Native American spirituality

We describe the lightning whelk (Busycon sinistrum) and show how its shells were used among coastal peoples along the Gulf of Mexico and lower Atlantic coast. During the Middle and Late Archaic periods, lightning whelk shells were transported hundreds of km from the coasts to the Midsouth where they were made into a variety of artifacts that were interred in graves. We explore the symbolic significance of sinistral (''left-handed ") snails in post-Archaic times, focusing on the lightning whelk as a metaphor of spiral/circle, fire/sun, and purification/continuity among Native Americans of the eastern United States. This particular marine mollusk shell had special spiritual significance—and hence economic and political value—for several millennia, particularly in the southeastern United States, but its ritual importance as cultural icon resonates with cultures around the globe. The importance of the sinistral whelk as both medium and message has been inadequately appreciated by American archaeologists.

Full citation:  Frank, Roslyn M. and Marianna Ridderstad (2013) Conflicts over masks, museums and tourism: Comparing European and Native American Traditions and Solutions. Presentation at the 34h Annual American Indian Workshop: Art of Indians – Indians of Art, May 14-17, 2013, University of Helsinki, Finland.

Abstract
Roslyn M. Frank
Marianna Ridderstad

Conflicts over masks, museums and tourism: Comparing European and Native American Traditions and Solutions

The presentation begins by comparing certain contemporary conflicts and debates that have arisen in both Europe and N. America concerning the way that traditional masks worn by performers are carved and cared for, or, better stated, should be carved and cared for. The discussion will examine the impact of tourism and subsequent commercialization of the artifacts on the performances themselves and the way these pressures have impacted the production and sale of the masks, giving special attention to the ongoing debates over whether these masks should be commercialized at all and/or kept in a museum. The two study groups consist primarily, although not exclusively, of the masks and performances associated with the False Face Society of the Iroquois, on the one hand, and a kind of Alpine equivalent, the Tschäggättä performers of Switzerland, or stated more explicitly, the masked performers from the Löchtental of the Canton Valais in the Rhône Valley whose ritual activities are understood to bring good luck and health to those visited. Interviews with traditional carvers and performers will be discussed.

In the second part of the presentation other contemporary masking traditions in Europe and N. America will be examined, specifically, the masks and costumes of ‘bear performers’, including variants such as the Finnish Nuutti/Kekripukki. The accoutrements of these European 'bear maskers' will be compared to those found in N. America. At the same time, the comparative approach will serve to bring into focus the archaic pan-European belief that humans descended from bears since in many locations in Europe we still find a wide variety of bear-human performers, actors who dress as bears or bear-men and whose function is prophylactic, to confer good luck and health on those visited, masking traditions that have striking parallels among N. American indigenous peoples.

Roslyn M. Frank, Professor Emeritus at the University of Iowa, has done extensive fieldwork in the Basque Country, studying the language and beliefs of the Basque people, including the folk belief that holds Basques descended from bears. This led to subsequent investigations into circumpolar bear ceremonialism and to documenting residual evidence of the same in European traditional performance art. Her publications are in the area of Basque studies, cultural cognitive linguistics, and anthropology. For further information, cf. http://uiowa.academia.edu/RoslynMFrank.

Marianna Ridderstad has a Lic.Phil. in astrophysics and M.Sc. in theoretical physics, and is currently preparing her Ph.D. at the University of Finland on the archaeoastronomy of Neolithic stone monuments in Finland. Her research explores the archaeoastronomy of Finnish monuments from the Bronze Age to the Early Middle Ages, as well as ancient Finnish and Finno-Ugric folklore and traditions related to astronomical subjects, including the calendrical and ritual significance of the Bear. For further information, cf. http://helsinki.academia.edu/MariannaRidderstad.