The Kachina (also “Katsina”) cult refers to the specific religious practices centered on the kachina, which is a spiritual entity and divine messenger of the Puebloan peoples as well as the Hopi, Zuni, Tewa, and Keresan tribes in what is the present-day Southwestern United States. The Kachina cult emerged under mysterious circumstances in the desert Southwest after a period of profound social, cultural, and religious turmoil in either the late 14th or early 15th centuries CE, following the abandonment of centers like Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde, Wupatki, and Canyon de Chelly. The exact origins of the Kachina cult remain the subject of fierce, scholarly debates. Despite the arrival of the Spanish conquistadores and Christian missionaries in the region during the 16th century CE, the Hopi and the Zuñi peoples were able to maintain their temporal and religious freedoms, ensuring that the Kachina cult has survived and flourished well into modern times.
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Definition
Timeline
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c. 1300 - c. 1400Kachina Cult emerges in the ancient desert Southwest.
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c. 1650 - c. 1660The Spanish outlaw various Puebloan religious and ritual practices, including those involving kachina dolls and kachina masks.
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1680Successful Pueblo Revolt against the colonial Spanish administration in what is now New Mexico.
