Essence over appearance

The Andean worldview has four concepts that can all be associated with the idea of "essence over appearance". This idea is rooted in almost all things in Andean life, most interestingly it acknowledges the process of something, not the end result. Essence is the one concept that gives a general description of Andean worldview, as the other concepts have similar significance.

Andean worldview encourages collectivity, where the group is more important than the individual. There has been mention of collective consciousness, and supernatural imagery among artists that remain abstract and anonymous. This makes Art much different as there was no fame or recognition, but more likely an accomplishment and activation of a process. For example the 40 chavin heads hanging outside the New Temple showed strong collectivity for the shaman rituals and ceremonies. In the name of collectivity, they built a bigger temple.

The next concept is reciprocity, where everything is connected and countered by opposing forces. Everywhere there is a pair, or relationship where there must be a balance maintained to progress. This seems most naturally to be connected to collectivity.

A final concept is the transformations performed by shamans. This showed the transformation of humans to animal or supernatural forms. They believed that, just like in reciprocity, that there is a continuum that exists between the worlds, and that they must be in equilibrium.

The key to Andean belief is cyclical thinking, and that as the world cycle and remain in balance, humans repeat their actions over the years. As if this wasn't a challenging enough concept to understand, Andean artists attempt to portray multidimensional existences. The art that can be seen by this culture has a lot of significance in verticality and symbolism.

Masks Blog

This blog is about the mask that is believed to represent Quetzalcoatl, the mythical God that returns, or Tlaloc, the Rain God. As both gods have a similar significance, it is not unusual that this mask could represent either deity. The mask is a mosaic of heaven colored turquoise blending with light green, having a similar pattern to a snake's scales. The snake represents a flowing of blood, similar to offerings for Tlaloc or Quetzalcoatl. Both Gods can be associated with snakes or blood offerings, as Quetzalcoatl would have required blood demands for tribute, and Tlaloc for the cycle of life. The wide, deep-set eyes form an infinity symbol (perhaps no significance), but the pronounced circles around the eye sockets resemble two snakes, coiled with heads facing each other above. The deep set eyes give the impression of a skull, but the mask almost looks alive as if a live snake is coiled about it. The green and blue stones have been aligned to give an effect of layering, as the snake doubles over itself in areas around the nose and upper lip. The two gods can be be perceived in this mask as the duality of the blue and green snake. It could signify the desire of humans to have Tlaloc return, and bring life, and also for Quetzalcoatl to return in his worldly form. There are also human-like teeth still in place, that could represent Quetzalcoatl in the human form.

Maya Today

Mayan life today still struggles with involvement in nations such as Guatemala, the very same nation in which a government official insulted Rigoberta Menchu because of her choice of whom she wanted to vote for. The civilization suffered from an enduring civil war, and persecutions from Ladinos among a multitude other narrow-minded people. I feel like these intellectual people are much more advanced in existence to such a decree that most backgrounds cannot support an understanding of them, therefore persecuting them. Their traditions may seem strange, but can you imagine what they might think of our traditions? What do you say about a fat man that walks around getting everyone all psyched up on material possesions? Is that how Christians celebrate their religious holiday of Christmas? Just as Rigoberta said in her speech; “. . . there is religion with no spirit”

My experience with Mesoamerican art and culture is limited, outside of taking this class previously. I find it all very interesting as there is a lot of information and it pertains to a somewhat of a lost culture that is a part of North American history. I have been to Mexico and Costa Rica, and life in those countries was overwhelming in many ways. Over all I enjoyed it and everyone seemed friendly and open. There can be a lot of extremes, both good and bad.

I find it interesting that a culture could have an unknown origin. It seems like there could be so many possibilities to discover something that would be a key to understanding where they come from. It is a shame that so much was lost.

Three things that come to mind; surfing, beer, and good food. It doesn't really have much to do with this class, but I enjoyed the opportunity when I was down there. If I wasn't doing my preplanned vacation activities, I would maybe have checked out some artifacts. I like Mesoamerican art because there is so much to learn about it, especially since there is so few pieces, people have analyzed almost everything about them.