Katsina Owl Doll
The owl katsina doll, or mongwau tihu in Hopi, is a carved and painted cottonwood figure of the owl spirit of the Hopi katsinam, given to children so they may learn the owl's identity and power. The owl is a night hunter whose eyes and voice mark it as a being of wisdom and, in some traditions, a messenger connected to the spirit world. Like all katsina tihu the doll is carved from the soft root of the cottonwood, a wood the Hopi link to water and moisture, and painted with the colours and markings of the particular spirit. The owl katsina appears among the hundreds of katsinam who visit the v