In the summer of 1989, my wife and I had the opportunity to attend the Hopi Butterfly Dance in northeastern Arizona. The Butterfly Dance is one of the most beautiful and spectacular of the Hopi social dances. Like most Hopi ceremonies, the Butterfly Dance is a petition for rain, good health and long life for all living things. The dance is a celebration of the harvest that recognizes the butterfly for its beauty and its contribution in pollinating plant life.
The main participants are Hopi youth and young adults who are accompanied by a drummer and a chorus of singers. The participating girls each wear an elaborately painted headdress or kopatsoki made for them by their male dance partners. The imagery includes symbols of the girl's clan and sometimes of her dance partner's clan. The boys wear loosely fitting velvet shirts and tailored kilts that are embroidered with cloud and rain symbols. Everyone dances lightly, keeping time with the constant drumbeat. The dancers' gestures interpret and emphasize each song's meaning: lowering the arms depicts the lowering clouds, moving the arms in a zigzag motion denotes lightning, lowering the palms signifies rain, and lifting the hands symbolizes the growing stalks of corn.
To watch the Butterfly Dance is to be transported to a way of life rooted in the distant past. The Hopi (The Peaceful People) have carried on their ancient way of life and culture in northeastern Arizona for more than 2000 years. To be Hopi is to strive toward achieving a state of total reverence and respect for all things, to be at peace with these things, and to live in accordance with the instructions of Maasaw, the Creator or Caretaker of Earth. The Hopi observe their traditional ceremonies for the benefit of the entire world. Watch the Hopi Butterfly Dance.
The main participants are Hopi youth and young adults who are accompanied by a drummer and a chorus of singers. The participating girls each wear an elaborately painted headdress or kopatsoki made for them by their male dance partners. The imagery includes symbols of the girl's clan and sometimes of her dance partner's clan. The boys wear loosely fitting velvet shirts and tailored kilts that are embroidered with cloud and rain symbols. Everyone dances lightly, keeping time with the constant drumbeat. The dancers' gestures interpret and emphasize each song's meaning: lowering the arms depicts the lowering clouds, moving the arms in a zigzag motion denotes lightning, lowering the palms signifies rain, and lifting the hands symbolizes the growing stalks of corn.
To watch the Butterfly Dance is to be transported to a way of life rooted in the distant past. The Hopi (The Peaceful People) have carried on their ancient way of life and culture in northeastern Arizona for more than 2000 years. To be Hopi is to strive toward achieving a state of total reverence and respect for all things, to be at peace with these things, and to live in accordance with the instructions of Maasaw, the Creator or Caretaker of Earth. The Hopi observe their traditional ceremonies for the benefit of the entire world. Watch the Hopi Butterfly Dance.
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