kachina

Meaning

Noun

• A vaguely ancestral anthropomorphic spirit being, associated with clouds and rain or personifying the power in the sun, the earth or corn (among other things).
• A wooden doll, as might be given to a child, which represents such a being.
• A masked dancer who represents such a being in a ceremonial dance or masked ceremony.

Origin

• Borrowed from Hopi katsina.