The tribe of Shuar in amazonia has a scary tradition of destroying both the physical body of the enemy and his spiritual entity.
They believe in 3 different "souls" or spirits that inhabit the body of man:
- Wakani (or soul in a more general sense, which survives after death)
- Arutam (or essence of life, which protects against death)
- Muisak (or avenging soul, who rises after the destruction of Arutam to avenge his fall). It is against the latter against whom the Tzantza is directed, to prevent the terrible Muisak from assassinating the victorious leader in battle.
To defeat the soul of their enemy the Shuar have tradition to reduce the size of the head of defeated leader in the war, which symbolizes his defeat and the loss of his power on his land.
The heads not only sought to protect their owner, they were also useful to sow terror among the enemy tribes.
The tzantsa were usually made of heads of the leaders of enemies and process of fabrication was long and complex.
These heads are just mockups wich photo took in a museum :)
Camera: Sony rx10m3
Location: Intiñian - Ecuador