ReichelD 1971 AmazonianCosmos Tukano

AMAZONIAN
COSMOS Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff

The Sexual and Religious Symbolism
of the Tukano lndians
AMAZONIAN COSMOS
Biblioteca Digital Curt Nimuendajú - Coleção Nicolai
www.etnolinguistica.org
Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff
AMAZONIAN
COSMOS
The Sexual and
Religious Symholism
ofthe
T ukano lndians
The University of Chicago Press

Chicago and London
Translated by the author and first published as Desana: Simbolismo de
los Indios Tukano del Vaupés by Universidad de los Andes and Edito-
rial Revista Colombiana Ltda. Bogotá, 1968
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, CHICAGO 60637

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, LTD., LONDON
© 1971 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved
Published 1971
Printed in the United States of America
International Standard Book N umber: 0-226-70731-8 (clothbound)

0-226-70732-6(paperbound)
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 73-133491
84 83 82 81 80 987654
To the memory of
THEODOR KocH-GRüNBERG
ÁLFRED MÉTRAUX
PAUL RIVET
Contents
Illustrations ix
Pre fa ce Xl
Introduction xiii
PART l THE DESANA: TRIBE ANO LAND 3
PART II THE CREATION MYTH 21
PAR T 111 RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM 39
1. The Creator and His Creation 41

The Creator and the Structure of the Universe 41
The Concept of Energy 47
The Creation of Mankind 55
The Message of Creation 57
Man: Body and Spirit 60
2. Deities and Demons 71
Celestial Bodies 71
The Daughter of the Sun 74
Divine Intermediaries 76
The Master of Animals 80
The Spirits of the Forest 86
3. Symbols and Associations 93
Symbols and Signs 93
The Symbolic Value of Nature 98
The Maloca 104
Artifacts 11 O
Signs, Dreams, and Colors 119
vii
viii · CONTENTS
4. Man and the Supernatural 125

The Payé 125
The Kumú 135
Rituals of the Life Cycle 139
Means of Supernatural Communication 150
Invocations and Spells 153
Black Magic 156
5. Society and the Supernatural 159
Reunions and Dances 159
The Yuruparí 166
The Collective Ecstasy 171
Visease and its Cure 175
6. Man and Society 189
The Origin of Sibs 189
7. Man and Nature 203
Categories of Animals 203
Characteristics of Animals 210
The Hunter and His Prey 218
Fishing 228
Game as Food 2 30
The Annual Cycle 237
8. Conclusion 243
Appendix 1 Myths 253
Appendix 2 Lexico-Statistical Word Lists 270
Appendix 3 Names of Animals 274
Bibliography 276
lndex 281
111us tra ti ons
Plates following page 168
Slender palms rise high over the dense underbrush covering the
riverbanks
The Yuruparí Rapids on the Vaupés River (courtesy Paul
Beer)
A maloca on the Pira-paraná
A group of Barasana Indians
A man wearing polished quartz cylinder and necklace of
jaguar teeth
A girl from the Pira-paraná
Women paint their bodies with the sap of certain trees
A woman offers edible ants, considered a delicacy
Manioc is the staple food of the Tukano Indians
A Tatuyo Indian displays the dancing staffs that will be used
in a ceremonial gathering
The yuruparí flute of twisted bark is played on rare occasions
For ceremonial dances the men wear feather headdresses and
seed rattles
The walls of this rock shelter, the dwelling of the Master of
Animals, are covered with representations of game animals
and abstract symbols (courtesy Paul Beer)
Petroglyphs at Wainambí Rapids commemorate a mytholog-
ical scene (courtesy Miguel de la Quadra)
According to the Tukano Creation Myth, mankind arrived in
a canoe shaped like an anaconda (courtesy Fred Medem)
This ceremonial vessel is used to prepare a hallucinogenic
drink as part of certain ritual gatherings
ix
X · ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
(Note: The rock paintings listed here are used within the text as
decorations, without captions)
Rock painting showing a deer, upper Inírida River frontispiece
Sketch map of the Vaupés territory, Northwest Amazon 8
Rock painting representing a crocodile (?), upper Inírida
River 40
The structure of the Desana cosmos 44
Ancient petroglyphs at Wainambí Falls, Macú-paraná 56
Rock painting showing a snarling jaguar, upper Inírida River 70
Rock painting representing a deer, upper lnírida River 92
Ritual distribution of a maloca 105
Rock painting showing a deer, upper Inírida River 124
Rock paintings showing abstract designs, upper Inírida River 158
Rock painting of a turtle, upper Inírida River 188
Rock painting showing a Tinamou, upper Inírida River 202
Rock painting from the upper Inírida River 242
Preface
The present volume is the result of an ethnographic study carried out

under rather unusual conditions. In fact, the chapters that follow
and contain a description of the religious symbolism of a small group
of tropical rain forest Indians are based upon conversations held
with a single informant and were written before I had personally
visited the tribal territory that is his original home. Moreover, the
informant is an acculturated individual who, having spent much of
his adult life in the urban environment of Colombian cities, has been
exposed to a wide variety of modernizing influences. The materials
presented in this book seem to be of extraordinary interest; a depth
of comprehension has been reached that hitherto has not been ob-
tained in the study of any Colombian tribe, and new dimensions have
been explored that promise to lead to still deeper insights in future
studies.
This study has been made possible by a combination of favorable
circumstances. In the first place, I was fortunate in finding an excep-
tionally gifted informant whose intellectual qualities were practically
ideal for this type of work. In the second place, the Universidad de
los Andes provided me with the time and the physical surroundings
necessary if I was to devote myself to the task of this inquiry.
I should like then to express my gratitude to my informant, a
Desana Indian, Antonio Guzmán, whose patience and intellectual
acuity I have come to appreciate in all their depth. Thanks to him I
have been able to gather in these pages a body of materials that, I
hope, will contribute not only to the knowledge of a small Amazonian
tribe but may also throw new light upon various fundamental aspects
of archaic hunting-cultures in general.
I also want to express my thanks to the Universidad de los Andes,
and I owe my gratitude, above all, to Dean Remando Groot, of the
Xl
Xll · PREFACE
Faculty of Arts and Sciences; 1 also give my tbanks to Professor

José de Recasens, of tbe Department of Antbropology, wbo, as on
many otber occasions, stimulated my work witb bis vast knowledge
and unusual power of syntbesis. To Dr. F. Medem, Director of tbe
Instituto de Biología Tropical (Universidad Nacional de Colombia)
in Villavicencio and great expert on Amazonian fauna, 1 owe my
tbanks for belp in tbe identification of many animal species. To Mr.
Alee Brigbt 1 am very grateful for bis careful reading of tbe manu-
script and for stylistic suggestions. Finally, 1 express my gratitude
to tbe Ford Foundation wbose funds made it possible for tbe Uni-
versidad de los Andes to establisb tbe teacbing and researcb activities
of tbe Department of Antbropology during tbe period of my cbair-
mansbip, from 1963 to 1969.
Unless otberwise noted, tbe pbotograpbs are tbe autbor's.
G. R.-D.
lntroduction
Early in 1966 1 met casually a native Desana lndian of the Vaupés

area who resided in Bogotá and carne to visit the Department of
Anthropology of the Universidad de los Andes in whose program
he had become interested. Antonio Guzmán, a man sorne thirty years
of age, comes from the Macú-paraná, a tributary on the left bank of
the Papurí River, close to the Colombian-Brazilian frontier. He was
educated in a primary school by the Catholic missionaries in the
Vaupés and then was sent to a missionary high school in Choachí,
in the capital district of Cundinamarca. After several years of prep-
aration for the priesthood, Guzmán decided to discontinue his stud-
ies. He joined the Colombian Army and traveled throughout the
Andean interior of the country; he finished his service as a corporal,
married a young woman from the interior provinces, and settled down
in Bogotá. During these years, in the capital and also during sorne
journeys to the Vaupés to visit his family, Guzmán maintained
contact with the Catholic missions and with his native kinsmen and
friends. At the same time he met several missionaries from the United
States, of the Summer lnstitute of Linguistics in Bogotá, and col-
laborated with them on sorne linguistic studies, being exposed
during this period to Protestant religious teachings. He contin-
ued to be interested in the native life of the Vaupés and kept up
correspondence with friends and relatives who had learned to read
and write in the mission schools. In addition, he kept in contact with
natives of the Vaupés area who carne to visit the capital or who lived
there. While on one hand he was preoccupied with the fortunes of the
rain forest lndian in face of the growing pressures of acculturation, on
the other he evaluated the moral and ethical foundations of his tribal
traditions in the light of the new and diverse influences to which he
had been exposed by the Catholic missionaries and the members of
xm
xiv . INTRODUCTION
the Summer Institute of Linguistics, trying to find a balance, a way of

life that would permit him to become a member of Colombian Creole
culture without losing his identity as a native Indian. Guzmán never
denied his status as lndian or tried to conceal his origins. On the
contrary, he was proud of them and was very conscious that his
traditional culture contained important values. But his ambition was
to be an educated Colombian, to overcome ignorance and poverty,
and to incorporate himself as a citizen into an urban society that, as
he knew well enough, did not hide its contempt for everything that
was "Indian." In fact, Antonio Guzmán achieved many of his goals;
as a Christian, a soldier, a father of a family, and as a simple em-
ployee, he fulfilled his duties as a citizen. When, one day, we met
for the first time on the campus of the Universidad de los Andes, 1
had the impression that 1 was speaking with one of the many young
Colombians who, being of rural origin and coming from a poor
family, had made his way in the big city through effort, sacrifice, and,
above all, through strong ambition to become educated.
Guzmán, besides speaking Spanish quite fluently, knew half a
dozen Tukano dialects: Desana, Tukano proper, Pira-Tapuya (his
mother's dialect), Uanano, Barasana, and sorne Tuyuka and Cubeo.
1 was able to arrange for him to find a position as informant for the
linguistic exercises of the students of the Department of Anthropol-
ogy, and in this manner Antonio Guzmán, Desana, member of the
sib semé-peyáru-porá, former seminarist and soldier, joined the
Universidad de los Andes.
During the course of our first conversations 1 realized that behind
those placid features, behind those carefully controlled manners and
correct phrases, there was much more than one might ask from a
simple linguistic informant. Here was a man who rapidly assimi-
lated and analyzed ideas, who handled abstract concepts with facility
and clarity, and who, besides, used a large vocabulary with precision.
A few months afterward, Guzmán was appointed as my research
assistant. When he carne to occupy this position he knew how to use a
typewriter and a tape-recorder, and at the Summer Institute of Lin-
guistics he had learned to use phonetic signs to transcribe the dif-
ferent Tukano dialects. It was thus that a stage of research developed
whose results are presented in this book.
My interest in making this study was to lay the groundwork for
future intensive research in the Vaupés area, a rain forest region
lntroduction · xv
whose aboriginal inhabitants are rapidly losing their cultural identity,

