KOKOPELLI - Southern Utah University

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12 13 Iii', A ~, 1 Two small dancing figures are probably versions of Kokopelli without the flute. These are among many petroglyphs in the San Cristobal I, ruins. I" , I I ~, !~::.' Ll) i :i eo t" ..... I I I I I I I I:-~~-:: I I I I "j _1- _\\I~~4_~~f ' ~ " ~x"Yk,.dOI "';-:,:~!% ~ ~,~'.~!1~'i,II'~'t4J i :::f ~ 0 lJ.o "Ci 0 cE tTt I:l "~ P- 8 a 0 ~jrll';IJ~' ~ ~'==::--/ : ':0 :.a "iii 0 e P- I:l ~ .~ "Cl I:l nl
The name Kokopelli may derive from Zuni and Hopi names for a god (Koko), and a desert robber fly they call pellt ThatpredatOly insect has a hump on his back and some deplorable habits sw;h as stealing the larvae of other flies. The flute could be the insect's prominent proboscis. Some of the drawings on pottery- of the Hohokam and Mimbres people of prehistoric southern Arizona look more like the insect than the man. , However, ~;' ! ,,;,:, .. t F , \ of :~. > it is among the present-day Pueblo people of New Mexico and Arizona that the bulk of the Kokopelli legends were still current until fairly recent times. At San Ildefonso, he was known as a wandering minstrel with a sack of songs on his back. In the Aladdin tradition, he traded new songs for old, and was greeted as a harbinger of fertility and a god of the harvest. . .J, I~ Angular version of KokopelIi in cave on the Pajarito Plateau. Note how the long hom suggests an insect. 14 I I I I I I I ! I .,I ~. The old South Kiva at San Ildefonso. After Campbell photo At Hano, on the Hopi First Mesa, occupied by Pueblo refugees from central New Mexico, Kokopelli and his wife are painted black. He is said to be a character they call Neopkwai'i which means "big black man". This could be none other than Esteban, the giant Moor who gUided Fray Marcos de Niza and his party on their illfated exploration ofsouthernArizona in 1539. Esteban was more interested in the comely Zuni women than he was in the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola the party was seeking. When he made passes at the girls, the men decided he was no god after all and shot him full of arrows. Then they buried him under a pile of rocks. Watching from a safe distance, Marcos de Niza and the rest of the party hastily erected a cross and then tookofffor Mexico City where theyhad some hairy- tales to tell. 15
Page 1 and 2: -...:.. KOKOPELLI Casanova of the a
Page 3 and 4: A bicycle trail is being built betw
Page 5 and 6: ----- - -------- - -< 5: 0'" :3. '0
Page 7 and 8: -----------...... Present-day potte
Page 9 and 10: -. II III IIII I Arrival of the Spa
Page 11: 1''' I I I r Now back to Kokopelli.
Page 15 and 16: ;!/;' At Oraibi. another Hopi villa
Page 17 and 18: 22 I 23 1. BIBLIOGRAPHY Anasazi, An
Page 19 and 20: ....... I" 1III III Parsons, E. C.

KOKOPELLI - Southern Utah University

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