Fertility God, Healer, Storyteller, Prankster

and musician

The kokopelli is a fertility god of the southwest United States.
He depicts the spirit of music, as seen in the inclusion of a native flute in his images.

I drew this kokopelli design, and my father turned it into a wood carving.

The Four Corners region — where Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico meet — is a great place to explore distinctive scenery and Native American culture.

Here is a very small painted rock depicting Four Corners, and there in the middle is the ubiquitous kokopelli playing his music.

This bandana features two distinct kokopelli designs, three each, marching around the center.

Here is the closest thing I know to the instrument played by a kokopelli.
I purchased the small one from a young boy at Four Corners. He made it himself. Notice the kokopelli holding the top two finger holes.		I purchased my full-sized one approximately fifty miles from Four Corners. It has a hauntingly beautiful tone.

~ FURTHER READING ~

The standard native Four Corners flute is carved from wood and has six finger holes.
The blowing hole is in the end like a recorder rather than on the side like a "French" flute.
It is apparently fashioned after some ancient flutes left behind by the Anasazi.
(The Anasazi lived so long ago that when the Europeans arrived and said, "Hey, who built these dwellings?", the natives said, "Dunno. They were here before we moved in!")
A common characteristic of the music from these flutes is warbling, similar to—and perhaps imitative of—the sound of various birds.
Traditionally, the six-hole flute's pitches are that of a minor pentatonic scale.

I once saw a maker of these instruments selling his wares at an arts festival.
He was demonstrating the beautiful sound by playing into a small PA system.
I wondered how many people noticed that the music was running through an echo effect processor.
I wondered how many people noticed that when they got it home it didn't sound like the one at the festival!