Jonathan Day, Sr: Hopi Butterfly Kachina

Adorned with lovely, azure wings, Jonathan Day Sr.’s Butterfly Kachina depicts one of the personages who appear in the Hopi Angk’wa Night Dances at Third Mesa each Spring. By creating a beautiful atmosphere in which all beings thrive, participants in the Night Dances celebrate all forms of life as they court the rain and encourage all things that grow. Butterflies are seen as the pollinators of corn and other crops, and as such, play a vital role for the tribe. With a blue mask, long hair, kilt, sash, turquoise necklace and bracelets, and two rattles that look like flowers, this carving is most likely a representation of a Palhik Mana or Butterfly Maiden which is listed as “a favorite” of Jonathan Day, Sr. in Hopi Katsina: 1,600 Artist Biographies. According to Barton Wright in Hopi Kachinas: The Complete Guide to Collecting Kachina Dolls, the appearance of Pahlik Mana often is “intergraded” with that of Shalako Mana (Shalako Girl) and Poli Mana (the Butterfly Girl of Summer Social Dances) so identification is sometimes difficult. Wright goes on to say that the Hopi treat them synonymously and “despite the confusion the doll is one of the most beautiful carved by the Hopi.”

Jonathan’s Butterfly Kachina is carved from cottonwood root and painted in extraordinary detail. The detail and realism in the sculptural form is equally amazing. An interesting note is that although we believe that this carving represents a female personage, the gender depicted in the carving seems ambiguous. At first we thought that the carving might be a Poli Taka or “Butterfly Man,” but the long hair on the figure is usually seen as female characteristic. Because female personages are almost always performed by men impersonating women (the only exception is the Pachavuin Mana, which is always danced by a woman) it is possible that this Butterfly Maiden reflects the reality of a male dancer portraying a Butterfly Maiden during the Night Dances. This piece is an excellent example of the signature realism and attention to detail found in Jonathan Day Sr.’s work. (JH, DH)