flute traveled from village to village bestowing gifts and spreading cheer to all whom he visited. His flute was said to symbolize happiness and joy. When he played his flute, the sun came out, the snow melted, grass began to grow, birds began to sing and all the animals gathered around to hear his songs. His flute music soothed the Earth and made it ready to receive his seed. The magic of his flute was also thought to stimulate creativity and help good dreams come true.
According to Alexxa Gotthardt’s July 4, 2018 article “How Kokopelli, the Flute-Playing God, Conquered Pop Culture” in Artsy, since the 1990s, Kokopelli has become a ubiquitous motif in American popular culture, found on everything from tie-dyed T-shirts sold by online boutiques like “Moccasins Direct” to posters for jazz festivals in Tucson, Arizona. Tchotchkes marketed to all manner of Americans have appropriated Kokopelli’s form and myth. In the 2000 book “Kokopelli: The Making of an Icon,” anthropologist Ekkehart Malotki pointed out, “It seems as if there is no limit to the ways in which the Kokopelli motif can be applied.”
Take Golfer-Pelli, a steel sculpture sold in a 1995 holiday catalog published by Minnesota Public Radio, which depicts a contemporary version of the pictograph as it swings a club. “It is believed that Kokopelli could make the wind talk and call the clouds,” the sales pitch reads. “Perhaps Golfer-Pelli can improve your swing!” Or consider the 32-foot-tall Kokopelli statue dubbed the “world’s largest Kokopelli,” which once advertised Arizona’s Krazy Kokopelli Trading Post souvenir shop. While the store has since shuttered, the massive figure now towers in front of a Starbucks.
Kokopelli’s adoption by mainstream culture in the 1990s — the height of “Kokopellimania,” as scholar Ekkehart Malotki has dubbed it — was likely bolstered by the rise of New Age thinking and ecological activism. These forces “helped pave the way for the acceptance of Kokopelli as a nostalgic icon of the noble savage,” Malotki has written, alluding to problematic issues of cultural appropriation that surround Kokopelli’s popularity.
Indeed, by the ’90s, Kokopelli had joined the “Great Spirit,” “Mother Nature” and dream catchers as New Age trademarks, which symbolized a back-to-nature approach — perhaps, as Malotki points out, a response to the tech boom and increasing reliance on computers and the internet. Kokopelli began showing up on T-shirts and magnets and was incorporated into logos for businesses ranging from organic food co-ops to ayurvedic massage spots.
The character has also come to signify, more simply, a free spirit. And many who wear T-shirts and buy pottery decorated with his likeness seem unaware of Kokopelli’s origins, identifying him simply as an symbol of hippie or New Age subculture.
Instead of a humpback, for instance, contemporary interpretations show Kokopelli with the arched back of someone jamming on his flute — rather than carrying seeds. The lines that extend upward from Kokopelli’s head — which likely originated as bud-like antennas in ancient times — were also transformed in the 1990s to resemble a mohawk or an artful arrangement of dreadlocks. In step, people began to fuse the Kokopelli image with the trappings of skateboarders, rock musicians and mountain bikers across tchotchkes, T-shirt designs and tattoos.
Kokopelli’s contemporary popularity — and evolution into a commodity — also owes something to its simple, graphic form. Because it originated as a silhouetted stick figure, it is easily replicable across Southwestern souvenirs, home decor motifs and graphic identities for a range of businesses.
Comments