Historical complexity of myth : in search of the genesis of the whip-dance whereby Wayana dance in imitation of Tamok ( Eastern Guiana Highlands )

This article discusses the conditions of the genesis of the nineteenth century Wayana whip-dance, aiming for what Terence Turner coined “ethno-ethnohistory”, through the method of Neil Whitehead’s “ethnography of historical consciousness”. This study outlines an indigenous historical consciousness of the social present in Guiana as related to events from the past, by means of the entanglement of things, places, and people related to this whip-dance ritual. The article discusses the Eastern Guiana whip-dance as a social field of interaction in three regions and three time periods: (1) the Upper Maroni Basin (French Guiana and Suriname) in the early twenty-first century; (2) the Franco-Brazilian Contested area (today’s Brazilian Amapá) in the nineteenth century; and (3) a posited origin of this ‘mythstory’ at the Lower Amazon in the sixteenth century. Rather than conducting a study of a ‘lost tradition’, these three case-studies will provide insight into the process of how Wayana indigenous people have managed their histories of first contact in Guiana through ritual performance and the materialization of the evil spirit Tamok.

. Claude Lévi-Strauss had suggested that the distinction between 'hot' and 'cold' societies be more useful than the distinction between "the 'people without history' and the others [with written history]" (Lévi-Strauss, 1962, p. 279-280;emphasis added), because different societies have different approaches towards managing history and memorialization.This distinction sparked an enduring debate amongst Amazonianists on the authentication of history, myth and local indigenous perspectives on the past or 'historicities' (Fausto and Heckenberger, 2007;Gow, 2001;Hill, 1988Hill, , 1996Hill, , 2009;;Whitehead, 1999Whitehead, , 2000Whitehead, , 2003a)), and this debate is ongoing.
Authentication of myth, history and historicities or local indigenous perspectives on the past is entangled with the active process of remembering.Remembering is at once "Remembrance of things past" and "In search of lost time"; as is grounded in the dual sense of Marcel Proust's "A la recherche du temps".Remembering is a process of people, in the present and in the past, of connecting their present world to the past (and future).This topic is recently explored in several multi-author volumes as "Rethinking history and myth" (Hill, 1988), "Archaeologies of memory" (Van Dyke and Alcock, 2003), "Time and memory in Indigenous Amazonia" (Fausto andHeckenberger, 2007), and"Memory work" (Mills andWalker, 2008).Neil Whitehead (2003a, p. 76) argued that "the work of 'myth' is far more historically complex than had sometimes been allowed", and this article on Tamok is a contribution to the documentation of this historical complexity of myth.The present study is a memory work in that it constructs Figure 2. Eastern Guiana Highlands (northern Amazonia), indicating communities, villages, and rivers referred to in the text.This map is a palimpsest of names of nineteenth century ethnic groups or nations (bold italic) mentioned in this article, the Wayana region shaded in light gray (highlighted are the three current Wayana homelands in Suriname, French Guiana, and Brazil), and villages referred to in the text, such as Talhuwen (French Guiana) and Kumakahpan (Suriname) -Wayana villages that have been the author's home base since 1997.The 1969 village of Maschipurimo (also known as Anakalemo), is plotted on this map to demonstrate its proximity to the Wayana villages visited by Jules Crevaux in the late nineteenth century and discussed in this article.Also plotted here is the presumed location of the 1832 village of Yawarupixi, or Capitain Joaquim-Manoël, leader of the Tamokome, and the posited location of the encounter with the July 1542 patrol.I am very much aware of the selectiveness of the labels in this map, other than it is aimed to demonstrate conceivable relations between the places, people, things, and specifically the river systems of the Jari, Paru de Este, and Upper Maroni Basin, discussed throughout this article, whereby chronology, one of the cornerstones of history, is de-emphasized.new interpretations about Tamok.Furthermore, we have to be aware that these dynamic historical processes of materializing memorialization, from which new meanings emerge, to both the material from the past and the present actors also occurred in the (remote) past.
This study is situated in an Amazonia that is "still 'being discovered'" (Whitehead, 2003b, p. vii).Analogous Neil Whitehead's "Amazonia", Tamok "has 'no history' but exists in an eternal present of 'first contacts' and 'marvelous discovery'" (Whitehead, 2003b, p. vii, emphasis added).This article takes up the task set out for us by Whitehead: "not just the study of textual or artifact sources but also the investigation of the social and cultural patterns and attitudes that give rise to those indigenous histories and history making" (Whitehead, 2003b, p. xi).Whereas my available sources are artifacts, written sources and oral histories -because I, nor anybody else in the twentieth or twenty-first century, have never witnessed a whipdance in Guiana -the aim is to gain an understanding of how indigenous people in the Eastern Guiana Highlands manage their history of first contact by means of 'Tamok' (and possibly to draft a hypothesis on its genesis).

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE TAMOCOMES (OR TAMOKOME)
In his comprehensive "Ethnographic survey of the Indians on the divide of the Guianese and Amazonian river systems", Peter Rivière (1963, p. 189) stated that "the Tamocomes can be dealt with quickly; there are only four references to the tribe in the literature and the authors of two of those (…) never saw them.(…) The tribe is not significant and presumably disappeared".Further ethno-historical studies of this area were conducted by Pierre Grenand (1972), Dominique Tilkin Gallois (1986), and Jean-Marcel Hurault (1989).These studies mainly focused on the migration of the Wayãpi (Tupí-Guaraní speakers) from the Xingu to the Oyapock and their interactions with other nations in the area (Brazilian Amapá and French Guiana).More recent studies explore frontiers as spaces of interaction and negotiation, both amongst indigenous peoples as with Maroons and Europeans (Albert and Ramos, 2000;Gallois, 2005).The ethno-history of the Tamocomes, however, has not received sufficient attention.Until new documents are recovered, it seems nothing more can be said about this nation.Then again, as I will discuss in a moment, the primary sources mentioning the Tamocomes contain information that is of importance in contextualizing the historical processes in which Tamok materializes.
Tamokome, or "Tamokom (called Tamoku by the Wayãpi)", according to Pierre Grenand (1972, p. 107), drawing on Henri Coudreau (1893, p. 336), used to live in the south (i.e., south of the current Wayãpi settlements of the Upper Oyapock) and were in contact with the Brazilians.In the 1850's, Grenand continued, the Tamokom with their leader Joachim Manuel, Yawalumiti (sic), migrated to the Kouc (or Cuc) where they intermarried with the Wayãpi.When Jules Crevaux (1883, p. 229) arrived at creek Kou (Cuc) on October 5, 1878, he realized that the said Calayoua (kalaiwa) were not a distinct nation but rather Oyampis (Wayãpi) who have close relations with Brazilians (Wayana today, still refer to the non-indigenous Brazilian as kalaiwa).Elsewhere, Grenand (1972, p. 118) proposed that these Calayoua (kalaiwa) met by Crevaux, were none other than the "Tamokom".According to Gallois (1986, p. 183-185), these Tomokomes (sic) or tamo-ko (sic) (Tamocomes or Tamokome) are a sub-group of the Waiãpi-puku, the true Wayãpi, and first ancestors of the nation.Drawing on the expedition reports by François Leprieur (1834) and Adam de Bauve (1835) there is general consensus that the Tamokome (or a variation in spelling) are a sub-group of the Wayãpi that resided on the middle Jari in the early to mid-nineteenth century.Beyond this fundamental ethno-historical information, is it possible to draw more facts from the original sources to provide more insight into this presumed Wayãpi sub-group and, if any, its possible relation with Tamok?
During the 1833 exploration of the source area of the Oyapock, Leprieur (1834, p. 224) mentioned ˜ how the "Tamocomes" are a "tribe" of the nation of the Wayãpi residing along the Carapanatoube (or Mapari) and Moucourou (or Noucouru), tributaries of the Jary (or Jari), followed by a short description of their physique and practices.A year earlier, on March 28, 1832, de Bauve (1835, p. 96-98) had visited the settlement of Oarapixi, leader of the Tamocomes, at the mouth of the Carapanatouba (Mapari) at the place where the Topipocho (Upper Jari) takes on the name of Jary (Middle Jari) (Figure 2).De Bauve furthermore specified that, about one month before his arrival, this leader of the Tamocomes had been baptized Joaquim Manoël by a missionary who had reached this area.Oarapixi was not born a Tamokome, de Bauve continued, but resided among them after invitation by the Tamokome of the Piraouër (a tributary of the Cuc) and he was nominated "capitaine" after one of their chiefs had passed away.On March 30, de Bauve continued his exploration of the Jari and its tributaries.Already in 1832, he noted (de Bauve, 1835, p. 100-101) an absence of traditional body painting in red and black with roucou and genipa respectively, and an influence of European hairstyle and dress.
