Stunning!  This large jar by Rainy Naha is intricately designed and painted.  On this jar, she has painted a Butterfly Maiden or Pahlik Mana on one side.  She has a large tablita headdress, which is very intricately painted and designed.  Note the feathers on the ends of the tablita, which are painted in her style of hallmark!  The opposite side has a Bee Kasina (Momo).  The Bee katsina is surrounded by additional bees!

Bee (Momo) appears in Mixed Dances and the Water Serpent Ceremony. He is a side dancer and focuses his attention on the children. He stings them by shooting tiny, blunt arrows with his little bow. If the child cries out in fear, Momo squirts a little water on the supposed wound and offers a tiny cup of honey from his headpiece. As part of the Powamu, Momo and the other Katsinam are welcomed back and asked for their aid in bringing spring and new growth to the land. In addition to his antennae, Momo’s headpiece is crowned with a cluster of stalks which may end in flowers or fruit, or a stand of corn stalks. The Bee Katsina brings with him the gift of fertility for plants without which the people would starve.

Separating the two figures are bands of Hopi-Tewa designs.  Each of the squares has a different design from classic Hopi-Tewa pottery.  Note the very intricate checkerboard and rain designs, along with all the various colors!  So why the Awatovi designs? Rainy’s mother, Helen “Feather Woman” Naha, lived on a ranch in the Jeddito Valley, below the Awatovi Ruins and Helen was the first revivalist of their black and white pottery.  Rainy has continued this revival with her innovative designs.  The jar is painted with various clay slips along with bee-weed, which is black.  It was traditionally fired and it is signed on the bottom with a feather and “Rainy”.  Rainy has won numerous awards for her pottery at Santa Fe Indian Market and the Heard Market and her work continues to be a creative inspiration in Hopi-Tewa pottery.