Lipstick

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This feather object is made in the shape of a stylised bird, with the 'beak' (the coil of the feather) on top. The tailpin is red, the body turquoise and the feathers on the sides are black. At the end of the tail pin, a blue/black bird's cap is glued.™ The technique of making a mosaic of feathers was used. On the background (also a feather) the body is glued by gluing the coils of the feathers together. The feathers are attached in horizontal rows, with the flags of the top row covering the coils of the bottom row. The side feathers are glued between the body and the tail feather.\The red tail feather is from the Ara macao. The blue/black bird cap is from the Cyanerpus cyaneus. The turquoise body is made of downy feathers from the Cotinga cayana.\The black side flippers are from the Cotinga cotinga. On the back they are a few tail feathers from Psarocolius decumanus.The tembeta is an ornament which is attached to the lower lip. This feather tembeta is used for ceremonies. Made by men, they are also the ones who wear them. Only men wear items with tail feathers of the macaw, because this bird is the symbol of the sun, and only men may identify with it.‖ Karsten sees the piercing of the lip as a kind of baptism whereby the chin- dren are cleansed of evil spirits.\The child is supposed to be given powers to resist evil spirits through this act, and the ornament which is fastened in the opening also possesses these magical powers.Young boys are given a miniature rendition of this tembeta, as, for example, nos. 4016-274.