Visit to Puerto Barra y Ypetemi Ache Continued

I was privileged to be present at the repatriation and burial ceremony for the bones of an Aché girl named Damiana who died in Argentina at the end of the 19th century. She was taken from her home to study her at the age of three. After she died at 13 She was cut up in pieces and parts of her went to Berlin and parts stayed in Argentina.... part of the head was taken to Germany and studied by a professor Juan Virtchow..... well enough of that. So the bones are now back in Paraguay and were given to the Aché and I watched the ceremony which included crying and singing from the men and women.

 These are the rib bones of the girl.

This picture is what the women do as they cry for the dead on the leg of their husband.

This is a sweet old man. In fact all the old men are very sweet and so loving. The "paint"is spit mixed with charcoal and sugar.

So here I am dressed in my Aché best. This black paint is like having your best suit on. (Back in the day paint was the only thing they wore).

So this guy is probably wearing an Aché tuxedo.

If you ever want to make some Aché face paint first get the charcoal from your fire. It has to be the hard dark charcoal and not the light colored ashes. Next take a big bag of sugar and grab handfuls of sugar and a lump of charcoal and chew it up together. The sugar helps you salivate and then spit it out into your hands and rub it around for a while then apply liberally to face.

And

Add feathers if you really want to dress up.