![Tembetá en cerámica moche](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Tembet%C3%A1_en_cer%C3%A1mica_moche.jpg)
A tembetá (
Guaraní language
Guaraní (), specifically the primary variety known as Paraguayan Guarani ( "the people's language"), is a South American language that belongs to the Tupi–Guarani family of the Tupian languages. It is one of the official languages of P ...
: ''tembé'': lip, ''Ita'': stone.) or barbote (
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
) is a metal or stone rod placed in lower lip piercings by members of some
indigenous peoples in South America
The Indigenous peoples of South America or South American Indigenous peoples, are the pre-Colombian peoples of South America and their descendants. These peoples contrast with South Americans of European ancestry and those of African descent.
...
. It has been used since the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
period by different human groups for
body modification
Body modification (or body alteration) is the deliberate altering of the human anatomy or human physical appearance. In its broadest definition it includes skin tattooing, socially acceptable decoration (''e.g.'', common ear piercing in many s ...
, spiritual protection, and indication of
sexual maturity
Sexual maturity is the capability of an organism to reproduce. In humans it might be considered synonymous with adulthood, but here puberty is the name for the process of biological sexual maturation, while adulthood is based on cultural definitio ...
.
Pre-Columbian use
According to the first studies of Jorge Fernández, tembetás originated in
Planalto,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. Their use expanded as far south as
El Quisco
El Quisco is a Chilean city and commune in San Antonio Province, Valparaíso Region. Located in the country's central coast, it serves as a popular summer resort for the population of Santiago and forms part of the Coast of Poets, a cultural spa ...
,
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
, and they were adopted by indigenous groups such as the
Guarani,
Tupi Tupi may refer to:
* Tupi people of Brazil
* Tupi or Tupian languages, spoken in South America
** Tupi language, an extinct Tupian language spoken by the Tupi people
* Tupi oil field off the coast of Brazil
* Tupi Paulista, a Brazilian municipalit ...
, and
Chiriguano
The Ava Guaraní are an Indigenous peoples formerly known as Chiriguanos or Chiriguano Indians who speak the Ava Guarani and Eastern Bolivian Guaraní languages. Noted for their warlike character, the Chiriguanos retained their lands in the Ande ...
peoples.
Sociological importance
The tembetá played a part in
initiation
Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformation ...
ceremonies, signifying the entry of young men into adult life. After these ceremonies, the men could marry and acquire the responsibilities of an adult male.
Corporal use and skill of placement
The tembetá is a male adornment in the lower lip. Several men and candidates would meet and drink
chicha
''Chicha'' is a fermented (alcoholic) or non-fermented beverage of Latin America, emerging from the Andes and Amazonia regions. In both the pre- and post-Spanish conquest periods, corn beer (''chicha de jora'') made from a variety of maize land ...
, a
fermented beverage made from maize, to dull the pain. A specialist would perforate the lip with a thick wooden needle. The tembetá would be inserted, and the person would wear it for the remainder of his life.
Participants would ask during the ceremony that the tembetá protect its owner from death. To this end, it was placed near the mouth, a potential entry of damaging forces. Indeed, it was a very important amulet, more than an adornment.
Molle culture used the adornment, made of rock, preferably of beautiful colors. It consists of a thin curved plate molded to the gums. In the centre was a button, either cylindrical or sharply-pointed, that penetrated the lip 5 to 7 cm.
Geographical distribution
The tembetá is a cultural feature of very wide distribution. It has been used by peoples of Africa, Asia, and the Americas and often it had, apart from it decorative value, a social meaning. Another variant was a pipe of stone, often
talc
Talc, or talcum, is a Clay minerals, clay mineral, composed of hydrated magnesium silicate with the chemical formula Mg3Si4O10(OH)2. Talc in powdered form, often combined with corn starch, is used as baby powder. This mineral is used as a thi ...
, in the shape of letter "T". These pipe-shaped tembetás could be used in rites to smoke herbs with
hallucinogenic
Hallucinogens are a large, diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, mood, and perception as well as other changes. Most hallucinogens can be categorize ...
properties.
Guarani people
The tembetá, called "labrete",
The Indigenous Manufacture Across Some Objects Of The Collections Of The Museum
was used by the tribes of the Guarani. According to archaeological findings, the Guarani tembetá was made of quartz
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
in the shape of a "T", 10 cm in length. The working of the quartz was done by a shaman
Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...
. Quartz correlates to ''ita-verá'' (brilliant stone) of the mythical one ''Tupá Overasú'', and of the great one ''Tupá of the Storm''.
In Chile
The tembetá was used in several pre-Columbian cultures in Chile. The principal one was the Molle culture, which brought the tembetá from the Planalto of Brazil. Cultures derived from the Molle were the Diaguita
The Diaguita people are a group of South American indigenous people native to the Chilean Norte Chico and the Argentine Northwest. Western or Chilean Diaguitas lived mainly in the Transverse Valleys which incised in a semi-arid environment. Ea ...
, Llolleo
Llolleo, also called Llo-Lleo, is a town in the commune of San Antonio, V Region of Valparaiso, Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, ...
, and Bato.
In the Llolleo culture the tembetá was of cardinal importance, but among the Bato, it was more on the level of a personal adornment, without any spiritual connotations.
Social differentiation
The tembetá offers protection against the negative action of the "owners of the nature"; it is the ritual adornment of the "souls that travel towards the land of beyond". Many neolithic tribes of the Amazon demonstrated a deep scorn for peoples that did not use the tembetá.
See also
* Lip piercing
A lip piercing is a type of body piercing that penetrates the lips or the area surrounding the lips, which can be pierced in a variety of ways.
Procedure and healing
Approximate healing time for most lip piercings is between 1 and 3 months; ...
* Paraguayan Indian art
Notes
References
* Agüero Blanch, Vicente Orlando. "The tembetá: types and area of dispersion in the department Malargüe (Mendoza, Argentina)". ''Annals of archaeology and ethnology'', Mendoza, 1965, 20p. 49–70: carte, ill., tab., bibliogr. p. 68–70
External links
The Guaranis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tembeta
Pre-Columbian cultures
Indigenous jewelry of the Americas
Brazilian clothing
Bolivian culture
Paraguayan culture
Chilean culture
Body piercing jewellery
Guaraní words and phrases