KR113 Cricket Kachina
Cricket Kachina by Hopi carver Larry Melendez. The Route 66 style kachina, 2 1/2” x 1 1/2” x 4”, is carved from cottonwood root.
The Cricket Kachina is not only a runner kachina, but also a kiva dancer. He appears in the Kiva Dance at night. He is one of few Kachinas that dances empty handed. The Cricket Kachina usually appears with a black bandolier, cricket antennas, and he wears a kilt made of a plaid shoulder blanket.
Hopi carver Larry Melendez, born in the 1960’s, comes from a family of Kachina carvers. When Larry was 18, his brother Manuel taught him to carve Kachinas and passed on his knowledge of traditional styles.
Route 66 Kachinas are fashioned after the original Route 66 Kachinas sold in the Harvey Trading Posts during the 1960s and 70s.