Dialogues in Cuban Archaeology

The Ceramic Art of Agricultural Groups in the Antilles / 157
that alone, according to Olmos (1991), do not possess a meaning. It is when
they are combined with the rest of the elements of the design that they acquire
a meaning and become proper symbolic units. Possible examples of this interpretation
are the circle on the body of the frog or in the middle of the burén
and the cassava and the rhombus-like body of the frog with the circle-cassava
superimposed in the example of Puerto Rico (Figure 8.7a). Nevertheless, the
single designs of concentric circles, triangles, rhomboids, and other compositions
of geometric character are observed in a large sample of burenes, possibly
representing iconic syntagmas of the same topic, since the reference context is
the burén. As in the case of the turtle vessels, the burén is both the frog itself
and the history of the twins in the origin myth of systematized agriculture.
THE CRYING FIGURE
My last topic is related to a crying ¤gure commonly found in ceramics from
eastern Cuba. In the collection from Loma del Indio, Celaya and Godo
(2000) reconstructed about 30 varieties of this character (see examples in Figures
8.9, 8.10, and 8.11), generically identi¤ed by a face under a simple or
double arch that extends to the sides, suggesting the presence of limbs. The
tears, when present, are shown as single, double, or triple incisions and rarely
as punctation. In the process of artistic synthesis some features (nose, mouth,
tears) were lost and others persisted, such as the eyes, the appliqué in the form
of arches, or smaller strips of clay that evoke the image, even though other
more clearly ¤gurative elements are missing.
These crying faces, which have also been found in media other than ceramics,
are usually called the llora-lluvias (cry-rains) and traditionally have
been identi¤ed with the zemi Boinayel. Arrom (1975) has suggested that this
zemi was the provider of rain and, according to the myth, its companion was
Márohu, its complementary opposite whose name can be translated as “without
clouds” or “spirit of the clear skies.” Several bicephalous entities and similar
double ¤gures or twins have been connected to these zemies.
After considering the iconographic heterogeneity among the anthropozoomorphic
¤gures, Celaya and Godo (2000) have questioned the identi¤cation
of the mythical Boinayel with the archaeological crying ¤gures (Figure 8.11).
In the case of the anthropozoomorphic ¤gure, the individual is related to the
previously mentioned coil or cleat-lug handles that represent a synthesis of the
turtle or another handle type similar to the representations of owls, where
the emphasis is on the beak and the eyes are shown as perforations or depres-