Kachina Tales from the Indian Pueblos [Paperback]

Gene Meany Hodge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1993

This collection of American Indian legends was gathered by Gene Meany Hodge from authentic sources in the 1930s and centers around the sacred supernatural personages of the American Pueblo Indians called Kachinas (pronounced Kah-chee-nahs). Mrs. Hodge wrote: 'All in all the Kachinas are lovable and kindly supernaturals who bring rain and other blessings to the people.' The legends of the Kachinas are a unifying and cohesive force in the continuance of Native American social history. This book makes an ideal companion to Coyote Tales from the Indian Pueblos by Evelyn Dahl Reed, also published by Sunstone Press.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kachinas are both the gods of the southwestern Pueblos and the physical embodiments of these gods in the form of ceremonial masks and statues. These stories, collected and originally published by Hodge ( The Kachinas Are Coming ) in the 1930s, testify to the importance of the kachinas, upon whom the survival and order of the physical world depend. In one tale, the kachinas take corn from the people who have forgotten its sacred nature and begun to treat it casually. Many stories anthropomorphically explain characteristics of animals. Ants, for instance, have tiny waists because they were scourged too hard around their middles at their kachina initiation. The relationship of these spirits and ritual objects to the popular dolls is discussed in a brief but interesting introduction. Although not designed for children, these stories will perhaps best be thought of as bedtime reading. This very brief anthology only scratches the surface of the rich body of legends surrounding kachinas. Most serious is the failure to indicate from which Pueblo tradition or tribe a given story springs. This would have given some indication of the variety of expression found among these diverse cultures.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Sunstone Press; 1st edition (February 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865341842
• ISBN-13: 978-0865341845
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,102,744 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #25 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Religion & Spirituality > Earth-Based Religions > Native American
  • #78 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Special Groups > Native American Studies

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A Nice Little Collection of Pueblo Indian Folktales, January 28, 2012

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Neodoering - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Kachina Tales from the Indian Pueblos (Paperback)

Kachina Tales are a dozen or so stories about some of the religious spirits of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, and the people who interact with them. There is a story about bee spirits, a tale about eagle spirits, stories about the corn maidens, a yarn about what happens to the corn pests when a clever young man schemes to get rid of them, and a truly delightful little story, just one page long, about some birds who decide to get rid of an annoying coyote and come up with a particularly nasty way to do so. If you like folktales these are fun to read and are very short, so you can gobble them up. They're all suitable for children, in my opinion.

The collection is reasonably priced for what you get, which is about 65 pages of short folktales, but I was left hungry for more at the end, so be warned! Just about the time you're getting into the kachinas and figuring out how the Pueblo Indians view the world, it's all over, and you have to take off to find more such stories to feed your appetite. I gave this collection 4 stars instead of 5 because I wanted more!