due to the increasing pressures of acculturation.
Obviously, by working with one single informant and investigat-
ing the culture "at a distance," through his eyes, a number of as-
pects could not be explored: social organization, economy, material
culture, and so forth. The field of inquiry had to be narrowed to the
body of information that can be furnished by a single individual; to
the general appreciation and evaluation that a man might formulate
about his land, his society, and his way of life. At the same time,
my own research interests had led me to attribute more and more
importance to problems of adaptation, not in the narrow sense of
coping with a given physical environment in the pursuit of economic
exploitation, but in the sense of structuring a psychological milieu,
of interpreting a natural setting, finding in it the means to fit a culture
into a biological plan; of making the biotope culturally viable for a
specific humanity.
Traditional ethnographic studies begin, in most cases, with the
description of an infrastructural level, including such aspects as
settlements, dwellings, fields, communications, material culture (in
the limited sense of tools and utensils), and so forth. All too often, it
seems, by beginning work on this level, the true ecological perspective
is overlooked. The first step, the real infrastructure, consists rather
in describing and analyzing the meaning of the environment, the
native's intelligence du milieu, and this interpretation can only be
accomplished by an extremely detailed study of the native's evalua-
tion, categorization, and "use" of such aspects as geographical fea-
tures, fauna and flora, meteorological phenomena, sounds, colors,
movements, and so on. These and other categories are culturally
coded and constitute a means by which "reality" is handled and man
is fitted into the biotope. The problem of the individual's and society's
place in what is nature to them is of importance here. It is on this
level that symbolic thought establishes stereotypes and images, clus-
ters of significant signs at different levels of abstraction, that, from
there on, continue to pervade all patterns and institutions, tech-
nology, socioeconomic systems, and value orientations.
It is, of course, a truism to say that the study of the social struc-
ture of a given society can only be meaningful if we know how this
structure is related to the particular physical environment. But this
ali too obvious statement acquires a new dimension if we approach
xvi . INTRODUCTION
the problem from the point of view we have termed intelligence du

milieu. Let us briefty outline a case from the Northwest Amazon. The
rivers of this area are often interrupted by large or small rapids or
falls. When fish run yearly to their places of ovulation, certain species
advance only to the limits established by certain rapids, while other
species advance farther upstream. In the Indians' mind sorne species
of fish are intimately associated with certain categories of women, in
terms of potential spouses or forbidden marriage partners. lt follows
then that, if certain fish should not be eaten by the people living on
a stretch of the river, the reason for this prohibition is that their
consumption of fish obeys exogamic rules. Moreover, the fish that run
are associated with certain fruit, insects, or the smaller fish they feed
upon, and these too are echeloned along the river, as are certain
birds which, in their tum, feed upon fish and/or fruit. We have here
then larger and smaller ecological zones upon which not only is the
social structure projected but which also form an integral part of an
intricate and highly meaningful web of man-animal-plant relation-
ships, combined with certain characteristics of the river, "black" or
"white" waters, rapids, currents, and so forth. To understand this
system it is necessary to gain a profound knowledge of the natural
environment and of the principal edible, or otherwise useful, re-
sources it offers. The key importance of this approach is obviously
not limited to the study of social organization but includes other
aspects as well. Economic activities, cult and ritual, culture contact,
and the diffusion of ideas or objects can all be geared to this particu-
lar use and interpretation of the natural environment and should
therefore be understood in this manner. It goes without saying that
these problems can be studied only before advanced acculturation,
with its introduction of guns, new fishing techniques, new seeds, or
developed agriculture, destroys or radically modifies the biotope.
In the field of economics the following observations might serve to
outline the possibilities of this approach. Cultural developments in
the northwest Amazon cover a wide range, from nomadic or
seminomadic food-gatherers to more or less sedentary hunters and
fishermen, food-producers, and horticulturists. But this is an over-
simplification. In the first place, each of these "stages" or local adap-
tations shows a variety of levels of intensity and efficiency, and
seasonal, or otherwise periodical, changes or modifications occur
even on the same stage. In the second place, economic efficiency not
/ntroduction · xvii
only depends upon available resources, upon the environmental po-

tential and the technological level of the local culture, but also upon
many culturally conditioned attitudes. Sorne aboriginal groups, even
if they derive their main food intake from horticulture, have main-
tained hunting or fishing as their cultural focus. Even if these groups
occupy the same physical environment and possess the same tech-
nological equipment, ideologically and practically there may exist a
considerable difference between the hunter and the fisherman. Those
whose focus is hunting are, in fact, bad fishermen, and vice versa, not
for lack of game or fish, nor for lack of technical equipment, but for
lack of aptitude and experience. There seems to exist a remarkable
amount of specialization in tropical rain forest cultures, on the tribal
and phratric levels, and in the latter case this seems to be related to
the reciprocity patterns of exogamy. The social and religious incen-
tives of subsistence adaptation and of these different models of ex-
ploitation of the environment are of prime importance here, and
these ecosystems need to be investigated in great detail with particular
reference to questions of causality and origin. This kind of research
deserves priority in view of the rapidly changing economic system
and the lndians' increasing participation in a cash economy, which
inevitably leads to divorce from dependence upon their present en-
vironment.
lt was with these interests in mind that our present research plan
was formulated and developed. In the first place the idea was to
establish an inventory of the local fauna, accompanied by informa-
tion on general ecology and specific animal behavior; hunting, fish-
ing, and gathering were to be described in detail, together with their
relative importance in economic and seasonal terms. Next, certain
animals serving as behavioral stereotypes were to be isolated and
described. In the second place, the natives' categories and interpreta-
tion of natural phenomena were to be recorded-the physical land-
scape, celestial bodies, thunder, lightning, rain, wind, and seasonal
climatic changes. Wherever possible these data were to be correlated
with information on animal behavior and plant life.
These topics constituted the bare outlines of our plan. From there
on the trend of our inquiry could have taken any direction, depending
upon the informant's knowledge, personal interests, and willingness
to communicate.
We shall now describe briefiy the manner in which this plan
xviii . INTRODUCTION
was carried out. The investigator and the informant met during a six-
month period for one to three hours daily in an office where, sur-
rounded by books, maps, and photographs, our conversations de-
veloped without interrupting or distraction by others. As a central
theme we chose the interrelationships between man and animal
in the rain forest environment of the Vaupés. This theme, as every
field ethnologist knows, always arouses the interest of the native who,
as an excellent observer of the fauna, likes to speak of the animals of
his habitat, enumerating species, describing their habits, and telling
personal anecdotes in which hunting scenes and other events are
prominent. We thus looked at photographs of animals of the Vaupés
area and of the Amazon region in general; we compared and dis-
cussed them, thus forming in the course of a short time a basis of
common interests. During this initial phase illustrated publications
were used showing the Amazonian landscape, books on zoology and
botany, as well as color photographs of animals taken by Dr. F.
Medem, of the Instituto de Biología Tropical in Villavicencio.
The first step consisted in establishing a most complete inventory
of the animals of the region. The second step was the description
of the specific behavior of these animals, their seasonal occurrence,
their feeding and mating habits, their modes of defending them-
selves, their sounds and colors, and their relationships with other
species. In our culture we have isolated a number of animals as
examples of certain types of behavior-the ass, the pig, the dog, the
fox, the dove-and as images and models of such traits as stupidity,
filthiness, loyalty, cunning, and innocence; and so we attempted to
define the stereotyped animals of the native Indian culture. In the
course of these initial conversations, as is natural, much data
emerged that, in one way or another, was interrelated with a series
of other aspects: certain food prohibitions were mentioned together
with the annual cycle of food availability, hunting magic, weapons
and traps, and, of course, the division of labor among the sexes.
This was a preliminary phase during which the investigator and
the informant were able to become acquainted, each one speaking
of his own experiences and thus establishing a relationship of mu-
tual interests.
Once this basis had been established, it became necessary to
follow a more extensive plan. In the course of our talks sorne myth
motifs had been mentioned that referred to this or that animal, and
I ntroduction · x1x
it was easy now to bring up the question of origins. What had been
discussed so far was an existing, extracultural reality. The question
of how this reality had come into being, of how the native culture
accounted for it, carne next. We spoke of the origin of the animals
and their different categories, the origin of plants, the origin of man-
kind and the universe. It was necessary at this stage to find sorne
way to synthesize the culture, sorne large model, sorne affirmation
tacitly accepted by ali Desana in which this universe was "ex-
plained." So we began to work with the Creation Myth.
First, a simple outline was sketched: the Creator, the funda-
mental structure of the Universe, and the origin of mankind. Then
we filled in this outline in detail, still without searching for elaborate
ramifications but rather attempting to obtain an adequate image of
each one of the broad stages or scenes of Cosmogony. In this phase
of work we began to make extensive use of diagrams, drawing on
large sheets the cosmogonic model in its different perspectives and
even improvising models. At this point 1 abandoned the technique
of the unstructured interview and now asked the informant to pre-
pare himself, from one session to another, to speak about certain
themes on which 1 would prepare a list of questions. 1 chose for this
end such partial topics as, for example, the individual divine repre-
sentations of mythology, the characteristics of the celestial bodies,
and the origin of fish, and we then dedicated severa} days to these
topics. First 1 listened to the informant for about half an hour and
then asked him a series of questions, sorne already formulated,
others arising during bis narration.
Until then the informant had participated in a somewhat passive
manner, simply answering questions or speaking of a topic assigned
him the previous day. From this point on, however, a notable
change carne over him. He now began to see that my inquiry was
not motivated by a mere curiosity to hear sorne "Indian tales," but
that the questions and the themes that had been chosen were to
form a whole whose parts were interrelated. What until then had
been to the informant a number of disconnected experiences or
ideas began to form significant units; he was now discovering for
himself relationships in bis own culture that he had not consciously
established before. This awareness carne as the result of bis realizing
that the mass of informations gathered so far had been arranged
into categories by the investigator. As he grasped these inter-
XX • lNTRODUCTION
relationships on the level of ethnographic inquiry, the informant

felt truly motivated and spoke with more spontaneity. Even during
the hours when we were not working, he continued to think about
the topics of the inquiry.
There can be no doubt that for the informant this work involved
a profound self-analysis and a detailed reevaluation of his tra-
ditional culture and of the urban civilization to which he was be-
coming acculturated. Everything that was discussed during our
interviews necessarily reaffirmed his traditional attitudes and put
him, up to a certain point, in conftict with his present way of life and
his ambitions for an urban education. Now, while describing and
discussing his own culture, he discovered in it values and goals that,
under the infiuence of his formal schooling, he had denied but
whose permanent validity manifested itself with more and more in-
sistence. From there on the inquiry took a new direction. Pro-
foundly interested in the subject, critica! and determined to com-
municate everything he knew, the informant discussed topics of his
own choice.
Our discussion of the mythical origin of social institutions and
individual cultural elements included descriptions and detailed com-
ments. We talked of the Master of Animals, of shamanistic prac-
tices, and of the rites of the life cycle. Any topic, whether the origin
of the sibs, the organization of dances, or the treatment of diseases,
necessarily referred to the central theme: Man and animal. Together
with this large mass of data, the symbolic interpretation of the
Cosmos and the biosphere began to be structured in levels of ab-
straction and interconnected units, in clusters of signs and symbols
grouped in a logical and significant form.
Throughout the course of the entire investigation, all data were
recorded exactly as given by the informant. These data were tran-
scribed daily onto cards, a work that occupied two to three hours
for each hour of interview. Related to pies and themes were cross-
referenced. Sorne 2,000 questions asked of the informant were
annotated. All material was kept in chronological order, and in this
way the entire process of the inquiry could be reconstructed. Ap-
proximately four months after the study began, the first tentative
editing of sorne sectors of the material was undertaken, with the
informant carefully reading this transcript and discussing and com-
menting on its contents. In the course of these corrections, of
Introduction · xx1
course, much new information appeared that, at times, was not

directly connected with the chapter in question but could be in-
corporated into other sections.
lt is my impression that all this information was given with com-
plete sincerity and without any attempt to hide or to embellish cer-
tain aspects. At no moment did 1 have the feeling that the informant
was trying to gain prestige or that he was speaking only to please
me. Always ready to admit his ignorance of a certain problem or to
qualify his statements, he always chose his words carefully and was
ready to help clarify any concept that 1 might find difficult to under-
stand. During the interviews 1 constantly verified the data obtained
in previous sessions, at times allowing days or even weeks to pass,
only then to make a sudden check on sorne point. On no occasion
was 1 able to observe contradictions, and in those cases where gaps
appear in the data or where ambivalent attitudes were manifest in
the patterns, the informant was always the first to point out that
this was not due to contradictions in the data but to contradictory
phenomena in the culture.
Apart from continued verification of data, 1 employed other
controls. Thanks to the kindness of Mr. James Miller of the Sum-
mer Institute of Linguistics, 1 was able to obtain a copy of a tape
recording in which an old Desana Indian spoke in his language
about the Creation, the deities and spirits, hunting and fishing, and
sorne cultural norms the young generation ought to follow. The
informant translated this tape recording, and 1 was able to verify
that the data it contained coincided with the materials gathered in
our interviews. Another control of the validity of the data was made
possible by consulting ethnological literature on the Vaupés, es-
pecially references to religion and mythology, shamanism, hunting
magic, and related aspects. lt is also important to point out here
that, in previous years, 1 had briefly visited the Vaupés area and
had been in contact with severa} Tukano and Arawakan groups,
although not with the Desana, and, moreover, had become some-
what familiar with the environment of the rain forest. This knowl-
edge was highly useful, as much to verify the data obtained as to
introduce themes for discussion and to formulate precise questions.
lt may be said here that the informant always demonstrated a sharp
discernment in comparing the customs of his tribe with those of
others; he generalized when he was certain of his affirmations but
xxii . INTRODUCTION
distinguished in great detail when he recognized cultural differences.

