Zemi Figure

After reading the discussions for the things in the Reckoning with Mestizaje gallery, I decided that the item that most correctly represents the term mestizaje would be the Zemi figure. A zemi is defined as being a deified ancestor revered in the Caribbean. Zemis were among the first indigenous objects collected by Europeans in the New World and sent back as curiosities. The figures originated in the Caribbean and were even prevalent in the lives of the Native peoples well before the Spanish conquest. When the Spaniards arrived they discouraged the use of zemis for religious purposes, often destroying them. The Spaniards believed that the Zemis prevented the Tainos, a group of Amerindians inhabiting the Caribbean at the time of the Spanish conquest, from converting to Catholicism. Converting all natives to Catholicism was the goal of the reconquest. The Spanish tried their hardest to discontinue the practice of every religion except for Catholicism, and the zemi was seen as a barrier keeping them
It is made of wood, glass, cotton, shell and horn. It was created through weaving and carving techniques of the tainos. The figure is Janus-faced, meaning it has two faces. One of its faces resembles a human face which is made of rhinoceros horn from Africa, while the other resembles a skull or a bat. Both sides of the figure are wearing large mirror earrings made of Venetian glass from Europe and a headdress and costume made of pink and white Native Caribbean shell beads set in interlocking patterns. The side with human face has a set of eyes, a nose and a mouth carved into the rhinoceros horn. The side whose face depicts a skull or a bat has orange and green beads encircling its eyes and orange and white beads forming the holes for its nose and mouth. The sleeves on both sides of the costume are made with blue beads. The bottom piece of the zemi is said to be detachable and may have been worn as a belt at one