TITLE: Emberá Macaw
TYPE: face mask
GENERAL REGION: Latin America
COUNTRY: Panama
SUBREGION: Darien
ETHNICITY: Emberá
DESCRIPTION: Blue-and-Gold Macaw Mask
CATALOG ID: LAPA010
MAKER: Unknown
CEREMONY: Healing; Purification
AGE: 2010
MAIN MATERIAL: dyed palm fibers
OTHER MATERIALS: N/A
The Emberá people belong to the Chocó ethnic group along with the Wounaan people inhabit parts of southern Panama and northern Colombia. They weave remarkable animal spirit masks from the dyed fibers of the black chunga plant (black palm, Astrocaryum standleyanum). Shamans (jaibaná) use these masks in healing and village purification rituals, during which they will be hung from the house posts or worn.
