Amongst the Wayana-Aparai peoples of Brazil, when a boy reaches puberty, he must demonstrate his readiness to assume adult status at the Tocandira ceremony. During the initiation rite, the heads of fire ants are pressed through the center of a kuana, an effigy of a powerful spirit. The kunana is then tied to the initiate's back or chest. Despite the continuous and painful bites from the fire ants, the initiate must not cry out. When he has successfully passed the ritual, the young man receives the kunana as a trophy of his courage.
A plumed kunana in the shape of a two-headed dragon, or jaguar, is among the objects featured in a new exhibit at the Peabody Museum of Natural History focusing on the name-giving or initiation rituals of the Wayana-Aparai and other Amerindian tribes. Titled "Fragments of the Sky: The Art of Amazonian Rites of Passage," the exhibit will open on Saturday, April 12, and continue through Saturday, Nov. 8.
The more than 80 objects on display include elaborate headdresses and body ornaments decorated with the brilliantly colored plumage of tropical birds; spirit-body masks made of wood and shell; exotic dance and ritual costumes created from bark cloth; ceramic sculptures; baskets; weapons; and fire-ant ritual shields. These objects are from a private collection and are being exhibited on the East Coast for the first time.
"Fragments of the Sky" offers the public "a remarkable opportunity to enter an aesthetic realm barely seen at museums in the United States or Europe," according to Richard L. Burger, director of the Peabody Museum, professor of anthropology and curator-in- charge of the exhibit.
"The indigenous peoples of the Amazonian rain forest are among the most fascinating groups in the world, and the remarkable art that they create for their rituals provides a unique window into their world," he notes. "Through these materials, we can begin to appreciate the unique genius of the Amazonian cultures while at the same time come to understand how their practice of marking life's major transitions parallels that in our own culture."
The Amazonian ollection also provides a glimpse into "a world seldom seen except by researchers: the intricate and affectively moving cosmos of lowland Amazonians," according to guest curator Peter Roe, professor of anthropology at the University of Delaware, who has conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork in the Amazon. The artifacts, which are "wrought from the very stuff of the rain forest itself," reveal the tribes' "profound identification with, knowledge of, and participation in, the constant recycling of birth- and-death that is the jungle," he adds.
In conjunction with the opening of the exhibit, Professor Roe will present a lecture titled "The Art and Cosmology of the Body in Amazonian Ceremony" at 4 p.m. on Friday, April 11. The talk is open to the public and is free with museum admission.
"Fragments of the Sky" also looks at some of the forces that are threatening the health, lifestyle and culture of the Amazon's indigenous peoples -- such as the increase in river pollution, soil depletion and deforestation caused by encroaching oil drilling, mining, logging and ranching operations. It was, in fact, a desire to preserve objects "reflecting a widely unknown culture whose people were rapidly diminishing in number" that inspired guest curator Adam Mekler to amass one of the largest private archives of Amerindian art in the United States.
Mr. Mekler will give a talk titled "Fragments of the Sky: A Collector's Vision" at 1:30 p.m. on April 12. It, too, is open to the public and free with museum admission.
During the coming months, the Peabody Museum will offer additional programs exploring from a variety of perspectives what is happening in the Amazon and the world's other rain forests. News of these events will appear in future issues of the Yale Bulletin & Calendar.
The Peabody Museum of Natural History is located at 170 Whitney Ave. It is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $5 for adults; and $3 for children ages 3- 15 and senior citizens over age 65. Members of the Yale community with a valid I.D. will be admitted free. For further information, call the InfoTape at 435-5050.