Fertility Symbol

Native Indian Tribe

Meaning of the Fertility Symbol

Native American Indians were a deeply spiritual people and they communicated their history, thoughts, ideas and dreams from generation to generation through symbols. Native American symbols are generally geometric portrayals of celestial bodies, natural and supernatural phenomena and animal designs.

The most commonly recognised Fertility symbol depicts a supernatural figure called Kokopelli. Kokopelli is a fertility deity of some Southwest Native American cultures. Kokopelli is usually depicted as a hunchbacked, dancing flute player but Kokopelli can also be depicted with a large phallus the sign that has always symbolized fertility.

Phallic Kokopelli - Fertility Symbol

Fertility Symbol - Kokopelli
The distinguishing features of the Kokopelli fertility symbol are his hunchback, his dancing pose and his flute. The hunch on his back represented the sack he carried which might contain seeds for the harvest, the songs he carried and rainbows. Kokopelli was often depicted with an over-exaggerated phallus which is a symbol that is commonly associated with fertility throughout the ancient world. Like most fertility deities, Kokopelli presides over both childbirth and agriculture, hence the sack containing seeds. Symbols of this ancient deity has been found on prehistoric American rock carvings. In the fertility legend of Kokopelli, told by the Hopi Native Indians, Kokopelli carried unborn children in the sack on his back and distributed them to women.  Another myth told that when Kokopelli arrived in villages everyone would sing and dance the night away. In the morning, when he left, the crops were plentiful and all the women were pregnant. Young, unmarried girls often feared him - they had no need for a fertility spirit.

Additional Fertility Symbols
There are many icons that symbolize Fertility in the culture of the Native American. Some tribes associated the wolf with fertility and protection and destruction. The meaning of the Water symbol was to signify life, fertility and purity. The Hopi and Pueblo tribes marked the summer solstice by dressing up as Kachinas, the dancing spirits of rain and fertility.

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Updated 2018-01-01

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