Not insignificant for the present study is the revealing of an outbreak of measles on the Jari, causing widespread death, including the sudden death of Hilario Feireire da Cruz (de Bauve, 1835, p. 102-103) -son of the colonel-governor of Macapá, who was eager to explore the river that the Brazilians call Jary (de Bauve, 1835, p. 83).A measles pandemic which the Portuguese called "charampa" (or sarampo) and the French "rougeole" (de Bauve, 1835, p. 102).The impact of contact with 'civilization', and particularly the effects of European introduced diseases on the indigenous population of Guiana, has been well established (Hurault, 1963(Hurault, , 1989), yet still up-to-date (see the recent event of contact at the border between Brazil and Peru).Nonetheless, it is the timeframe (1832) and location (Jari) of this measles epidemic that has not been foregrounded in earlier studies on the Tamokome or the broader Eastern Guiana region.
Another aspect that has not received sufficient attention is the relation between the Tamokome and the kalaiwa (non-indigenous Brazilians).In October 1889, Coudreau (1893, p. 331) arrived in the village of Ouira, Upper Cuc Basin.Ouira, the village leader, was estimated at fifty years of age (Coudreau, 1893, p. 336), providing an estimated year of birth of 1839, i.e., seven years after de Bauve's expedition discussed earlier.Moreover, Ouira's father is Yaouaroupicic (Coudreau, 1893) who goes by his Christian name of "Joaquim-Manoel" (the very same "Joaquim Manoël or Oarapixi (Yawarupixi)" mentioned by de Bauve, 1835).During a journey to the Grand-River, i.e., the Amazon, Ouira received the Christian name of Joaquim.Capitan Yaouaroupicic, Coudreau (1893, p. 336) continued, was a great leader who led the Wayãpi and Tamokome in one of their last migrations from the Amazon to the north.Furthermore, Coudreau (1893) stated that Yaouaroupicic was raised by the Brazilians of the Amazon, and that he spoke very well their language (i.e., Portuguese).This is in line with Crevaux's (1883, p. 229) statements regarding the Calayoua (kalaiwa) of the Cuc.Instead of an auto-denomination of a nation, tamokome appears to be a term of reference for a certain indigenous community that has strong ties with the non-indigenous Brazilians.The suffix [-me] (de Goeje, 1946, p. 125-126) in tamokome furthermore indicates that the informant was aware that these people are not the 'true' Tamok only like Tamok (Tamok{o}~me).This leaves us with the question, who, or what, is "tamok(o)"?

RECONTEXTUALIZING THE WAYANA DANCING IN IMITATION OF TAMOK
Before addressing the question who, or what, was the 'true' Tamok, I will first discuss the whip-dance and the Tamok mask, based on my research conducted in the Wayana villages of Talhuwen (French Guiana) and Kumakahpan (Suriname) (Figure 2).While all historical sources and ethno-historical studies discussed above point towards a Wayãpi sub-group, it is of interest that the location of the Cuc region corresponds with the homeland of the Upului.Even Leprieur's (1834, p. 224) description of their physique -short of stature, yet very robust -corresponds with the description of the Upului by Wayana today.Moreover the Wayana who in the early twenty-first century narrated the stories of Tamok (Duin, 2009, tables C-15 and C-16) and who made me Tamok masks (Figure 3), were descendants of the Upului of the Jari (Brazilian Amapá).Because in Amazonia, and specifically in Guiana, "what you see is not always what you get" (Rivière, 1994), it is needed to go beyond existing descriptions and classifications to understand the 'true' meaning of the whip-dance performance and the associated Tamok mask.
On the afternoon of October 3, 2000, Talhuwen, Tënepo, a Wayana pïjai (shaman), was studying my collection of photocopies from book illustrations, museum objects, and other mnemonic devices of the Wayana.When he saw the nineteenth century engraving of the "dance of the pono" (Figure 1), he said in loud voice "Tamok", and emphasized that this whip (itain) produced a loud bang."TAI", he said.At that very moment, the cord that held his hammock broke and Tënepo fell on the ground.Onlookers awed.Tënepo simply laughed and said "Tamok" while making the gesture of falling; as if Tamok had caused the hammock cord to break.Then he sat himself on a wooden stool and continued his study of the collection of photocopies.
Ronnie Tïkaime, one of the bystanders when Tënepo fell, and my Wayana host, informed me about a Wayana, residing on an island facing the village of Kumakahpan, who knew how to make a Tamok mask3 .A few months later he had made the masks and accompanying whip, and after a few attempts Ronnie was able to produce a loud whip crack (Figure 3).Henri Coudreau (1893, p. 182) had claimed that these whip cracks carried over a distance of ten kilometers.Upon return in the village of Kumakahpan -of which Ronnie's father is the village leader -several Wayana elders greeted us and asked whether we had heard that loud bang; "it has been for a very long time that we haven't heard that sound" they apprehensively said in low voice.
Two years later, after the Wayana had discussed "Tamok" amongst each other, Ronnie told me that Kulienpë knew well the story of Tamok.Later I learned that Kulienpë's maternal grandfather also was an Upului from the Jari.On January 10, 2003, Kulienpë invited me to his village; Alawateimë enï, a small hamlet just north of Talhuwen (French Guiana).Prior to recording the story of Tamok, Kulienpë's son asked me: "which story do you want to hear?The story of Jolok Tamok (the Evil Spirit Tamok), or the story of Wayana imitating Tamok?" and he briefly summarized these two narratives as follows: the story of the Evil Spirit Tamok tells us that first there was a small Tamok, followed by a big one who killed people and ate them.Tamok was beautiful.Wayana say that it is hard to see his eyes because fringes covered his forehead.Over his nose and mouth he had a sort of basket; like a long nose without a mouth.On his cheeks he had beautiful drawings.The second story is about Wayana dancing as Tamok; imitating the Evil Spirit Tamok.I asked if his father could tell both Tamok stories; Jolok Tamok eitoponpë (recording time: 12 minutes) and Wayana Tamok ukuknanom (recording time: 20 minutes) (Duin, 2009, p. 517-526, tables C-15 and C-16 respectively).In the second narrative on the Wayana imitating Tamok in a dance-performance (Wayana Tamok ukuknanom), there are several references to the historical encounter elaborated upon in the first narrative on Jolok Tamok.
When I showed the late nineteenth century engraving of the pono-dance (Figure 1), Kulienpë and his son confirmed astoundingly: "Yes, it was exactly like that!" Kulienpë stated that it were his Upului ancestors of the Jari who were dancing in imitation of Tamok.While my recordings took place in the Upper Maroni Basin (French Guiana), they referred to an event that had taken place in a different time and a different place.This oral history harmonized with an event described by Jules Crevaux (1883, p. 296-298) witnessed some 125 years earlier!Kulienpë (Duin, 2009, table C-16, line 94) even mentioned the living wheel of dancers playing the flutes as described -and despised -by Crevaux.The return of the dancers, and the envy of the women wanting the objects, is vividly narrated by Kulienpë and positively confirmed (Duin, 2009, table C-16, line 81-84).Even the objects mentioned by Crevaux are among the objects listed by Kulienpë4 .Kulienpë's narrative stated that the whip-dance took place before the tule and before the dancers brought out their gifts.While the dancers were bringing basketry items, they were no longer dressed in imitation of Tamok (Duin, 2009, table C-16, line 88-89).This is consistent with Crevaux who stated that the dancers were no longer wearing their monumental headdresses.With this correspondence between the two histories, transmitted either in writing or in oral performance, I argue that it is in all probability a description of the very same event from a European and a native point of view.
