Relics are objects and traditions from the past that continue to exist today. They are usually preserved for venerating and studying the culture of the people who created them. Relics may include religious constructions, such as minarets and madrasas, ancient sculptures, stoneware, and even textile cloths. Each item has its style and represents the cultural values of people living on different continents of the world.
One of the important relics that depicts the culture of Native American people is the kachina doll. Pueblo people believed in the spirits and personifications of items in the world. These spirits are called kachinas and can represent any object of a phenomenon. They are usually impersonated by male members of the tribes who dress up and appear in the form of birds, animals, or demons in ceremonies during the first part of the year (Frank 352). The first ceremony is held in February before bean planting, and the last one takes place in July during harvesting. Kachina figures have religious and educational meanings for the Pueblo tribes. Kachina dolls are carved by Hopi and Zuni fathers who dance in ceremonies and present them as gifts to children to teach them local traditions (Frank 352). They view kachinas as supernatural beings that help them in life and serve as a connection with gods (Dockstader 9). Kachina figures are made of wood and textile and vary in style. Some may have headdresses that symbolize various natural phenomena such as clouds or sunshine.
Similar to tribes in Pueblo, people in Oceania also believed in spiritual power, or mana, that may be present in different objects. Therefore, artists endowed their creations with the power to promote wisdom and well-being in the community (Frank 343). Since they lacked clay and porcelain, Oceanic people did not create pottery; instead, they used wood and stone to make carvings. Carving is a subtractive process when a sculpture is made by removing parts of the material. For example, the people of Easter Island carved more than 600 moai, stone statues comprised of torsos and heads (Frank 345). Moai depict ancestors that overlook the activities in the settlements. The figures were placed on platforms and protected the inhabitants of the island. Moai represented a cultural tradition of respecting ancestors as Polynesian people paid homage to them and believed in their spiritual power.
African tribes are also famous for making culturally significant objects that were used in political and marital ceremonies. For example, cut-pile embroidery is one of Africa’s oldest traditions (Frank 342). The king of Kuba, Shyaam a-Mbul a Ngoong, first introduced woven and embroidered cloths produced from raffia in the seventeenth century (Clarke). The production of new textiles required collaboration between men and women. Interestingly, it coincided with the time when Ngoong managed to unite seventeen ethnic groups under his rule (Clarke). Men wove cloth with raffia fibers, and then women embroidered it “by lacing dyed strips through the warps and wefts” (Frank 342). The dyed raffia fibers were cut near the surface and produced a velvety texture. Raffia cloth with cut-pile embroidery was a prestigious item in the Kuba kingdom. It was often used in the production of women’s skirts for ceremonial dances (Clarke). Panels of raffia textiles were presented as gifts in financial, political, and marital deals in the past. Raffia textiles are still considered the only material appropriate for dressing the deceased and are passed down through generations.
Overall, the relics described above represent the culture of the people who created them and serve as examples of educational, protective, or political tools. Kachina figures of Pueblo tribes and stone carvings on Easter Island demonstrate people’s spirituality, belief in God, and respect for ancestors. Meanwhile, raffia clothes with cut-pile embroidery illustrate social stratification, the high value of prestige in the Kuba kingdom, and advanced textile techniques in the seventeenth-century Congo.
Works Cited
Clarke, Christa. “Double Prestige Panel (Kuba Peoples).” Khan Academy, 2006, Web.
Dockstader, Frederick. The Kachina and the White Man: A Study of the Influences of White Culture on the Hopi Kachina Cult. Cranbrook Institute of Science, 1954.
Frank, Patrick. Prebles’ Artforms. Pearson, 2019.