The Pleiades and Scorpius in Barasana Cosmology STEPHEN HUGHJONES carne C2838, Enghnd Jitrps Gentes emote Koch Gener guished report ‘of an India etonomil sytem fom he Nese Amazon reson? is account, based on drawings by two Indian informants, has eemained ‘ne of the most comprehensive descriptions of ethnoasionomy from Uawland South America, Scattered references o star lore in the works of ‘her writers together with Koch Grinberg we woe lt ofthe may ifferen languages spoken in the area” sugget thatthe bai elements the system he described are probably common to all the Tukanoan- taking Indians ofthe Vaupis an to ther Araakan-speaking neigh bors t0 the north, In Bis account. Kach-Geinbery kent some seventen naped stars and constellations and states that knowledge cf {etrcnomy is used in tine reckoning. orientation, and the regulation of ‘gccutural activites, But ite information igen, eller by him or by ther writers to hove his Knowledge i sed and how relates to the ‘cosmology and worldview of the Indians involved. In this paper 1 Sh) {ey to anover some ofthese questions with reference to the Barasana "The Barasina are a Tukanoanapeakinggrovp of forest Indians who liven the Rio Pirs-P ard in the Colombian Va repiog.* The rab- dstence is based on slash-and-burn agriculture, fishing, hunting, ae fathering. Like many tribal peoples they believe that they live atthe Center of the word. In ther case living ae they do dieetly on the ‘equator, Yis eek receives some objective support fom the fac that twice a year they see the sun dee overhead at midday and nigh, thestars appear to evolve around the earth in saight paths going fom ‘ast to est through the zenith. The vertical san, the marked easton‘orientation of celestial phenomena andthe fact tha, inthis area, the "ver tend to flow from wet feast al play important eles inthe ital and cosmology of these Indians. “The universe is believed to be compose of thee baie lyers—the sky, the earth, and the underworld~and each layer is likened to the round pottery plates om which manioc bread is baked. The sky and Underworld are modeled on earthly experience, s each is described a8 having forests and rivers and as inhabited by people. The large com ‘una houses or malas ofthe Baraca, each comtaining some wey fo thiny individuals are representation oftheir coumos. The rot isthe sky hk up by the house ports, which are mountain, and the pals oF Tigh where the Sen shines through holes in the smokeblackened thatch ate the stars, The floor i she earth, with limite defined by the walls, a ‘ing of mutans lke the upturned edges ofthe ossava griddle, and Lindemeath isthe underworld and underworld ver. Like the corms the house conceptually (hough ot always actually) oreted along an fastest axis. The front door used by the men iin the east and the ‘women's door atthe Bac the west, From west to east down the middle OF the house runs an invisble iver the counterpart of the PcsParan that Discs the word. Ts the fame ofthe roo, along horizontal beam calle the “suns path” (muhiku ya ma) runs rom east to west. The center ofthe house, reserved for men and for publi ital Is the center ofthe ‘worl, and above iin the root a vertical post called the “seat ofthe San" (muhihu ya ota, 2 name that also refers to midday ‘According 10 myth, the fist beings, or Universe People (mar ‘masa, the sun, the sky, the moon, and the stars, were created by the Primal Sun (Yebs Haku) as his children, The creation ofthe human be- ings that followed therm i presented asa process involving the death of these fest beige and thei subsequent retuen to imartal ie a work ‘of space and time that i eppened to tht of mortal men. On earth the "vers run rom wes fo eat whit those above and Below un rom east towest when tis day om earth te night inte sky and underworld and the dea in one domain are the Living in anothers that in myth, dead stars buried in the sky fl to earth f mary living morals and dex peo- ple buried in the house fall tothe underworld, where they become ving {pis By their very presence he sun and sar nite the past withthe Present and ther movements space ad te unite a series of opposed ‘rinciples upon which te fret and continuty ofthe universe depend, ‘They unite the living withthe dead, the east with the west, men with women, earth with wate, the wet season withthe dry, and above and ‘below with the earth in the mile, Significantly, mariage isl, upon which both sexual and socal reproduction depend isalso sce a union between diferent spatial domains. The Barasana ate an exogamicprouP lasted as Earth People, They itermarry withthe Tatuyo who ate Sky People and the Bara who are Wster People “The daily and yearly movements of the sun and stars