Kokopelli is a figure depicted in the legends of the American Southwest.  He is a part of the cosmology and oral traditions of both the Hopi and the Navajo nations and has been depicted on rock art for approximately 3,000 years.

Kokopelli is said to be a “fertility god” and is described as the “humped-back flute player”.  On the sign in Canyon Pintado he is listed as a fertility symbol, a roving minstrel, a trader, a hunting magician, a trickster, and a seducer of women.  According to Navajo elders, all these titles are only plentiful theories and perpetuated ideas passed on by a variety of people. These theories are not substantiated and there is no hard evidence of his history beyond the art itself.  The origin of Kokopelli is “lost” except to the Navajo and Hopi people who know who he is, what his role is, and how important he is to their culture.

Here is what Wally Brown, a Navajo elder, has to teach us about Kokopelli:

“Many people have, over time, made the rock art images in places where sacred things were to be harvested such as clay, rock, plants, or resources. “Kokopelli is not a  “hump-backed flute player”, nor a seducer of women, nor a “fertility god”, or a “mythical wandering minstrel”. In fact, the name Kokopelli is not even recognized by our people.  He has his own name, just like all native people and the meaning of his name is “the carrier of the seeds”.  Kokopelli is represented by actual man who participates in present day sacred activities such as the Mountain Way Ceremony.

His “hump” is not a physical deformity, but rather is a backpack full of seeds.  Kokopelli is the man who brought all the seeds from the previous world to this world. Along with   all the seeds of the plants, he also brought all the seeds of birds, animals, insects, and all other life forms to this world…THIS is what he carries in his backpack.  His responsibilities include finding a place for all these seeds, finding them a home, and teaching them how to live in the area provided as well as how to behave and how to survive. He is NOT PLAYING A FLUTE…he is carrying a medicine pipe through which he blows sacred smoke on each of the seeds as he sings songs, says prayers, and packs down each seed in its place and prepares them to thrive”.

  • We thank Elder Brown for sharing this with us.
  • We need to re-think what we thought we knew about Kokopelli.