Folk Art in the Americas

This first gallery has several display cases holding instruments and objects associated with trades, ways of life, and creative work. One, for example, displays objects of common household use, while another has tools.

Many visitors to this gallery will probably have seen this type of house in a drive through the countryside, it moves one to reflect on life in the rural areas of our island.

Others, such as the Argentine saddle, remind us of the adaptations made to a country's geographical characteristics: The wide expanses of the Argentine pampas required pasturage of cattle overseen by men on horseback.

Machetes, some more ornamented than others, are widespread tools in sugarcane-raising areas (the Dominican Republic and Brazil, for example), as are straw hats of many kinds- so necessary to protect the cane-cutters from the ravages of the tropical sun.

The next gallery contains objects from across the Americas that relate to the way people dress and adorn their bodies, to their musical instruments, recreation, games and gaming.

Some objects contrast dramatically with the way of life of the island's jibaros, its campesinos: the fine embroidered handkerchiefs, baby booties, a mundillo (bobbin lace) tablecloth.

Delicate in appearance, intricate in their design, the tablecloths would have adorned the dining table of some prominent family, perhaps in the town of Moca, or Isabela, or Aguadilla, which were the centers of production of this type of goods.

Festivities and music in America are cultural manifestations where the influence of the cultures that have settled our continent, can be clearly perceived.

This is precisely where the African, European and Amerindian melted into each other and emerged in new harmonies and rhythms. At the same time, the popular festivities are linked to the music and other manifestations of sacred and of profane natures.

Here we a variety of these influences: the “maraca”, the wooden drum and the wind instruments introduced by the indigenous cultures, string instruments that represent the European presence and percussion instruments brought by the Africans.

One of the objects in this next gallery that speaks to us most directly of a religious belief with which we might identify is the rustic campesino chapel, just across from the campesino house in the adjoining gallery. They share a certain symmetry.

The chapel, built like the house out of planks, is, however, roofed with palm leaves. Testifying to the vigor of the Puerto Rican people's religious belief, these chapels dotted the countryside where priests seldom came.

The santos of the altars would usually be carved by self-taught woodcarvers, called santeros. Two of the figures on the altar are Virgins with a crucifix between them.

In the gallery dedicated to the magic-religious beliefs of the American continents there are many masks and other paraphernalia for ritual ceremonies in adition to altars such as Lucumi.

Upon the arrival of the European conquerors, the multiple ethnic groups that inhabited the American territory had different religious and magical beliefs, in which animistic ideas predominated. 

With the conquest and introduction of christianity many of these indigenous beliefs and religions were extinguished, others experienced, first the influence of christianity and later, that of West African religions, introduced into America by enslaved African people. 

Some regions were influenced by Old World religions such as islamism and hinduism.