Description

Hopi maidens wearing traditional dress and squash blossom whorl hair styles. 

One distinctive tribal hairstyle for Hopi women was the elaborate squash blossom or butterfly whorls worn by Hopi maidens. Only unmarried young women wore this complex hairstyle. She would receive a new name and assume the squash blossom hairstyle, the sign of marriageability and fertility. To make this hairdo, a young woman's mother would wind her hair around a curved piece of wood to give it a round shape, then remove the wood frame.

Women's traditional clothing in ancient times consisted of a plain cotton, knee-length dress called a “manta.” The manta is square in shape and is fastened at the right shoulder. A narrow woven belt wrapped around the waist. Later on, blue-black mantas replaced the undyed cotton mantas. Beginning in the 1900s, women began to wear a cloth blouse or dress under the manta.  A square silk scarf decorated with lace or satin ribbon around the edges is worn as a sort of cape. 

Hopi women traditionally wore necklaces made of many strands of polished beads.  After learning silver working techniques from the Spanish in the 1800s, Hopi people also began to wear silver earrings, bracelets, and rings, and today Hopi artists are famous for their ornate silver overlay jewelry.

NOTE: Sharlot Hall Museum Research Center has more Hopi photographs; however these are restricted and can only be viewed by approval from the Hopi Cultural Center (email: info@hopiculturalcenter.com or telephone 928-734-2401).