 |
|
 |
::01 |
 |
The Guajá practice a form of animistic religion
and believe that the spirits of their ancestors and other
spiritual beings reside in a celestial paradise. During
the dry season, during full-moon nights, Guajá
men are adorned by their women with toucan feathers and
vulture down to visit this sky world and commune with
these spirits (ohó iwa-beh). The men sing
and dance around a hunting blind (takaia) built
in the village clearing, with babassu palm fronds (a variant
of this term, tocaia, was taken from Brazil's língua
geral, formerly Tupi, and incorporated in the Portuguese
language, to signify a contraption made for ambushes and
hunting). Each man enters the takaia individually and,
once inside, they sing and dance and then finally thrust
themselves to the skyworld with a strong pounding of their
feet. Once they enter the spirit world they encounter
their forebears and other spiritual entities. As such,
they interact with the spirits and perform an exchange
with them to return to earth. Thus, upon descending to
earth the men return by incorporating one of the spirits.
Once they return, the men dance in the direction of their
wives and family. As they near their families, they begin
to communicate by singing and "bless" their
family members by blowing on them. Later, their wives
ask for the presence of other spirits and, in turn, the
men return to the spirit world in the sky to bring back
these other entities. Although the spirit world is a man's
domain it is the women who direct the event by requesting
that their men call on particular spirits for curing divining.
For their part, the men serve as a vehicle and link between
the celestial paradise and the earth. |
|
|
01. Photo: Márcio Gomes, 1981. |
|
Print