Saturday was a classic day of going into the city. Andriana, Kali, Jamila, Erin, Bridgett and I visited the Jade Museum in San Jose, CR. It is a museum of pre-Colombian history, between 500 and 20000 years roughly. The name is in fact important; most of artifacts on display were made of jade, which is actually a common name for two minerals of different structures. The societies of Central America traded foods, knowledge, and raw jade for their artisans to craft.

The process of creating jade jewelry involves sanding the raw stone by a river with tools similar to a bow-fire starter, if anyone knows what that is. The stone must have water constantly dripped on it to aid in the friction process. Using a stylus with a jade tip, the artisan is able to carve patterns into the stone for animal designs or religious symbols.

Simple necklaces of small jade pieces or a single large stone represent status as a chieftain or shaman. A complete set of jade jewelry would be gauge earrings, a nose ring approximately one inch in diameter, and a necklace. Jade stone was also used as healing rocks and tools to channel spirits of the gods during shaman rituals.

Additional crafts were ceramic pots and cups, stone chairs/corn grinders, and stone jewelry. Objects usually were made to resemble animals of the forest as each animal had a different quality. Mammals, reptiles, and arthropods all were crafted into symbols for the tribe. Fertility is associated with many animals, such as bats and crocodiles. Many birds were spirit animals for traveling to the next world, and shamans were believed to be able to transform into them.

Ocarinas that originate from this part of the world were crafted to imitate a particular bird call, and music in general accompanied hunting rituals, religious rituals, marriages and war. The natives crafted flutes and drums as well and drums were often used at night to intimidate enemies during battle.

Fertility and sexuality are well explored by pre-Colombian artisans. A particular gesture showed up in different places: it was of a woman holding her upper abdomen or her breasts up slightly. This is believed to be a gesture of dominance for several cultures in the region. One artifact was a flute shaped to resemble male genitalia, it was very accurate. Small gold and stone ornaments of couples hugging or in more intimate positions have been found, and could have been given as wedding presents for a successful marriage.

Finally, many sculptures of warriors were discovered. A prestigious warrior would be carrying many slain foes’ heads in his piece. Tattoo rollers could press ink or dyes to identify a tribe, or be heated to tattoo/scar a permanent tattoo.

I am not aware of a modern version of a chieftain with a jade symbol of power. Do we revere the president’s tailor? The crafts were numerous and diverse, but I think I prefer Southwest American art, bias maybe? What are the jade symbols of power in this era? Crosses are made of plastic, and doctors do not use healing rocks because they belief these are “dark age” ideas. But archaeological evidence revealed that diseases that the natives here faced were similar to Zika, Malaria and other diseases we face today. I kept asking my classmates where our valued artisans of today are, do you know?

Final: Dinner was great. I had a vegetarian whole grain rice dish and miso soup. My drink was a local craft bear called the “Alley Cat” it was like an IPA, very smooth.