For the Yawalapiti, the mythic world is a past
that is not connected to the present through strict chronological
ties. Thus, myth exists as a spatial and temporal reference,
but mainly provides behavioral models. The cerimonies
are the occasion par excelence for replicating these models,
but their privileged relation with the world of myth above
all symbolizes the impossibility of repeating that world,
except in an imperfect way. The ritual is thus a moment
when daily life is closer to the ideal model presented
in myth, without however being able to attain it. (The
principal rituals of the upper Xingu are discussed on
the page Xingu Indigenous
Park, just avaiable in Portuguese version).
According to Yawalapiti mythology (which shares
the upper Xingu cosmological repertoire), the primordial
making of humans was undertaken by the demiurge Kwamuty,
who, on blowing tobacco smoke over wooden logs placed
in a seclusion compartment, brought them to life. He
thus created the first women, and among them the mother
of the twins Sun and Moon, prototypes and authors of
present-day humanity. This woman was the first mortal
in whose honor the first festival of the dead, itsatí
(or kwarup, in kamaiurá), the principal
inter-village ceremony of the upper Xingu (described
on the page dedicated to the Park)
was celebrated.
When the twins Sun and Moon were born of this
woman, it was a time of chaos, dominated by night and
rottenness (the birds defecated on people), with no
fire nor gardens. The fireflies were the only light
that men had. The twins then succeeded in obtaining
the day from the "owner of the sky" (añu
wikiti), the invisible two-headed vulture, attracting
it by means of rotten bait. This vulture commands the
birds, who gave day (the light) to men, in the form
of adornments made of red macaw feathers (the mythical
sun uses a headdress and armbands made of feathers of
this bird).
Most of the Yawalapiti rituals originated from
the visit of a human to one of the domains "earth, water
and sky" that constitute well-defined spheres in Yawalapiti
classification, defining the main lines of animal classification
and possessing distinct cosmological values. The earth
is diversified, according to vegetation and reference
to mythic events. The principal distinction in this
domain is between the "forest" (ukú),
where the animals and spirits live, and the village
(putaka), where humans live. In the rivers (uiña)
and lakes (iuiá), besides the fish, most
of the spirits who are important to the Yawalapiti dwell.
In the sky (añu naku; añu taku)
the souls of the dead reside; it is the realm of the
birds, whose chief is the two-headed vulture, "owner
of the sky". In the "belly of the earth" (wipiti
itsitsu), below the ground, there is a spirit-woman,
who is fat and has only one breast; she breastfeeds
the female dead and copulates with the male dead; she
is the "owner of the earth".
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The category of "people" (ipuñiñiri),
, according to Yawalapiti cosmology, differentiates
"Indians" (warayo) from "Whites"
(caraíba), both in their physical appearance
(which means that Japanese and Chinese are classified
as warayo-kumã: "other Indians", "Mysterious
Indians") and material culture. Among the Indians,
the groups of the upper Xingu are considered a unit
(putáka), in contrast with other peoples.
The warayo in general are differentiated from
the putáka by the fact they have different
eating habits - all eat apapalutapa-mina, "terrestrial
animals" -, they are "wild" (Kañuká)
and unpredictable, and by the way they cut their hair,
and their adornments. Warayo is a term that is used
in a pejorative sense by the Yawalapiti when someone
does something shameless (parikú).
Besides sharing a series of customs, conceptions,
and inter-societal rituals, another distinguishing feature
of the Indians of the upper Xingu is an ideal of respectful
and prudent behavior, the key categories for which,
in the Yawalapiti version of things, are parikú
(shame) and kamika (respect). Parikú
refers to a psychological state of the individual, which
is usually activated when there occurs a transition
or confusion in roles "such as among those in seclusion
or between potential spouses- or hierarchical inferiority"
such as between son-in-law and father-in-law, or in
the case of women in the midst of men. Kamika
in turn is a feature of certain social relations and
roles, referring to peaceful and predictable behavior,
as well as to generosity and respect for affines and
those who are in hierarchically superior positions.
It is respect, but it is also "fear", in the sense of
avoiding dangerous things. In contrast to the kamika
typical of upper Xinguan peoples, which is associated
with the adjective mañukawã ("tame",
"calm"), there is the behavior called kánuká,
violent and unpredictable, which is typical of the warayonaw
(Indians from outside the upper Xingu).
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