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Caribbean Espiritismo (Spiritist) altars : the Indian and the Congo

Catalog Data

Author:
Bettelheim, Judith 1944-  Search this
Smithsonian Libraries African Art Index Project DSI  Search this
Type:
Articles
Place:
Caribbean Area
Cuba
Puerto Rico
Date:
2005
Notes:
Illustrations (some color).
In the religion known as Espiritismo in Cuba and Puerto Rico, readily available, commercially produced statues of Indians (Native Americans) are used in its altars. Comparing Espiritismo's altar arts, a severely understudied aspect of the practice, as well as related altars of the New Orleans Spiritual Church, leads to the theory that certain stylistic and iconographic signifiers may derive, in part, from central African (Congo) masquerades and sculpture. It seems that in addition to being the first inhabitants of America, Indians, in figure and image, became a substitute for lost African ancestors as well as loci for special spiritual power.
Topic:
Spiritualism  Search this
Altars  Search this
Altars--Kongo influences  Search this
Household shrines  Search this
Indians in art  Search this
Religion  Search this
African influences  Search this
Call number:
N1 .B936
Data Source:
Smithsonian Libraries
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:siris_sil_780013