Intertwining the Spiritual and the Material World
A jaguar is lurking behind the bushes. An anaconda is slithering about while howler monkeys are wailing menacingly from towering treetops. This is the exuberant Amazon region. It consists of 48% of the national territory and yet holds only about 4.8% of the country's population. However, despite the penetration of Western society, many ancient ethnic groups, struggling to live in harmony with the rain forest, still exist. The main ethnic groups are the Siona, Secoya, Huaroani, A'i-cofanes, Quichuas, Shuar, Achuar y Shiwiar. The most numerous of these is the Quichua, which has a population of about 30,000 people who mainly dwell in the Napo and Pastaza provinces. Within the Quichuas, there is a variety of subgroups with their own distinct dialects and traditions. Yet something holds true for all the Quichuas of the Amazon: the belief that the spiritual and the material world are delicately intertwined in order to create a balance between man and the environment. This balance is reflected in the Quichua women's ceramic art, known as mucahua.

A Feminine Affair
It is the women who go into the forest in search of a special clay, maga alpa. As they do so, they invoke the powers of Nungwi, a forest- dwelling goddess who is in charge of helping with the successful growth of garden plots, and of making sure the mucahua will become objects of utility and beauty. The women need her help, for they must search high and low for the clay in hills and ravines and carry it back on their shigra purses. Once the coveted clay is found, pots, jugs and recipients are carefully elaborated through a delicate process of chordeling. This means that "chords" of clay are applied in a circular form and then softly smoothed with fingers and plant leaves. Thus, very light vessels with thin walls are obtained. However, not all pieces are created equal. They have their own hierarchy depending on their designated use: plates or bowls for everyday cold foods have simple decorations and are finished with a vegetable resin to give them some shine. The bowls or jugs for warm foods (usually the sacred chicha drink) are covered with beeswax in order to seal them and make them waterproof. Once dry, most pieces are covered in white, yellow or red mineral paint. Finally, the women must sacrifice an element of their feminine vanity: a piece of their hair is used as a paint brush to create beautiful designs.

Symbolic Designs
For the Amazon Quichuas, animals, plants and stars are considered potent spirits. The supai or jungle spirits, which often dwell in them, must be asked for permission to collect fruits, hunt, fish, plant and harvest. For this reason supai spirits must be respected and honored, and thus the balance and harmony is kept between the natives and the jungle.

One way of honoring the spirits and invoking their powers is by representing them through the designs created in the mucahua pottery. Women take extra care in painting chicha jugs or any vessels for ritual use. Geometric designs which are an abstraction of elements of the jungle, in hues of ocre, red, brown and black are carefully painted. These geometric designs are inspired by patterns found in "power animals" such as turtles and the mighty anaconda snake. A swirling snake draws you into the center of the bowl allowing you to almost hear the ritual chanting of the shaman.

The geometric designs and colors are charged with symbolism: the black line is associated with complex family relations. Also, "three spirits must be included in each piece: the spirit of the garden plot, the artisan's spirit, and the spirit of the home: which includes supernatural forces and family." (Cuvi, 60).

Life is but a Dream
Long before modern psychology, the Quichua from the Amazon realized the importance dreams have in our daily lives. In fact, every morning, the family sits down and interprets their dreams in order to give direction and take precautions for the new day. Some of the mucahua ceramics also reflect this dream world. This is especially true for other Quichua ceramics which represent the supai. They are represented as little "monster-like" figurines which creep into the dreams and the hallucinogenic visions of shamans. To represent them in ceramics is a way of giving homage to these beings.

Because according to some authors, for the Amazon Quichuas, the world we live in is an imitation, and the dream world is actually reality, then understanding the dream world becomes indispensable for survival. What if this were true? Then maybe our lives would also be filled with spirits, snakes, and odd creatures which needed to be honored in order to ensure our survival. As the Quichuas continue to struggle to keep their land and identity, the mucahua ceramics provide a beautiful and tangible way in which the Quechua can represent the subtle relationship between dreams and reality; and nature and man.

By Carolina Matheus, for Floklore Olga Fisch

Sources:

• www.bolsaamazonia.com
• www.edufuturo.com
• www.jatunsacha.org
• www.abyayala.org/Kipu
• Midalae Museum
• Moya, Alba Ethnos: Atlas Etnográfico del Ecuador Quito: 1997.
• Cuvi, Pablo. Crafts of Ecuador. Quito:1994

Photographs:
Iván Ceballos

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