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MIGRATION AND PREACHING |
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In the first decades
of the 20th century large numbers of Taurepang migrated
across the border into Venezuela. Although the staff of
the SPI attributed this exodus of indians from the Rio
Branco area to the encroachment of ranching on their lands
after 1914 [see the ‘History’ section], when
we read the accounts of British naturalists we can see
that these movements had already begun by the end of the
19th century, at the time of the emergence of millennial
movements among the Carib peoples of the region, which
led to the establishment of large villages on the Venezuelan
side of Mount Roraima. Travellers who visited the region
record the occurrence of dancing lasting throughout the
night and the sacrificial offering of printed papers (cuttings
from English language newspapers) distributed by the prophets
and their followers.
Thus by 1880 several Arekuna, Akawaio, Macuxi and Patamona
villages were swollen by new groups who gravitated to
these sites in search of the new teachings of men whose
prestige, thanks to their knowledge acquired at the British
missions, extended throughout the region and had without
doubt reached the Taurepang villages in the Rio Branco
region. The growth of these cults marked the emergence
of a religious movement that came to known as ‘Aleluia’,
or Hallelujah. Born at the end of the 19th century among
the Macuxi of the Rupununi river in British Guiana, it
spread rapidly among the Akawaio, Patamona and Taurepang.
Butt (1960) suggests that the Taurepang would have heard
of the new doctrine directly from the Macuxi on the
trail connecting the high plains of the Rio Branco to
Mount Roraima. In this case the paths of dissemination
of the Aleluia among the Taurepang were identical to
those of the first Adventist missionaries that reached
the Taurepang villages of Mount Roraima on the Venezuelan
side at the beginning of the 20th century.
To be precise, the Adventists began their incursions into
the Venezuelan savannah to convert the Taurepang in 1911.
In that year pastor O. E. Davis was preaching in the village
of Kawarianaremong (or Kauarianá), near Mount Roraima;
from 1926 to 1931, pastor A. W. Cott, accompanied by his
wife, resided in the villages of Arapobo and Akurimã,
where he built churches and began teaching the indians
English. Both pastors had come to Venezuela from British
Guiana.
Leader Jeremiah and pastor Davi Pacing
The village of Kauarianá was established during
the final years of the 19th century and had as its leader
Jeremiah, a follower of the Aleluia but also of the teachings
of pastor O. E. Davis (known by the indians as Davi Pacing).
This pastor, still remembered by many Taurepang groups,
passed only a short period in the Mount Roraima region
as he died soon after his arrival. There are several versions
of the death of Davi Pacing. The Taurepang say that he
was the victim of the witchcraft of the Ingarikó
(the name currently used for the Akawaio, but which the
Taurepang use as a general name for forest-dwelling indigenous
groups). The so-called Ingarikó refused to give
up polygamy, thereby rejecting the pastor’s teachings
and killing him by sorcery.
The teachings of pastor Davis did not enjoy the same
reception in Teuonok, the neighbouring village to Kauarianá.
In contrast, the Taurepang inhabitants of Teuonok were
extremely receptive to the catholic mission undertaken
by father Cary-Elwes. According to Koch-Grunberg the
relationship between the two villages was marked by
‘open enmity’. The rivalry between Teuonok
and Kauarianá manifested itself by means of the
different choices of their leaders. Whilst in Kauarianá
Jeremiah fought to keep alive the teachings of the Adventist
pastor, the inhabitants of Teuonok under their leader
Skurumatá (a corruption of ‘schoolmaster’,
according to several travellers), welcomed the Catholic
priest.
Both villages were followers of the Aleluia doctrine before
the arrival of the missionaries, but only the inhabitants
of Kauarianá continued to practice this afterwards.
Unlike those that adopted Catholicism, it seems that the
Aleluia and the teachings of O. E. Davis, as conceived
by the Taurepang, constituted doctrines that were mutually
reconcilable. Thus the teachings of the pastor were incorporated
into the millennial vision present in the region since
the end of the 19th century in the guise of the Aleluia.
Pastor Cott and the consolidation of Adventism
After the death of O. E. Davis the Taurepang awaited the
arrival of a new pastor, as he had foretold. However A.
W. Cott arrived in the Mount Roraima region from Georgetown
only in the second half of the 1920s, remaining until
1931 at the village of Akurimã, his main centre
of activity.
The missionary teachings, combined with those of the prophets,
captured the attention of an increasing number of Taurepang.
Under the leadership of the tuxaua [chief] André,
the village of Akurimã ended up attracting 900
individuals. Here the indians refused to work for expeditions
arriving to explore the region and dedicated themselves
almost exclusively to following André in the countless
religious services he organized in accordance with the
guidance of pastor A. W. Cott (Holdridge, 1931).
During this period, more precisely in 1927, the Border
Inspection Commission under General Rondon arrived in
the Rio Branco region. The Commission was divided into
five groups to undertake the reconnaissance of the region,
each responsible for surveying then little known rivers
and frontiers. In addition to the group led by Rondon
himself, who reached Mount Roraima and attempted without
success to attract the Taurepang to the Brazilian side
of the border, another group led by Lieutenant Tales Facó,
following another itinerary and arriving in the village
of Arabopo, located at the foot of Mount Roraima on the
Venezuelan side, discovered a large concentration of Taurepang
who had arrived from the Brazilian side. To the lieutenant’s
surprise he found the missionary A. W. Cott established
in the village and the figure around whom the indians
congregated. Facó reported that more than 200 indians
were preparing to open a large swidden garden for the
express purpose of preparing for the arrival of Christ.
The indians anticipated that the Saviour would lead them
to a celestial paradise he had prepared for them.
In 1931 Cott was expelled by the Venezuelan government
and the responsibility for catechising the indians of
the ‘Gran Sabana’ was given to the Franciscan
order, which proceeded to establish catholic missions
at various places in the region (Salazar, 1978).
According to several accounts, the Taurepang who were
followers of Cott demonstrated strong resistance to
catechism by the Franciscans and, soon after their arrival,
the village of Akurimã broke up. The practice
of Adventist rites was maintained by several groups
who had had contact with Cott, as the oral tradition
remembered as Papacá.
We can therefore conceive of the Taurepang migrations
to Venezuela as a process resulting in part from the encroachment
of ranching into the Rio Branco region. However we also
need to take into account the emergence of a linked set
of millennial movements among the Carib populations of
the region from the late 19th century onwards and which
caught the attention of those on the Brazilian side of
the border. |
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