Context (Other owners)
Purchased from the maker, Kutaka, for €25. Kutaka, an Apalai ëlemi chanter, once known and feared as a powerful shaman, is regarded as one of the last knowledgeable elders in Antecume Pata.
Event Date 11/5/2014
Author: Alana Edgeworth

Context (Production / use)
Part of a group of objects, (2005.629-49), bought, bartered or received as a gift through the intermediary of the collectors' extended family. Used in Eputop ceremony, also known as 'Maraké' in French Creole, for the initiation of young people, who are known in this context as Tëpiem. The abdomens of stinging ants (Ilak) or wasps are forced between the fibres of the mat, which is then applied to the skin of the Tëpiem; the action of application is also known as Tëpiem. A used item. See Crowther-Beynon Report by Vanessa Grotti and Marc Brightman, 2005.
Event Date 11/5/2014
Author: maa

Description (Physical description)
A kunana or stinging mat of woven palm fibre.
Event Date 11/5/2014
Author: maa

Conservation (Freezing)
CON.2023.5798 | Freezing
Event Date 24/10/2023
Author: Ayesha Fuentes

Description (Physical description)
Kunana or stinging mat of woven palm fibre. A rectangular shaped piece of woven palm fibre with brown and white feathers adhered to the outer edge. Both sides of the mat are like this.
Event Date 14/7/2023
Author: Alana Edgeworth