Finally, two points must be mentioned: the systematization of
the data and their respective interpretation. The sequence of the
chapters and their subdivisions represent, of course, categories and
units established by the author. It seemed logical to take the Cre-
ation Myth as a starting point because it contains a relatively con-
cise statement of Cosmology, basic institutions, and the religious
code. The chapters that follow this introductory statement contain
descriptions of aspects, or relationships of aspects that, in one form
or another, are mentioned in the myth and were further elaborated
by the informant. This division is, therefore, entirely the work of
the investigator who, in order to handle a large mass of data, had
to arrange them into what seemed to him a meaningful order. As far
as interpretation is concerned, the key concepts are illustrated by
literal quotations of the informant's affirmations; an effort has been
made to allow him to speak for himself or to transcribe his ideas
and words without subtracting or adding to them. lf the interpreta-
tion of Desana symbolism follows a rather Freudian orientation,
this is not due to the author's bias but to the informant's convic-
tions, the validity of which is born out by innumerable examples
documented in the record of the inquiry. The author is well aware
of the fragmentary nature of the data and the risk of taking the
interpretations of one individual as a basis for the discussion of an
entire cultural image. But the risk seems to be justified.
The manuscript in its final form was carefully read by Antonio
Guzmán who agreed that the information furnished by him had
been correctly transcribed and elaborated by the author.
NOTE
In the writing of this book 1 decided to use sorne words from
Lengua Geral that are commonly employed in the Amazon area.
The terms used here are the following: maloca, large communal
house occupied by several nuclear families; payé, shaman or curer;
tipití, sleeve-like elastic tube of basketry used in squeezing out the
poisonous juice of grated manioc. Sorne other commonly used terms
are taken from other native languages: balay, a ftat circular bas-
ketry tray; chagra, cultivated field or garden plot; yajé, a hallucino-
genic plant of the genus Banisteriopsis; chicha, a slightly fermented
beer made of maize, manioc, or palm fruits; cachirí, a social re-
lntroduction · xxiii
union during which chicha beer is consumed; dabucurí, a cere-

monial gathering during which gifts, generally in the form of food,
are distributed between allies; kumú, lndian with priestly functions;
kurupíra, a forest spirit; mojojoi, large edible larvae (Calandra
palmarum); yuruparí, large flutes of twisted bark played during a
ceremony known by the same name.
The following rule of pronunciation should be observed for
words cited in the Desana language, which are printed in italics:
e as the French e in que, je.
All expressions appearing between quotation marks are literal
transcriptions of the informant's words.
PosTSCRIPT
1 finished writing this manuscript in May 1967. In June of the same
year, Antonio Guzmán, Alvaro Soto Holguín (then a student in the
Department of Anthropology), and 1 undertook a journey to the
Vaupés. We stayed there for a month in the region of Mitú where
1 met Guzmán's family, his relatives and friends, all of them Des-
ana, Pira-Tapuya, Tukano, or Uanano Indians. In the course of
this stay 1 had the opportunity to record on tape sorne fifty hours
of myths and genealogies, descriptions of ritual and ceremonies, and
incantations and healing formulae given by a large number of native
informants. But apart from this extraordinary material, which will
be presented in a forthcoming volume, 1 had the satisfaction of find-
ing that my manuscript did not require correction; the information
1 had obtained during our interviews in Bogotá found its confir-
mation in the field.
Since then 1 have returned severa} times to the Vaupés and have
spent many months working with other informants. And from this
experience, too, 1 can say that the present volume represents a valid
introduction to the world of the Desana.
Part One
The Desana: Tribe and Land

The Desana: Tribe and Land
The Desana are a small subgroup of sorne thousand Tukano Indi-

ans who live in the equatorial rain forests of the Vaupés territory
in the Colombian Northwest Amazon. Their principal habitat is the
basin of the Papurí River, but their territory extends southward to
the Tiquié River and onto Brazilian soil where other representatives
of the aboriginal group are located.
The Vaupés, one of the major rivers of the Northwest Amazon,
has its sources at the foot of the Cerro Otore, south of San José de
Guaviare. lt then flows for sorne 600 kilometers through Colombian
territory before entering Brazil where, about 50 kilometers above
the village of Sao Gabriel-da-Cachoeira, it joins the Río Negro. The
main tributaries of the Vaupés are the Cuduyarí and Querarí rivers,
both on the left bank; the Papurí River is on the right bank, and
there are also numerous small rivers and creeks that are referred to
locally by the term igarapé. The Papurí River, with a length of sorne
280 kilometers, is a main tributary of the Vaupés and forms the
border with Brazil in its middle and lower course. It flows into the
Vaupés near the town of Y avareté.
There are practically no overland trails, and the rivers and their
tributaries are the only means of communication in the immense
rain forests that cover the humid lowlands. Recently a few small
landing fields have been established, but only Mitú, which is the
administrative capital of the Comisaría del Vaupés as the territory is
called, has an airline that connects it regularly with Bogotá, the
capital. Nevertheless, even travel by water encounters considerable
obstacles; the rivers plunge over scarplike rock formations where
the waters rush in thundering cascades and torrents forming rapids
or cachoeiras. In the Papurí River, to give but one example, there
are no less than thirty of these rapids, and between Mitú and
3
4 · THE DESANA: TRIBE ANO LAND
Yavareté there are more than sixty. To shoot these rapids is always
dangerous and, at the least, involves great delay for the travelers
because canoes and luggage have to be dragged and carried labo-
riously over boulder-strewn riverbanks or along swampy jungle trails.
Distances are enormous, and any trip between the few populated
centers may easily take severa! weeks.
The climate of the Vaupés area is hot and very humid. The mini-
mum daily temperature varíes between 10º and 20º C., and the
maximum between 40º and 32º C. The rains fall during almost all
of the year, and only in the months from January to March do they
diminish somewhat and a short "dry season" sets in.
The immense forests of the Comisaría del Vaupés are inhabited
by large numbers of native tribes that, linguistically, belong to
severa! families. The majority belong to the Tukanoan family, but
there are also tribes that speak Arawakan, and there are severa!
small groups whose languages or dialects have not yet been defi-
nitely classified. The tribes that speak dialects belonging to the
Tukanoan family from the group designated as Eastem Tukano to
differentiate them from the Western Tukano group that is composed
of sorne groups living in the region of the upper Caquetá River,
southwest of the Vaupés. The Eastern Tukano group includes the
following tribes: Tukano proper, Desana, Pira-Tapuya, Uanano,
Karapana, Tuyúka, Mirití-Tapuya, Yurutí-Tapuya, Cubeo, Bara-
sana, and severa! others. The Arawakan family is represented in
this area by the Kuripáko and the Tariana, the tribes of this linguis-
tic affiliation increasing in number toward the northeast, into the
territory of the Comisaría del Guainía. Sorne groups of nomadic
Indians called Makú seem to speak severa! languages or dialects
whose linguistic affinities have not as yet been established with
certainty. On the upper Vaupés River there live the remnants of a
Carib-speaking tribe, the Karihóna.
The term tribe requires clarification here. Many of the native
groups enumerated above have rather the character of exogamic
phratries that share many cultural features with their neighbors.
Each of these phratries is composed of up to twenty or thirty ranked
sibs and derives its origin from mythical ancestors or "totemic"
concepts. These groupings do not occupy a contigous territory nor
do they obey the authority of one single chief or headman. The
term tribe, therefore, cannot be applied to the wider concept of
The Desana: Tribe and Land · 5
Tukano Indians, except in the most general sense of a people shar-

ing a basic cultural tradition and speaking a number of related dia-
lects. The only exception might be the Cubeo, who appear to be
somewhat isolated from the other Tukano-speaking groups and
form a separate unit, with their own set of phratries and sibs, and
who also are somewhat different culturally from the neighboring
groups.
Referring here exclusively to the Indian groups of the Colombian
region of the Vaupés, Papurí, and Pira-paraná rivers, Table 1 indi-
cates the population, according to the scarce census data available
(Rodríguez, 1962), as well as approximate locations.
TABLE 1 DESANA PO PULATION

ÜROUP DESANA NAME NUMBER HABITAT
Tukano Nahséa 1,250 upper Papurí

Desana Wirá 1,000 Papurí
Pira-Tapuya Vaimahára-porá 600 Papurí
Uanano Dehkosirúmahane 800 middle Vaupés
Karapana Meeréa 700 Papurí, Pira-paraná
Tuyúka Matarnamahane 500 upper Papurí, Tiquié
Mirití-Tapuya Neéroa-mahsá ? Papurí, Tiquié
Yurutí-Tapuya Vaíra ? lower Vaupés
Siriano Seléa ? Papurí
Barasana Yebá-mahsá ? Pira-paraná
Cubeo Dihpárimahane 1,000 middle Vaupés
Tariana Pavára 30 Papurí, Vaupés
Kuripáko Behkára 400 Guainía
Makú Wirá-poya 400 Papurí
We shall now attempt to locate these groups as exactly as possi-

ble. The Tukano proper live along the Paca River at the headwaters
of the Papurí, mainly in the region of Uacaricuara. The Desana
occupy sorne spots on the right bank of the Vaupés from the rapids
of Yuruparí downward, and they also inhabit the river below Mitú
along the Cucura, Abiyú, Timbó and Murutinga creeks. The ma-
jority live in the basin of the Papurí River where they occupy its
left tributary, the Macú-paraná, as well as the Virarí and Cuyucú
creeks and the settlement of La Estrella in Teresita. Others live in
Wainambí, on the Macú-paraná. The Pira-Tapuya are concentrated
more to the lower Papurí River and in the villages of Teresita,

