ORO Editions

Kokopelli is commonly recognized as the Hopi curved-back fluteplayer whose image first appeared on petroglyphs and Hohokam pottery over a thousand years ago. To many Indigenous groups in the American Southwest his spirit is associated with fertility of the land and the people. He is the harbinger of spring, a conveyor of resources, and transmitter of knowledge. There are many different interpretations of Kokopelli’s likeness and significance; he has been portrayed as a wandering storyteller, trickster, rainmaker, musician, seducer, and buffoon, whose flute playing spreads magic and mayhem as well as abundance and favorable auspices across the land.

To Puebloan peoples, Kokopelli is the ancestral spirit of the contemporaneous Flute Player Clan. His image incised on rocks and stones is believed to mark the historical migration patterns of their kin. Kokopelli is also the Hopi term given to a pair of male and female kachinas (or divine spirit beings) whose embodiment through dance and figurative art is used to communicate traditional social values.

Kokopelli is often described as “hump-backed,” an imperfect form, or a figure weighted down by the burden he carries. His image may have been inspired by the shape of an insect, such as an ant. In some versions of his story the sack he carries may be filled with seeds, a metaphor for the cultivation of wisdom and growth.