210126-03 Large Vintage Hopi Shalako Kachina doll
ca. 1960
17.5" + 3.5" feathers
Shalako is a series of dances and ceremonies conducted by the Zuni people for the Zuni people at the winter solstice, typically following the harvest. The Shalako ceremony and feast has been closed to non-native peoples since 1990. However, non-native peoples may be invited as guests by a Zuni tribal member.
Nancy Bonvillain described the Shalakos, "They brought good fortune, abundant crops, and many children." They are chosen at Winter Solstice, when they begin to learn the chants they will recite in the early December ceremony.
The Shálako festival, on or about December 1, is a remarkable sacred drama, enacted in the open for the double purpose of invoking the divine blessing upon certain newly built houses, and of rendering thanks to the gods for the harvests of the year. The exact date of the Shálako is fixed each year by a formula of the Zuni Bow priests, which traditionally was the 49th day past the tenth full moon, but has been altered to the weekend nearest the 49th day past the tenth full moon, as many Zuni people work away from their Reservation at jobs that do not allow them weekdays off. The official publication of the date is not made until the eighth evening before the event. The immediate effect of this announcement, which is given out by ten people in the principal plazas, is to quicken the easy-going life of the old pueblo into a bustle of industry.