#duho

Stool, Duho, Arawak, Taino (Chican Ostionoid),

Ritual seat (duho) sculpted from the dense tropical harwdwood guayacan, in the form of a powerful male figure crouching on all fours. The eyes, mouth and shoulders are inlaid with gold. The back of the seat is carved with a geometric design.

1292-1399 (Calibrated radiocarbon dates),

Wood, Gold,

Height: 22 centimetres, Length: 44 centimetres, Width: 16.50 centimetres.

Taíno Ritual Seat (1292 – 1399, Dominican Republic).

This ritual seat, or duho, was found in a cave near Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, and is part of the Chican-Ostionoid archaeological culture.  It is 44cm long, 22cm high and 16.5cm wide.

It was carved from the dense hardwood guayacan (Lignum vitae) from the Guaiacum officinale tree, whose flower is the national flower of Jamaica.  The chair is in the form of a man crouching on all fours, with the eyes, mouth and shoulders inlaid with gold, and earspool in his ears.  The back of the seat is carved in a geometric design, and male genitals are carved underneath.

The man's head is tilted up, and his mouth is locked open in a tense grimace.  The inscribed patterns below the shoulders and on the backrest represent cotton armbands and a waistband.

Guayacan wood was very important to the Taíno because of its hardness, durability, and deep black colour, and it was used for their most precious religious objects.  Black represented night, and also represented the lack of colour in the invisible spirit realm. The hammered gold inlay in the eyes indicated the ability to “see” into this supernatural world.  Gold was also applied to the joints, as they maintained the individual body parts as an integral whole.

A duho was a carved seat, made of wood or stone, found in the house of a Taíno cacique (chief).  These seats were very important in Taíno political & ideological systems, and were literally seats of power, prestige and ritual.  Chiefs and shamans used these seats of power to intercede with ancestor spirits, or zemís; and to help manage & control the invisible forces that governed the natural world and human affairs.

It is possible that they were also used by the cahiques to smoke cohoba, a hallucogenic snuff that was used in ritual ceremonies.

2 CIGARS SWEET & NATURAL, ZEMIS© BORN IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, BORN TO BE WILD!  30 WILD SMOKES PER CARDBOARD BOX! 

ZEMIS®  PRESENTS YOU IN EACH TOBACCO'S PRODUCT AN IMMORTAL, INVISIBLE ZEMÍ INHABITING THE COSMOS.

THE TALE OF THE TAINO'S INDIANS IN VOLUTES OF SMOKE SINCE 1998.

Zemis© for Rings, Boxes, Cardboard Boxes, Pouches, warranty seal and drawings.

ZEMIS® BORN IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC SOLD IN THE USA !

Zemis® Cigars. Registered in Dominican Republic #309276, Registered in USA #4450687

25TH BIRTHDAY

ZEMIS ® TOBACCO & CIGARS

FIRST USE ANYWHERE SINCE JANUARY 2000

FIRST USE IN COMMERCE IN THE USA SINCE 2003

ZEMIS© ALL DRAWINGS, RINGS, WARRANTY SEALS, STICKERS COPYRIGHTED SINCE 1998.

Hancrafted Cigars. Registered in Dominican Republic #309276, Registered in USA #4450687.

25TH BIRTHDAY

ZEMIS ® TOBACCO & CIGARS

FIRST USE ANYWHERE SINCE JANUARY 2000

FIRST USE IN COMMERCE IN THE USA SINCE 2003

ZEMIS© ALL DRAWINGS, RINGS, WARRANTY SEALS, STICKERS COPYRIGHTED SINCE 1998.

Hancrafted Cigars. Registered in Dominican Republic #309276, Registered in USA #4450687.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC SURROUNDED BY GODS !

SMOKE RUNNING AFTER THE COURSE OF THE STARS AND RIDING THE WORLD AXLE !

ZEMIS® PRESENTS YOU THE ZEMÍ DEMINÁN CARACARACOL, FIGURADO SHAPE: AN IMMORTAL, INVISIBLE ZEMÍ INHABITING THE COSMOS.

DOMINICAN HANDCRAFTED CIGARS IN TRIBUTE OF EACH ZEMÍ, GOD OF THE TAINOS INDIANS.

MEET SMOKING THE ZEMÍ YAYA & HIS SON THE ZEMÍ YAYAEL AND ALSO THE EARTH MOTHER ZEMÍ ATABEY & HIS SON YÚCAHU BAGUA MAÓROCOTI.

DIVE INTO THE CAVES OF IGUANABOÍNA AT THE EAST OF KISKEYA ISLAND TO THE CENTRAL CAVE OF THE ISLAND CACIBAJAGUA TO THE WESTERN CAVE OF GUACAYARIMA FOLLOWING FROM EAST TO WEST THE COURSE OF THE STARS; SACRED CAVES INGANGS TO THE WONB OF THE ZEMÍ ATABEY, MOTHER EARTH FROM WHICH THE WORLD HAS EMERGED. THE SACRED PLACES ARE THE PASSAGES WHERE THE TAINOS COULD ENTER FROM THE NATURAL AND VISIBLE WORLD TO THE INVISIBLE AND SUPERNATURAL WORLD ASCENDING AND DESCENDING THE WORLD'S AXLE (AXIS MUNDI).