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The Yanomami word urihi designates the forest
and its floor. It also signifies territory: ipa urihi,
'my land,' may refer to the speaker's region of birth
or the region currently inhabited; yanomae thëpë
urihipë, 'the forest of human beings,' is the
forest that Omama gave to the Yanomami to live
in generation after generation; in our terms, it would
be 'Yanomami land.' Urihi may also be used as a
name for the world: urihi a pree, 'the great forest-land.'
A cosmological geography.
A source of resources, for the Yanomami urihi,
the forest-land, is not a simple inert setting submitted
to the will of human beings. A living entity, it has
an essential image (urihinari), breath (wixia),
as well as an immaterial fertility principal (në
rope).
The animals (yaropë) it shelters
are seen to be avatars of mythic human/animal ancestors
of the first humankind (yaroripë) who ended
up assuming their animal condition due to their uncontrolled
behavior, an inversion of present-day social rules.
Lurking in the entangled depths of the urihi,
in its hills and its rivers, are numerous malefic beings
(në waripë), who injure or kill the
Yanomami as though they were game, provoking disease
and death. On top of the mountains live the images (utupë)
of the animal-ancestors transformed into shamanic spirits,
xapiripë.
The xapiripë were left behind by
Omama to look after humans. The entire extent
of urihi is covered by their mirrors where they
play and dance endlessly. Hidden in the depths of the
waters is the house of the monster Tëpërësiki,
father-in-law of Omama, where the yawarioma
spirits also live; their sisters seduce and madden young
Yanomami hunters, thereby enabling them to pursue a
shamanic career.
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