Africa, and Piramirí. The Yurutí-Tapuya are located along the left
bank of the Papurí River near Uacaricuara where they occupy
sorne houses on the Pacú, Mirití, Pindahiba, and Yí, small tribu-
tarles of the Papurí. The Karapana live along the Tí River, a tribu-
tary of the Vaupés, and also on the headwaters of the Pira-paraná.
The Uanano occupy the banks of the Vaupés River from Uaraca-
purí Falls (Santa Cruz) to Y avareté, the Brazilian mission center.
The Tariano live scattered along the Papurí where they occupy
parts of the Paca River and sorne spots near Uacaricuara. The
Cubeo live mainly along the left bank of the Vaupés River, between
its headwaters and the Querarí River. Sorne groups of these lndians
are located along the Papunaua River, a tributary of the Inírida,
and others along the Ayarí River. The Tuyuka are found on the
Inambú, a right-hand tributary of the Papurí, along the Abiyú, and
in Uacaricuara. The principal Makú groups live near the Desana
of the Macú-paraná and, generally, in the vicinity of this tribe and
of the Tukano. Scattered groups are reported from many interftuvial
regions.
Although in recent years the Colombian government has made
a notable effort to open up this region of the country to colonization
and to exploit its natural resources, the Vaupés area continues to be
one of the least known and developed zones of the entire national
territory. A land of Indians, rubber collectors, and missionaries,
three human elements that do not always live in harmony, the
Comisaría del V aupés, created only in 191 O, still constitutes a
marginal zone, remote and isolated from the life and problems that
unfold in the Andean interior of the country. The mere fact that the
total area of almost 100,000 square kilometers is populated by
only 14,000 inhabitants is a measure of the conditions that prevail
in the Vaupés. The neighboring Comisaría del Guainía, formerly a
part of the Vaupés territory, was created in 1963, and its 78,000
square kilometers are occupied by only 4,000 inhabitants.
The large majority of those who live in the Vaupés are lndians;
the missionaries, rubber collectors, and a few settlers form a small
minority. After sporadic contacts in the past, especially with mis-
sionaries from Brazil, the systematic evangelization of these Indians
was begun in 1914 when the first Catholic missions were founded
on the Papurí River, a region accessible only by way of the Río
T he Desana: Tri be and Land · 7
Negro at that time. The missionaries in those first years were priests
of the Montfortian Congregation, most of them of Dutch origin,
who established sorne small centers on the river banks, notably---ª!_
Piramirí (Teresita), on the lower Papurí River, and at Montfort on
the upper part of the river. In 1936 the Colombian government
founded the administrative center of Mitú, a village located on the
right bank of the Vaupés River at 1 º05'30" N. Lat. and 70º05' W.
Long. In 1949 the Apostolic Prefecture of Mitú was set up under
the Order of Saint Xavier. Since then missionary work has been
notably extended by the founding of schools in several populated
centers. Sorne years before, in about 1945, a group of Protestant
missionaries from the United States established a center on the
Cuduyarí River, in Cubeo territory, and, although this mission was
discontinued a few years later, Protestant inftuence has increased
with the establishment of the New Tribes Mission in the regions of
the Guaviare, Inírida, Isana, and Guainía rivers. Recently the Sum-
mer Institute of Linguistics has sent a large number of its members
to the Vaupés and has founded its own centers there. At present,
almost one third of the inhabitants of the Comisarías of the Vaupés
and of Guainía are nominally Protestant (Misiones del Vaupés,
1965, p. 13).
Ethnologically, the Indians of the Vaupés are still very little
known. In the past century travelers and naturalists like Wallace
(1870), Coudreau (1886-1887), Stradelli (1890), and severa!
others published summary descriptions of sorne ethnographic as-
pects, mainly from the tribes of the Río Negro. Only at the begin-
ning of this century, with the journeys of Theodor Koch-Grünberg,
was a more systematic ethnological investigation begun, and it is to
this author that we owe excellent descriptions of the material cul-
ture of the majority of the groups mentioned. Koch-Grünberg
traveled through the Vaupés, Tiquié, and Pira-paraná in 1903-4
(not the Papurí), and bis voluminous work continues to be the
principal source of ethnographic information on the native cultures
of this area. Nevertheless, he did not make detailed studies of the
social and economic organizations of the groups visited and offers
only limited data on religious aspects. In 1937 Irving Goldman
( 1940; 1963; 1964) stayed for several months among the Cubeo
of the Cuduyarí River, and to him we owe the first modern mono-
graph about a tribe of the Colombian Northwest Amazon. In 1954
12• 71• 10•
'I '"), 1~· .)\\.. -............,,,,,-:. -.. ~ ~ :J"d V 1 :;;;f 1;;;=w' < :;;;;,,,,.,,,,.... l 2°
BRAZIL
,. ¡ 1 '-N ~~ I ~ 1 (fl'rlPIACA . '-" ' ¡,.
SCALE
LO 0 10 20 30 40 ~I<..-
12• 71• 10•
Sketch Map of the Vaupés Territory, Northwest Amazon

Marcos Fulop (1954; 1955; 1956) worked among the Tukano of

the Paca River describing their kinship system and their mythology.
In the same region, Rodríguez Lamus (19 59; 1966) made a study
of the domestic architecture of this group. Sorne publications have
been prepared by the Salesian Fathers of Yavareté, the Brazilian
missionary center located on the left bank of the Vaupés, across
from the mouth of the Papurí River, and the volume by Brüzzi
( 1962) is an attempt to summarize the information known up to the
present. Recently Biocca ( 1968) has published on the Tukano of
the Brazilian part of the Vaupés. A linguistic bibliography of the
Tukano family has been compiled by Castellví ( 1939). For ad-
ditional bibliographic references the reader may consult my compi-
lation included in the volume edited by O'Leary ( 1963; pp. 319-
21 ).
Although at first sight the number of publications on the tribes
of the Vaupés is considerable, with few exceptions the quality of
most of these works leaves much to be desired. In the first place,
few authors, excepting Goldman, have attained an adequate depth
in their studies, which are more often limited to somewhat super-
ficial descriptions. In the second place, the tendency to generalize
and to believe that the natives of the Vaupés form a single homo-
geneous culture has led to the emergence of a quite erroneous image
insofar as the diverse levels of ecological adaptation of these tribal
groups are concerned. The fact of a selective adaption of hunters-
fishermen-horticulturists seems to have escaped the majority of the
investigators, who have described the Indians as if they were dealing
with only one level common to ali. In reality, it seems that speciali-
zation plays an important role in this area and promises to be a
fertile field for future research.
With the exception of the Cubeo, and perhaps the Tukano, whose
religious and social organization has been described and analyzed
in detail, no other Indian group has been the object of a mono-
graphic study. The Uanano, Pira-Tapuya, Tariana, and many others
were mentioned in the literature in passing, as if they formed only
part of a great "Tukano culture," without taking into account the
differences that distinguish these groups. Information on the
Desana is very scanty. Wallace (1870) mentions them in passing,
and Koch-Grünberg, who did not visit the Papurí River, only de-
scribes sorne of their ceremonial artifacts. Brüzzi ( 1962) speaks of
tbem witbin bis global concept of an "indigenous civilization of tbe

Vaupés" and only distinguisbes tbem in bis enumeration of sorne
sibs. Tbe existing literature does not offer sufficient data for a com-
parative study. Quite often tbe generalizations totally obscure tbe
origin of specific information in sucb a manner tbat it is impossible
to evaluate tbe data witbin tbeir proper context.
Tbe recent book by Bodiger ( 1965), wbicb deals witb tbe re-
ligion of tbe Eastern and Western Tukano, is based exclusively on
bibliograpbical sources wbose lack of precision invalidates tbe com-
parative analysis tbat its autbor aspires to furnisb.
In tbe pages tbat follow 1 present a summary of tbe main cultural
cbaracteristics of tbe Desana witb tbe aim of providing a general
introduction to tbe tbeme of tbis book.
Tbe name by wbicb tbe Desana call tbemselves is wirá/wind, or
wirá-porá/sons of tbe wind. Tbe term desana seem to be taken
from sorne of tbe Arawakan dialects; for example, tbe Tariana call
tbe tribe detsána or detsénei, and tbe lpeka say desá. Tbe Desana
tbemselves consider tbis designation somewbat derogatory, and if
we keep it tbrougbout tbis work it is only because tbe name is
already establisbed in etbnological literature and we do not want
to cause furtber confusion. Tbe rest of tbe neigbboring lndian
groups tbat speak Tukano dialects call tbe Desana wirá or winá,
tbat is to say, "People of tbe Wind." Tbe Desana call tbemselves
occasionally mimí-porá/Sons of tbe Humming Bird, wbicb all of
tbeir sibs recognize as tbeir ancestral animal. Kocb-Grünberg
( 1906, p. 184; 1909, 1 : 241 ; 2: 250) observed tbat tbe Desana are
markedly different in pbenotype from tbe neigbboring groups and
suggested tbeir relationsbip witb tbe Makú.
Today, tbe Desana are divided into more tban tbirty exogamic
patrilineal sibs, eacb one descending from a mytbical ancestor but
all recognizing tbe primacy of tbe sib boréka, a fisb of tbe genus
Leporinus, called aracú in Lengua Geral. Eacb sib occupies one or
more malocas, large communal bouses, wbere sorne four to eigbt
nuclear families live togetber. Tbe malocas are constructed along
tbe banks of tbe rivers or creeks, preferably near a rapids, and tbey
are generally spaced in sucb a way tbat tbere is a considerable dis-
tance between one maloca and its neigbbor. Tbey are low construc-
tions, rectangular in plan, at times witb tbe rear part somewbat
rounded, and covered witb a roof of palm leaves. Tbe main door,
located in the front of the house, is oriented toward ihe landing

place on the nearby river while another, secondary <loor is located
at the opposite end of the construction. Sorne distance away from
the maloca, connected with it by narrow footpaths, are the fields or
chagras (po'é). The chagras are the private property of each
nuclear family.
Although the Desana emphatically insist that they are hunters,
the product of the hunt forms perhaps only 25 percent of the total
of their daily food supply, the rest coming equally from fishing and
horticulture. Nevertheless, these last two activities are considered
rather contemptible and of low prestige. There is a current saying,
"nihipó bero vaíre ba'mo" ( only a pregnant old woman eats fish),
that is used to ridicule the work of the fisherman. Horticulture has
even less prestige in the scale of values of the Desana, who declare
that the life of the hunter is the only fit one for a man. In reality,
however, the men also fish a great deal, an activity that requires less
effort and gives a greater yield than hunting in the forest.
The chagras have an average size of approximately one hectare,
and each family possesses sorne three or four of these garden plots.
Upon making a new chagra, the men cut the undergrowth in the
forest and then fell the large trees, a task that is carried out during
the "dry season." At the end of March the chagra is burned, and
then the women proceed to the planting. The masculine work in
horticulture occupies the first three months of the year, after which
almost all of the rest of the planting activities, weeding, and harvest-
ing falls to the women.
The principal plants cultivated are bitter manioc ( dehke; the
tuber is called kií), plantain (ohó), banana (mukúru ohó), yams
( nyamó; a certain variety is called nyahiámara), sweet potato
(nyapí), pineapple (será), and chili peppers ( biá). Maize is called
ohó dehká/plantain-piece, and has very little importance. The
Desana distinguish severa} kinds of bitter manioc ( the nonpoison-
ous variety is little known), to wit, boréka dehke-according to
myth, it is related to the sib boréka; starchy manioc, bo'o dehke,
also having a mythological origin; white manioc ( boréri dehke) ;
yellow manioc (diári dehke); and one kind called nopára, said to
have been introduced from the territory of the Karihóna Indians.
Manioc, which is the staple crop, takes from six to nine months
to grow, the harvesting of the roots being started at one end of the
chagra and being completed at the other end over a six-month.