Jules Crevaux was an explorer aiming to find the legendary lake Parimé, along which shores was said to be located Manoa, the golden city of El Dorado.On October 28, 1878, during his explorations across the Tumuc-Humac Mountains -and after a long pedestrian journey from the Upper Jari to the Paru de Este -he arrived in Canéapo (Figure 2), the village of chief Canea, in the midst of a festival.Crevaux (1883, p. 258-259) witnessed a dance called pono, and prior to departure he purchased a dance costume5 .This dance costume will be discussed in a moment.
The men are covered with long bark strips, starting from the neck, and a kind of toque similar to that used by magistrates.One man alone stands up, holding in his hand a whip 8 meters long, which with a swirling motion he cracks like a pistol.Each one takes it in turn to get up and crack the whip (Roth, 1924, p. 664-665; Figure 1)6 .
After a month of his pedestrian exploration of the sources of the Paru de Este, Crevaux took rest in the village Yaripo (about 75 kilometers south of the aforementioned village Canéapo), on November 22, 1878, and noted that "at four o'clock in the evening, twenty men are aligned in a single row and head towards the village plaza" (Crevaux, 1883, p. 296; Figure 4)7 .
On October 4, 1877, one year before the festivities at Canéapo and Yaripo, Paru de Este, Jules Crevaux (1883, p. 100-104) had arrived in Namaoli on the Jari (Figure 2), where, after sunset, he witnessed a "dance of the Roucouyennes" (Figure 5)8 .Some of these dancers were dressed in a costume of bark cloth streamers similar to the costume of the pono-dance; some wearing the hourglass shaped headdress with macaw tail feathers (compare with Figure 1).None of the dancers, however, appear to carry a whip.The dancers carry in their hands staffs and saplings or tree branches.Crevaux did not describe the development of the dance during the twelve hours from sunset to sunrise at which point the dancers depart from the village by canoe.A year later Crevaux (1883, p. 242-250) returned in Namaoli at the time of the maraké, but that is another story.
The first two dances, i.e., the pono and tule, have been discussed in Walter Roth's (1924, p. 664-665)   "Introductory study of the arts, crafts, and customs of the Guiana Indians…" in the chapter "Death and mourning".Roth considered both dances to be mourning rituals, typical for northern Amazonian festivals in honor of the dead.Granted, Crevaux (1883, p. 258) stated that "this feast is to honor the dead of a tamouchi [tamusi: 1. village elder, 2. village leader, 3. chief] who passed away a month ago", and in a footnote he wrote that "there are two feasts to honor the death: the first one being the Pono and the second the Toulé [or tule]".However, based on his eyewitness account, and no reference to who provided this information, there are no sustainable grounds for such an interpretation.Odd is that Crevaux (1883, p. 297) closed his description of the tule with the seemingly unrelated statement: "the death of a woman is not followed by any kind of festival".Without critical assessment, this statement was translated by Roth (1924, p. 665).Roth did not question why most of the dancers are strangers, why the dancers bring gifts, and why there is no mention of relatives shedding tears over their loved one that had passed away, which is emblematic in indigenous Guiana mourning rituals.
In the "Handbook of South American Indians", volume three on the Tropical Forest Tribes, John Gillin (1948, p. 852), following Roth (1924), categorized the dances of pono and toulé under final mourning ceremonies.Wayana today say that tule is but the name of a certain kind of simple step dance pattern (Duin, 2009, p. 524) and they do not recognize the noun pono.Most likely, pono is a combination of upo and ~no; whereby upo (nest) refers to the bark strip cloak of the dance-costume, combined with the nominalizer suffix ~no, resulting in: "a nest one".In the Tamok story (Duin, 2009, p. 522) upo is affixed with t-…-ke ('with …') which has been translated by the Wayana as: "dressed up".Were the Wayana 'dressed-up' for a mourning ceremony?Not cited by either Walter Roth (1924) nor John Gillin ( 1948) is Henri Coudreau (1893, p. 174) who emphasized -almost certainly to correct Jules Crevaux -that these dances (pono and tule) are but an occasion to use up the entire manioc surplus from the garden9 , and not at all festivities to honor the dead.
Both secondary sources (i.e., Roth, 1924;Gillin, 1948) eradicated all local historical components.The two descriptions of two different dance performances, with an interval of a month, in two villages some seventy-five kilometers distanced, were removed from their local historical, geographical, and socio-political subjectivities.Gillin noted that the Wayana (Cariban speakers) may have borrowed elements from the Arawakan makuari ritual (on makuari see Roth, 1924, p. 645-651).Instead of an illustration of an Arawakan makuari ritual, such as for example in the late seventeenth century account by Adriaan van Berkel, Gillin (1948, plate 120 bottom) reproduced Riou's engraving of the pono-dance (Figure 1).This practice of generalization is illustrative of the repudiation of a diversity of local indigenous Amazonian historicities.
Roth scientifically objectified these two dance performances as homogenized models by the exclusion of any subjective elements from Crevaux's ethnographic account.While Roth (1924, p. 665) translated that, upon arriving in the center of the village, the tuledancers form a circle around which they start circling, while playing the same tune by blowing large bamboo flutes and lightly beating the ground rhythmically with the right foot.It is a living wheel, in motion all night.
Roth did not translate that this 'tooting' annoyed Crevaux in that he could not close his eyes that night, and that he even called this 'living wheel' a "machine diabolique" (Crevaux, 1883, p. 297).In the process of an objective scientific synthesis, all historical subjectivities were removed.In order to retrieve the origin of the whip-dance, it is needed to recontextualize the local historicities in which the whip-dance performance took place.
A decade after Jules Crevaux, Henri Coudreau (1893, p. 174-185) was the second European to witness and describe a whip-dance performed among the Wayana.Preparations in the host village for the upcoming festivities were, amongst others, the burning and clearing of the grassland around the village and the main road ("la grande allée", Coudreau, 1893, p. 177).At the end of this road, near the woods, the hosts had constructed a small hut where the invited dancers could dress, change, and retreat.Coudreau reaffirmed that it is "never young people of the village who dance the pono; dancers have to be strangers" (emphasis added).Rather than "strangers to the tribe" (Crevaux, 1883, p. 298;Roth, 1924, p. 665), and drawing on Kulienpë's narrative, these social others probably were Upului from the Jari, dancing as Tamok in the Wayana villages of the Paru10 .That the pono-dancers are 'social others' is essential in the indigenous approach to historical consciousness of Tamok.Coudreau (1893, p. 177) described the course of events as follows: All of a sudden, [at noon] at the other end of the road [that is, from the hut of the pono-dancers], appears a dark shape that slowly advances, under an enormous hat adorned with feathers, masked, and holding in his right hand a two meter long baton on which is winded a cord (the whip with its two meter long handle that is black with red stripes11 .The cord is six to ten meters long, thick as an arm, ending in a knotted strand.A liana vine attaches the cord to its handle) (…) in front of the house of the travelers (…) the dark shape crouches down (…) the dark being remains unknown, we have not seen his face, we have not heard his voice.At the wrist and elbow, the dancer has 60 centimeter long skeins of white cotton attached, and that the pono-dancers mostly wear a simple crown of white feathers [tipapo].Coudreau (1893, p. 180) furthermore stated that the proper headdress for the pono is monumental and is named orocapo (Coudreau, 1892, p. 25) 12 .
Coudreau (1893, p. 180-181) draws on, though does not literally copy Crevaux (1883, p. 258): at intervals of about fifteen minutes, the dancers arrive.Some fifteen dancers have silently arranged themselves in front of the house of guests, all dressed in black cloaks (compare with Figure 1).After the whip-dance ended, the dancers -some still in their cloak -may be dancing toulé (tule) or acoumeu (okomë-wasp dance) (compare with the earlier discussed dance of the Roucouyennes; Figure 5).After sunset, when the whip-dancers retreat in their hut, the young people of the host village (who watched the whip-dance) dance the ouanépoc (wanepëk, literally: search for honey) (Coudreau, 1893, p. 180-181).During the dance of the Roucouyennes (or Ouayanas, Wayana, Crevaux, 1882, p. 17) -possibly to emphasize that these are Wayana and not dangerous social others -a unique object can be discerned, namely the halikëtë (harikété, Coudreau, 1892, p. 25), a feather mosaic worn on the back during the pono-dance (in Figure 5 some dancers can be seen wearing this object in front of their chest, rather than on their back), of which Coudreau emphasized, and I concur, the most beautiful piece of feather work that he had ever seen among the Wayana13 .During an interview with Pilima (January 22, 2013), while holding a photo of a similar object (Tropenmuseum inventory number 403-67)14 , he pondered who could have woven the cotton support: "maybe the Emerillon [as known as Teko], maybe the Wayãpi [both are Tupí-Guaraní speaking peoples]" because the Wayana do not make such a close weave (named tuluhtuluh).It thus seems that the Wayana have a long history of incorporating non-Wayana items15 in their dance costume.Most significant in Coudreau's (1893, p. 178) description, and likely absent during the time of Crevaux (Figure 1), is that, "the headdress is a mask" (emphasis added) 16 -completely covering the head.
