Context (Production / use)
Objects 2005.622, 2005.624 -2005.628 were acquired by purchase in January 2005 from Chef Coutumier André Cognat and made for the cultural association Yepe. Total cost was €500.
The maluwana is attached to the centre of the domed roof of the communal house, tukusipan, with the house’s central pole rising through the centre of the disc. The main designs represent water spirit-monsters (mulokot) and caterpillars (ëlukë); which are associated with the spirit world. There are smaller representations of tortoises and fish for decorative purposes only; these are a recent innovation disapproved of by some older Wayana. However, such decorations have also been observed on some more traditional maluwanas made for ceremonial purposes only, and not for outside trade.
The maluwana serves the village as protection against spriti attacks, and rituals such as the eputop intitiation ceremony (see kunana, 2005.647) are conducted beneath itm in the tikisipan. A ‘real’ maluwana (i.e. made for this purpose) would be made in isolation, particularly from women, by a shaman; work would only be carried out on its manufacture in secrecy, while chanting specific ëlemi (spirit songs), at times when the village was at low levels of risk from spirit attacks, and would have to stop, for example, when a woman gave birth to a child, only to resume when the child was strong enough. ‘Real’ maluwana are rare now, due to missionary activity, cultural influences of neighbouring Maroon communities, and increasing contact with the urban culture of coastal areas. They can be as large as 1m80 in diameter.
The last man higly respected as a maker of maluwanas in French Guyana and Surinam died in 2001. Only in the Wayana communites living on the other side of the Tumuc-Humac mountain range in Brazil are there said to remain some knowledgeable makers.Poor reproductions have become quite commonly available in the tourist souvernir shops on the coast, and are usually made by Wayana who have migrated to the city, or by residents of the Trio village of Tëpoe who have adopted the craft as a commodity (see other maluwana from Tëpoe 2005.623). This is a particularly good quality reproduction which was specially commissioned. The Wayana are unique among Amerindians of the Guyana region in producing such large and strikingly decorated ritual objects.
Event Date 2005
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
F. Veys: 'Ceremonial painted wooden disc. Wood (silk-cotton tree (ceiba pentandra), earth dyes. ‘Colours used are light green, dark green, yellow, pink, white and black (background). The motifs include turtles, fish, and several other beings which are arranged around a central star design. The edges are decorated with triangles. Quarter sides of the paintings are painted in white and dark green.'
Event Date 13/6/2006
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
Ceremonial painted wooden disc. Made from silk cotton tree wood (ceiba pentandra) and painted with earth dyes; colours used are light green, dark green, yellow, pink, white, and black (background). Decorated with motifs, which include turtles, fish, and several other beings arranged around a central star design. Edges are decorated with triangles. Profile of the disc is white and dark green.
Event Date 14/6/2021
Author: Jazmin Hundal