Q: I was on the museum website and I saw striped sticks of the Amahuaca tribe which were called "wife-beating sticks." What is that about? Why are they beating their wives?
A: I had to ask a friend of a friend to get this answer for you. The Amahuaca are a small tribe and very remote. She says "It was a ritual. The people believed bad things came from dark magic. If a woman was infertile, they would beat her with a sacred stick to drive out the bad magic. They also had special whips that the shaman would whip men in a ritual to make them stronger and drive away dark magic. This is what I hear from older people. Amahuaca still do many of our traditions but not these ones."
Hope that answers you question, have a good day!
Further reading:
Amahuaca language
Amazonian tribes
