Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Hopi "Friends" for sale: seventy Hopi Katsinam

My real life Hopi friends are horrified. Seventy Hopi Katsinam will be sold in auction in France. The horror is that these Katsinam are irreplaceable and that with the loss of each Katsinam, the ceremony is also lost. Some are valuable, but that is not the issue for the Hopi. For their world to remain in a delicate balance, they must perform at the right time and place the relevant ceremony with the right Katsinam. Some ceremonies can no longer be performed because the Katsinam representing the spirit or specific force or power has been stolen or is lost to them. The sale of seventy Katsinam, offered at Néret-Minet (Maison Drouot in Paris) is a painful loss, yes a disaster. These helpers, these seventy friends should be brought home. Under American law they should be repatriated to the Hopi Nation. The auction house knows this, from their good description of the pieces on can easily deduct that they know about the power of these friends but prefer the power of cash and carry. Katsinam should never be sold on the auction block. The sadness on Hopi is immeasurable. The art stolen under the Nazi regime is also in the process of being returned to their original owners families. Let the same rule be applied: return these sacred Katsinam to the Hopi nation. Do take action:
The sale is on April 12, 2013.
The people handling the sale for Néret-Minet are:
Cabinet Geneste
M. Eric GENESTE
31bis rue du Faubourg Montmartre
75009 PARIS
Tèl: 06.72.74.71.42
Email: erics@wanadoo.fr

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