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According to the Kinja, all the animals and mythological
beings that inhabited the earth in ancient times were
human beings, who lived in the midst of their ancestors.
One day, it began “raining” stones, and everyone
thought the world was going to end. However, one of the
houses was supported by a center post made of pau d'arco,
a strong kind of wood that withstood the stones' blows.
Several families lived together in this house, who gave
rise to the ancestors of the current Waimiri Atroari.
Thus, the genesis of the Kinja was marked by a division
between the time before and the time after the stone “rain.”
Nowadays, they say that they are the second-generation
descendants of the people who survived the storm, protected
by the center post holding up their house.
The ancient Waimiri Atroari are known as Tahkome
(male) and Nysakome (female). Tahkome
is a term that can also refer to a very distant past
(the time of these ancestors), when everyone lived together
in a state of equality and all were human, although
some had supernatural powers.
During this era, animals did not yet exist,
and people lived off of the fruits and tubers found
in nature. Mawa, a supernatural being who was also a
person, lived on earth and furnished the Kinja with
all the food they needed. Mawa was one of those responsible
for transforming some people (who broke rules) into
animals and for supplying certain cultivated plants
in their gardens.
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One day, tired of living with others on earth and
worried the sky would fall, Mawa decided to leave. He
asked the tortoise to shoot a string of arrows upwards
so they formed a stairway leading up to the sky. By climbing
this chain of arrows linking earth and sky, Mawa managed
to reach the upper domain, where he took up residence.
Some people also tried to climb up the stairway, but Mawa
cut it off, and they all fell back down. Those who got
caught in the trees were transformed into various species
of monkeys. Since Mawa is in charge of regulating the
forces of nature, he appears in several narratives about
the origin of thunder, day and night, and the great flood.
The current Kinja live on earth, where they
choose sites to build their settlements. Around the
collective house they plant their gardens. Beyond these
lies the forest, which is the domain of game animals.
This is a dangerous place for the Waimiri Atroari, especially
for women and children, who avoid entering it without
accompaniment.
The forest is home to the irikwa (the
living dead), the iamai (creatures resembling
bats), and the ianana, all of which are terrible
beings that drink the blood and eat the flesh of the
Kinja. Humans should never look at irikwa or
iamai; if they do, they are doomed to die as
their vital energies slowly drain away. Ianana
is an entity that lives in the trunks of angelim trees.
He used to kill and eat Kinja people. One day a Kinja
discovered where he lived and set fire to the tree.
The ianana's son survived, so the man took him
back to the village and raised him as a Kinja. He had
great luck in hunting, which made everyone curious to
know why. He explained how he hunted, but no one believed
him. Feeling discredited, he wandered into the forest,
where he met his grandmother. She told him the whole
story of his life, which made him decide to go back
to living in the forest.
The aquatic world is where fish are found, another
important source of protein for the Waimiri Atroari.
This domain is also home to the xiriminja, semi-human
entities that inhabit the bottom of rivers and lakes.
Long ago, the xiriminja offered their daughters
in marriage to the Kinja. In this era, men did not have
penises, until one of the xiriminja's daughters
offered this sex organ to the Kinja. The extension of
relations between these two peoples benefitted the Waimiri
Atroari by enriching their material and immaterial culture.
The xiriminja taught them how to weave baskets
(with many kinds of designs), how to perform certain
songs and dances for male initiation rituals, and how
to plant the cuttings of various edible plants they
gave to the Kinja.
Although they occupy distinct realms, mythological
and human beings maintain extensive interrelations.
The different domains penetrate each other, constituting
the whole of the Waimiri Atroari universe.
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