Henri Coudreau (1893, p. 178) regrettably does not provide more detail on the assembly of this mask completely covering the head, neither a drawing, nor a photograph of this mask that is as "a long and straight visor" ("longue et étroite visière").Consistent with Crevaux, Coudreau (1893, p. 174-185) described the dance costumes; named nouclat or noucarat [= okalat] made from taouari (tawari; Couratari guianensis; in Wayana: okalat) 17 .These inner bark streamers, naturally tan-yellow colored, are blackened with a resistdye technique in an anaerobic environment 18 ; usually by submerging them for about twenty-four hours in the mud of a swampy river bend.Next, the streamers are hung to dry.Tie strips are removed and the sections where bark strips were tied have retained their original tan-yellow color (see Figure 6, left).The sections which had not been tied, have obtained a bluish-black color by exposure to swamp water.This bluish-black color is resistant and does not fade or run.These streamers are about 150 centimeters long, and knitted to the lower rim of the mask to fully cover the body from neck to ankle.A separate set of bark strips covers the head and falls down laterally and posterior.In the time of Crevaux these formed a separate headgear, whereas today the latter are attached to the Tamok mask.
Revival of the Tamok mask a century later can be ascribed to Manfred Rauschert (1982).In 1969, in the village of Anakalemo (also known as Maschipurimo), Paru de Este (Figure 2), Manfred Rauschert (1982, p. 201-207) heard about mythical Tamoko-monsters that almost exterminated the Apalai.A decade earlier, during his 1955-1956 expedition on the Maicuru, Rauschert (1963, p. 188) had heard the myth of men-eating water-monsters named Tamokoimo ('giant Tamok' or Tamokimë, Velthem, 2003, p. 425); a powerful Zauberer (shaman) made his spirit communicate with the spirit of Tamok and forced these monstrous beings back.Rauschert also heard that there used to be a Tamoko-feast where people danced as Tamok.The former narrative resonates with Kulienpë's Jolok Tamok eitoponpë, which I will address in a moment, and the latter corresponds with the earlier discussed Wayana Tamok ukuknanom.Rauschert requested his friend Araiba to gather as much information as possible on this dance.What Rauschert did not highlight is that this village of Anakalemo (or Maschipurimo) is located near a trail connecting the Jari with the Paru, between the historical sites of Yaripo and Canéapo where Crevaux had witnessed the tule and pono-dances a century earlier.
An old woman, who had witnessed the whip-dance as a little girl, became the key informant to Rauschert (1982, p. 204).This old woman gave further instructions on the facial painting and emphasized the protruding wax nose.As this woman emphasized a mask with a protruding nose (absent in the data provided by Crevaux), she probably witnessed a later whip-dance as described by Coudreau.According to Rauschert, this woman resided some thirty kilometers upstream 19 .In an interview (Cipolletti and Schreiner, 2000, p. 137-142), Rauschert stated that the protocol for the Tamok-dance had been entirely forgotten, and it was only due to this one old woman that Rauschert could reconstruct this 'forgotten' dance and its characteristic mask.While Rauschert was in Belém to purchase beeswax to recreate Tamok masks, Araiba had made several cane Tamok-heads (Rauschert, 1982, p. 203-205, plates 38, 39, and the cover photo) 20 .A drawing of the Tamoko-feast was made (reproduced in Dehnhardt, 2000, p. 126), though the whip-dance itself was not performed (Rauschert, 1982, p. 207).This whip-dance with the Tamok mask, instead of being a typical customary Eastern Guiana ritual, thus appears to have been performed in a rather restricted temporal (late nineteenth century) and spatial (Upper Paru de Este) setting.

MASK OF DEATH
Performance of the full-face Tamok mask, I posit, was first performed around 1880 on the Upper Paru de Este and most likely created by the Upului of the Jari.While the Tamok mask is known in Guiana today, this has not always been the case.Claudius de Goeje (1941, p. 111-113), in his brief cross-cultural analysis of the whip-dance, is the first to associate the name 'Tamok' to the pono-dance described by Crevaux (1883, p. 258) 21 .Because these pono-dancers (Figure 1) were not wearing masks, Rauschert questioned the 19 According to my calculations this place must have been near the village of Canéapo where, ninety-one years earlier, Jules Crevaux (1883, p. 258-259) had made the first observations of this whip-dance. 20In a personal communication René Dehnhardt (December 18, 2007) stated that there are at least six Tamok masks in the Bonner Altamerika-Sammlung (BASA), among others Bonn inv.nr.03321.The Rauschert collection has not yet been inventoried completely, and the daughter of Manfred Rauschert has recently claimed the collection. 21Claudius H. de Goeje, unlike Jules Crevaux and Henri Coudreau never witnessed the whip-dance.Based on his interviews with the Wayana of the Upper Maroni Basin, he posited that "the [Tamok-] dancer represents the spirit of Tamoktamok (that is a tuna-kaikui [= water monster] and an iyum [jum = 1.father, 2. origin, 3. master]), which also is the name of the big blue Morpho butterfly that dwells in the dark woods" (de Goeje, 1941, p. 111).Some sixty years later, when I discussed this hypothesis with Wayana of the Upper Maroni Basin, they told me that Tamok had no relation with tamoktamok (blue Morpho-butterfly) or tamo (grandfather, ancestor) and that Tamok was a proper name.
relation between the Tamok mask and this ritual (Cipolletti and Schreiner, 2000, p. 142).Then again, Rauschert does not refer to Coudreau who did state that this dance was performed with full-face masks.Rauschert revived the Tamok mask production in the twentieth century among the Wayana/Apalai, albeit he disliked the idea that Tamok masks are being produced today for the global art market 22 .Next I will discuss the cultural biography (sensu Kopytoff, 1986) of the facial painting of the Tamok mask.
At the time of Crevaux, the pono-dancers did not wear a full-face Tamok mask and most likely their faces were painted.Kulienpë (Duin, 2009, table C-16, line 63) narrated that the faces of the Wayana dancers were painted like Tamok, and his son confirmed that these were beautiful drawings.In a study on basketry motifs that I conducted in 2000, one of the basketry motifs was recognized as Tamok ëpata melikut (facial painting of Tamok).Further study on this particular basketry motif, and drawing on the studies by David Guss (1989) among the Yekuana, resulted in a hypothesis on the origin of the facial painting of Tamok as a Mask of Death, which, in turn, is a materialization of the historical consciousness of the present expressed in terms of the relation of that present to its past.As such the Tamok mask is situated between creation and transformation, in the historical processes of intersubjectivication of materiality.
First I will discuss the actual full-face mask, or 'the head of Tamok'.Next there is the analysis of the Tamok facial painting 23 .The Tamok facial painting (Tamok ëpata melikut) is unique (Figure 7) and a specific basketry motif is named after it (Figure 7B).This basketry motif must not be confused with the basketry weaving technique called 'the head of Tamok' (Tamok uputpë) 24 , which is almost uniquely used in manufacturing the Tamok mask (Figures 7A and 7C), and occasionally as a basketry support of the olok feather headdress.
The basketry framework is made from split cane (wama; Ischnosiphon gracile; Figure 7C), in a unique hexagonal plaitwork with a triangular open weave (Velthem, 1998, p. 88-89).A horizontal weft is crossed diagonally at a thirty degree angle by two warp elements.One warp element crosses over the weft and the other warp element under the weft.The diagonal warp that crosses over a weft, will crosses under the next weft, and vice versa.There are no vertical elements.At eye level, two holes are cut out of this basketry frame, and its rims are reinforced with cane strips sewn together.Note that the masks made by Tukano (Figures 3 and 7C) have rectangular eyes, whereas the masks for the tourist market have round eyes (e.g., Figure 6).Also the bottom edge is reinforced with cane strips sewn together.The diameter of the Tamok masks at eye level present at the tourist and art market is often too constricted to fit over a person's head (i.e., less than 21 centimeter diameter), which makes it doubtful whether these masks were ever designed as a performance-mask.