period. Meanwhile, new shoots have been planted in the harvested
part or other plants have been sown there so that the same chagra
is used for severa} years. Eventually the soil is allowed to lie fallow
for two or three years, during which it becomes covered again with
secondary growth. A chagra is hardly ever entirely abandoned.
The preparation of bitter manioc is done with the same technique
used by almost all the native groups of the Northwest Amazon. The
principal tools are the grater (sungúno), which consists of a some-
what concave wooderr sfab encrusted with small, pointed stones,
and the tipití or "matafrío" as the rubber collectors call it, which
is a long sleeve-like tube woven of very flexible fibers. The tubular
basket stretches when filled tightly with the grated mass, after which
the poisonous juice can be extracted by stretching the tube. The
Desana call this instrument uahtí kenyány /, an expression derived
from uahtí/forest spirit or "devil" and kenyári/to squeeze. This
expression refers to the great physical strength attributed to certain
forest spirits that grab their victims and literally squeeze them to
death. The mass of grated manioc, once squeezed, is then prepared
in two basic forms: as large circular cakes of cassava ( anúnye' e)
or as a coarse flour (pogá), by-products of the process of prepa-
ration being starch (verá), tapioca (bo'óru), the liquid squeezed
off (nyohká), which can be consumed after having been boiled,
and the scraps and leftovers (pulí). The meals commonly prepared
are mainly of two types: bia-sóru/pepper pot, which consists of chili
peppers cooked in water to which a little salt and sorne fish have
been added, to be eaten with cassava bread; and nyumukú (in
Lengua Geral called mingáo), which consists of starch boiled in
water with sorne manioc flour added to thicken it.
From a cultural-historical point of view it is interesting to note
that the Desana believe that many plants grown by them were intro-
duced only in recent times. The sweet potato is said to have been
brought by the Uanano who received it from a mythical personage,
the "Daughter of the Water" or "Daughter of the Sweet Potato"
(nyahpí mangó in Desana), who was the first Uanano woman.
Also, the occasional cultivation of the arum (duhtú, a species of
Xanthosoma) is attributed to the Uanano, and the papaya as well
as the custard apple and even the chili are said to be plants of recent
introduction brought in by the rubber collectors from Brazil. Even
the manioc grater is said to have originated with the Uanano, and
in past times the Desana did not grate the roots but allowed them
to soften in water for sorne two or three days before shredding and
squeezing them by hand.
Besides the products of the chagra, the forest offers a large quan-
tity of wild edible fruit that, at times, are also found near the maloca
in a semicultivated state. Among them may be mentioned the peach
palm ('Li),the avocado pear (uyú), the papaya (mamáu), and the
custard apple (miká). Three kinds of guama (Inga sp.) trees are
distinguished: nege meré/forest guama, yoarí meré/long guama,
and po'é meré/chagra guama. Among edible palm fruits there are
the following: nyumú, n'gá, mihpí (Euterpe oleracea Mart.), me' e
(lriartea exorrhiza Mart.), pupúnya ( Guilielma speciosa Mart.).
A highly appreciated food is vahsú, the fruit of the rubber tree
(Hevea paucifiora var. coriacea). Tomatoes and beans do not seem
to be known. Sorne other useful plants that should be mentioned
here are: cotton (buyá), tobacco (mulú), the fish poison barbasco
(Lonchocarpus, called nia-dá), and the vahsúge tree from which
barkcloth is made.
The rain forest fauna of the Vaupés area is not rich either in
species or in individual specimens. In Appendix III is a detailed
list of the animals that have economic or magical importance for
the Desana. Neither are fish abundant, but the rivers generally offer
more food resources than the jungle. The product of the hunt can
be calculated, according to our informant, in the following manner:
a man who goes to hunt for two or three days per week obtains ap-
proximately three catches; for example, a small rodent, an arma-
dillo, and a few birds. In a month he can get three or four wild
guinea pigs, two cavies, and a monkey, a deer or a peccary every
two months, and a tapir once a year.
Although the Desana clearly recognize the scarcity of game ani-
mals, the hunt is for them the preferred, and fundamentally male,
activity around which all other aspects of their culture revolve. The
basic food supply offered by horticulture in the form of cassava and
manioc ftour is essential for daily life, but the eventual surplus is
not used to compensate for the scarcity of meat but is generally
destined instead for trade with neighboring groups and, above all,
with the rubber collectors. In exchange for the products of their
chagras, the Desana obtain clothing, machetes, soap, salt, aluminum
14 · THE DESANA: TRIBE AND LAND
pots, fish hooks, and, at times, guns; that is to say, elements that
acculturation has made accessible and almost obligatory, in part for
prestige reasons. A slight increase in horticultura! activities that can
be observed in the last generations is apparently due only to the
necessity of obtaining these trade articles and not to ameliorate the
food situation. According to the Desana, in the past the principal
function of the chagras was to provide the households of a maloca
with the manioc necessary for the preparation of chicha, a slightly
fermented beer, consumed during reunions of a ritual character. For
this, one or two small chagras per maloca were sufficient; but the
manufacture of flour and cassava on a larger scale for the consump-
tion of the family and for trade seems to have developed rather
recently, perhaps in the last two or three generations.
The total lack of demographic data naturally makes it impossible
to evaluate the growth of the native groups, but it is possible to sup-
pose that the population is increasing slightly, in part due to sanitary
campaigns such as that of the eradication of malaria. But a popula-
tion that maintained itself at a constant level might exceed the limits
of the potential of its hunting territory; considering then the sed-
entary character of the Desana, equilibrium must be established by
a modification of their efficiency in exploiting the environment. As
we will see in the course of this study, this modification is formu-
lated in a series of mechanisms that tend to restrain the activities of
the hunter without depriving him of the attraction of his task. On
the contrary, hunting as a male activity is valued highly and is, as
long as the hunter observes a set of rules and restrictions, in the last
instance, mechanism in defense of the jungle fauna.
It was mentioned above that the Desana are divided into sorne
thirty sibs. Traditionally, each sib occupies a maloca, with few ex-
ceptions ( the boréka, for example, who are more numerous than
the others and eventually occupy several houses). There are, on
the other hand, sorne sibs that are so small that they live together
with others. At present, however, a maloca household is made up of
members vi many different sibs. The total number of Desana malo-
cas can be calculated then at sorne thirty, with an average of thirty-
three persons who form the working domestic units of a given ter-
ritory. The sibs are scaled according to their rank; those of higher
rank traditionally occupy the lower courses of the river, while the
lower ranking sibs live toward the headwaters. It is difficult to
ascertain the relationship between this distribution and the eco-

nomic potential of the adjacent regions, but it seems that the forest
resources are somewhat more abundant at the headwaters, while
more fish and better soil for gardening are found on the lower
courses. The situation in the lower part of a river leads, certainly,
to more contacts through greater accessibility; the malocas of the
headwaters remain in relative isolation. It is also evident that, for
the same reason, the sibs of higher rank are more exposed to ac-
culturation than those who live withdrawn on the upper courses of
the rivers and form the conservative element; the latter are more apt
to retain the characteristics of a hunting society.
There are no chiefs or headmen, but the inhabitants of each
maloca or sib obey an elder ( and in the Amazon rain forest one is
old at forty!) who represents authority for those who live under
the same roof. In Desana this person is designated as ohpe/"he who
possesses," "the owner." An alternative designation is mahsa
tinge/elder brother, because generally the head of a maloca is the
older of two or more brothers. Marriage is strictly exogamic and
virilocal, all the sibs being considered as "brothers" who should
marry mainly with the Pira-Tapuya, Yurutí-Tapuya, and other
phratries of the Eastern Tukano. All of these exogamic phratries
are close neighbors who occupy malocas in the same region and,
like the Desana, are organized in ranked sibs. Marriage with
Arawakan-speaking tribes seems to be very rare, although it is pos-
sible that the Arawakan Tariana are presently taken to be so
"Tukanoized" that their alien origin is hardly recognized any more.
Most religious rituals are the duties of the payé (ye' é), who
serves as an intermediary between society and the supernatural
forces. The payé directs the ceremonies of the life cycle, that is,
"baptism," initiations, and burial rites. Besides, he is also a curer.
But his central function has an essentially economic character as he
is the intermediary between the hunter and the supernatural "mas-
ters" of the animals. The payé must influence these masters or
"owners" so that they will cede sorne of their animals, and he must
also instruct and prepare the hunter so that he will observe the many
prescriptions that are necessary. As a sort of gamekeeper, the payé
is intimately concerned with the sexuality and fertility of game
animals, a sphere in which he "intervenes" in many ways to assure
the multiplication of the species. In his contacts with supernatural
beings, the payé uses certain hallucinogenic drugs, such as the pow-
der of vihó ( Piptadenia), which he sniffs in through his nose, or the
drink gahpí (Banisteriopsis caapi), called yajé in Lengua Geral.
The characteristic paraphernalia of the payé consist of his gourd
rattle and a long lance-shaped rattle as well as an ornament formed
by a polished cylinder of white or yellowish quartz that he wears
suspended from his neck. Illness, imagined primarily in the form of
small black splinters or thorns that an enemy has introduced magi-
cally into the body of the victim, is cured by the payé, who sucks it
from the body until all sickness is extracted and then blows tobacco
smoke over the patient and throws water on him. Besides the payé
there are severa! individuals designated as kumú whose functions
seem to be rather those of a priest. The kumú is considered to be a
direct representative of the solar divinity and, as such, has a very
high status in society. Generally, he intervenes only in certain phases
of the rituals of the life cycle, but his main function is that of con-
serving traditions which he explains in long "counsels."
Besides the collective ceremonies carried out on the occasion of
the rites of the life cycle, the Desana and their neighbors gather in
periodic reunions called bayári ( dabucurí, in Lengua Geral). After
days or weeks of anticipation, it is made known that sorne maloca or
other is preparing a reunion, and the canoes come from all parts
with the visitors who bring various fruits, fish, and smoked meat.
This food is given to the organizing sib or phratry. In these reunions
the Creation Myth and the myths referring to the origin of the
phratry are recited; there is dancing to the sound of various musical
instruments, and the men wear large feather crowns. Hallucinogenic
drugs are sometimes consumed on these occasions. These gather-
ings, with their marked emphasis on sib cohesion, are of great im-
portance and probably constitute the strongest and most structured
collective expression of the culture.
This summary of Desana culture can be generalized, for the most
part, to all the tribes of the Vaupés area. As a matter of fact, the
malocas, the chagras, and the majority of the basic objects of ma-
terial culture are the same as well as the techniques of hunting and
fishing and the implements used in the preparation of manioc and
cassava. Also, the institution of the payé, costumed dances, and the
gatherings at which the Creation Myth are recited form a common
basis and are found in one form or another in all the Tukano
groups. But these somewhat superficial similarities end there, and

