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The Tembé have incorporated Christian holidays
and baptism, but not Christianity as a religious system.
In their mythology, Maíra is the main cultural hero and
the mythical cycle of creation is the same as that of
other Tupi-Guarani peoples. The spirits of the animals
(especially birds), which the Tembé call piwara, are accounted
for the complex eating rules that are observed in particular
during puberty, pregnancy and early childhood.
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The 'pajé' (shaman), the intermediary between
human and supernatural beings, calls and appeases the
spirits with his half-meter cigars (tawari), chants
and 'maracás' (gourd rattles). Medicines made from plants,
feathers, bones or hair are given by women to those
who transgress eating rules. If the treatment fails,
a 'pajé', among the few that still exist, is called.
Puberty rites are a good occasion for the appearance
of new 'pajés'.
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Of the old Tenetehara rites described by Charles
Wagley and Eduardo Galvăo in the 1940s, and today already
being abandoned by the Guajajara, the Tembé keep the Wiraohavo,
the puberty rite of young men and women, which was part
of the maize ceremony and is also known as 'festa do moqueado'.
The Tembé also perform the Wiraohavo-i (in which the o
i indicates the diminutive), which is the same rite but
shorter and simplified; it is aimed at avoiding that the
child gets sick when meat is introduced in his/her diet.
Fowl, preferably 'inhambu' (a type of partridge), is killed
by the father and maternal uncles for the ceremony. |
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01:: Festa do Wiraohawo-i para marcar a introdução
da carne na dieta das crianças.
photo: Vincent Carelli, 1980
02:: Cantador-pajé recebe os espíritos
durante os cantos na festa do Wiraohawo-i, no Gurupi,
que marca a introdução da carne na dieta
das crianças.
photo: Vincent Carelli, 1980
03:: Jovens iniciadas na festa wihaohawo ("festa
da moça"ou "festa do moqueado"),realizada
durante a visita dos Tembé do Guamá ao
Gurupi.
photo: Virgínia Valadão,
1983
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