Dance Sling Item Number: 3486/38 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
A small-size dance sling (wichi wichi) with a finger-woven cradle and solid braids for handles. The bigger braid, decorated with geometric diamond patterns in black and hot pink against an orange background, with a small finger-loop above the tassel ending made of three smaller solid braids. The cradle at the centre of the sling has a black base with a triangle motif in orange, beige, hot-pink, and dark brown. A chevron pattern is worked in orange, off-white black, and dark brown along the smaller braid.
Different types of slings are used for different purposes in the Andes. Some are used for hunting or herding, but another type is used as a dance accessory. In the Cusco region, the type that has a small vestigial cradle and many colourful tassels attached near one end of the braid (in Quechua, called a 'wichi wichi'), is used as a dance sling. Sometimes secondary braids with many tassels are suspended from the main braid, and these are worn across the chest or around the waist, with the tassels mainly hanging below the waist. Another type of dance sling, which incorporates pieces of camelid pelt, is used in the Puno area by men and women in the wiphala dance, a dance that ensures success in hunting.
Purchased by the donor between 1982 and 1984 in the Cuzco area, where it was likely made and used.
Sling handles are usually made as solid braids, a technique that is done by holding the braid in one’s fist and crossing threads from the four quadrants across the crown of the braid. Variations in colour, slant, and sequence in the crossing threads produce a variety of diamond or oblique patterns.