A katsura tree ikupasuy
Ikupasuy are wooden, carved ceremonial sticks used by Ainu men when making offerings to spirits.
Ikupasuy are wooden, carved ceremonial sticks used by Ainu men when making offerings to spirits.
The central section of an ikupasuy is decorated, featuring animals, floral motives as well as abstract designs. The ends of an ikupasuy bear designs that represent the patriarchal lineage of the owner. The Ainu believe that the designs on the ends of the ikupasuy help the spirits in identifying the person who made the offering. The underside of the ikupasuy may on some occasions be carved with various symbols called shiroshi. A common shiroshi is symbol representing the killer whale. The pointed end of the ikupasuy is known as the 'tongue'. [1] The libation process is performed when the ikupasuy's ‘tongue' placed into a lacquerware cup or saucer, containing millet beer or sake. Drops of the liquid then fall upon the venerated object. [2] The Ainu limited their representation of animals and to the ikupasuy. Ainu men occasionally used the ikupasuy as a mean to lift their moustaches, leading non Ainu observers of this habit to call them moustache lifters. [3] Another name is "libation sticks". [4]
The Ainu are an indigenous ethnic group who reside in northern Japan and southeastern Russia, including Hokkaido and the Tōhoku region of Honshu, as well as the land surrounding the Sea of Okhotsk, such as Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, the Kamchatka Peninsula, and the Khabarovsk Krai. They have occupied these areas, known to them as "Ainu Mosir", since before the arrival of the modern Yamato and Russians. These regions are often referred to as Ezochi (蝦夷地) and its inhabitants as Emishi (蝦夷) in historical Japanese texts. Along with the Yamato and Ryukyu ethnic groups, the Ainu people are one of the primary historic ethnic groups of Japan.
Totem poles are monumental carvings found in western Canada and the northwestern United States. They are a type of Northwest Coast art, consisting of poles, posts or pillars, carved with symbols or figures. They are usually made from large trees, mostly western red cedar, by First Nations and Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast including northern Northwest Coast Haida, Tlingit, and Tsimshian communities in Southeast Alaska and British Columbia, Kwakwaka'wakw and Nuu-chah-nulth communities in southern British Columbia, and the Coast Salish communities in Washington and British Columbia.
A libation is a ritual pouring of a liquid as an offering to a deity or spirit, or in memory of the dead. It was common in many religions of antiquity and continues to be offered in cultures today.
African art describes modern and historical paintings, sculptures, installations, and other visual cultures from native or indigenous Africans and the African continent. The definition may also include the art of the African diasporas, such as art in African-American, Caribbean or South American societies inspired by African traditions. Despite this diversity, there are unifying artistic themes present when considering the totality of the visual culture from the continent of Africa.
The Horniman Museum and Gardens is a museum in Forest Hill, London, England. Commissioned in 1898, it opened in 1901 and was designed by Charles Harrison Townsend in the Modern Style. It has displays of anthropology, natural history and musical instruments, and is known for its large collection of taxidermied animals. The building is Grade II* listed.
Ainu music is the musical tradition of the Ainu people of northern Japan. Ainu people have no indigenous system of writing, and so have traditionally inherited the folklore and the laws of their culture orally, often through music.
A spirit house is a shrine to the protective spirit of a place that is found in the Southeast Asian countries of Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. They are normally in the form of small roofed structure mounted on a pillar or a dais, and can range in size from small platforms to houses large enough for people to enter. Spirit houses are intended to provide a shelter for spirits that could cause problems for the people if not appeased. They often include images or carved statues of people and animals. Votive offerings are left at them to propitiate the spirits; more elaborate installations include an altar for this purpose.
The Chokwe people, known by many other names, are a Bantu ethnic group of Central and Southern Africa. They are found primarily in Angola, southwestern parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and northwestern parts of Zambia.
Ainu cuisine is the cuisine of the ethnic Ainu in Japan and Russia. The cuisine differs markedly from that of the majority Yamato people of Japan. Raw meat like sashimi, for example, is rarely served in Ainu cuisine, which instead uses methods such as boiling, roasting and curing to prepare meat. Also unlike Japanese cuisine, traditional Ainu cuisine did not use miso, soy sauce, or sugar, though these seasonings make an appearance in modern Ainu cuisine. The island of Hokkaidō in northern Japan is where most Ainu live today; however, they once inhabited most of the Kuril Islands, the southern half of Sakhalin island, and parts of northern Honshū Island.
Australian Aboriginal artefacts include a variety of cultural artefacts used by Aboriginal Australians. Most Aboriginal artefacts were multi-purpose and could be used for a variety of different occupations. Spears, clubs, boomerangs and shields were used generally as weapons for hunting and in warfare. Watercraft technology artefacts in the form of dugout and bark canoes were used for transport and for fishing. Stone artefacts include cutting tools and grinding stones to hunt and make food. Coolamons and carriers such as dillybags, allowed Aboriginal peoples to carry water, food and cradle babies. Message sticks were used for communication, and ornamental artefacts for decorative and ceremonial purposes. Aboriginal children’s toys were used to both entertain and educate.
