Early, OLD 1900\'s Kuna NUCHU (UCHU) with Bead Eyes Medicine Doll Mola Panama
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Early, OLD 1900\'s Kuna NUCHU (UCHU) with Bead Eyes Medicine Doll Mola Panama:
$24.95
\"Kuna Indian Nuchu (also, Uchu, plural form, Nuchugana)of man with a top hat, signifying his added Kurgin, Kuna for aptitude, intelligence or gifted abilities. He has very old beads set in his eyes. The wear of the wood that the nuchu is made from is stabilized and will not deteriorate any more beyond what you see, and is from it\'s great age. Please look at all photos are best description of piece. It is 6 inches tall. Nuchu(s) are hand-carved medicinal dolls from the Kuna Indians of Kuna-Yala, the San Blas Islands, of Panama. The Kuna use the Nuchus, to communicate with the spirit world, they are also called Mimi Nuchus (little Nuchus), Nuchu Tummat (big Nuchus.) A Nuchu is carved by a medicine man (Innatuledi), but equally at times they are also carved by someone who is particularly adapt at carving, then they are purchased or traded for. Once acquired the nuchu, medicine doll will then be taken to a Innatuledi, a medicine man, who will instill the nuchu with it\'s spirit.\"
\"The wooden,anthropomorphic figures are most carved in the images of human beings, and typically those that are deemed powerful, but sometimes animals or mythical beings. The Innatuledi will sing sacred songs and chants (rather like incantations) which will awaken the spirit of the wood,infusingthe nuchu, medicinal doll with a tutelary, helping spirit.The Kuna\'s believe that the nuchu receives its power from the sacred tree that it is carved from. This tree spirit or \"life force\" (purba in Kuna) that it receives from the tree is what gives the nuchu its power, and that is to travel down into the underworld to bring back a person\'s spirit back from the evil spirit (nia in Kuna) that has taken it below to the underworld thus causing the illness. These medicinal dolls, uchu(s) are like protective guardian spirits that protect against the evil spirits that can attack a person, causing sickness. They are good magic. Most nuchus, medicinal dolls are usually carved by medicine men called an Innatuledi. In the process of carving, sacred songs and chants are sung which instill a tutelary spirit into the medicine doll, giving it a soul or spirit, purba in Kuna. This spirit comes from a part of the sacred tree that was used to make the nuchu.\"
\"Most Kunafamilies keep a box of nuchugana in their houses. When some member of their family falls ill, a medicine man is consulted, who sings sacred songs/chants to the nuchu while burning the smoke ofchocolatesmoke (cocoa bean smoke), bathed in sweet basil or otherfragrantherbs, anointed and sometimes painted, cared for as if they are living human beings. If they are not taken care of properly they may become angry and leave and refuse to stand vigil. (*On a personal note I have witnessed myself a few times while staying in Kuna villages, nuchus leaving for another house, because it was said they weren\'t being cared for.)\"
\"Nuchus are used for guiding people into the next world (heaven) when they die and gleaning information from their ancestors, they are used for protection and watching over the house and its inhabitants fromevilspirits; healing andassistingsomeone who is sick. I have also been told (you can be the judge) that nuchus travelingoutsideof Kuna-Yala (as in the nuchus you might purchase from me) can acttelepathicallyaiding the Kuna in garnering information about the outside world.\"
\"The Kunas believe that the spirits within the nuchu(s) can be summoned by a Nele(shaman, seer) who will send it to the spirit world The nuchus will guide the Nele, in his or her voyages to the underworld. In the spirit world the nuchu will work to get back the captured soul or purba, back from the evil spirits who have captured it, thus making that person ill. Most Kuna famalies keep a box of nuchus (nuchugana) in their homes and when someone falls ill a medicine man, Innatuledi or Nele, a seer is consulted and will sing and consult with the nuchu, invoking it\'s powers to combat the sickness. The tutelary spirit of the nuchuwill travel to the underworld to rescue the spirit of the ill person.\"Nuchus are very special objects of a spiritual nature and I think part of their charm is in that anytime you have such an object that has been revered, held and cared for over decades it will begin to resonate with that energy as well as show signs of wear.This nuchu was made by a medicine men, Innatuledi, and was used numerable times in healing rituals. Used in capturing amalevolentspirit (bad spirit causing the illness) by the medicine man. The medicine man, is summoned in the healing process, for communicating with the spirits and for soul retrieval, restoring the balance of health to the ill individual. The Innatuledi(shaman medicine man) will carve the Nuchu from sacred trees and will sing, infusing the Nuchu with a tutelary spirit, its \"purba\" soul. Nuchus are good, used for healing, to watch over the owner. Every Nuchu is unique, most are used over and over and kept for generations. Nuchus are a vehicle by which the Kuna people connect to theirspiritualworld.\" P.G.
