Compiled and edited from various sources by Missi of Skeldale House
There are many different stories to the legend of Kokopelli, who is known by various names. Kokopelli, the best known name. Kokopilau, Kokopele, Kokopetiyot and Kokopelli-mana (his wife).
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The Hopi legend tells us that upon their entrance in to this, the fourth world, the Hopi's were met by an Eagle who shot an arrow into the two "mahus", insects that carried the power of heat. They immediately began playing such uplifting melodies on their flutes, that they healed their own pierced bodies.
The Hopi's then started their separate migrations and each "mahu" would scatter seeds of fruits and vegetables onto the barren land. Over them, each played his flute to bring warmth and make the seeds grow.
His name -- KOKO for wood and PILAU for hump (which was the bag of seeds he always carried) thus extending the association with fertility -- was given to him on this long journey. It is said that he draws heat from the center of the Earth. He has come down to us as the loving spirit of fertility -- of the Earth and humanity. His invisible presence is felt whenever life comes forth from seed -- plants or animals.
Migration accounts of the Hopi/Tewa indicate that the Kokopelli Kachina was introduced by the Anasazi clan, which wandered from the upper Rio Grande to Zuni, finally settling in Hopi at the end of the seventeenth century. Anasazi Indians and the four corners of the Colorado Plateau were primarily a horticultural society. Some Hopi clans believe that the flute is actually a planting stick.
Kokopelli, the hump-backed flute player, is a symbol seen all over the southwest United States. Evidenced from ancient Native American artifacts show that Kokopelli was important to many tribes.
To the Hopi village of Orabai, Kokopelli was said to have a sack of deer skin shirts and moccasins to barter for brides. Elsewhere, Hopi's said he spent his time sewing and seducing daughters while his wife Kokopelli-mana runs after men. To the Zuni culture he was an important Rain Priest. Known to some as Olowlowishkya, he is shown with a festive hairstyle and is always shown playing the flute.
Here is yet another legend.. Kokopelli, the hump-backed flute player and is associated with the Flute Clan of the Hopi Indians. Legend holds that he was able to drive back winter with his flute playing. He wandered from village to village with a bag of songs on his back, as a symbol of fertility, was welcomed during spring planting.
In pueblo myths, Kokopelli carries in his hump seeds, babies, and blankets to offer maidens that he seduces. In the upper Rio Grande Pueblos, he wandered between villages with a bag of songs on his back as a fertility symbol he was welcomed during corn planting season and was sought after by barren wives, although avoided by shy maidens.
In the Andes of South America medicine men still wander between villages with flutes and sacks of corn. The Navajo tribe own and guards one of the finest arrays of Kokopelli figures ever discovered. A long frieze of hunchback flute players adorns a large boulder sheltering a mall ruin in a remote part of Monument Valley. The ruin was named "Flute player house" by the archeologist who excavated it in 1920.