when we penetrate more profoundly into the culture significant dif-
ferences appear. These differences are expressed primarily in the
religious and symbolic systems, and have economic diversification
as a basis. In part, we are concerned here with a true artisan spe-
cialization through which each group is particularly skilled in pro-
ducing specific artifacts-canoes, graters, pottery; in part, it is the
general economic orientation. In this "orientation," however, there
is at times a representational, emotional component that does not
correspond entirely to economic reality.
As has been pointed out, the Desana live side by side with other
groups throughout the basin of the Papurí River and, superficially,
they are distinguished from their neighbors only by their dialect.
But the main distinction that they themselves make refers to the
traditional economic base; that is to say, they distinguish clearly be-
tween hunting, fishing, and horticultura! groups. These three cate-
gories form a scale of values, with the horticulturists being assigned
the lowest status and the hunters the highest. To be sure, all of the
groups devote themselves to horticulture that they complement with
hunting and fishing, but we are concerned here with a traditional
attitude, an emphasis that is formulated almost as a "destiny." The
classification, from the point of view of the Desana, is as follows:
The Desana are hunters; the Pira-Tapuya, Uanano, Tukano, and
Siriano are fishermen; the Tuyuka, Mirití-Tapuya, Karapana, and
all Arawakan groups are horticulturists. It is characteristic then that
among the Desana there is a marked tendency to marry women of
phratries classified as fishing groups, women of the Pira-Tapuya,
Tukano, Uanano, and Siriano, while marriages between Desana and
phratries classified as horticulturists are the exceptions. Especially
close relationships exist between the Desana and the Pira-Tapuya,
who are considered practically a "second Desana phratry," almost in
the sense of an exogamic moiety. This intimate relationship is said
to be based primarily on the fact that the sib boréka, which is the
principal sib of the Desana, is associated with a fish, while the Pira-
Tapuya (Fish People in Lengua Geral) are called vaímahara porá
( Sons of Fish) by the Desana.
The Desana consider hunting a male activity or, more precisely,
a male attitude and fishing a female attitude. Thus, the fishing
groups, not only the women but the phratry as a whole, are con-
sidered female elements. In other words, the Desana phratry has a

masculine character, and the Pira-Tapuya has a feminine character.
The Pira-Tapuya are for the Desana nomé-sori mahsá/providers of
women. This relationship naturally also functions in reverse: the
Pira-Tapuya consider the Desana a female element and themselves
masculine because they marry Desana women. Whoever gives
women is feminine, whoever recives them is masculine.
The position of hunter, fisherman, or horticulturist leads logically
to a very distinct relationship between man and his environment.
Hunters and fishermen tend to secularize the tasks of horticulture
and all that refers to plants, in exchange for an elaborate ritualiza-
tion of hunting and fishing. For the hunter, the spirits of nature
have an aquatic character, while for the fisherman they are rather
associated with the forest. There are variations then in the intimate
quality of ecological adaptation, in the symbolic interpretation of
nature, in the problems of biotic equilibrium essential for the sur-
vival of society. It is here, on this scale of categories and values,
real or imagined, that marked differences are observed among the
diverse groups. There is a mechanism of selectivity, of specializa-
tion, that on one hand is the consequence of necessity and on the
other causes divergence in the ethos of each group.
In these conditions social interaction poses problems of com-
munication. In a system of strict reciprocity, direct action can be
dangerous. We thus observe throughout the whole culture, not only
in that of the Desana but also in their neighbors, a marked preoc-
cupation with neutral and impartial elements to serve as inter-
mediaries, with mediating functions either in socioeconomic rela-
tionships or in the religious sphere.
In this respect the Makú Indians occupy an unusual position.
These groups are essentially nomadic food-collectors of the inter-
fluvial forests and do not fall into the categories established by the
Desana. They are distinguished from the other Indians by their
physical type, their language, and the lower level of their tech-
nology, and do not fall into the category of true "people" (mahsá).
All of the neighboring groups consider the Makú as a kind of slave
class who should serve them, and the Makú seem to accept this
role. Sorne, however, are more independent and live apart from
the others in the jungle, being then said to be "evil" and cannibals,
but the majority live in temporary cultural symbiosis with the sed-
entary Tukano groups. Nevertheless, only the Desana, Tukano, and

Tariana "have Makú," or consider themselves as having the right
to make use of their services. In the vicinity of the malocas of these
three groups, there are small groups of Makú who live and work in
the chagras, are in charge of domestic duties, care for the children,
and serve their "masters" in many other ways, especially on certain
ritual occasions. The Desana call the Makú wira-poyá, a term that
can be translated as "spoiled Desana." The word poyári expresses a
concept of invalidity, of something incomplete or abnormal, of
something that is almost-but-not-quite. The wirá-poyá are beings
not entirely "people"; they are similar to the Desana but cannot be-
come like them. The Desana call the Makú nihí-mahsá/"people
who solicit," dependents, and the Makú call themselves nihi-sori
mahsá/providers, in order to emphasize their status. The other
phratries that have Makú as occasional servants use similar names;
thus, the Tukano call "their" Makú Tukano-poyá, and the Tariana
say Pavára-poyá. The Makú commonly designate themselves as
dahsúu and do not complain about their subordinate position, which
as often as not is economically advantageous to them. For the
Desana, on the other hand, the Makú are important intermediaries
in many interpersonal contacts between larger groups, and the
Desana even take over their "souls" to be used in certain transac-
tions of the payé, as we will see further on.
To be sure, at the basis of this situation there seem to lie very
complex problems. Although the Desana emphatically deny it, there
exist very close emotional and sexual relationships between them
and the Makú not solely due to the role that Makú wet nurses ful-
fill among them. The Makú are for the Desana not only servants
but represent the female element, a sexual object, upon which very
ambivalent ideas and emotions are projected.
These observations, which for the moment we cannot amplify
with more details, lead us to consider briefly a focal problem in
Desana culture. Among the Desana operate cultural mechanisms
that produce a very marked sexual repression. We are concerned
here with a society with a strong puritan trend in which all that re-
fers to sexual relations is viewed with great fear and anxiety. Sex
is the greatest danger in life, and the rules and proscriptions that
attempt to restrict and repress it are found in all personal relations.
The percentage of homosexuals, female as well as male, seems to be
quite high, as well as the incidence of sexual assaults, frequently of

an incestuous nature. As is natural in this case~, the high level of
anxiety has contributed to the formulation of a strongly sexualized
image of the Universe in which the world,and its supernatural forces
are nothing but expressions of an intense struggle between the sexes.
It is this image we will examine in the following pages.
Part Two
The Creation Myth

The Creation Myth
The long myth that follows was related by the informant and is
transcribed here in bis own words. lt is not a continuous narrative,
told all at once, but is composed of several sections and was related
on different occasions. Sections 1 and III form a unit and were re-
lated in continous form at the beginning of our conversations. The
theme of incest (section IV) was mentioned after conversations
conceming the origins of humanity and of the different sibs, but 1
have transposed the part that pertains to the sun. The other sections
were dictated, wholly or in part, on different occasions. At times,
sorne days or weeks later, the informant remembered sorne detail
forgotten earlier and called our attention to this omission.
According to the informant, the form in which the Creation
Myth is transcribed here corresponds, in broad outlines, to the order
in which it is recited on the occasion of ceremonial gatherings. In
Appendix 1 sorne myths and stories are cited that, although belong-
ing essentially to the same cycle, are generally told apart by the
Desana. Obviously, they deal with explanatory details falling within
the wider framework of the Creation Myth but constituting themes
that are somewhat isolated. The myth of the Creation of the Uni-
verse, of man, and of the first sibs of the Desana, is recited on prac-
tically all occasions when a group of people gather to drink chicha
and to dance. lt is told in a loud voice with the narrator speaking
rapidly and emphasizing certain points with gestures and exclama-
tions. Sometimes a group of men recite in unison, addressing them-
selves to the participants who can only begin to dance when the
recitation has ended.
23
24 · THE CREATION MYTH
THE CREATION MYTH

I
In the beginning there were the Sun and the Moon. They were twin
brothers. 1 At first they lived alone, but then the Sun had a daughter,
and he lived with her as if she were bis wife. The Moon brother did
not have a wife and became jealous. He tried to make love to the
wife of the Sun, but the Sun heard about it. There was a dance up
in the sky, in the house of the Sun, and when the Moon brother
carne to dance, the Sun took from him, as a punishment, the large
feather crown he wore that was like the crown of the Sun. He left
the Moon brother with a small feather crown and with a pair of
copper earrings. 2 From that time on the Sun and the Moon have
been separate, and they are always far apart in the sky as a result
of the punishment that the Moon brother received for bis wrong-
doing.
The Sun created the Universe and for this reason he is called
Sun Father (page abé). He is the father of all the Desana. The Sun
created the Universe with the power of bis yellow light and gave it
life and stability. 3 From bis dwelling place, bathed in yellow reflec-
tions, the Sun made the earth, with its forests and rivers, with its
animals and plants. The Sun planned bis creation very well, and it
was perfect.
The world we live in has the shape of a large disk, an immense
round plate. lt is the world of men and animals, the world of life.
While the dwelling place of the Sun has a yellow color, the color of
the power of the Sun, the dwelling place of men and animals is of
a red color, the color of fecundity and of the blood of living beings.
Our earth is maria turí (mari/our, turi/1eve1), and is called "the
upper level" ( vehkámaha turí) because below is another world,
1. The informant is not completely sure if they were twins or if the Sun
was the older brother and the Moon the younger. Perhaps we are deal-
ing here with one single androgynous being.
2. lt is curious to observe that there should exist a tradition concerning
the introduction of metallurgy (cf. Appendix 1, Myths, No. 1 ). The
ornaments of small triangles of hammered silver ("butterflies") are
rather characteristic of the Arawakan tribes of the Isana River.
3. The words "stability," "to stabilize," and "to establish" occur fre-
quently in the vocabulary of the informant who uses them to express
a state of biotic equilibrium.
The Creation Myth · 25
the "lower level" / dohkámaha turí. This world below is called

Ahpikondiá, Paradise. Its color is green, and the souls of those who
were good Desana throughout their lifetime go there. On the side
where the sun rises, in Ahpikondiá, there is a large lake, and the
rivers of the earth pour into it because all ftow toward the east. 4
Thus, Ahpikondiá is connected to our earth by the water of the
rivers. On the side where the sun sets, in Ahpikondiá, líes the Dark
Region. This is the region of night and is an evil place.
Seen from below, from Ahpikondiá, our earth looks like a large
cobweb. lt is transparent, and the Sun shines through it. The threads
of this web are like the rules that men should live by, and they are
guided by these threads, seeking to live well, and the Sun sees them.
Above our earth, the Sun created the Milky Way. The Milky Way
emerges as a large, foaming current from A hpikondiá and runs from
east to west. Strong winds rush through the Milky Way, and it is
blue in color. lt is the intermediate region between the yellow power
of the Sun and the red color of the earth. For this reason, it is a
dangerous region because it is there people establish contact with
the invisible world and with the spirits.
The Sun created the animals and the plants. To each one he as-
signed the place he should live. He made all of the animals at once,
except the fish and the snakes; these he made afterward. Also, to-
gether with the animals, the Sun made the spirits and demons of the
forest and the waters.
The Sun created all of this when he had the yellow intention-
when he caused the power of bis yellow light to penetrate, in order
to form the world from it.
11
The Sun had created the earth with its animals and plants, but
there were still no people. Now he decided to people the earth, and
for this he made a man of each tribe of the Vaupés; he made a
Desana and a Pira-Tapuya, a Uanano, a Tuyuka, and others, one
from each tribe. 5 Then, to send the people to the earth, the Sun
made use of a being called Pamurí-mahse. He was a man, a creator
4. The Papurí and Tiquié rivers, which form the principal habitat of the
Desana, run from west to east.
5. No myth refers directly to the creation of human beings. It seems that
this theme is repressed because of its sexual and social connotations.
of people, whom the Sun sent to people the earth. Pamurí-mahse