are linked together both in dret experience and in metaphor, The sun (mui) and his children the stars (nyokoe) revolve around the earth ech da, traveling fom eat to west the sky and then Irn west fo east up te underworld river below. The alteration tetreen night and dy i ‘metaphorically inked with that beteeen the wet season and the dy 20 thatthe dull un of the wet season is sometimes presented a a ferent bing from ts bright counterpart and brother and may be identified with the moon. Thess. in thei nightly pasage, also repeat their annual ‘movement fom eas to west and each Year they ae sad ore tothe ‘east as flocks of migratory birds whore pasage corresponds to the Iliac setting of particular constellations, The Pleiades Tetum 35 boboinks(Dolichonyx oryzivorour, Orion belt and sword a den ‘Wed small black seedeatng btds, and other constellations ss eres leucopho thu Although allstars ae said to be people, only some av selected t be sven nates and individual deities OF thee, nos l along the Milky ‘Way o Star Path (nyokon ma, which eae to bu iting fom, the path ofthe sun (mula va ma). Though the overl patho the stars s from east to west, the diagonal orientation of tbe Milky Way with respect othe eliptic serves to divide the Star Path nt two segments. ‘New Path (maria ma) running from southeast o northwest and an Old Path (bukw ma) running from northeast to southwest. The Olé Path sid to have come into being before the New but tay it isthe New Path "hat precedes the Od in the annual cyte When asked about them, the Barasana frequently list stars and con stellations in sequential order. These ite, Which wally begin with the Pleiades, which mark the beginning of the year, alate the secession of Stars to that ofthe seasons, which ae ether armed directly after stars or afer tre fruits that have their celestial counterparts, Before discussing ome ofthe ordering principles of tir astronomy, I shllfllow the Barasara example and outline their zodac in he form of lit iounts 1 and), ‘At the beginning ofthe New Path i (1) the Star Thing (nyokoero} oF Pleiades. After which follows @) the all Unari Fruit Fence (oom188 [MALE MEW YORE ACADEMY OF ScuNcES sino kiika), a erclar cluster of stars to one side of the Hyades,prob- ably inthe region of vx, and w of Tauren then (3) the Fish Smoking Rack (wai Kasabo), the tangle of the Hyades; then (8) the Large Uart Flt Fence (wan sairo haul, 2 cuter on the other side of the Hyades near of Taurus and alo circular in shape; then (5) the Old Star “Thing (nyokoaro buku, a group of sas pared with the Star Thing and probably Orion's head ¢, and fy of Orion); then (6) the Leal CCurter Ant (mekhiam), Betlgeuse(w of Orion), whose reddish colors ened that ofthe ant hen (7) the Adze (sor), the belt and sword ‘of Orion. This elbow shaped constellation represents the stone bladed ‘dees that were once used ap agricultural implements and then asta ‘mares worn ove the lft shoulder when dancing bu that have now appeared completdy:> then (8) the Jacunds. Fh (Chrenicicla Sp. buhua), Rigel (9 of Orion); then (9) the Big Oter (Pteronara Braensis— thug, maha Isou), Sirus (a of Cane Major) then (00) the Old Ade Saruh baked) probably 4, and n of Canis Major and paired with 7 above; then (11) the Small Otters (Lita op.) (ania Tia via tia), each a single bight star and incung Procyon, Cato, Pollux and” various others beyond Sirus; finally, (12) the Crayish (asta) is nce in this group and probably Forms pat of Leo. Leading the Old Path is (13 the Poisonous Spider (buh, probably = ‘x0up of tars in the upper potion of Centaurus then (1) the Scorpion (Gotibaha, probably parts of ether Centaurus or Lapa then 13) the Caterpillar aguar (ya ya, Scorpius bat sometimes with parts of Lupus and Libra added as fet then (16) the Poisonous Snake (ena, which {sully identified with Corona Australis bt ammtimes othe snakes all Bothrops species, are given as ars or star groups nearby: then (17) the eadees On (rhoa manga) Tiss the headless corp ofan eagle called Wekomi, the mythical fatheria-aw” of both Morning Venus (busi rnyoko) and Evening Venus (nyamitarina), whose ead was cutoff ner for by his own daughter Star Snake (nyoko anya), one ofthe snakes ‘mentioned above; then (1) the Vulture (uk), Altai (a Agua), a star ‘that announced the season fr eaiding and iling when warfare was sil practiced; then (19) the Corpse Bundle (masa hot), Delphinvs, which e the boay ofa Star Woman killed by a swarm of wasps someines iden ‘shed with the Pleiades. She fll to earth, came back life and married a ‘mortal wi went with her to the sky only tobe hulled by another tr in the frm of stake. An unidentified lin of tare nearby is the vel der up which Bey traveled, rally, (20) the