Face Jugs/Ugly Jugs

I started Spring cleaning early this year...I'm almost done! Things are going to start getting really busy for me so I need my house to be clean and organized. I just ordered some new jewelry making supplies. I'll have some cool stuff to show you soon! But what's really exciting is that I'll be taking a Pottery class! I start the first week of April...I can't wait. I've been wanting to do this for soooo long. I have a bit of experience, but it was a long time ago. Maybe it'll be like riding a bike. I'm already overflowing with ideas, but my main objective is to make face jugs. Face jugs have a really interesting history. They were first made by Slave Potters and others in the early 1800's. They were made to mark the graves of dead loved ones because slaves weren't allowed to have tombstones. They are also referred to Ugly Jugs and are said to have held moonshine. The ugly faces would scare off children from getting into the liquor stash.



This one is made by my favorite face jug artist Heather Gwinn.

But the fact of the matter is that these face jugs weren't just turning up only in the South. Jim McDowell believes himself to be the only black potter who creates face jugs from far reaching ancestral traditions as well as from his own family lineage. He explains "Slaves were not allowed to have tombstones, they said, so face jugs served as their gravemarkers. My great-great-great-great Aunt Evangeline was a village slave potter in Jamaica. She made face jugs, too. The story handed down from Evangeline was that slaves placed personal items on their loved ones' graves along with face jugs. The ugly face on the jug evolved something like this: Slaves from Africa revered their ancestors and participated in ancestor honoring, or what we might call ancestor worship. African slaves were taken to the Caribbean to be acclimated and there they picked up the religion of voodoo. Eventually ancestor worship, voodoo, and Christianity amalgamated into the tradition of the face jug. Many slaves who came to this country converted to Christianity and acquired a belief in the devil. They combined all their beliefs and came up with the ugly face jug. Apparently it had to be ugly enough to scare the devil away from your grave so your soul could go to heaven."



Jim Dowell's story about his Jamaican Aunt is probably true. But he got the rest really mixed up. Voodoo actually originated in Africa not the Caribbean. It was brought to the Caribbean during the African Diaspora via slave ships to the Caribbean and the Americas. West African Vodun originates from the African Kingdom of Dohomey now called the Republic of Benin. It is the national religion to this day. The people indigenous to this area are the Fon Tribe, they originated in Togo and spread throughout Benin and Southwest Nigeria. A large population of Fon peoples were taken to Haiti, so Vodun morphed into Haitian Vodou. Haitian Vodou is a syncrenistic religion combining Vodun and Christianity as well as both the Fon and French language. Finally a large population of Haitian slaves were brought to New Orleans...this is why we have Voodoo. Voodoo spread throughout the South so now we have the even more obscured version of this...African American Folk Magick known as Hoodoo. An integral part of all these belief systems is Honoring the Ancestors. Vodun...Vodou...Voodoo...Hoodoo.


This mischievious imp I picked up a street fair!

Spirit Vessels in Haitian Vodou are called Pot Tet (Head Pot) These vessels are made to house the Soul or Gwo Bananj of the Initiate during ceremonial trance possession. It is usually a white clay vessel drapped with scarves and beads. The vessel is kept by the Houngan (Preist) in the Temple. It is kept even after death because it houses the Spiritual essence of the deceased ancestor. This practice is an integral part of Hatian Vodou. Spirit vessels are found amongst the Yoruba and Fon too but not to house the Spirits of the dead. They house the Spiritual essence of the Orisha and the Lwa (Celestial Spirits/Dieties). You have to remember the Fon weren't the only Africans in Haiti. This practice was more likely introduced by the Bantu of Central and South Africa. The Bantu religion is called known as Nganga Kiyangala. This religion spread throughout the Carribbean and is also known as Las Reglas de Congo, Palo Mayombe, Palo Monte, Kimbisa or Santo Cristo Buen Viaje...more commonly referred to as simply, Palo. The Spirit Vessel is called a Nganga....a large iron cauldron filled with magickal herbs and items. The Nganga is called the Prenda in Spanish. Again these vessels house the Spiritual essence of the Ancestors.