was in Ahpikondiá, and he set forth from there in a large canoe. lt
was a live canoe, in reality a large snake that swam on the bottom
of the river. This Snake-Canoe was called pamurí-gahsíru, and its
skin was painted yellow and had stripes with black diamonds. On
the inside, which was red, sat the people: a Desana, a Pira-Tapuya,
a Uanano, one from each tribe. Together with the Snake-Canoe
carne the fish; but they were not in the inside but outside, in the
gills; the crabs also carne, attached to the rear. 6 lt was a very long
journey, and the Snake-Canoe was going up the river because
Pamurí-mahse was going to establish mankind at the headwaters.
Whenever they arrived at a large rapids, the Snake-Canoe made
the waters rise in order to pass by and caused the torrent to be calm.
Thus they went on for a long time, and the people became very
tired.
At that time night did not yet exist, and so they traveled in the
light, always under the yellow light of the Sun. When the first men
set forth, the Sun had given each one something, sorne object, for
him to carry carefully. To one of them he had given a small, black
purse, closed tightly, and now, with the journey being so long, the
man looked inside the purse. He did not know what was inside. He
opened it, and suddenly a multitude of black ants carne out of the
purse, so many that they covered the light, making everything dark.
This was the First Night. Pamurí-mahse gave to each man a firefty
in order to light bis way, but the light was very weak. The ants
multiplied, and the men tried to invoke them to return to the purse,
but at that time they did not know about invocations. Then the Sun
Father himself descended and with a stick beat the purse and made
the ants enter it again. But those which did not obey remained in
the forest and made their anthills. From that time on there have
been ants. Once the ants were inside the purse, the light returned;
but since then night has come into existence. This was the First
Night, nyamí mengá, the Night of the Ant, and the man who had
opened the purse was called nyamíri mahse, Man of Night. 1
So they continued on in the Snake-Canoe, but when they arrived
6. Probably this refers to certain small crabs that live as parasites in the
anal region of large aquatic snakes.
7. Concerning sorne aspects of the myth of the Origin of Night see Lévi-
Strauss, 1966, p. 358.
at lpanoré, on the Vaupés River, they struck against a large rock

near the bank. The people went ashore because they were tired of
the long journey and thought that they had already reached their
destination. They left by way of an opening at the prow of the
canoe. Pamurí-mahse did not want them to disembark there because
he was thinking of taking them to the headwaters of the rivers, and
therefore he stopped up the opening with bis foot. But the people
had already got out, having rushed from the Snake-Canoe; they
were dispersing throughout the rivers and the forests. But before
they got away, Pamurí-mahse gave each one of them the objects
they had brought from Ahpikondiá and that, from then on, were
going to indicate the future activities of each tribe. He gave a bow
and arrow to the Desana; to the Tukano, the Pira-Tapuya, Vaiyára,
and the Neéroa he gave a fishing rod; to the Kuripáko he gave the
manioc grater; he gave a blowgun and a basket to the Makú and a
mask of barkcloth to the Cubeo. He gave a loincloth to each one,
but to the Desana he gave only a piece of string. He pointed out the
places where each tribe should live, but when he was about to indi-
cate the future home of the Desana, this one had fled to seek refuge
at the headwaters. The Uanano had also gone and went up to the
clouds in the sky. Then Pamurí-mahse entered the Snake-Canoe
again and returned to Ahpikondiá.
111
The Sun created the various beings so that they would represent
him and serve as intermediaries between him and the earth. To
these beings he gave the duty of caring for and protecting bis Crea-
tion and of promoting the fertility of life.
First the Sun created Emekóri-mahse and Diroá-mahse and put
them in the sky and in the rivers so that, from there, they could pro-
tect the world. Emekóri-mahse is the Being of Day, and bis job is
to set down all the norms, the rules, and the laws according to
which the spiritual life of human beings should develop. Diroá-
mahse, who is the Being of Blood, is in charge of all that is cor-
poreal, all that is connected with health and the good life. Then he
created Vihó-mahse, the Being of Vihó, the hallucinogenic powder,
and ordered him to serve as an intermediary so that through hallu-
cinations people could put themselves in contact with all the other
supernatural beings. The powder of vihó itself had belonged to the
Sun who had kept it hidden in his navel, but the Daughter of the
Sun had scratched his navel and had found the powder. While
Emekóri-mahse and Diroá-mahse always represent the principle of
good, the Sun gave V ihó-mahse the power of being good and evil
and put him in the Milky Way as the owner of sickness and witch-
craft.
Then the Sun created V aí-mahse, the Master of Animals. There
are two beings called V aí-mahse, one for the animals of the forest
and the other for the fish. The Sun assigned to each one the places
where he ought to live; one was given a large maloca inside the
rocky hills of the forest, and the other a large maloca at the bottom
of the waters of the rapids. He put them there so that they could
watch over the animals and their multiplication. Together with the
V aí-mahse of the waters, the Sun put Vaí-bogó, the Mother of Fish.
The Sun also created Wuá, the Owner of Thatch, 8 the owner of the
palm leaves that are used to make the roofs of the malocas.
Then the Sun created Nyamikeri-mahse, the Night People, and
put them in the Dark Region to the west of Ahpikondiá. To them
he gave the job of serving as intermediaries for witchcraft and sor-
cery, because the Sun did not create only the prindple of good but
also of evil, to punish mankind when it did not follow the customs
of tradition.
Then the Sun created the jaguar so that he would represent him
in this world. He gave him the color of his power and gave him the
voice of thunder that is the voice of the Sun; he entrusted him to
watch over his Creation and to protect it 9 and take care of it,
especially of the malocas. The Sun created all these beings so that
there would be life in this world.
IV
The Daughter of the Sun had not yet reached puberty when her
father made love to her. The Sun committed incest with her at
Wainambí Rapids, and her blood ftowed forth; since then, women
must lose blood every month in remembrance of the incest of the
Sun and so that this great wickedness will not be forgotten. But his
8. The informant insists on the term straw although he is referring to palm
le aves.
9. The verb to cover is used by the informant both in the sense of pro-
tection and of coitus.
daughter liked it and so she lived with her father as if she were bis
wife. She thought about sex so much that she became thin and ugly
and lifeless. Newly married couples become pale and thin because
they only think of the sexual act, and this is called gamúri. But
when the Daughter of the Sun had her second menstruation, the sex
act did harm to her and she did not want to eat anymore. She lay
down on a rock, dying; her imprint there can still be seen on a large
boulder at Wainambí Rapids. When the Sun saw this, he decided to
make gamú bayári, the invocation that is made when the girls reach
puberty. The Sun smoked tobacco and revived her. Thus, the Sun
established customs and invocations that are still performed when
young girls have their first menstruation. 1 º
V
The Sun had the first maloca built. This was in gahpí-bu/"place of
the yajé plant," on the Macú-paraná River, in the place that is now
called Wainambí. He ordered Emekóri-mahse, Diroá-mahse, Vihó-
mahse, and Vaí-mahse to teach the first Desana how to make their
homes. When they had built the first maloca, Vihó-mahse, and with
him, sickness and sorcery, bid in the cracks and crannies of the
houseposts to do evil to the people. Vihó-mahse made use of the
"ancient eagles" (ga'a meera) which were sitting in the trees near
the house. The eagles were chewing coca, and their beaks were
ftecked with white. The eagles brought nets in the shape of fun-
nels; they were like the nets that are now used for fishing, and they
put them on the doors of the maloca to trap the people. But Diroá-
mahse saw this and carne to defend the people. Then the evilness
bid again in the cracks of the houseposts, and the eagles put up
other nets until there were two at each door. But Diroá-mahse
trapped the eagles and wrapped them up in the nets and threw them
into the Milky Way. There the eagles took on bodily form again;
since then they have been beneficent and take care of the malocas. 11
All of this happened because there were no invocations and the
10. Although the original incest forms the mythical basis of the law of exog-
amy, the theme is not well developed. The informant mentioned
severa! times that the Daughter of the Sun was "very frolicsome" and
makes her appear as a seductress.
11. This transformation of the eagles from "evil" to "good" is not clear;
there is a lacuna here in the myth.
people did not know how to protect themselves, but now they began
to learn to make invisible and impenetrable enclosures around the
malocas; they also learned to put invisible nets on the doors to trap
all the evil that might penetrate the maloca from the outside.
VI
At that time there were only men, the first men having come with
Pamurí-mahse in the Snake-Canoe. The animals of the forest had
already their mates and the fish, too. Vaí-mahse, the Master of Fish,
had bis wives, the Vaí-nomé, and with them he had a daughter,
Vaí-mangó. The daughter was an aracú fish, and the aracú were, as
they are now, the main fish of the rivers and lived in their malocas
under the water.
One night the men had a feast and danced. The Daughter of
Aracú (boréka-mangó) saw the light, the yellow light of the men's
fire, and carne out of the water. She approached the maloca and saw
the Desana; she fell in love with him. The man gave her honey, and
she tried it and liked it. So she stayed with him on land. The first
Desana was called gahkí. This happened at Wainambí Rapids where
the first maloca stood, and one can still see there on the rocks the
imprint of the buttocks of the woman when she lay with the man.
From the union between the first Desana and the Daughter of
Aracú, sons and daughters were born. The first sib of the Desana
was born and then all of the Desana tribe.
When the first Desana cohabited with the Daughter of Aracú,
there were several animals who were witnesses to the act. The water
turtle saw it, and from that time on it has had the color of the
vagina; when one eats the meat of this turtle, welts break out on the
skin. The curassow saw the penis of the man, and since that time it
has had a red neck and always lives on the riverbank. The sloth was
also watching, but the Daughter of Aracú saw it and changed it
into a slow animal; before this it had been a very nimble climber.
When she was pregnant, the Daughter of Aracú ate a uarí fish
and threw the leftovers of her meal into the river. The bones were
changed into fish, and since that time these fish are so slow that they
can be caught by hand; it is the laziness of the pregnant woman
that made them be like this.
When the Daughter of Aracú gave birth to her child, there were
also sorne animals watching. The bat was a bird then and was
watching and singing. Then the Daughter of Aracú said to it: "I at
least have my offspring where 1 should give birth, but you will def-
ecate by mouth from now on." The centipede and a large, black,
poisonous spider carne to lick the blood of the childbirth, and from
that time on the centipede looks like an umbilical cord and the
spider like a vagina. Also the scorpion and a large black ant licked
the blood, and from that time on the bite of these two makes one
vomit and produces great pains similar to those of childbirth. The
stingray is the placenta of the Daughter of Aracú, and its poisonous
sting produces the same pains.
When all of this happened, the invocations that should be said
when a woman gives birth were not yet known. The Daughter of
Aracú was not able to bathe herself because she was afraid of going
to the landing place because there were so many animals there; so
she became covered with lice.
A small bird that sang at dawn and saw her was singing: "This
lazy woman! Maybe she doesn't know about invocations?" Then
the Daughter of Aracú thought this over and invented the first in-
cantations for the bath following childbirth. In a trough she pre-
pared herbs and tobacco and went to the river to wash. Her husband
was very frightened, but she said the incantations and thus the
animals could do no harm to her.
When her first son was born, the mother of the Daughter of
Aracú took the child to the river to bathe it. Then the aracú fish
from all parts gathered and rubbed themselves against the child
and recognized it as one of their kin. As soon as the father of the
child saw that there were so many aracú fish in the river he took his
bow and arrow and killed them. The Daughter of Aracú did not
know about this because she was in the chagra, but when she re-
turned to the maloca and saw the dead aracú, all her kin, she began
to cry and carried them back to the river to set them loose. Then she
herself also went into the river to her large house under the water. 12
Thus, mankind was born and the tribe was formed. The second
Desana also married a woman from the river, and when she became
pregnant for the first time she asked her husband to bring her sorne
12. The only mythical beings who have the characteristics of cultural
heroes, even though very weakly developed, are the Daughter of the
Sun and the Daughter of Aracú. There is no male personification in
Desana mythology that represents a model or an example.
fish because she was tired of the other food. The man went to the
forest and cut a heart of palmito (mihí); he took it to the landing
place where the woman was and put small pieces of palmito into
the water, reciting at the same time incantations to the fish. Then
bubbles began to rise, and suddenly a large wooden drum carne out
of the water. lt had the same shape as the Snake-Canoe, pamurí-
gahsíru, and in its gills the fish were held fast. The man took hold
of the fish and gave them to bis wife, but he put the drum again in
the river where it submerged. Since then, the large drums are kept
at times under the water so that they may have a new life.
The Daughter of Aracú made the first field, the first chagra. She
had brought manioc with her which had been in the malocas of the
Aracú people under the water, and she planted it so that the Desana
people could have it to eat. Once the Daughter of Aracú was going
to wash manioc tubers in the brook. Then the Aracú people saw
this and tried to carry the manioc off again to their malocas; but
they failed to do so. Then the Aracú people made a pact with the
paca 13 to steal the manioc and return it to them. The paca found
the manioc and began to eat it, and when he remembered that he
was supposed to carry it to the Aracú people there was none left.
Then the Aracú people ordered that, from then on, the paca should
destroy the manioc of the Desana. The peccary carne, the paca,
the deer, and others, and the snakes carne, too. Then the Daughter
of Aracú asked the eagles for help, especially the eagle of the chagra
(po'é ga'a) and the brown eagle (pun ga'a). The eagles killed the
snakes and put them into the guarumo 14 trees that stood around the
field. They also scattered the birds that had come to eat the seeds
of chili and tobacco. When the Daughter of Aracú washed manioc
roots in the river, the Aracú people carne to visit her. She also in-
vented the woven tube used to squeeze the manioc.
VII
Below Wainambí Rapids the Sun had made a large snake that was
the mother of all snakes. The traces of that snake are still seen on
the rocks along the river banks. When the first son of the Desana
was born, the snake devoured the child. The Desana complained to
13. Coelogynis paca.
14. Cecropia sp.
the Sun, and the Sun put a. trap in the river to catch the snake. The
trap can still be seen in the rocks above lpanoré; there the Sun
trapped the snake and bit off its head. The snake was called pirú
se'e/"gull snake," because it was the same color as this bird, 15 white
and black and dark gray on top. These birds, the gulls, come ftying
down to dive into the river and lagoons, and then they fty upward
again after having bathed themselves. They are the representatives
of this snake.
VIII
The large river that was to be the place for the Desana to establish
themselves was the Papurí. Near Piramirí there is a hill, and one
day the Sun met Pamurí-mahse with the first Desana on top of it.
They met there in order to bring the fish because there were still
very few of them. Then the Sun told Pamurí-mahse to make a sign
on the water so that the fish would go up the Vaupés and enter the
Papurí River. Pamurí-mahse told the Desana not to urinate. Then
the water carne like a torrent, and the fish carne with it; the river be-
gan to rise. The Desana looked and suddenly saw coming a gigantic
centipede. lt had huge fangs and was grabbing at trees and was
coming closer with the huge oncoming wave. The Desana became
frightened and urinated. Then the water became salty, and only a
few fish carne up the Papurí River. On the rocks one can still see
today where the first wave carne, and one can see the fish engraved
in the stone. The centipede, nyangí, was the representation of the
seas, not of the rivers. The monsters of the sea are just like the
centipede. lt is not the progenitor of the fish in the sea; there are
huge monsters. The centipede is a monster that eats the fish. 16 But
then it only carne to bring the fish, but because the Desana became
frightened and urinated only a small part of the water carne through
the Papurí River. But much water carne up the Vaupés River, and
many fish, too, and the force of the water carne as far as the upper
Vaupés, at the rapids of Yuruparí.
15. Colymbus sp.