Armadillo (karo), Corona Borealis included in this group, thought place inthe sequence varies sccordng to diferent informants Besides these two main groups various other stars and constellations are recognized and named, most of them being either egrets or Foret frts They have in common the fact that they ic between the foo Sar Paths andthe face that they are all connected with ain and water. tis as ‘they served to reintroduce an element of continuity ino 2 vearly cycle broken inte two halves bythe division ofthe Milky Way {shal return ‘0 this point below. “Taken together, tnost of the names of stars and constellations reported by KochGrinberg from eleewhere in she Vaupés region corespond lowly to thowe of the Barssana those, in some cass, the star to which ‘hey appr eile, These names reveal certain paters: they reer to 2 telatively sll nuber of cases, mostly birds, fs, sates, fish and ‘ther aquatic creatures, and some objets of human manufacture Notably absent ae any stars named alter the game animals that are Ihunted for food. suggest that this has to do wth the fat that game animale are firmly csed as belonging to the earth in myth they are presented af the kinran of a hero called Yeba whose name means Enrh~ and, as such, they are opposed to creatures ofthe above and below, the sky onthe one and and the water and underworld on the ‘other. is probably also relates othe Fact hat, of spice, hunting, {ishing and gathering, hunting ithe productive activity las aeted by seasonal changes Each Star Path has focal constellation, with the others being deecbed as ite “companions” andi is these which receive the pestst degre of Symbolic elaboration. The Star Thing of Paces, the leader of te New Path i the most important constlation Is the Barasana zodic. As ‘Woman Shaman (Romi Ku, who isthe sky, the creates, and the first shaman, the Pleiades figure prominently in myth and ritual syn- boli and their movements repute the seasonal. agricltral, and ‘tual calenders. The Star Thing is a woman, the Su Woman whose ‘ght stars are eight trips of wood like thse used to se fire othe ry wood of a deated svidden st or chagra. Each trip is marked with alker nating bands of red and black: there isthe ie of burning chagra that Tights up the eastern sky and brings the dry season and the blac isthe charcoal that emai after the fire sout ais the dark, overcast shy of the rainy season, Star Woman, the Pleiades, thus conrals the seasons and agriculture In Noversber she appears at dusk onthe easter horizon Sand heralds the end ofthe rns and the start ofthe sien cyte the ‘learng ofthe forest by men; overhead is January and February, she ‘marks the dry season when the chagras are bumed and in Apri, 2 She sts ithe west at dark, shemarks the end ofthe dry season andl he onset‘of heavy rains that wil fertilize the manioc plane in the chagras by Ye women” Siar Womaris fe stick i also the summer Sun, which i UUngushed by the rains and he Pleiades as whale are seen as 9 noc nal counterpart ofthe sn “The two frutng seasons ofthe nga te Ung di coincide with the evening rise and se ofthe Pleiades and the sweet, white ith of ts Fru be Hkened to the riliant whit of tne cortllaton, Simla, the Fruiting season of uma (Poraqueiba sericea). another culivated fk, coincides withthe two constellations that beats name. In adi to frat, the constellations of the New Path ae all asocated with ether (ad isell~ants, sh, and crayfish or with Its production -chagras, ‘ees, and fish racke—and its consumption otters. Ae companions of the Petes, these ane are coletvely linked with the dry seaeon from Deeb to Marchand they are descbes a being “good,” at evalua tion that consistent ith thelr association with atime of year when Food is abundant and when moch wsting ard feasting takes place. Tis Jn also the me of the summer su Ifthe connotations af the New Path are positive, those ofthe Old Path aye equally negative The fist four constelations, Spier, Scorpion, Snake, and Csepllar Jaguar, are all posonouseeatres (Many ofthe Caterilars of Amazonia cause skin ietatons and some can cause Serious ines.) In ation to being poisonous, such creatures ate aso believed to be the vehicle of attacks by sorcery. The next four, the Headless One, Corpse Bundle, Valure, and Armadil, are all inked swith death, graves, and putreaction and the myths abot them al con ‘com ales of sorcery It should beaded here tha at lanot eclipes, the ‘moon ist come down to earth inthe form of an armadillo that igs Sp graves and devours the bones ofthe dead near the Armadillo cn Stllation are thre stars 3 line that ar called the “Areas Bone,” ‘The Old Paths described a8 old, worn-out, and decayed and it stars “Bou” Again