Bear worship is the religious practice of the worshipping of bears found in many North Eurasian ethnic religions such as among the Sami, Nivkh, Ainu, Basques, Germanic peoples, Slavs and Finns. There are also a number of deities from Celtic Gaul and Britain associated with the bear. The Dacians, Thracians and Getians in the Eastern Balkans were noted to worship bears and annually celebrate the bear dance festival. The bear is featured on many totems throughout northern cultures that carve them.
A kamuy is a spiritual or divine being in Ainu mythology, a term denoting a supernatural entity composed of or possessing spiritual energy.
Hopi katsina figures, also known as kachina dolls, are figures carved, typically from cottonwood root, by Hopi people to instruct young girls and new brides about katsinas or katsinam, the immortal beings that bring rain, control other aspects of the natural world and society, and act as messengers between humans and the spirit world.
Coast Salish art is an art unique to the Pacific Northwest Coast among the Coast Salish peoples. Coast Salish are peoples from the Pacific Northwest Coast made up of many different languages and cultural characteristics. Coast Salish territory covers the coast of British Columbia and Washington state. Within traditional Coast Salish art there are two major forms; the flat design and carving, and basketry and weaving. In historical times these were delineated among male and female roles in the community with men made "figurative pieces, such as sculptures and paintings that depicts crest, shamanic beings, and spirits, whereas women produced baskets and textiles, most often decorated with abstract designs."
Wood carving is a common art form in the Cook Islands. Sculpture in stone is much rarer although there are some excellent carvings in basalt by Mike Tavioni. The proximity of islands in the southern group helped produce a homogeneous style of carving but which had special developments in each island. Rarotonga is known for its fisherman's gods and staff-gods, Atiu for its wooden seats, Mitiaro, Mauke and Atiu for mace and slab gods and Mangaia for its ceremonial adzes. Most of the original wood carvings were either spirited away by early European collectors or were burned in large numbers by missionary zealots.
Inau or Inaw is an Ainu term for a ritual wood-shaving stick used in Ainu prayers to the spiritual world. They were used in most Ainu religious rituals, and were also frequently made to request assistance for hunting and childbirth. Some can be used multiple times, while others are destroyed immediately after one use. Their size and the direction in which they are shaved depends on which kamuy it is offered to and what is being requested.
Trinidad Orisha, also known as Orisha religion and Shango, is a syncretic religion in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean, originally from West Africa. Trinidad Orisha incorporates elements of Spiritual Baptism, and the closeness between Orisha and Spiritual Baptism has led to use of the term "Shango Baptist" to refer to members of either or both religions. Anthropologist James Houk described Trinidad Orisha as an "Afro-American religious complex", incorporating elements mainly from traditional African religion and Yoruba and including some elements from Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Baháʼí, and Amerindian mythologies.
In Edo culture, the creation of Benin ancestral altars plays a vital role in honoring deceased relatives, preserving family legacies, and facilitating communication with the spirit world. This practice was and remains widespread throughout Edo society, with commoners, chiefs and the Oba of Benin, or divine king, all establishing some form of family shrine. The origins of ancestral altars in Edo culture are believed to trace back to the early era of Kingdom of Benin, though the exact timeline is unclear. Royal ancestral altars, in particular, held great significance, as they were deeply intertwined with the Oba's succession to the throne and the consolidation of his power. These altars were often decorated with sacred objects, such as altar tableaus, commemorative heads, carved tusks, and musical instruments, which not only enshrined the legacies of rulers but also facilitated communication between the world of the living and the spirit realm. The ceremonial objects placed on these altars are considered some of the finest examples of Benin art and are revered for their cultural and spiritual importance.
Kuba art comprises a diverse array of media, much of which was created for the courts of chiefs and kings of the Kuba Kingdom. Such work often featured decorations, incorporating cowrie shells and animal skins as symbols of wealth, prestige and power. Masks are also important to the Kuba. They are used both in the rituals of the court and in the initiation of boys into adulthood, as well as at funerals. The Kuba produce embroidered raffia textiles which in the past was made for adornment, woven currency, or as tributary goods for funerals and other seminal occasions. The wealth and power of the court system allowed the Kuba to develop a class of professional artisans who worked primarily for the courts but also produced objects of high quality for other individuals of high status.
The Senufo people who live along the Ivory Coast in Africa created the ceremonial drum. The drum represents various aspects of tradition and life for certain Senufo communities. The construction of the drum is particularly indicative of the roles of women within Senufo communities and how they are seen as "preservers of life" those that hold up the structure and spirituality which govern their world. In fact, of the four Senufo societies, which educate and govern the individual acts of people, the divination governing sandogo society is composed mostly of women. Senufo culture is matrilineal and certain societal positions such as the artisans, are determined by matrilineal inheritance. While ruled by elder male leaders, one's place in society, as well as their position for the future, is determined by the lineage of the mother. The ceremonial drum owned and housed in the Art Institute of Chicago epitomizes Senufo culture, and it is through drum's embellished designs that viewers are exposed to core beliefs of the Senufo, particularly, in how women are seen as guardians of divinity and supporting foundations of society for the Senufo.
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