Notes on Cyclical Temporality and Two Artefacts among the Toba of Western Formosa and the Pilagá

The Day and the Yearly Cycle

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to look into the reading that the Toba of Western Formosa and the Pilagá of Bañado La Estrella make of two specific cyclical periods of time somehow related to the celestial space. In the case of the Toba of western Formosa, we will focus on the course of the day, while for the Pilagá of Bañado La Estrella we will analyse the yearly cycle. On this occasion, we seek to examine these time cycles considering the links established with the material culture; both the inherited culture related to “the studies of the ancients” and the material culture taken from or imposed by western society. On the one hand, we will work on two Pilagá asterisms analysed jointly - Dapichi’, which is mostly associated with the Pleiades, and Yaɢayna’di, outlined in what is known as the Belt of Orion. The two asterisms are represented by a progressive string game, i.e. it starts with the creation of a figure followed by another designed without undoing the former. We will study the string game linked to the above asterisms because it represents two celestial objects whose apparent cyclical moves and changes are related to the evolution of a significant time cycle that paced the life of the Pilagá; the yearly cycle. Additionally, this knowledge is part of the lore passed on by the elders and refers to one of the few ways the “ancients” had of representing asterisms. On the other hand, we will delve into another relation between a celestial object and materiality; the relation between the sun and the watch among the Toba of western Formosa. To this end, we will use an element clearly connected with the surrounding society and to which the Toba have become adapted. However, they have adopted the watch on their own terms. Thus, part of the knowledge transmitted by the elders, “the studies of the ancients”, may be read in the way they read and understand the watch, especially the analogue watch.

Taking into account what we have investigated in both indigenous groups, our final objectives are, first, to see how the celestial readings related to the passing of time are linked to materiality, and second, how this relationship keeps changing and updating depending on the social situation, albeit it continues to refer to knowledge associated with their way of understanding the day and yearly cycles.