this consistent with the fact that they dmiate the sky uring the rainy season from April to November when food is scarce, sexi life i reduced, and people are prone to lines. This is the time of the nessun, hich is abscured by clouds and ain, “The focal conselation of tie group, the Caterpillar Tagsar or Scar ius, Isa very ambivalent erature, variously describe agar with S snake for a tall or snake with jaguar ony fora name. As jaguar, ies linked! with Forest Fruit Jaguat (he rka ya), the master of focest frit, and a clrter of stars in the region of of Scorpius, called the "jaguars testes," are alk identied with re fru, As sna, the con “YOO JONES:HARASHOA cosmoLoY a stellation is denied with the category hin, which embraces both large ‘nenpoisoncus constrictors (Bodae) and also mythlal ancestor figures of whom a nake I only one manifestation. The eggs ofthis sake are the ‘ster by Gof Scorpius and its tongue i he lage othe tal adv, Het 12 constellation (ee above) This constellation ie one manifestation of Jurupari Anaconda (he hina, whose earthly representative ithe ra bow'boa (Epieatescencri) A snake constellation deified with Scor ius is found throughout the Vaupés region and, in many pacts of ‘Amazonia, Scores identified with Bolas, the Great Serpent.” The CCaterplar Jager the Taher of sake” (anya hak) and is responable for thei ereation. As it and its companion te Soake pass thelr zenith and begin fo st in October, snakes become expecially visible and iressive and ths i presumably the tine when mang of then Breed "A number of writers have ceported a jaguar cortllaton for the ‘aupés region and Koch-Granberg identifies this jaguar with Cetus. This constellation, and especialy is whiskers (e Ces and other str ‘is amocated with saden violet fais. The Baracana asocat the Caet= pillar Jaguar with rain and thunderstorm a gins to stat dusk, ‘Period tht Would roughly corespond withthe evering ise ct head fof Cetus, Ite thos af, inthe Caterpillar Jaguar, the Barasans have ‘merged the Values and associations oF to different constelaion, com ‘om tothe whale Vaupes ion, into one “The period from June to August, wien the Caterpillar Jaguar ses higher And igher te the ky at dusk isthe tne when many species of buttery and moth breed, As ew eatepillas bes to pupate, thy come down from the tes on which they fed and become grfcart item in the Barasana diet ta ime of year when ther food ie sarc. The Caterpillar Jaguar alo the "father of eaterplae” and x responsible for their increase. His children the Caterpillar Pople (ia mas) have col- cored hairs and brightly patterned bodes that are likened tothe feather fommaterts and body pat that men wear at dances, The rapid growth land melamorphons of caterpillar ean apt metaphor of regeneration Aad continuity through change, and their dances are sak to bep the ensons moving, But, adation to providing food, these caterpillars are dangerous creatures who send sickness and death to human beings “Theirs isthe eason of storms, thunder anlightning, which are vehicles of soreery. Ar one informant pu it "they Want us to make fends and fain them in thir dances 0 they eal us, we respond, our soul ws taken away we join them and we die. we dream ofa jaguar a this ie iis the Caterpillar Jaguar who comes down to eat our ses” Cateri eer [Wor] i] eal 6 cea} no Gaal “Api ab ‘fer or fot [ate | SE Je ro A de Comb oto: ‘cHJONES: RARASANA common 193 pillars belong to the world above and have only a temporary existence fn earth. They come fom the world ofthe dead and are dese inthe oetumes of spirit, theovoaments tht humane weat #9 ene the spit ‘word a dances, “The contrast between the Star Thing (he Pleiades) an the Catrpilar Jaguar (Scorpius) and bate thei respective companion stare can now be related to the Barapana ceasoal calendar (Fovns 3). The year i= divided into periods of ua: heavy rai, high wate, and overeat skies ‘and periods of kumar litle rain ow wate, nd sunny weather Kuma “iso means “year and, al one extreme, the conteat between Ima ac Jue is that between the main dry season from December to March and the res ofthe year, which is relatively wet In ross terns, this contact, Isequivalen to that between the Pleiades and Scorpius, fo they are vis: be during opposed seasons: when one is at zeit, the other is a te nadir. At the other exteeme, these tems are Used to reer to any (eve {ite short) period of sunshine oof heavy ais “The yearly cyele begins withthe evening se ofthe Pleiades, which announces the dry season and the season of cultivated ut. Sta Thing ‘is associated withing rut fe above), ad rere f ryt called In 18 Woman (Meeridyo) is identified with Old Star Thing, a constellation aired with the Pleiades. Ar