Hemis Kachinas (Hemiskatsinam) and Hemis Kachina Maidens (Hemiskatsinmamant), with white robes in the background, appearing in a village plaza during the Niman or Home Dance in which gifts are distributed to members of the audience. The Hemis Kachina mask is one of the more elaborate types and is characterized by a tablita - a flat, step-bordered extension on top of the head - with phallic symbols and rainbow design. The ruff around the neck is comprised of "spruce" (actually Douglas fir) boughs, and fir twigs are also attached to the kilt and stuck in the armbands. As the kachinas leave the plaza at the end of the ceremony, members of the audience come up to them and break off pieces of the twigs to take to their fields to encourage rain. As shown by the figure in the foreground, the Hemis Kachinas also carry bunches of cattails with attached gifts. As photographing kachina performances is now strictly prohibited, the only available pictures of actual kachina dances are from the late 1800s and early 1900s. All photographs of Hopi and other Pueblo Indian dances in recent years are of social dances which are  performed outside the regular kachina season by unmasked dancers. (Photo from the Smithsonian Institution National Anthropological Archives 79-4289 in Washburn, D. K. 1980. in D. K. Washburn, editor. Hopi kachina spirit of life. California Acad. Sci.,  Fig. 26, p. 41)

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