The Changing Faces of Aruba. Collaborative Project of Documentation of a Mask of the Urarina People, Peruvian Amazon

The project will document the knowledge and techniques involved in the creation of the aruba mask of the Urarina people (Peruvian Amazon). An Aruba is composed of two elements: a head, crafted from Ochroma pyramidale wood or from Crescentia cujete fruits by male, and a costume woven from Mauritia flexuaosa fibre by female. The figurative elements that characterise the mask (long hair, beard, horns, bristles etc.) represent a hybrid human-animal being, which also describes qualities that are associated at the same time with theharmful plant spirit of the Ceiba pentandra tree, an entity that can take on the likenesses of a bovine demon or a white Jesuit missionary of the 17th century. These representations epitomise the asymmetrical relationships that have historically linked the local population to patrons and missionaries through vertical ties of dependence, inscribed in an arboreal vegetal universe. The mask is exclusively worn by the individual who has completed its fabrication in the presence of children, thereby fulfilling a significant function during a ritual stage of development into adulthood. Aruba is of great cultural importance and is the only ritual mask crafted by the Urarina people. However, the techniques and knowledge employed in its production are endangered by the small number of specialists and the threats to intergenerational transmission. Nevertheless, there is a growing effort on the part of a new generation of Urarina teachers to update the techniques of knowledge transmission in order to strengthen and revitalise their culture, objectives to which this project adds.