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Why did the kachinas allow Pueblo people to copy their masks and costumes?
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Mythologies of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas
Haida argillite carving, c. 1890, depicting a folktale in which the Bear Mother endures a cesarean birth; in the National Museum of the American Indian, George Gustav Haye Center, Smithsonian Institution, New York City.
According to the mythologies of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, the kachinas allowed the Pueblo people to copy their masks and costumes after the people insulted the spirits by making fun of their peculiar faces during a migration trek. Following this event, the kachinas returned to their home in the underworld, leaving the responsibility of performing the necessary dances to the men of the kivas.1
Since that time, these ceremonial performances have been conducted to protect the harvest, bring rain, and promote the general welfare of the community. During these rituals, the spirit-being depicted on the mask is believed to be present with or within the performer, temporarily transforming him.12