Hands Around the World

Indian Cultures from Around the World

Ticuna Indians

Area: Alto Solimones - Colombia - Brazil frontier (Map)

Other Names: Tikuna, Tukuna, Magüa

First Contact: 1532

Population: 32,613 (1998)

Economics: Fishing and Agriculture

Language Root: Alolfilo (not yet identified)

 

The Ticuna, also spelled Tukuna or Tikuna, reside in the Brazilian Amazon rain forest near the borders of Peru and Colombia. There are over 70 established Ticuna aldeias (villages) in the Alto Solimones, in the area of the rivers Santo Antonio do Ica and Solimones River. There is also a population in Colombia. The Ticuna were one of the first major tribes of the Amazon to be contacted by the early conquistadors. They are one of the last large population groups left in Brazil. Even with over 400 years of contact, the Ticuna Nation has managed to preserve their personal identity through their native language, traditional religions, rituals, and cultural art forms. They have survived the constant threat of violent extermination and forced integration policies by Western society. The Ticuna are a very artistic tribe whose talents include basketry, wood and stone sculpture, and mask making. They also make  bark cloth which is a natural fiber, paper-like fabric which they often paint. This fabric is often incorporated into many things such as masks and dolls as well as painting on it as on canvas or paper. They are one of the few Amazon tribes that paint just for the worth of the painting itself as opposed to painting as decoration on a utilitarian object.

 

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	Intricately hand carved stone caiman or alligator encircled by a snake.
	Covered Ticuna basket, 14" x 13"

 

A very traditional and artistic tribe, the Ticuna have a very rich culture using ceremony and ritual to commemorate many facets of their life. They are known for the traditional masks and costumes they use in these ceremonies.

When a Ticuna dies he is buried in a canoe that has a top carved for it. With this canoe he will cross the river of death. Within the canoe are put things he will need in the afterlife. During the funeral there is a ceremony in which the members of the tribe dance with masks that are carved to represent all the birds and animals that the deceased will want to hunt in the next life. This ritual is designed to make certain that these kinds of game will be plentiful for him. The mask is made of hand carved wood on pounded bark cloth. Both the wood and the bark cloth are decorated with natural vegetable paints. Typically the bark cloth goes over the top of the head and the carving rests on the forehead allowing the dancer to see through the porous cloth or sometimes he sees through the mouth or eyes of the carving.

Full size Ticuna Funeral Masks  - bark cloth 13 to 17 inches long:

Alligator mask	Jaguar mask
Alligator and Jaguar mask

The full body mask below is made of pounded bark cloth, beeswax faces, fibers and vegetable dyes by the Ticuna Indians. Traditionally, when a young girl reaches puberty she is placed in a hut by herself where she stays two or three years with only her mother being allowed to visit. At the end of this period the father throws a huge party. The girl is given a drink that makes her slightly drunk or numb and the father pulls all of the hair out of her head one strand at a time. It is said that if she can bear this, she can stand the pain of childbirth. Afterwards there is much dancing and celebration. The men wear the suits with the large penis'. These represent the monkey figure. This full body mask is also used in the young girls puberty ceremony. It does not have the penis and represents the Mother of the Wind figure. Most Ticuna today no longer do the forced time alone or the pulling of the hair, but continue with other rituals including dancing with the masks.

genuine ritual mask	mask face

Ticuna Ceremonial Rattles are hand made with nut hulls on a stick decorated with burned-on designs.

These whistles are made from small gourds on a bamboo stick and decorated with weaving and colorful feathers. They are played by blowing down as into a coke bottle. Approx. 9" tall.

Ticuna dolls

 

Additional Information

Ticuna Indians - from The Catholic Encyclopedia

Ticuna vocabulary

The Wire - July 2001 Ticuna - Amnesty International

Instituto Pólis - Projeto Educação Ticuna

Language Museum - Ticuna

Arte indígena ticuna

Photo Ticuna children

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