the Pleads signaling r,s the uae Fruit constellations “remind” people t fence their trees to hee the alin frat fom wild animals, The ening ofthe dry season is marked by short bursts of heavy rain called summer ain (kum oko) and is ine of ex ceptiona growth and fertility. The rain tigger the breeding ights of tbl efeater ants (Ata sp) and cies withthe ie that he Ant far (Beelgeuse) passes its zenith. The rain and sring oeaters also precipitate the spawning of many seein of fch and edible Hogs (Lap fodactylus and Osteocephalus sp.) whch are easly caught a this tie. “The trv end ofthe dry season in Api ia time of very heavy rain and flooded ives. The fist big rains are called the Star Thing rane (nyokoaro hue), after the Pleiades, which are then sting in the west at dusk. Thereafter flloea seis of rans, named after the constellations UUmat Frit Fence, Ant, and Adze, hich come one after the oer a hit With the heavy raine, the rivers flood and shoals of araci (sh (Ueporinus sp.) come uprve to spawn. The Fish Rack (Hyades), calle “ihe mars rack (mas ya kaso) 2 this time, “etd” prope to set traps and prepare forthe abundance oF Fish As the rains contiase and ‘he rack now called the otters rack timiay kasa), sinks lower inthe sky, the fish cae to spawn and become scarce in the flooded vers. ‘This scarcity accredited to the eters who come dev from the sky to eat up the fgh The main rainy Peason ste ume when wild ee Sits, ‘mostly palm species, come into season and are gathered in lage quan thes in connection with tual dances. The most spertant pal a sini (Marti flesuora), asa (Euterpe oleracea) and cOha (Maura [gracilis lend their names to subdivisions ofthe rainy season and each hae a str or constelation to which corresponds. Unfortunatly Lam not yet abl # ive preceeHentifiations for thee stars, though all of them appear 1 lie in an area 2found Corvis, “Aste fed of the Caterpillar Inga clibs higher into the sky, the ‘ine gradually slacken and. around the time that it reaches tg zn ia ‘August there fea short and variable dry spl called the caterpillar su ‘ner (iya kaon), when caterpillar grow big. Ths fine prio i ke a ‘muniature version ofthe ma dry season (ema buku) The sver begin to fall, the cultured frais ings, mar, and pupunha (Gulllma farina), whose main crops are in Februaty and March, cote beely Into season and people make chagras to plant erop of malae. As the ‘ase ofthe long drysearon the ain that end this dry apll rigger the breeding Rights of ans and the spawning of fogs and ih, But despite sharing some af the postive atotes of the dy season, the caterpae ‘Summer emai an ambivalent time of yea. forthe weathesuapredic fable, storms are frequent, and food is both scarce and inherently angerous. As the Caterpillar lagsar and Poisonous Snake sink low in the ky in October, the rains become hea¥y ar persistent andthe rivers Fie, @ period called the caterpillar ood (va hue) and snake flood (anya fue) With the reappearance of the Pleiades at dusk in November mark- ing the start ofthe sew cycle, the rai beg to slacken and the dry eon begin. ars [AC dusk, men, women, and children often st in family groups on the ‘heared sandy space in ont ofthe maloka this isthe Ue when most tbrervations of stars are made, Attention is focused upon the vertical fostion of ifferent stars with respec to the eastern and western horizons. Seen from ths perspective, the movements ofthe Peades and Scocpis show adstint patter, for hey are vice oppor ines of the year and, in each case ther rising brings the end of an, thei zenith smarks a dry sacon and their descent tothe westers horizon colneder With the onset of rans. That the ascent of stare appears £0 stop ral8 -nocHeons; NARAsANA commor0e¥ 195 lt their descent appears to bring it on canbe elated ideas eancer ing the Milky Way. The Milky Way is variously described as being 2 teflection ofthe Milk River on earth ora a cmtiauation ofthat vert the sky. The Mile River (Ghekoariaga) on earth i huge river In the fast, often identified with the Amaron and Rio Negro. The sky is Sescibed 25 a dome and Compared to the hemispherieal gourds with blac glazed interiors used #9 entain coca onde On te bri, the dome ofthe shy meets the east 2 that the Mile River in the sky on Uinuows with that on easth. The ea, or Water Door (oko sah) is also said to be lke a waterfall sending water tothe worl below Wh the water that fll over the sides ofthe Flat topped mountains brings water From te world above. Ae earthly iver lw west 0 eae whilst those the sky and underworié How wast we! the totality makes a closed system that continaouly ciculates water through the three cosmic do tain (Foun 4), Wee ows downstream to the east hee i taken