The Shuar have achieved their notoriety through their
customary practice of head-shrinking. This practice occurred in the
Northwestern region of the Amazon rain forest, and the only tribes known to
have shrunken human heads are of the Jivaroan tribes; such as: the Shuar,
Achuar, Huambisa and Aguaruna tribes, localized in Ecuador and Peru. The Shuar
call a shrunken head a tsantsa or tzantza. (1)
The practice of making shrunken heads originally had
religious significance; shrinking the head of an enemy was believed to control
the spirit of that enemy and force him to serve the shrinker. (1) It was said
that shrinking the enemies' head eliminate the craving for revenge from the
deceased warrior’s soul, the Shuar decapitated the victim and set about
reducing the size of his head.(2)
The procedure of shrinking a head may take up to six days
and outcomes in the size of a man’s fist. This is an excerpt from M. Harners
book “People of the Sacred Waterfalls” that explains the process; “The process
of preparing a tsantsa[shrunken head] has a number of steps. With the aid of a
machete or a steel knife, the victim’s skin is peeled back from the uppermost
part of his chest, shoulders and back, and the head and neck are cut off as
close as possible to the collarbone… here he makes a slit up the rear of the
head and carefully cuts the skin from the skull and throws the latter into the
river as a gift to the anaconda. The skin is boiled for half and hour. It is
then dried. Then the skin is again scraped… the slit in the rear is sewn…
Heated stones or sand then is rolled around in the head… Three pins are put
through the lips and lashed with string. The skin is rubbed daily with charcoal
so it will become blackened…” (4)
After gaining enemies heads the Shuar have different feasts
or tributes unfolded in three stages, each lasting several days, but the last
one separated by a year.(3) This occurs to allow the re-harvesting of crops for
the subsequent celebration. The reasons behind the ceremonies that took part
with the tsantsa are for the benefit of defunct relatives in order to show that
the Jivaros are fulfilling their obligations of blood vengeance as well as to
increase their own prestige. The possession of the trophy enabled the warrior
to be singled out in admiration amongst his peers.(3)
It is frequently misunderstood that tsantsa were trophies of
combat. It was not until the 19th century and early 20th that the Shuar started
keeping the shrunken heads. They kept them in order to commerce with Europeans
and Euro-Americans for manufactured goods such as guns. This need lead to an
increase in tribal wars, which amounted to head hunting and added, gave the
Shuar a bloody reputation.(3)
References
1) Indian Cultures by Hands Around the World
2014 Shuar Indians Electronic document.
http://www.indian-cultures.com/cultures/shuar-indians/ June 2nd, 2015
2)Memim encyclopedia
2015, Shuar people, Electric document.
http://memim.com/shuar-people.html June 2nd, 2015
3) History and Process of head- shrinking
2013 Shuar indigenous people, Electronic document.
http://www.stormfrontfilms.com/shrunken_heads.htm June 2nd,2015
4) Steven, Rubenstein
2006 Circulation, Accumulation, and the Power of Shuar
Shrunken Heads.
Cultural Anthropology vol 22 issue 3 pp. 357-399
As a Mexican, I can relate my culture with the Shuar because we have traditions, customs and different rituals that other cultures does not understand. I find very interesting the way in which this indigenous people leaves. They remind me the indigenous people of my country, well they don't shrink heads or kill people but they have feasts and tributes for "Mayan gods", you can see different dances, the use of different language (to talk with the gods), foods, animal tributes, and so forth. It is really attractive the variety of beliefs we can find all over the world. I think that is important to keep all these traditions alive because they are our identities, our culture.
ReplyDeleteEthnocentrism which is the tendency to believe that one's ethnic or cultural group is centrally important, and that all other groups are measured in relation to one's own- is a term that we can see in a daily basis in our societies. The ethnocentric individual always judging other groups relative to his or her own particular ethnic group or culture, especially with concern to language, behavior, customs, and religion. Shrinking heads could be not a really nice tradition but it is important for them and has a unique meaning, it is part of who they are. We ca not judge them, because all the nations come up with their specific sects of cultural and ethnic values and norms. And, all such cultural values differ from one ethnic group or nationality to the other. We need to have an open mind and think that there are many different ways to do something. Respect, just that.
Great reflexive comment!!! Thanks. One thing you all have to address is your references. Look at the AAA STYLE GUIDE I posted on Canvas, for you it would be page 14 (for the online articles), and page 11 (for the journal article). Just follow the example formats there. All of you in your group have references, and I appreciate that, but none is consistent with one another or with what I asked for. Your electronic sources just need the date accessed right at the end, after the URL. Thank you for the very responsible work this semester Estefania!!! I really appreciate what you do in class :-)
ReplyDeleteThis would be an example for journal references from the GUIDE:
Moll, Luis C.
2000 Writing as Communication: Creating Strategic Learning Environments for Students. Theory
into Practice 25(3):202–208.
Moll, Luis C.
Please, delete my comments after you address these points. Just for aesthetic reasons, of course. Thanks again!!!