For about six months each year, benevolent spirits called katsinas come to live with the Hopi on their mesa tops. At the winter solstice, the katsinas in their physical form start to enter the Hopi villages. Their presence marks the beginning of the katsina ceremonial season, which continues throughout the first half of the year. In July the katsinas depart from the villages after the last day of the Niman Ceremony, the summer solstice observance. They return to their home on the San Francisco mountain peaks, 80 miles southwest of the Hopi mesas, until the next December, when the cycle begins anew.

Each katsina can be identified by its own individual character, costume, song, or dance style. Some are funny while others are frightening, but most are benevolent friends. The number of katsinas cannot be counted, because the pantheon of katsinas constantly changes. New katsinas appear now and then, while others drop out or come only on rare occasions.