Editing Kachina (section)

== Origins ==
There are two different accounts in Hopi beliefs for the origins of kachinas. According to one version, the kachinas were good-natured spirit-beings who came with the Hopis from the underworld.<ref>The underworld is a concept common to all the Pueblo Indians. It is a place where the spirits or shades live: the newly born come from there and the dead return there.</ref> The kachinas wandered with the Hopis over the world until they arrived at [[Casa Grande, Arizona|Casa Grande]], where both the Hopis and the kachinas settled. With their powerful ceremonies, the kachinas were of much help and comfort, for example bringing rain for the crops. However, all of the kachinas were killed when the Hopis were attacked and the kachinas' souls returned to the underworld. Since the sacred paraphernalia of the kachinas were left behind, the Hopis began impersonating the kachinas, wearing their masks and costumes, and imitating their ceremonies in order to bring rain, good crops, and life's happiness.

Another account says that the Hopis came to take the kachinas for granted, losing all respect and reverence for them, so the kachinas returned to the underworld. However, before they left, the kachinas taught some of their ceremonies to a few faithful young men and showed them how to make the masks and costumes. When the other Hopi realized their mistake, they remorsefully turned to the kachinas' human substitutes, and the ceremonies have continued since then.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dockstader|first1=Frederick J.|title=The Kachina and the White Man: a study of the influences of White culture on the Hopi kachina cult|date=1954|publisher=Cranbrook Institute of Science|location=Bloomfield Hills, Mich.|pages=10–11}}</ref>