up into the sky bythe Milky Way and brought down again on the other side ithe west. As the constlations ris they take up water from the ‘arth 10 cause a dy season and, a they come down again, they bring ‘etal wate asain. Like day the dry season is conceptually located in Fee 6 Cetin of water tough be aan come,ve nouns ne On ACADEAE OF SeIENEES ‘the eat, which the male domain in domestic space; ike night, the wet season come rom the wet, the domain of women. The Milky Way and Water are thus mediators between cosmic domaine ae unites of o> Posts. Watris also a source of erty that eases plants to grow, tees to bear fut ad animals bree, Ie was suggested abowe that the egret constellations appeared to rmedite Bere the two halves o ie Milky Way and, thus, to maintain its continaity- One ofthese, (21) the Foam Faget (somo yehe Coma Berenice), les halfway between the two star paths (ctae 1). The ‘others, (22) Pineapple Eset (ena yee parts of Lacerta), (23) Fk Fry Egret (mika yohe ~o Perseus and surrounding sta) (28) Summer Egret ama yohe "p Persus and surrounding tars), and (25) the Inga Fruit Egret (mone yehe pat of Cassie) all ein line along the Milky Way basen the Old Path and the New. These constellations and beds ae stronly linked with water, The egret i called the "master of water” (cho wha and ie sidt0 bring cold, its, and ai, and the small groupe ‘of migrating eres that arrive every werk ort throughout the ray Season are likened the sucesion of rine, Mote generally her pure ‘white, isthe breeding plmes (age), geatly valued for the making of ance omaments, ae associated withthe MlkY Way. They were created bby Woman Shasnan, wi i herel identified with the sky and, in par Lila, with the Pleiades. In revenge fr her tel of the sacred furupart ‘lates, her brother had caused her to menstruate and now threatened ¢2 Kall hero stop him, she made egret plumes from her long flowing ha and offered them ta him" Thee plumes are the Milky Way, which Abo called the hank of hai” nyokoa hos han). This myth fragment Suggest hat there is some connection betwen hale ard menstruation: 2 Connection thats made quite expily 19 other contexte when ei said ‘hari thir har that causes women 19 menstruate “The implied conection between merstiaton and the Milky Way ‘emerges mote forceflly in the arociation made beween the menstual ‘ad seasonal cycles. The ay season isthe menstrual perio ofthe sky ‘personified by the Woman Shaman. In the dry season, the world becomes od ad tired ands then refeeshed and eavenated by the rans “The hey #0 this process lis in the Pleiades, which i identified with & _ourd of wax (eres koa) omned by Woman Shaman. The gourd i her ‘agina and the wax her menstrual bloed, which melts. Woman Skaman ‘ollered men immortality inthe fore of ber gourd bl they refed 1 et fromit. She put the gourd under he body and there snakes, sider, and scorpions, Scorpius and it companions, came and ate frm i and 26 fwvcm-yowes: manasa cosmo.ocy vo? thus able to shed thei kins, Menstruation av an internal change of skin ‘8 equated with ecdyis, an eatermal skin charge. The march of the Seasons seen as an ens cycle of skin changes, ist by Star Woman. the Pleiades, ant then by Caterpillar Jaguar, Scorpius. For immortal stars, thelife cle s merely amatter of asin change bt, for human be ings tis itrally a matter of life and death. “The myth T have cited here sueaes skin changing and immortality but another version streses poco and death. In this soe, sabes, spiders, and scorpions eat from » pot of curare polson to become Poisonous themselves and Woman Shaman appears as a sexually ‘Voracious ogress whose publ har fe made from fish poison vines. The Pleiades ast Scorpius are thus oppoue, But each azo combines tn ‘self the values of Its opposite in reversed proportion. The life ving Pleiades, visible inthe dry season when food is abundant, alse hat sinister side and brings rin seit sete Death- dealing Scorivs, visible in the rainy season when fod is earce, heralds a short dry season and 3 rele from hunger ae res. In ur, Scorpius appears sea wet aso ‘Counterpart ofthe Pleiades and a umber of other myths, 0 Any %0 recount here, could be cited to support this abertion TR wa stated above that he Pleades are considered to be a nocturnal ‘ounlerpat ofthe sun Evidence for this assertion come ro the ide: ‘ation of the Petades with Woman Sharan (Rom Kisna) and specially witha gourd of wax denied as her vagina, Ths gourd of tra also sated e he the su and, in myth, Woman Skaman isthe ‘ner of fire, which she keepin her vagina. Like Woman Shaman, the sun also hat cyclical existence, becoming old and tied in the rainy season and appearing yourg and reneted when te dry season returns ‘The present sun, a male ceaive principle, i a child ofthe Prinal Sun (Yeba hak) and, like the Pleiades, a female creative principle, i has & ‘osble aspect. The Primal Sun had two male hldeen, ove older than the ‘other, who hada quarrel about whe shouldbe brighter, older, and more ‘facunant than the other, Che threatened to use his heat burn up the ‘world and te cause women to become sterile by drying up their wombs ‘The other, taking his brother’ het and light away. promised to ensure fertility through 2 regular alternation betwen wet arly. In tern of the yearly evel, these fo are the sun ofthe dry sexton and the sun of the rainy searon, stich, In our terms, are the sun ck the winter solstice and the sun ofthe summer solstice. In tems ofthe dally eye, they are ‘he sun and the moon, who are bath called mui and dintinguishe 35 semag, “of the day” aed naming “ofthe might198 ‘We are this presented with 2 series of opposed principles, wet and dry, male and female, east and west, day and right, above a below, ‘vid and cultivated, life and death, which apply toa series of temporal brocees, the weasonal cycle hell cycle, theflow ofthe rivers the wse ‘of domestic space, agricul wcities, ec, Bu ts important 10 ote, Fey, that although gender plays an import par in these conta, they should not be confused with or reduced to sex and secondly, that, ‘whet metapboric links are made betwen these pars, thes links are Contextual and procesional and not fixed and static Thus, wis in some ‘contents the west end ofthe Rouse is emale and the east end is male, in ‘others this pala contrat may relateTo these betwen hors and guests, in andes, or men and spins. Similarly, whist male agrcatural ac tives dominate the dry weason and fernale ones he wet, the Pleiades are more female than male and Scorpue more male than female. The Slgucance ofthe heaven bodies lies in the fact that, through thee rmovemensn space and time they unite together all these opposed prin- ‘ples and ths accounts or their dual nature. Things that 20 round and ‘ound and up and down i a cosmer in which opposed fied points have ‘opposed vals are Bound to have thi synthetic quality and ts precise Iy this that makes them objects of power and veneration for the Bararane a4 So far, I have been talking largely on 2 theoretical lve 1 would ike to condlude on 3 more practical note by indicating how elements ofthe tystem outlined above are pt into action i the context of iva dances For the Barasana, atronomical knowledge Is not simply a cogaiive sytem, but alto one tha giver men power over the natural word, The shamans who hold ths knowledge assert that allows them to coatol frowth and fertlity fo social ends and that, through the proper ital Procedures, is they who keep the cosmos moving, In these etal {noes the omament ofthe dances, the movements they perform, and he ing ok eal calendar all draw on the system Ihave desbed for ther symbolic efficacy. “The feather orsaments worn at dances enable men to ener the woeld ‘of sins and, therefore, they ave clorely associated with tha wold. On the one hand, the are used ae grave goods and the underworld ver f ‘tid tobe awash with the, On theater and, they are made largely of Dird feathers and birds, as we ave own, are closely identified withthe starsseho live inthe immoral werld ofthe sky, The main components | -cs-Jones:sanazats commacooy 198 the dancers Headdes reflet the eppoted principles mentioned above. ‘On the front ofthe head, a crowlie band of yellow and ved case feathers is wom-this band represents the sun, Behind, stuck i the banana leaf stalks that have now replaced the long bound hair were in the past, a mas of white ere pone is woen mith vo eae wings Mans ing over the back. These plumes and hair are the tare andthe 18nd the totality of emmaments on the ead represents a cosmic syne “The dancers dance in ine with lend dancer (bya) in thee se rounded by his companions on each side, an arfangementreminiscet of the focal constellation andits companions in each sar path The dancing takes place in a house that represents the cosmos: the line of dancers ‘dances round & path that surrounds a central area Identified with the ‘enter ofthe wotld. The dancing says begin. the ental i ofthe house atthe front or east end. rom there, the line of dancers moves ‘ound the dance path tothe let or right but always towards the rar of the house andthe wes. In thelr movements round the hore, the dancers ‘has replicate the east-west rotation of the sin and star, which are represerted by their ornaments, the vertical plane ofthe cosmos being transposed tothe floor of the houre on othe they dance, Thee dances begin on ove day and mut go throughout the night to the