Taino Stone Vomit Stick (900-1500 AD)

When the Taino made an offering to the spirits, because they did not believe in blood sacrifice, they gave the contents of their stomachs, an act aided by beautifully carved tongue depressors.

This carved stone example depicts a behique (shaman) in a trace state. In New World tropical environments, death and rebirth are seen to be closely related and in a process of constant cycling. As such, the dead and living worlds are both always proximal- it is the "behique's" special skill and responsibility to mediate these two realms. This dual nature of the "behique's" situation is symbolically expressed in much Taino art. The figure's grimacing mouth, exposed genitals, and the impossibly contorted pose also symbolically mark his heightened state of consciousness, between the otherworld of ancestor and deity spirits and the physical realm of his clients.

- Taino Culture
- 900-1500 AD
- Mesoamerica
- Stone
- H: 15 1/4 in.
- From a Private New York Collection.

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