Wrought Iron Spit/Cross "Assein"
date: label: Accession Date
content: 19 Jun 1942
name: label: Donor Name
content: Dr. Alfred Metraux
notes: label: Notes
content: SPECIMEN OF FLAT IRON; SPIKED AT ONE END WITH FOUR PAIRS OF BI- LATERIAL RECURVED VOLUTES. IN VODOO PRACTICE SPITS SUCH AS THESE ARE SEEN AS MANIFESTATIONS OF DAMBALLAH, THE SERPENT DIETY, AND ARE DRIVEN INTO THE EARTH BEFORE THE "PE", THE VODOO ALTAR, DUR- ING RELIGIOUS WORSHIP. SPECIMEN WAS ORIGINALLY COLLECTED BY MEMBERS OF THE CATHOLIC CLERGY DURING AN ANTI-VODOO CAMPAIGN AND TRANSMITTED TO SMITHSONIAN BY ANDRE METREAUX.
label: Notes
content: From card: "...LOANED TO RENWICK 4/9/82, RETURNED 6/1983..." [for exhibit in "Celebration: A World of Art and Ritual" at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 1982-83]
label: Record Last Modified
content: 30 Jul 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Croix-Des-Bouquets (Near Port-Au-Prince), Haiti, Caribbean
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Haitian
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 163278
label: USNM Number
content: E382560-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Cross