Out of the Amazon
Today the IHSS class went on a field trip to the Houston Museum of Natural Science, specifically to visit the Out of the Amazon exhibit. the displays focused on telling the story of 13 tribes, showcasing headdresses, clothing, and woodwork among other artifacts. The biggest amount of artifacts were the ceremonial headdresses which were mostly made of bird’s feathers and only used once. Many of the other pieces focused on animals: peccaries, bees, bats, tarantulas, scorpions, monkeys, bullet and fire ants, and jaguars, to name a few.
Overall, I thought the exhibit was well done and respectful of the people whose culture was being showcased. All of the artifacts in the exhibit were used once by the people of the tribes and then given to the museum, because the tribespeople believe that after the first time they use a religious object, it loses it’s powers.
There are countless dangers when living in the Amazon. Most of the tribes are vegetarian, relying heavily on fishing and manioc, or what we call tapioca. Tapioca has a starchy root similar to a potato, but when ingested raw,the cyanide in it will kill you from the inside. To make it edible, the root is shredded, boiled, and put into a large squeezer device that is hung from a tree. When the shredded root is strained, both water and the cyanide are squeezed out, making the manioc edible.
Sometimes the dangers of the Amazon are created by the tribespeople themselves. The Tonsa, a war-focused tribe, are constantly paranoid of each other. They also believe that when they kill an enemy, the spirit of their opponent can come back to haunt them. The only way to battle this? Shrink their enemy’s head. They are only allowed to have two shrunken heads per warrior, although shrinking heads has been illegal since the 1950’s, which means they have to improvise. In order to please tourists, the Tonsa have been known to shrink the heads of monkeys and pass those off as human.
The shrinking process itself is somewhat complicated and very interesting. Here's what you’ll need:
1 head of your enemy for shrinking
1 knife
A lot of hot water
A handful of stones
1 ½ cups of sand
1 sewing needle
1 spool of heavy-duty thread
First you take your knife and use it to peel off the skin from the face. A bloody but necessary first step
Now boil the skinless head in water for 1 hour. Let it rest for 30 minutes, then boil it again.* Do this 4 times.
Stuff your now semi boiled head with a handful of stones to ensure that the face holds it’s shape.
Boil the head again until it is too small for the stones, then replace the stones with sand.*
Once your head has reached it’s desired shape, you can sew up the neck, eyes, nose, mouth, and any other holes in the face.
There you go! A shrunken head of your very own!
*Keep children and babies away from hot surfaces such as stoves while cooking.
Overall, I thought the exhibit was well done and respectful of the people whose culture was being showcased. All of the artifacts in the exhibit were used once by the people of the tribes and then given to the museum, because the tribespeople believe that after the first time they use a religious object, it loses it’s powers.
There are countless dangers when living in the Amazon. Most of the tribes are vegetarian, relying heavily on fishing and manioc, or what we call tapioca. Tapioca has a starchy root similar to a potato, but when ingested raw,the cyanide in it will kill you from the inside. To make it edible, the root is shredded, boiled, and put into a large squeezer device that is hung from a tree. When the shredded root is strained, both water and the cyanide are squeezed out, making the manioc edible.
Sometimes the dangers of the Amazon are created by the tribespeople themselves. The Tonsa, a war-focused tribe, are constantly paranoid of each other. They also believe that when they kill an enemy, the spirit of their opponent can come back to haunt them. The only way to battle this? Shrink their enemy’s head. They are only allowed to have two shrunken heads per warrior, although shrinking heads has been illegal since the 1950’s, which means they have to improvise. In order to please tourists, the Tonsa have been known to shrink the heads of monkeys and pass those off as human.
The shrinking process itself is somewhat complicated and very interesting. Here's what you’ll need:
1 head of your enemy for shrinking
1 knife
A lot of hot water
A handful of stones
1 ½ cups of sand
1 sewing needle
1 spool of heavy-duty thread
First you take your knife and use it to peel off the skin from the face. A bloody but necessary first step
Now boil the skinless head in water for 1 hour. Let it rest for 30 minutes, then boil it again.* Do this 4 times.
Stuff your now semi boiled head with a handful of stones to ensure that the face holds it’s shape.
Boil the head again until it is too small for the stones, then replace the stones with sand.*
Once your head has reached it’s desired shape, you can sew up the neck, eyes, nose, mouth, and any other holes in the face.
There you go! A shrunken head of your very own!
*Keep children and babies away from hot surfaces such as stoves while cooking.
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