Divinity Atlas

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A Tray, a Tube, and a Second Person

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A Tray, a Tube, and a Second Person

The kit is small and consistent. A flat tray, carved from hardwood or from bone, usually rectangular or oval, often with a carved figure at one end and a shallow field where powder is laid out. A tube, made from a hollow bird bone or a length of cane, sometimes with a small cup or bead at one end. Frequently a spatula or a small pestle for working the powder, and a container to keep it in.

The tubes come in two significantly different forms and the difference is not a technicality. A single straight tube lets a person take snuff themselves. A longer tube, often Y-shaped or paired, lets one person blow the powder into another person's nostrils, which requires two people, an agreement between them, and a considerable amount of force. Which form predominates in an assemblage tells you something about how the practice was organised.

The powder itself is prepared from the seeds of Anadenanthera peregrina, roasted, ground and mixed with an alkaline ash or lime. The tray is where that preparation is finished and where the dose is laid out, so it functions as a work surface as much as a container, which is why the carving is concentrated at the ends and edges.

Trays are small, generally under a forearm in length, and flat enough to travel. Together with the tube and the pouch they form a kit that one person can carry, which is how it reached so far from where the seeds grow.

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