Feather headdress (41cm high x 33 cm wide)
A feather headdress
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Feathers are highly valued among the peoples of the
Amazon basin. People take these natural materials and carefully
arrange them into works of individual art, including headdresses, armlets, pendants and earrings.
Great care is taken to create and preserve feather headdresses, for use during important ceremonies. They have a
number of purposes:
- they show that a man is a skilful hunter and a good provider for his family and community - often, men can
only get enough feathers to make a headdress by hunting
- feathers link the wearer symbolically to birds and are a source of spiritual strength and protection for some groups
- in some cultures, different headdresses are reserved for members of different groups or those with status
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This headdress may have been made by the
Cofán people of northern
Ecuador. It came into the World Museum Liverpool collections
in 1902. It's made of bird breast pelts, beetle-wing cases,
cotton, basketry, seeds and trade beads. It also features scarlet
macaw tail and body feathers. There are different Amazonian myths as to how the macaw got its bright red, green,
blue and yellow colours. Some say that it bathed in the blood,
bile and fat of a heroic ancestor. Others say that it was
burnt after flying close to a fire.
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