The basketry framework of the Tamok mask can analytically be divided into four types.The first two types distinguish between a deep reversed basket (Figure 7A), and a shallow reversed basket (about 10 cm deep) with one side dropping down (about 25 cm long) providing the basis for the facial visor (Figure 7C).In the current tourist and art market, the latter type may be shaped more naturally 22 Rauschert commented that the Tamok masks for wholesale are too nice and smooth -in contrast to the rough dance costumes -and the eye-holes are not in the proper place (Cipolletti and Schreiner, 2000, p. 141). 23The discussion on the Tamok mask is mainly based on the two Tamok masks made in 2000 by Tukano (Figure 3), and the thirteen Tamok masks present in the Amazonian Collection of the Florida Museum of Natural History (FLMNH).(Duin, 2011). 24Tamókuputpë, tomôuputpë, "cabeça do sobrenatural tamók" (Velthem, 1998, p. 88-89). 25While some of the Tamok masks in the Amazonian Collection of the FLMNH have a basketry support (temporary inventory numbers: T1596, T2150, and T2152), none came with such a feather headdress.Some 'female' Tamok masks have a simple feather crown of white chicken feathers (tipapo) (T2149, T2151, and T2153; Figure 6, left).
following facial contour lines (Figure 6, left).The fourth type is a reversed deep basket with a protruding cylindrical frame serving as base for the olok feather headdress (Figure 6, right).Tukano (personal communication, 2000), the maker of Tamok masks, stated the difference between Tamok masks with or without olok headdress as respectively 'male' (eruwa) and 'female' (wëlïi) 25 .Some of the Tamok masks collected by Manfred Rauschert (e.g., BASA inventory numbers 03321 and 03322; see also cover photo of Rauschert, 1982) have a 'Mohawk' from okalat in which red macaw tail feathers are set, which is not as elaborate as the monumental olok headdress.It thus seems that the shape of the Tamok mask for the tourist market is still in an ongoing process of development towards more 'natural' forms that are quite distinct from the rather grotesque Tamok mask used by the Wayana in their whip-dance performance.
Beeswax (molopi) is molded over the facial part of the Tamok head (Figures 3 and 7A).A protruding nose is modeled with beeswax.A reddish paste is applied onto the beeswax in resemblance of a human face painted with onot (Bixa orellana) mixed with kalapa-oil (Carapa guianensis) 26 .The mouth is absent in the Tamok masks made by Tukano (Figure 3).Only one mask in the Amazonian Collection of the FLMNH lacks a mouth (temporary inventory number T0171).The other masks in the Amazonian Collection have modeled mouths (temporary inventory numbers T0169, T0170, T0377, T1596, T2149, 2151, T2153, T2330, T2331), or even a mouth cut out of the basketry frame (temporary inventory numbers T2150, T2152).Facial painting is applied onto the beeswax face of the Tamok mask.
The facial painting of the Tamok masks consists of linear incisions creating a zone filled in with white kaolin clay (nenuwë).Three Tamok masks in the Amazonian Collection at the FLMNH (T2149, T2153, and T2151) have black facial paintings resembling genuine facial paintings with kupë (Genipa americana) (Figure 8).Furthermore, these three masks have the typical L-shaped outlines above the eyes27 .Also the solid bar over the ridge of the nose is noticeable.A variety of motifs may be painted on the cheeks, in real life as on the Tamok masks.Meandering motifs may be applied in Wayana facial painting (e.g., Velthem, 1995, p. 270).While painting allows for curvilinear designs, body painting is analogous the rectilinear motifs in basketry plait work, reminiscent of an interrelationship between the human body and basketry (according to a Wayana myth, one of the Creator twins made a woman out of basketry [wama]).Whereas the three 'female' Tamok masks (T2149, T2153, and T2151) have black facial paintings that are dotted white, their 'male' counterparts (T2150 and T2152) have white facial paintings and the white dots are applied on the red face outside of the motifs (Figure 6).In all aspects, these more 'natural' and 'realistic' female Tamok masks are in a structural opposition to their grotesque male companions (Figure 6).
While some of the Tamok masks for the tourist market bear resemblance of more genuine Wayana facial painting (Figure 8), it is the general outline of the Tamok facial painting that structurally differs from Wayana facial painting.My earlier mentioned collection of photocopies from book illustrations, museum objects, and other mnemonic devices of the Wayana past, also included some sheets with basketry motifs.Some of these designs I had redrawn from Wayana objects in museum collections.Other designs I had redrawn from objects and illustrations related to other Guiana nations (as the Trio, Waiwai, and Yekuana [e.g., Figure 9]; all of the Carib language stock).It was this seemingly unrelated study of basketry motifs that offered me insight into the 'true' sense of the Tamok facial painting.
Like the Yekuana, the Wayana of the Upper Maroni Basin (more than a thousand kilometers due east) interpreted the Yekuana "Devil's joint" motif (Figure 9A)28 also as being "turned wrists" (ëtapëlama); this stylistic motif is indeed a rather realistic representation of a person (or jaguar) grasping onto something in front of him with his shoulders, elbows, wrists (and fingers) at ninety degree angles as seen from above.Furthermore, for the Yekuana (Guss, 1989, p. 92-125), this is the facial painting of the "Owner of the Basketry" or the "Mask of Death".Along with Kulienpë's (Duin, 2009, p. 524) emphasis that the Tamok-dancers were bringing basketry items -in this sense they were the "owners of basketry" -this Yekuana concept of the facial painting of the owner of basketry as the "Mask of Death" was considered worth exploring further.
I posit that the variations of the Yekuana basketry motif Woroto sakedi ("Devil's joints") (Figure 9), with the sudden shifts between foreground and background, are the foundation for the Tamok facial painting.This is not simply a figment of my imagination; in 2000, Wayana of the Upper Maroni Basin identified the Yekuana Devil's joint motif as Tamok ëpata melikut (Tamok facial painting).Furthermore, the Yekuana Woroto ("Devil") is equivalent to the Wayana jolok (with the substitutions w/j, r/l, t/k, and the presence/ absence of the ending 'o').The original Tamok was an evil spirit jolok (compare with the Tamok Jolok narrative discussed in a moment).Variations of the Yekuana basketry design called Woroto sakedi (the "Devil's joints"), depend on the number of "joints" or elbows (Guss, 1989, p. 107), or according to the Wayana: shoulders, elbows, wrists, fingers, and phalanges (maximal up to six joints, i.e., one joint more than Awidi [Guss, 1989, p. 107] 29 ).In the following analysis of the Tamok facial painting, I will use the variation with four joints (shoulder, elbow, wrist, and finger), named Awidi (coral snake) by the Yekuana and Apuweika or taliliman istaino (panther or black jaguar) by the Wayana (Figures 9B and 10B).
For the analysis of the variations and transformation of the Tamok facial painting I use a positive (Figure 10A) and a negative solid fill design (Figure 10F), instead of the outline drawing (Figure 10B) of the above discussed basketry motif (Figure 9B).Note that the outline drawing of Figures 10A and 10F are the same, other than either foreground or background is shaded in gray.When this basic design (Figure 10F) is placed over the face of a Tamok mask there is an interruption at the location of the mouth (Figure 10G; compare with Figure 7A).The vertical bar is continued between the mouth and the chin.Figure 10H has become the general template for the facial painting of the Tamok mask (whereby the lower bracket may be slightly tapered to adjust to the triangular shape of the dropping down facial visor; in which case a triangular shape [compare with Figure 3] may be added below the lower bracket).This typical facial painting is illustrated in the 2012 purchase by the Musée du Quai Branly of two Tamok masks collected in 1984 (inventory numbers: MQB 70.2012.25.1 and 2).The three 'female' Tamok masks from the FLMNH Amazonian Collection (temporary inventory numbers T2149, T2151, and T2153), discussed earlier, have a variation of this design (Figure 10I): the lower part, below the mouth, is positive (compare with Figure 10A), whereas the upper part remains negative yet off set away from the center, leaving space for a black vertical bar over the ridge of the nose (Figure 6, left).Tamok facial painting for the masks sold at the tourist and global art market thus continues to develop and transform.
