|
Jivaro (Jibaro) Shrunken Heads from Ecuador |
 |
Jivaro Shrunken head;
Museo Pumapungo; Cuenca, Ecuador |
Jivaro Shrunken head;
Museo Pumapungo; Cuenca, Ecuador |
Jibaro Shrunken Head - Museum Of America, Madrid |
Jivaro Indian tribes
of Ecuador and Peru. Though private and reclusive,
the Jivaro’s had a most fierce warlike reputation….
due in no small part to their practice of shrinking
heads tsantsa. The Jivaro’s were the only native
people to have been able to frustrate attempts by
the Spaniards to conquer them. The Jivaro’s fierce
fighting reputation and head-shrinking practice
continued to discourage outsiders from entering
their territories until the early 20th century, when
missionaries began attempting to convert them.
This being one of the missionaries. |
 |
Jibaro Shrunken Head |
Jivaro Shrunken head;
Museo Pumapungo; Cuenca, Ecuador |
Shrunken Heads On Display |
This traditional
tsantsa has the characteristic sewn-lip trade
mark of the South American shrunken head The Jivaro
believe that the life force of a slain enemy is
transformed into an avenging spirit called a
muisak which will seek vengeance among the
living. In order to trap the avenging spirit within
the head, the eyes are shut, the lips are sewn
tight, and the face is blackened with charcoal so
that the muisak cannot see out. |
 |
Jibaro Head |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Details Of The Rear Cut Can Be Seen |
 |
Jivaro Head on display at the Museo de Miniaturas,
El Carromato de Max, in Mijas, Spain |
 |
Missionaries Shrunken Head fromt he Jivaros on
display at the Museo de Miniaturas, El Carromato de
Max, in Mijas, Spain |
Shrunken Heads On Display |
 |
Jivaro Head on display in San Antonio, TX |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
From 1890 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
This tsantsa was blackened by charcoal. This
procedure, as well as the tying of the lips, was
designed to imprison the victim's vengeful soul
within the shrunken head. |
 |
 |
Ecuadorian Shrunken Head |
NMNH Ecuadorian Shrunken Head |
Jibaro (Jivaro) Head |
On display in Quito Ecuador |
 |
classic style – the very old real tsantsa – which
has always been made in the traditional way and
called tsantsa as a kind of trophy head – only made
by the Jivaros tribes |
On display in La Fortuna, Costa Rica |
Get Your Own
Shrunken Heads
Here » |
Shrunken head in
Ethnological Museum Barcelona, Spain |
|
 |
 |
Shrunken heads symbolize the supernatural, and it is
impossible to look at one and not feel in the
presence of the soul. |
 |
Smithsonian Wash. D.C. |
 |
|
Chilean Shrunken
Heads |
Chilean Shrunken Head Of European Missionary, Museo
de Colchagua, Santa Cruz
|
Chilean Shrunken Head, Museo de Colchagua, Santa
Cruz |
|
|
Brazilian
Shrunken Heads |
 |
 |
 |
|
Peruvian Shrunken
Heads |
 |
|
|
|
Robert Ripley's Believe It Or Not Collection |
Mr. Ripley holds shrunken head.
 |
Ripley holding a Jivaro head
 |
 |
 |
Ripley's Believe It Or Not Odditorium in New York's
Times Square. |
 |
 |
 |
Branson, MO |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
NYC |
London, UK |
London, UK |
