Dance Flute

Among some Pueblo groups of the southwestern United States, supernatural beings that represent a life force or the embodiment of natural phenomena such as the sun, the moon, plants, animals, or insects are called Kachinas. During complex, multistage rituals integrating music and dance that are performed in ceremonial calendrical cycles, men don the masks, clothing, and paraphernalia of these spirits and are believed to actually become them.

Kachina dolls, such as this example of Paiyatemu, the Zuni Sun Youth, represent these beings and are given to audience members during the ceremonies and dances. In the corn-grinding ceremony of the Zuni Summer Dance, four Paiyatemu Kachinas play bell-shaped flutes, similar to the one seen here, to accompany singing by Corn Maidens kneeling at metates (grinding stones).