Broom
date: label: Accession Date
content: 7 Nov 2019
name: label: Donor Name
content: National Museum of Natural History
notes: label: Notes
content: Asojano (diety of infectious disease) Ja (broom) made of a bunch of plant fibers roughly 100 cm long, lashed together with a small twine. The large end has a string of red beads, with occassional black beads, wound around to make a handle. Shells are incorporated in the handle, and at the top of the handle is a circle of green and yellow beads. There is medicine at the base of the broom. The broom might be used in healing to "brush away" evils. Commissioned by Michael Mason from Pedro Abreu, a well known priest in Cuba, for a temporary exhibit "Rhythms of Identity", at the Smithsonian Latino Center in 2000. The broom was on exhibit documenting the Santeria practices specific to the Arará culture in Cuba.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 30 Jul 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Havana, Cuba, Caribbean
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Afro-Cuban, Santería
label: Culture
content: Afro-Cuban, Arará
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 2082129
label: USNM Number
content: E436223-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Broom
physicalDescription: label: Length - Broom
content: 102.5 cm
label: Maximum Diameter - Broom
content: 6.8 cm