Dance of the macaws

There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .

sova.nmai.ac.001.010_ref557

Collection Creator: Lothrop, S. K. (Samuel Kirkland), 1892-1965; Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation

See more items in: Samuel K. Lothrop photograph collection; Samuel K. Lothrop photograph collection / Series 3: MAI Central American Expedition in El Salvador / Cacaopera (Kakawira): Dance of the macaws

Collection Citation: Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Samuel K. Lothrop photograph collection, NMAI.AC.001.010. National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center, Smithsonian Institution.

Collection Rights: Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from National Museum of the American Indian Archives Center. Please submit a written request to nmaiphotos@si.edu. For personal or classroom use, users are invited to download, print, photocopy, and distribute the images that are available online without prior written permission, provided that the files are not modified in any way, the Smithsonian Institution copyright notice (where applicable) is included, and the source of the image is identified as the National Museum of the American Indian. For more information please see the Smithsonian's Terms of Use and NMAI Archive Center's Digital Image request website. There are photographs in this collection that are restricted due to cultural sensitivity.

Scope and Contents: View during the dance of the macaws performed by community members in Cacaopera, El Salvador. Either the Birdman, wearing a wooden mask with a beak, or the Jaguar man, wearing an animal skin mask (NMAI 131012.000) face off against the bull, or "el torito pinto." A three level pyramid with a solid hut on top can be seen in the background. The pyramid symbolized the royal Taulépa House, though a cross was added on top by the church.
Additional Community Narrative: Wanasas, the "man of the light" performs the placing of the net with edible roots, corn and cacao to appease. In lenca tradition, before an event, a giant challenges the royals and the people, and Wanasas is the one who charms him to let the event take place. Wanasas is courageous and pays due respect to the raw forces of nature, savagery and instinctual rage. The Lencas, and especially the Taulepa, kept this format ritual until the prohibition in 1932. Chief Leonel Chevez (October 2024)

Collection Restrictions: Access to NMAI Archives Center collections is by appointment only, Monday - Friday, 9:30 am - 4:30 pm. Please contact the archives to make an appointment (phone: 301-238-1400, email: nmaiarchives@si.edu).

NMAI.AC.001.010_ref557

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sv4d464e287-e98f-46a1-8e50-341e43c94b4d

NMAI.AC.001.010

NMAIA

Samuel K. Lothrop photograph collection

Creator

Lothrop, S. K. (Samuel Kirkland), 1892-1965

Summary

The Samuel K. Lothrop photograph collection primarily contains negatives, photographic prints, and lantern slides made by Lothrop while employed by the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation from 1924-1930. Lothrop was an archaeologist and photographer who extensively traveled and worked throughout Central America and South America and led expeditions on behalf of the MAI to Argentina, Chi...