On the other end of the spectrum, we can reduce the number of joints to just two (shoulder and elbow), resulting in the Yekuana motif known as Woroto sakedi ohokomo or "the large Devil's Joint" (Guss, 1989, p. 176; Figures 10D and 10E).The central bar between the two C-shaped brackets result in two T-shaped figures resembling the earlier discussed head and body of Mawadi (Guss, 1989, p. 108).This motif (Figure 10E) is actually painted on the cheeks of one of the Tamok mask of the FLMNH Amazonian Collection (temporary inventory number T2331).Concurrently, when removing the central bar between the two C-shaped brackets of this motif (Figure 10C), this results in the two brackets painted on the Tamok masks made by Tukano in 2000 (Figure 3).Therefore, I argue that all Tamok facial paintings are but variations on a single theme.
David Guss (1989, p. 125), throughout his study, stated that life must contain death and he concluded that "to weave is to conquer death".The Yekuana basketry motifs are variations on a single theme with constant shifts between background and foreground.For the Yekuana, weaving 'painted' baskets materializes the detoxifying duel between humans and the anti-cultural 'monsters from the forest'.I posit that these vital cosmological elements of indigenous Amazonian religion are the foundation of the facial painting of the Tamok mask, which, not insignificantly, is a woven and painted basket.This detoxifying duel between humans and the anti-cultural monsters from the forest (or rather from the water)30 is the main theme of the myth of the Evil Spirit Tamok (Jolok Tamok).The Tamok facial painting, I argue, is rooted in a deep-time and broad geographical Guiana tradition of transformation of overcoming death implemented by the social other.
The Wayana also interpreted these 'Tamok facial painting' basketry designs as apuweika or taliliman istaino (panther or black jaguar).The Yekuana (Guss, 1989, p. 110) call the "double-T" shaped figure inside the Devil's joints (Figure 9A) Mado fedi (Jaguar face).Moreover, Mado, the Jaguar, "is the owner of a deadly armament called tamu (…) a three-foot long club" (Guss, 1989, p. 111).With the Carib instrumental suffix ~ke, e.g., maria~ke ("with a knife", de Goeje, 1946, p. 36), tamuke means "with the deadly threefoot long club called tamu".Tamuke resonates with Tamok (or Tamoko), and while the Yekuana and Wayana are more a thousand kilometers distanced, this is an example of what Peter Gow (2001) called "a pool of forgotten myths".This fundamental element in this pool of forgotten myths which may bring us closer to the conditions in which Tamok functions is that it concerns the owner of a deadly weapon.

MYTHSTORY OF THE EVIL SPIRIT TAMOK
Tamok is at once beautiful and horrific.Kulienpë, the narrator of the Tamok Jolok story emphasized that these hitherto unknown beings were beautiful, not ugly (Duin, 2009, table C-15, lines 5, 6, 9), beauty is dangerous and danger is beautiful.Tamok is analogous the Xinguano Apapaatai apaza (Barcelos Neto, 2004, 2008, 2011) or Afasa (Basso, 1987, p. 318-350); a powerful cannibal forest monster associated with serious illness and death.These old grandparental sort of powerful beings from the Xingu area are at once beautiful and horrible in their distorted and excessive voice.The voice of Tamok is the cracking whip: "tai tïkai" (it says/it does "tai" whereby tai is an onomatopoeia).Moreover, and analogous the Tamok mask, their physical characteristics are molded in beeswax onto the gourd-mask painted red, white, and black.Afasa imitators wear burity (Mauritia)-palm skirts to cover their body, and carry a staff while they slowly hobble along.Afasa can also be called upon to affect a cure.Analogous the Xinguano cannibal forest monster, Tamok -also a cannibal forest monster -is the impossible imitation.
Anthropological analysis of myths and masks are indebted to Claude Lévi-Strauss (1982, p. 12-14), because as is the case with myths, masks, too, cannot be interpreted in and by themselves as separate objects.(…) We must reassemble the data available about [the masks]: that is to say, everything known about its aesthetic characteristics, the technique of its fabrication, its intended use, and the results expected from it; and finally, about the myths accounting for its origin, the way it looks, its conditions of usage.
Earlier in this article I have briefly outlined the aesthetic characteristics, the technique of its fabrication, and intended use of the Tamok mask.I cannot discuss the results expected from it as the whip-dance is no longer performed among the Wayana today, and I rely on historical accounts and oral history.Then again, the results expected from it are directly related with its genesis and conditions of usage.Following Pierre Bourdieu (1977, p. 114), "understanding ritual practice is not a question of decoding the internal logic of a symbolism, but of restoring its practical necessity by relating it to the real conditions of its genesis, that is, to the conditions in which its functions, and the means it uses to attain them, are defined" (emphasis added).An "approche totale du masque" is needed, and masks, resonating with Lévi-Strauss, need to be placed in their ceremonial functionality, because a mask is not a mere 'object' but rather a dynamic field of interaction (Goulard and Karadimas, 2011, p. 10;Vincent, 1986).A mask is not simply a representation that can be unveiled, but rather an active agent in materializing social memory, allowing for a manifold of interpretations depending on its historical context.
Key in the whip-dance is not the mask -the full-face Tamok mask was even absent at the time of Crevaux -but rather the cracking whip.In his "Vocabulary", Crevaux (1882, p. 9) stated that pono is the name of the whip, whereas Coudreau (1892, p. 25) corrected that the whip used during the pono-dance is named taï.In 2000 and 2003, the Wayana of the Upper Maroni Basin told me that the whip, the weapon of Tamok, is called itain or Tamok tain.Its root /tai/ is also the root of taitïkai (thundering; literally: "it does tai" whereby tai is an onomatopoeia).While this article hitherto focused on the Tamok mask and facial painting, it is this 'thundering whip' -the deadly weapon of Tamok -that offers the key to the genesis of the whip-dance and Tamok.
Evil spirits Tamok, according to Wayana social memory (Duin, 2009, table C-15, line 10), were carrying a "thundering whip" causing "thunder strikes" so powerful that they brought down trees as when opening a garden plot (Duin, 2009, table C-15, line 16), breaking the top of a big tree (Duin, 2009, table C-15, line 18), and shattering houses in pieces thereby destroying and collapsing them (Duin, 2009, table C-15, line 23).The Wayana imitating Tamok did not have this original weapon of Tamok.This evil power of the original Tamok brought death, yet no person died during the dance performance of Wayana imitating Tamok.This performance of Tamok was simply an event to mock (Duin, 2009, table C-16, line 55-58), in favor of deceit, in the sense of Ellen Basso (1987).These thundering sounds and their deadly effects were so frightening that the indigenous people abandoned their village never to return to this place where this dreadful encounter took place.Rather than the mask, it is the reference to the thunder whip that is key in understanding the historical foundation of Tamok.
This article contributes to "a new ethnology, a new archaeology, and a new history of the indigenous peoples of Amazonia and nearby areas (…), exposing a previously inconceivable dynamism to the region's societies" (Fausto and Heckenberger, 2007, p. 3).This last section is "about relating alternative histories, each with a unique perspective and voice" (Fausto and Heckenberger, 2007, p. 19;Hill, 2009).While at present there is no further historical or archaeological evidence supporting the hereafter following analysis, the hypothesis posited offers conditions in which the whip-dance and Tamok mask functions.Drawing on the earlier analysis of the facial painting, I posit that the origin of the pono-dance is the materialization of the detoxifying duel between humans and the anti-cultural monsters from the forest.The question is if this is a) a general Amazonian theme or b) in reference to a specific historical event.I argue for the latter.
