Angus's Artefact of Week 1 2011

The Atabeyra of Holguín, Cuba

A clay figurine of a woman that is either pregnant or giving birth. This particular object was found in a field in the Banes area and is now in the Museo Indocubano Baní. It is one of several of such type of artefacts in East Cuba. It is notable that a number of these artefacts can be found here, because female figurines are rare in the other Greater Antilles.

It is said that this particular type of figurine represents Atabeyra, who is a Precolumbian type of mother goddess according to eye-witness accounts from Hispaniola made by Fray Ramon Pané in the final years of the 15^th century. Whether this figurine actually represents Atabeyra or some other type of fertility figure remains unknown, but it is striking that figurines such as these also played a prominent role in the establishment of the syncretic (Indigenous, African and Catholic) cult of the Virgen del Caridad del Cobre, which is Cuba's Patron Saint.

Next week more on mother goddesses in the Caribbean!