The Americas · c. 1500 BCE – today

Taíno zemís & Caribbean amulets

Meaning

Zemís (cemís) are spirit images of the Taíno of the Caribbean, carved in stone, shell, bone, wood and cotton: three-pointed stones, frog-women, skeletal faces with large eyes. They were the dwelling places of spirits and ancestors.

Intent

Chiefs and shamans kept and consulted zemís for rain, fertility, health and victory. Three-pointed stones were buried in fields for crops (cassava), and small zemís were worn as pendants for protection.

Significance

Zemís are the main surviving art of the Taíno, the first people to meet Columbus in 1492, and Ramón Pané's report (1498) is the first ethnography in the Americas. They are symbols of Puerto Rican, Dominican and Cuban Indigenous heritage.

History

Zemí carving flourished from about 1000 to 1500 CE in Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Cuba and Jamaica, and ended with the collapse of Taíno society in the early 16th century.

Making yours

2–8 cm shell, bone or stone pendant with large circular eyes and a grimacing mouth.

The Americas: the tradition

In the Americas, protective and power objects belonged to the relationship between people, ancestors, animals and the land. Andean herders kept stone illas for the fertility of their flocks, Mesoamerican rulers wore green jade as breath and maize, Isthmian goldsmiths cast animal spirit-helpers, and Arctic and Northwest Coast shamans carried carved spirit charms. Catholicism, arriving from 1492, brought saints, milagros and the Iberian evil-eye tradition, which fused with Indigenous and African belief into new forms such as Ekeko, the Afro-Brazilian balangandã and Santería. Many Indigenous objects are sacred and some communities ask that they not be displayed or copied; the Zuni, for example, distinguish sacred fetishes from carvings made for sale.

See all 4, save the ones that feel right Ask about having one made

Figure amulet13th–15th century

Amulette Taino albatre

Pierre à trois pointes Taino-Musée du Quai Branly (2)

Pierre à trois pointes Taino-Musée du Quai Branly (3)

Anything in the gallery can be made, by hand, in the prescribed metal or yours and, where the tradition names an hour, at that hour or with a plain note that it was not. Numbered. Price on commission, quoted first. I reply within one business day.