Indian Kokopelli
The Indian Kokopelli is the Southwest Native Americans’ humpback flute player, a very popular figure found at Pertroglyph sites throughout the southwest regions of the United States. The etymology of the word kokopelli comes from the Zuni and Hopi names for a god (koko) and a desert robber fly the Indians called pelli. Given the recurrence of the Indian Kokopelli, it is beyond any doubt that he played a spiritual role whether as an icon or a deity for many tribes. Evidence indicates that the Indian Kokopelli represents for the southwest native Americans what Paul is for Christians and Abraham for the Jews.
The Indian Kokopelli’s presence in legends and myths is a fact, but nevertheless he is nearly always portrayed as grotesquely hunchbacked and playing the flute. Among other classic forms, the Indian Kokopelli appears as a phallus, as a dancer of an old native American beat or perched on top of another person. According to modern depictions, the Indian Kokopelli has the kilt, the sash and the feathered headdress on. The Indian Kokopelli can be admired in lots of art works, books and jewels displayed in galleries all over Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.
His many images serve as proof that the Indian Kokopelli appears to have played a range of different roles in numerous defining moments of Southwestern Native American life. He leads processions of people, perhaps on migrations; he joins the tribal shamans in the rituals; people dance on the music of his flute at the festivals; he appears together with other Indian deities in various mythical tribal forms. In hunting-magic scenes, the Indian Kokopelli seeks to ensure success for men carrying bows and, sometimes, lances. He impregnates women and participates in birthing scenes. Among ancient rain symbols, he plays his flute to plead for rain sufficient for his tribe’s corn to grow.
The Indian Kokopelli’s origin and meaning may be guessed from his various appearances: perhaps in real life he was a hunchbacked person whom the others revered for his wisdom and spiritual force. Maybe he was a young man carrying a pack, traveling from village to village and looking for a wife; he played his flute in order to announce his desire. He may very well have been a great leader, such as Moses, who guided his people in a migration to a new homeland. Whoever the real person or deity behind the Indian Kokopelli figure may have been, he remains a charismatic icon reinvented over and over again for more than a thousand years by Native American story tellers, craftsmen and artists, in an ongoing process.