Jules Crevaux (1883, p. 258) wrote that "this feast is to honor the dead of a tamusi who passed away a month ago" (emphasis added), and secondary sources as Walter Roth (1924) andJohn Gillin (1948) therefore classified the pono and tulé dances as "mourning ritual", without critical assessment of the original sources.Nonetheless, Kulienpë in his narrative of Wayana dancing in imitation of Tamok (Wayana Tamok ukuknanom) repeatedly pointed out that Tamok dancers were building a community roundhouse (Duin, 2009, table C-16, lines 43-47, 71, 77-78, 90).Tamok dancers were Wayana, more specifically Upului, from other villages (Duin, 2009, table C-16, lines 42, 53, 59) aiding in the construction of the community roundhouse (tukusipan); digging holes for posts, debarking stems, cutting leaves for roofing.These construction workers subsequently danced as Tamok.In other villages, during the period of constructing the community roundhouse, they also danced as Tamok (Duin, 2009, table C-16, line 78).In the ethno-historical accounts this important association between Tamok dancers and the construction of a community roundhouse is never mentioned.In all probability, Crevaux did not describe this building process as he arrived in Wayana villages when festivities were already underway, and he left the village soon after.That the dancers are strangers, potentially dangerous social others, yet aiding in the construction of the community roundhouse (tukusipan) and bringing the gift of basketry and other small wooden utensils needed in the production of cassava beer -life elixir and social lubricant of Amazonian societies -is vital.
In understanding the means the pono-ritual uses, the description by Crevaux (1883, p. 258) of the cracking whip is crucial: "one man alone stands up, holding in his hand a whip 8 meters long, which with a swirling motion he cracks [the whip] like a pistol" (translated by Roth, 1924, p. 664;emphasis added).This play of tropes is also present in the Wayana narrative by Kulienpë (Duin, 2009, table C-16, line 67), who also described the sound of the cracking whip like a gunshot (alakapuha katïp) 31 .I bring to mind that the whip -the weapon of Tamokis called itain or Tamok tain.Its root /tai/ is the root in taitïkai (literally: "it does TAI"), referring to thundering.For Andean South America the association between thunder and harquebus/gun has been studied by Irene Silverblatt (1988) andPeter Roe (1988).Thunder clubs come to the scene in the Wayana narratives regarding Wapotoli and Sikëpuli (Schoepf, 1993(Schoepf, -1994;;Chapuis and Rivière, 2003, p. 144-151;730-737)  32 , and are present among other Amazonian peoples (de Goeje, 1943, p. 41).Thunder strikes, thunder clubs, cracking whips, and fire arm shots, stand for similar phenomenological experiences.Each of these metaphors can interchangeably be used to make sense of one of the other experiences.The narrative of the evil spirit Tamok, I posit, has to be perceived as making sense of the sudden arrival of a new entity holding the power to kill people at a distance.If the 'thundering whip' of Tamok refers indeed to fire arms (described by indigenous peoples who had no previous experience with such fire arms), than this narrative is unique in that it is a description from an indigenous Guiana perspective of the historical first encounter in Eastern Guiana of Amazonian indigenous people with Europeans.
Most likely candidate for this historical event is the July 1542 patrol on the north bank of the lower Amazon, near the mouth of the Jari.In 1541-1542, Francisco de Orellana and his men would become the first Europeans to sail down the Amazon (de Carvajal, 1934(de Carvajal, , 1992(de Carvajal, [1542]]).The journal by Caspar de Carvajal (1934, 1992 [1542]) has been scrutinized by historians to gain insight into the more complex cultures in the upper and central Amazon (e.g., Sweet, 1974;Whitehead, 1994Whitehead, , 1998Whitehead, , 1999;;Porro, 1994;Meggers, 2003).The July 1542 patrol in the country under the reign of cacique Arripuna, or Caripuna 33 , has been skipped by John Hemming (1978, p. 194) and others, thereby silencing it in the historical process.Historians have not discussed this short passage, consisting of a single paragraph (de Carvajal, 1934, p. 227-228;1992[1542], p. 268-269): When we had gone on a little farther, the Captain ordered us to go on shore to get some recreation and see the resources of that land which was so pleasing to our sight; and so we stopped (a number of) days at this aforesaid place, whence the Captain ordered [some men] to go and reconnoiter the country toward the interior for a distance of one league in order to see and determine what [sort of] country it was; and so they went, and they had not advanced a league when those who had started off (i.e.they) turned back; they told the Captain how the country kept getting better and better because it was all savannas and woodlands of the type which we have stated, and that there had been seen many traces of people who came there to hunt game, and that it was not wise to go on farther; and so the Captain was delighted at their having turned back (de Carvajal, 1934, p. 227-228)  34 .
Why would this patrol report that it is not wise to go farther, if the lands became better and better, and based on the many traces of people who came to hunt in these savannas and woodlands apparently were good hunting grounds?Especially since the expedition was in need of food!The search for food is why this foot patrol went on land in the first place.Before analyzing this paragraph in conjunction with Wayana social memory, it is needed to briefly contextualize this passage.Captain Orellana and his men had just withstood an attacked by "people painted black" (de Carvajal, 1992(de Carvajal, [1542]], p. 264-265) 35 .Heretofore, on June 24, 1542, Gaspar de Carvajal was shot in his eye, and it goes without saying that this affected his perception and writing in the following months.That de Carvajal did not cease his writing underlines the importance of what he witnessed.Near the Rio Trombetas, de Carvajal was shot in his side yet his cloak saved him.Further downstream, the Spaniards were attacked once more, one of the Spaniards died within the day because the arrows contained curare poison (de Carvajal, 1992(de Carvajal, [1542]], p. 266-267).The result was that the Spaniards decided no longer to go ashore in populated areas36 .At the mouth of the Xingu, the Spanish brigantine was attacked by two squadrons of canoes.Another Spaniard was hit by a curare poisoned arrow and died (de Carvajal, 1992(de Carvajal, [1542]], p. 268-269).De Carvajal additionally described two remarkable shots fired by the Spanish harquebusiers: two Indians were killed by a single round, and the thundering of another harquebus shots made the Indians jump into the water out of fear.Indeed, de Carvajal (1992de Carvajal ( [1542]], p. 269) used the word "trueno" (thunder) to describe the sound of the harquebus shot.Subsequently, the Spaniards sailed along the left or north bank of the Lower Amazon ("la banda siniestra del río").Although de Carvajal must have been tormented by his wounded eye, he mentioned several times the lack of food and constant preparedness for battle on the side of the Spaniards.This lack of food makes the conclusion by the Spanish patrol in this lush land plenty of resources "that it was not wise to go on farther" (de Carvajal, 1992(de Carvajal, [1542]], p. 228) even more outstanding, and raises the question: what had happened during this Spanish patrol of July 1542?
With the aim of understanding the conditions of the genesis of Tamok, I will relate both alternative histories, i.e., the account by Caspar de Carvajal written in Spanish in 1542, and the story narrated by Kulienpë in Wayana in 2003, each with a unique perspective and voice.The 1542 patrol reported that they had seen traces of (indigenous) people who came to these savannas and woodlands to hunt (de Carvajal, 1934, p. 228).Kulienpë begins his narrative with the following opening line: "It is like this they say [the ancestors say], with regard to he who left to hunt, making a hiding place mïmnë.(…) So he thought that he would have birds under this one" (Duin, 2009, table C-15, lines 1-2).This hiding place (mïmnë) is a temporary structure made from palm fronds; this camouflaged shelter provides a place from where one can shoot birds and other animals that are feeding on the garden produce (Figure 11).While the Wayana is waiting in his mïmnë (hiding place), an unknown being arrives in the garden, Kulienpë continued.Shortly after, others arrive carrying a "thundering whip" that does "ton ton" (onomatopoeia) (Duin, 2009, table C-15, line 10).With this "thunder" emitted from this "thunder whip" these beings slash branches, the crest of the tree and even entire trees (Duin, 2009, table C-15, lines 12, 16 and 18).And the loud thundering sounds awfully frightening (Duin, 2009, table C-15, line 21).I posit that this "thunder whip", with the power to take down trees, is none other than a harquebus.Kulienpë stated that once the shooting had started, various other beings suddenly arrived out of the underbrush surrounding the gardens and the village (Duin, 2009, table C-15, line 22).Previous foot patrols during the descent of the Amazon in 1541-1542 consisted of about fifteen to twenty-five men.Almost certainly, this shoot-off must have gathered all members of the patrol, which may explain the sudden arrival of many of these fierce beings.That these beings were wearing a cloak (Duin, 2009, table C-15, line 5), may be due to the effectiveness of the cloak against curare tipped arrows which had saved the life of de Carvajal before.This cloak became one of the means to attain these fierce beings in the whip-dance, as the dancers "are covered with long bark strips, starting from the neck, a kind of toque similar to that used by magistrates (Crevaux, 1883, p. 258;translated by Roth, 1924, p. 664;emphasis added).
