2013 Archives

Dozens of Native American tribal masks which are held sacred by the Hopi tribe were sold today at a french auction house after a French court ignored the objections of the Hopi tribe and the U.S. government.

The auction of the sacred Hopi masks brought a cool 1.2 million for the sacred masks, collectively. The most expensive mask, the “Mother Crow,” sold for $209,000, which was more than three times the pre-sale estimate.

Continue to Sacred Hopi masks sold at French auction house for 1.2 million →

The Heard Museum and the Museum of Northern Arizona have joined Hopi cultural officials in urging a French auction house to cancel the planned sale this month of about 70 ceremonial kachina faces, known to tribal members as “friends.”

In Hopi theology, kachinas are supernatural messengers depicted in fantastical costumes worn during religious ceremonies.

There are several hundred spirit characters in the pantheon representing wildlife, plants, human qualities, weather and other facets of nature or society.

More correctly known as katsina friends to the Hopi people, these characters are more commonly depicted in smaller form as carved doll-like figures.

Continue to French auction house plans to sell sacred Hopi katsina masks →

Wood Resources has signed a 25-year lease with the Colville Tribe to reopen the Colville plywood mill in Omak and ultimately hire as many as 200 workers to operate the mill.

The agreement between the Colville Tribal Federal Corporation, the business arm of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, which owns the mill, and Wood Resources LLC, also includes a wood supply agreement for timber from tribal forest lands.

Continue to Wood Resources to reopen Colville Tribe’s plywood mill in Omak →

Wounded Knee, the site of one of the most horrific and tragic events in all of American history, is being offered for sale by its owner. The family of James A. Czywczynski, owners of two 40 acre sites of land where the slaughter of approximately 300 Lakota men, women, and children took place on Dec 29, 1890 has agreed to sell the land for $3.9 million.

Continue to The site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre is for sale →