net th the ‘most important ritual eves taking place a disk, midnight, and dawn “The annual round ofthe sars and seasons is also replicated inthe a nual round of dances that make up the ritual calendar. During the rainy Season, a8 the forest fun pen, each kind is ceremonially brought into the house by the men who play sacred Jurupa fates (he). Te fu sven tothe women and comes asa gift from the foes spins howe ‘oles are the lastruments thatthe women are forbidden to sce. These tes he rik sria wi) are the occasion for shamanic practices designed t0 ‘este the continuity of the seasons, the ferlity ofthe tees, andthe Fipening ofthe fut Ia this conten, Ye eraments worn bythe dances ‘represent forest frst, each em eepreseting a diferent species, andthe bodies of the dancers epresent the trees. Once again, we se the lnk Be tseeen the omaments and stars for, s explained ear, te ruts also have their celestial counterparts. Ar the beginning ofthe dry season, cultivated intra, whose ipening coincides with the appearance ofthe Pleiades s brought tothe house inate similar t hat for wld us, but one that forme the fast stage of male sition. The growth and ralurity ofthe ruts symbolic the desired growih ofthe iniates who are brought in with them. The rest of the dry seazoa, when food is abun dant, is the time for dances at which smoked fish and meat are200 ‘ALS EW YORE ACABENY OF aciENcES cxxmonilly exchanged between alinally related maloka communities “The imax ofthe ritual calendar occurs atthe ent ofthe dey season (March-April when the main nation rite (he i 8 held. The timing of this ite determine bythe poston ofthe lads, which ould be Tow on the western horizon at dusk. The rie i thus Hed o ence with the conjunction of the opposed panciples discussed. above (dry eason-mel_ season, Plelades-Seorpve, male agicloral activities (emaleapricltral activities, culate fruit rats). I also clr ies wits the vernal equinox, hen the sun sin balance between ts wet Sand dry season extremes andi a vercl potion a both midnight and ‘day al thes “sein” aquaaly on ts set n the centr ofthe house {see above). The myth ofthe orain of thie ite canbe interpreted a a ing reference both to th equinox and othe conjunction of the enith ae nadir postions ofthe sun, The story concerns two solar beings who Travel together up the underworld river. At idey (midnight on eat) they stop, teach other's powers, and conch that they are of equal strength" “This tual isthe most smportant ofthe whole ritual cycle andi above all it this context that human space and me tke an conic peo portions. During the rit, the participants chant together continually. Seeing that they are at ove with their ancestors and doing what thet Sneastots have always done. They take hallcnogenic drugs that alter their perceptions of space and tne and give dec access fo the word portrayed in myth, The toute, built as a replica ofthe cosmes, becomes the universe tae and the cycle oF rig and day takes onthe proportions ofthe year. At the same ie, the layers of the commas are conjoined and he ving are united with the dead. Sacred nstruments represen the bones of the ancestors ae taken From thes hiding places at the batome of rivers and browght up © the howe, There they are assembled and ‘ven life and voice bythe men who play them. In mythic terms, thse n= "Krurtents come (rom the underworld and are Brought to life on earth “The cimay of the te oer a midigh, when two men representing the can and dren in ful eoatume ply sacred Se up and down he es wes axis of the house, AC the same time, tHe initiates eat coca powder from a sacred gourd of beeswax (worea koa). This gourd of wax represents the Pleiades, the sky, and Womatt Shaman a female pric. die (See above). The tes represent Jurupati Anaconda (He Hine) and corps ass male principle. Given the ining ofthe ite and he ital land conjunction of sje bjets that represent opposed But com plementary principles, should now be sy to understand why the Borasana believe that f this rite were not held repuaely, the universe would come to an end Pt enrey ae beta a a a Ta Scr hgertietan nog tetera Shieraebien ite we de ieee wrcciton iteruncrsorn. Sita ewiceententnt meni cana ies mee Simca ri a oa Sores ato a eheey oS Sl Scheer eae ces ‘ie Sal crcceetit” Bose Zana a Srecbeimd nen ge St RO tes norm ee er rere rt “Ana Spaces Nordwes Baers unl der Agenda Gane” Melgar imitans se cate ry wa Serr sieametu dnc eat Sheeran rae cons Pant et ering tn tera ‘ata rees et cat mes e ee eee eae corte io Be a wccucnaatnn Spee meee comers gas ce emia vacecw aes wicehacn Pere a ane mimi tet Bet ec at Ago na gman aoe PERRI lees w gee meer gate spc ana Ara se fhe gaa Soman and miesiatin 5 Fcc fons Ses