This shirt is very early, pre 1830s Blackfoot. The fringe along the sleeves and shirttail is the remnants of ermine and bits can still be seen. The painted figures of people are probably indicative of dead people or people the warrior killed. Should be called a War Shirt not a dress shirt. The quillwork is bird quill. Quillwork is similar to Mandan Hidatsa. Sometimes dots that are rounded indicate hailstones but then they are organized in a scattered fashion more like splashes. There are many anomalies in the quill/bead design.

Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund

Museum Expedition 1907, Museum Collection Fund

Museum Expedition 1903, Museum Collection Fund

Kachina doll with articulated arms. Footwear has been painted on the feet.

This Kachina is also spelled Mahedinasha.(taking away feces). He may come during the winter dance series or during the Koanne (the day when the Kachinas go home-six days after the Shalako). The dancers appear early in the morning and go through the village. When they come into the plaza they dance as a group accompanied by a drummer. They can sing nasty songs about the inhabitants of Kothluwala, (the spirit village where the dead Kachinas live) but really they are about the present day Zuni village. See Barton Wright, "Kachinas of the Zuni" for an explanation of how he became so ugly in appearance.

Eagle Dancer (Kwahu) Kachina Doll. Artist probably Henry Shelton as he is stylistically like those he carved in body sculptural form and hand treatment. A Kachina with outstretched arms made from one piece of cottonwood root. His arms have real feathers and down on them. He wears a carved dance skirt, a bandolier and a pelt sash that hangs down in the back. His helmet style mask is blue, topped with a yarn band and feathers and circled with a yarn ruff around the bottom neck area. His eyes are black slits, his yellow beak is open. He wears yarn ties around his calves. Although unsigned, he is stylistically like those carved by Henry Shelton in body sculptural form and hand treatment. The eagle dance is a prayer for good crops, rain, and plentiful eagle feathers as their feathers important in many ceremonies. The Kachina usually appears in a group of several forming a dance troop, squawking and imitating eagle behavior while the Koyemshi (mudhead clowns) sing to them. The sponsoring kiva must fast, abstain from sex, and no eating of salty or fatty foods before the dance.

Museum Expedition 1903, Museum Collection Fund

This Kachina may represent the one of the Hemushikwe who appear on the last day of the Shalako performances when the Shalako was traditionally given by the Muhewa Kiva.There are six of these impersonators, one for each kiva. The colors and symbols used in the tablita, or headdress, relate to the sky or sky elements. The body has earth elements. The mask may change but always contains symbols and colors that relate to clouds and from where the rain comes.

Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund