The Quechua Staff (Circa 1800’s)
The Andean peoples are named after the region of South America that they come from: The Andes mountains. This geographical area encompasses the western side of modern day Peru and Chile. The Andean peoples are a diverse group and not just one tribe/ethnic group. An equivalent would be like saying Scandinavians which encompasses multiple ethnicities and cultures but have a unifying commonality in geography and history.
The Quechua Staff is a widespread symbol of authority among Andean peoples as a whole. They are usually used in ceremonies and in the past were carried by community leaders who oversaw communal projects such as planting and harvesting. These staffs tell us a significant amount about the culture of the Native Andean peoples. It shows that there were complex and sophisticated structures of class, authority, and social hierarchy among the Andean peoples.
Individuals who carried these staffs are analogous to the nobles and royals of European history. These staffs prove that Native cultures weren’t the simple and “backwards” people that they were painted to be, but in fact were prospering and sophisticated cultures.
As I researched more about the Quechua staffs, I was interested by the evolution of the use and nature of the staffs as time progressed. When the Europeans arrived and imposed Christianity on the Natives Andean peoples, the wooden staffs began to be decorated with bands of Christian symbols. Today, they are still and often used by leaders in Catholic ceremonies and public rituals. The essence of what the staff represents remained the same through time. It is still a complex social symbol that represents a type of hierarchy, whether it be the Andean peoples using it as a symbol of nobility, or Catholics priests using it in their rituals.
What’s important to note is that the staffs were not lost completely with European colonization, but instead developed with the changes that the Natives experienced. This staff from the museum was from the 1800’s. This shows that Native practices and objects are still very much alive in the Americas and that like all cultures, they have evolved with time.
