Origin Stories Vocabulary

Question 1

What are Hopi Kachina dances?

Answer 1

Originated from Arizona
In Oraibi (oldest village)
rituals organized around annual calendar
maintain balance with the environment
Kachina:
Kachi (life) na (father)
unseen supernatural being
link between living and dead
Kachina Dolls: not sacred, toys and learning tools
-every four years
-rite of passage for kids
-6-10 years old
rules include:
no photos
its okay for tourists to watch
-male masked dancers
Táchkutí:
clowns
“mudheads”
crude, greedy, clumsy
pretend to die
revived by performance of explicit sexual acts
for fun, inversion of social norms, and fertility

Question 2

Explain Balinese shadow puppetry.

Answer 2

villagers invite a specialist puppeteer-healer to expose and exorcise witches
leak/desti = witches, agents of power, poison wind
the ritual changes with the times
responding to new observers
make fun of americans
electricity jokes

Question 3

What are the Yoruba Egúngún masquerades?

Answer 3

Originated from West Africa (Nigeria will be a star on the map for this)
-Honors the spirit of their ancestors
- Costumes conceal the whole performer
-do not touch an Egúngún, if you do you will get punished or fined
-non society members may not watch the spirit of Agan bringing the festival into the world
-Performers bring ancestral spirits into existence/visibility, such as
Gorilla (Inokí)
pretends to rape women
relates to a story told in their culture
similar to Mudheads