I estimate the age of this nuchu to have been made in the early 1900\'s and it was collected by myself and partner in the mid-to late 1970\'s from the village of Mandinga, Kuna-Yala, on one of over a hundred collecting expeditions to Kuna-Yala, the San Blas Islands of Panama, that we made from 1973-2002. And for over two decades (actually 27 years, 1975-2003)I had a gallery of art devoted to molas and the arts of the Kuna.
*Please ask questions, I\'m more than happy to answer and get back with you. Sincerely, Prudence Heffron Grissom
-In the photos you will see pages from the book and museum exhibit \"The Art of Being Kuna\" curator Mari Lynn Salvador. All of the Nuchus shown and that were in the exhibit, were collected by myself in Kuna-Yala, and were purchased from me for the themuseum from abenefactor\'s gift for the exhibit, \"The Art of Being Kuna.\"
\" ~ Since, 1973 when I saw my first molas I was so \"taken off my feet\" and moved by what I saw that I couldn\'t help myself and made immediate plans to travel to the homeland of the Kuna, the indigenous people of Kuna-Yala. And, thus began my lifelong quest for discovering all I could about the art form of mola making and the people who make them. Before and sense I have always recognized the importance of actively supporting women\'s arts, of which molas are an extraordinary example, and the more I learned about the respected role of women in the Kuna culture, the more I was driven to support this alive and vibrant culture that honored and celebrated the vision of women through mola-making.
As in my decades longcareer as anethnographer of Kuna culture and on my many collecting expeditions for Kunas\' arts, I have been called upon to lecture on molas, taught mola making and have acted as a mola consultant for museums worldwide, and for some 27 years had a art gallery that was unique in the world in that it was devoted solely to molas and the arts of the Kuna. Over those years I have worked tirelessly to keep molas from being undermined in quality andinspiration by theinevitablecommercial pressures, doing this by my buying directly from the Kuna mola makers whenever possible and supporting prices which reflected the complex skills involved; as well as never dictating subject matter nor design,believingthe Kuna artists themselves areinfinitelymore creative than I ever could be. I have and always will be stronglycommittedto cultural preservation, and have personally and professionally been loyal and dedicated to the Kuna people, never believing that the art form of great mola making suddenly ended in the 1960\'s or 70\'s. It just happens that some of the greatest molas ever madeoccurred during a flowering of the art form in the 1990\'s. In each decade of the art form since its infancy, beginning in the late 20th century there have been times with each period having its own virtuoso\'s and masters of the craft.Mola making, like the Kuna peoplethemselvesare not static, they areevolving,adapting with some changeinevitable, butmy greatest wish is to do whatever I can do toaid them in surviving with as much of theirculture, arts and language intact. I believe it is so important to support the Kuna and their art who are living now, as well as preserving their history, we do this by not just buying pieces of a bygone day, but also the art of living artists, too. While it is important to collect for that which we love and honor of the past, it is so also important to include in our support those artists who are living with us now and who continue in their traditionallife. It isduplicitous of us to say we only like things or buy that of a certain age, as if it might be better-it might be and it might not....... So my advice is that if a great mola comes along don\'t be held down by a statementattestingit is of a certain age or not, and or collected by acertainperson, trust your gut, explore, learn, look at lots of molas, anddiscoverwhat it is that you love about them. Then embrace your passion, and don\'t look back! P.G. \" \"I have been very blessed and thank my lucky stars that I have had this amazing adventure of a life with the Kuna, and have been so incredibly fortunate that in allthesesyears of traveling to the villages of the San Blas Islands, home of the Kuna, the door was always open for me and I was invited in as a trusted friend and as a respected business partner; secrets told, hearts and hands held, and always was invited in, sharing their lives with me and mine with them, teaching me the ways of life and molas in Kuna-Yala. And it was with every visit and collecting expedition that I always returned with a renewed respect and admiration for the Kuna culture and our friendship deepened.
Presently I am working toward my goal of returning to Kuna-Yala, to buy and support mola makers and my friends the Kuna; and of course finish my research, and complete my forth coming book on molas and nuchus. P.G.\"
\"Molas and Nuchus: Folk Art of the Kuna Indians.\" Prudence Heffron Grissom
(All words, writing and photos in this description are the property of the author. Requests for permission to use any material, including quoting from this work should be sent to: Prudence Grissom....... The photos of the molas and nuchus are to be used in my forthcoming book presently being writing : \"Molas&Nuchus:Folk Art of the Kuna Indians\" by Prudence Heffron Grissom)PLEASE LOOK AT THE PHOTOS AS THEY SAY MUCH MORE THAN MY WORDS EVER COULD SAY! .....AND PLEASE just email me, I\'m more than happy to answer any questions you may have. ~Prudence
~LUCKYTREEHOUSE
Early, OLD 1900\'s Kuna NUCHU (UCHU) with Bead Eyes Medicine Doll Mola Panama:
$24.95