The full-face Tamok mask, I argue, also has its origin in this first encounter.The big leader (umït pepta) arrived with an onomatopoeic "ilesoman, ilesoman, ilesoman" (Duin, 2009, table C-15, line 17).This sound is reproduced in the whip-dance by means of kawai noise makers tied below the knee of the dancers.I posit that this is the sound of clinging metal body armor.Previously, in April 1542, Orellana had sent out a foot patrol in search for provisions, and this patrol was led by a hidalgo named Alonso de Robles (de Carvajal, 1992(de Carvajal, [1542]], p. 265).A month later, two other foot patrols were sent out to chase down Indians.One of these patrols was led by a chevalier named Cristóbal Enríquez; no leader is named for the July patrol (de Carvajal, 1992(de Carvajal, [1542]], p. 269).The leaders of these earlier patrols were a hidalgo and a chevalier, and men of such nobility owned metal body armor.Although it is not mentioned who was in charge of the July patrol, the leader of this patrol may have been wearing metal body armor resulting in the clinging sound "ilesoman, ilesoman, ilesoman" when he walked.If this leader of the patrol owned body armor, than most certainly he was also wearing a helmet.Sixteenth century helmets had a visor that could be lowered when necessary to protect the face.Such a visor makes the eyes nearly invisible, and completely covers nose and mouth.This is analogous the full-face Tamok mask.Following sixteenth century Spanish fashion, hats and helmets were flamboyantly decorated with bright red feathers.Wayana have described this headgear in the familiar terms of their feather headdress olok.The means to attain this clinging sound, the headgear, and the helmet with visor, are the kawai noise-makers, olok feather headdress, and the Tamok mask.
Wayana oral history may explain why the patrol reported that "that it was not wise to go on farther" (de Carvajal, 1934, p. 228).Kulienpë stated that Wayana villagers, who had fled out of fear, requested the service of a powerful Following Claude Lévi-Strauss (1982, p. 12), I did first "reassemble the data available about [the mask]: that is to say, everything known about its aesthetic characteristics, the technique of its fabrication, its intended use, and the results expected from it; and finally, about the myths accounting for its origin, the way it looks, its conditions of usage" (Claude Lévi-Strauss, 1982, p. 14).The whip, bark-cloth cloak, and mask are means to attain Tamok; to materialize its presence.The real condition of the genesis of Tamok, and the condition in which the whip-dance functions, I argue, is widespread disease and pandemic death, rather than the death of an individual chief (tamusi) as suggested by Crevaux (1883, p. 258) and repeated without critical assessment in secondary sources (e.g., Gillin, 1948, p. 852;Roth, 1924, p. 665).
I posit that the nineteenth century whip-dance was an authentic active process to engage with the social present because many Wayana were dying from a disease locally known as couamaye (kwamai or kuwamai) (Crevaux, 1883;Coudreau, 1893, p. 543) 38 .Some forty-five years prior to the expeditions by Crevaux, de Bauve (1835, p. 102) even reported a measles outbreak on the Jari.No wonder that the indigenous people of the Jari must have thought 'the evil spirits Tamok have returned!!!'.Instead of a mortuary ceremony, I argue, the whip-dance was mocking death itself.This nineteenth century whip-dance, rather than a longstanding ritual, was in full process of development while drawing on ancient Guiana traditions and histories.This whip-dance is par excellence a "mode of consciousness of the social present, expressed in terms of the relation of that present to its past (and future)" (Turner, 1988, p. 279); the impossible imitation of the bringer of sickness and death, the impossible imitation of Tamok.

CONCLUSION: A MASK WITHOUT A MOUTH, YET WITH MULTIPLE VOICES
"Yes, it was exactly like that!": Kulienpë's son proclaimed on January 10, 2003, when he saw the nineteenth century engraving of the "dance of the pono" (Figure 1).Then again, he said that Tamok over his nose and mouth had a sort of basket -like a long nose without a mouth -as is materialized in the Tamok mask, nonetheless, neither the engraving, nor the relevant dance costume purchased by Jules Crevaux in 1878 (currently at the Musée du Quai Branly) contain such a mask (as recently purchased by the Musée du Quai Branly).Telling is that the authentic Tamok masks, in contrast to the Tamok masks currently made for the tourist market, do not have a mouth.The voice of Tamok is its cracking whip, itain.When Wayana today describe this cracking of the whip as alakapuha katïp ("like a gunshot"), then how would indigenous people from Guiana in the sixteenth century, unfamiliar with firearms, describe and materialize a gunshot?The thundering whip became known as the weapon of Tamok.Yet more powerful than its thunder strikes is the pandemic death resulting from the encounter with the fierce Tamok.
This Great Dying in Guiana and the relationships between self and social others (between Wayana, Upului and other indigenous people, as well as between indigenous people and non-indigenous people -Brazilians or Europeans) are dynamic building blocks for the socio-historical construction of new cultural identities, or 'ethnogenesis' (Hill, 1996(Hill, , 2009)), but that will start another story (see on Duin, 2009 and2012 on "be(com) ing Wayana")39 .This article is "restoring its practical necessity by relating it to the real conditions of its genesis, that is, to the conditions in which its functions, and the means it uses to attain them, are defined" (Bourdieu, 1977, p. 114, emphasis added), instead of "decoding the internal logic of symbolism" (Bourdieu, 1977, p. 114) of the whip-dance and the Tamok mask.Instead of writing separate articles discussing each of the themes outlined here, the entanglement of the two Tamok stories, their sense and historical situatedness, and the Tamok mask materializing in the process, urges to combine these studies in one multitude of layers of analysis with the aim to gain insight into an indigenous approach to historical consciousness in Guiana.
Rather than declaring that the 'traditional' whipdance ceased to exist in the twentieth century, I argue that this impossible imitation of Tamok as the bringer of sickness and death was in process of development in the nineteenth century.The oral histories of the Wayana dancing in imitation of Tamok and the story of the evil spirit Tamok, as narrated by Kulienpë in 2003 in the Upper Maroni Basin, allowed me to (re)contextualize this whip-dance, and go beyond a mere revival of the production of the Tamok mask, as did Manfred Rauschert in the 1960's.Throughout my aesthetic analysis of a monstrous yet beautiful costume, with particular focus on the transformation of the Tamok facial painting, and relating alternative histories regarding the historical encounter with the social other -each with a unique perspective and voice -, this article defines the real conditions of the genesis of Tamok and the conditions in which the nineteenth century whip-dance functioned and the means it uses to attain Tamok.Following Neil Whitehead (2003a, p. 76), and drawing on Peter Gow's (2001) "pool of forgotten myths", this article documents forms of complexity of Tamok demonstrating that the work of 'myth' is far more historically complex than had sometimes been allowed.Human beings, Wayana or otherwise, must gain control over secret weapons of mass destruction that provide the social other with power.Humans must incorporate these powerful weapons into their very existence if they are to survive.Tamok embodies this hot clash with dangerous powers of the social other.

Figure 8 .
Figure 8. Wayana facial painting.A) Painting of the face of a Wayana girl with line drawings (photograph by Dominique Darbois, 1953); B) artist rendering of the same facial painting (drawing by Renzo Duin, 2000).

Figure 10 .
Figure 10.Variations and transformation of Tamok facial painting.A) Basic design: positive solid fill; B) basic design: fine line drawing; C) double hooked brackets; D) the large 'Devil's Joint'; E) the large 'Devil's Joint' rotated 90 degrees; F) basic design: negative solid fill; G) basic design: negative solid fill with interruption at the place of the mouth; H) general template for the facial painting of the Tamok mask; I) composite variation based on both positive and negative solid fill designs.Drawings: Renzo Duin.
These objects were confiscated by the United States Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) in violation of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), U.S.
Endangered Species Act, the Lacey Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and U.S. Customs.Over 2,500 objects (including the thirteen Tamok masks) in the Amazonian Collection of the FLMNH were donated to the University of Florida in 2005 by the USFWS under authority of USFWS Investigation number 305 000 215 and case name: "Macaw Feathers" (Transfer order surplus personal property, USFWS form 3090-0014.March 29 th , 2005).FLMNH is the repository of the Amazonian Collection(Figures 6 and 7A)