16. The association of a giant centipede with the fish of the sea calls to mind
the representations of a centipede on the archeological ceramics of the
Nazca culture of the Peruvian coast. The theme is also- related to that
of the "Snake full of Fish" that has been treated by Lévi-Strauss, 1948.
IX
When everything had already been created, the world began to be
filled with plagues and monsters. No one knows why. There were
many monsters and demons everywhere: the boráro, the uahtí, and
others. Then there were sorne very bad people called vearí-mahsá,
the cheaters or kidnappers .They carried off people by stealth. They
appeared on the trails and near the malocas in the guise of friends
or relatives and violated women. They invited them to follow them,
and then they arranged it so that they were lost in the forest. The
vihó-mahsá also appeared, and when the women had their men-
struation, they rushed the malocas to violate them. All of these
monsters wanted to have sexual relations with the people, and they
tried to violate them. They were always near the malocas, listening
to what was said. The monsters took the form of a brother, of an
uncle, or of sorne relative and thus cheated the people. They said:
"Let's go fishing," but it was to violate them that they accompanied
them.
The kusíro also carne. They were like huge horsefties 17 that sting
people and attack them. There was a great humming noise when
these horsefties ftew in circles around people, attacking them with
their stingers. Then the men decided to kill the horsefties. They
killed them with tobacco, blowing the smoke over their bodies and
thereby killing them. They ate the dead horsefties, and they tasted
like honey.
When the Sun saw that his creation was suffering and that there
were many evil things, he decided to go down to the earth to take
charge and to get rid of the monsters. First he ordered a great ftood,
and all the monsters were drowned. Then he sent a great drought,
and everything caught fire and was burned. The only ones saved
were those who lived in the direction of the Eastern Llanos. Only
the armadillo was saved because he dug a hole and hid, but his
tail was burned; it had been big and ftuffy before. Of the birds, only
the boru was saved, this being a little white bird that sings in the
afternoon and is a good ornen, and the tinamou was saved, too.
Then life returned again. That was two hundred fifty years ago.
17. Dermatobia hominis.

X
The Sun had a daughter who was called Abé mangó. He sent his
daughter to the earth to teach the people how to live well. The
Daughter of the Sun went to a place called abé góro; it rneans unin-
habited place that is good for living. She carne to teach the people.
She taught thern to rnake pottery and to use baskets. She taught
thern to eat fish but only certain fish. She also taught thern to eat
wild fruit of semé, nyumú, and me'e. Because the Sun was in love
with her, she taught people to put on loincloths so that they would
know sharne.
The Daughter of the Sun invented fire and taught the people to
rnake it with two little sticks of wood. She also invented the stone
ax, but did not give it to all the rnen but only to those who rose early
to bathe in the river and who took the juice frorn ernetic plants to
cleanse their bodies; only to these did she give the stone ax.
When everything had been created, and the Daughter of the Sun
was thus teaching the people, Vihó-mahse carne to get acquainted
with the Creation. The Daughter of the Sun showed hirn everything;
she showed hirn how the plants were cared for, how they were eaten,
and how they were used. She had been cooking, and suddenly the
contents of the vessel boiled over, alrnost putting out the fire. The
Daughter of the Sun becarne angry and cried: "Well, then, go out!"
and she urinated on the ernbers. Then they burned her pubic hairs
and the odor spread out everywhere. Vihó-mahse was looking and
becarne distracted. Then, instead of observing the world frorn the
Milky Way, he began to think of the vagina of the Daughter of the
Sun.
XI
The first death was that of a son of the Daughter of the Sun. She
had two sons and both were apprentices to becorne payés. One was
doing well, but the other was not because he was always thinking
about wornen. He was wilting away until he alrnost died. The
Daughter of the Sun tried to cure hirn with invocations, but it was
too late; his ornarnents were no longer becorning to hirn. His copper
earrings, which were like grooves, like halves of a tube, tumed so
that the concave parts were toward his face, indicating that life was
not with him and that it was floating away. When he died, the
Daughter of the Sun taught the people the proper burial rites and
fixed the places where they were to celebrate them.
When she had taught them all of this, the Daughter of the Sun
went away again and returned to Ahpikondiá. From there on the
old people of each tribe taught what she had said and thus the
traditions were established.
XII
The one who first drank chicha was Pamurí-mahse. This happened
at Wainambí where the first maloca stood. He was there with the
Desana. Above Wainambí was a large rock that was called dihtiró,
and there one can see, engraved in the rock, what happened then.
There is in the rock a large vessel like those that are now used to
make chicha, and there is also the circle marking the spot where
Pamurí-mahse put down his blowgun with mouthpiece downward.
One can also see where he put his stick-rattle down. When they
were there, a purple colored bird flew by, and a Desana shot it,
and the dart fell upon the rock; one can still see the imprint. They
were cohabiting, and one can even see the imprints of the buttocks
of the women and the spot where they urinated. All of this can be
seen on the rocks of Wainambí and dihtiró.
XIII
The same Sun Father was a payé, and Pamurí-mahse was also a
payé. The Sun established the functions of the payé, the invocations
he should use, and the uses that tobacco was to have and also the
hallucinogenic plants. The Sun already had his bench, his shield,
and his stick-rattle. He had his gourd rattle, and over his left shoul-
der he carried his hoe. The Sun had everything that the payés have
now, and he established the custom of using them. The Sun showed
how the dances should be done and how people ought to talk when
they got together for feasts.
The Sun had the vihó powder in his navel, but a daughter of
Vaí-mahsé owned the yajé plant. She was pregnant and with the
pain of childbirth she went to the beach and, lying down, twisted
in pain. An old Desana woman wanted to help her and took hold
of her hand, but the daughter of Vaí-mahse twisted so hard that she
broke her finger, and the old woman kept it. She kept the finger in
her maloca, but a young man stole it and planted it. The yajé plant
originated from this finger. The same thing happened with another
daughter of Vaí-mahse. When she had the pains of childbirth, she
was lying twisting on the beach, and an old woman carne to help
her. She seized hold of her hand and broke off one of the girl's
fingers and buried it. The coca plant 18 originated from this finger:
Curare poison was invented by the Sun Father himself. The
Daughter of the Sun was in love with a man, and the Sun. became
jealous and wanted to kill him. Then he invented the poison and
shot the man with a dart from bis blowgun.
Thus it was that the earth was created. lt was the Sun, the
Daughter of the Sun, and the Daughter of Aracú who created
things and taught people how to live well. There were Emekóri-
mahsá and Diroá-mahsá; they were the Beings of Day and of Night
who are now in charge of the world. But the Sun is above all these,
with bis yellow power; the yellow power of the Sun Father who
takes care of bis creation and covers it with bis yellow light.
18. The informant mentions that the hallucinogenic drugs were stolen in the
form of a finger or a phallus by the eagles who carried them to the
Milky Way, but he does not remember further details of this myth.
Part Three
Religious Symholism
1
The Creator and His Creation
THE CREATOR ANO THE STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE

According to myth and tradition, the Creator of the Universe was
the Sun, called pagé abé/Sun Father. Obviously, this refers to a
paternal image that is projected upon the cosmic scene, a social
and biological concept of paternity and paternal authority as the
Desana conceive it. Although omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-
present, this divine personification is not without moral blemish
because, as we saw in the myth, he committed the outrageous sin
of incest. He is an anthropomorphic god who himself passed
through a moral transformation, from a state of purity to sinfulness
and then back again to purity, thus being as much an image as
a model of an anxiety-charged social situation. 1
This Sun, as the creating force, was not created itself but has
always existed. "It was not word or thought, but a state," our in-
formant says. This "state" was the yellow light, and it was from this
light that the Creation emanated without any fixed purpose guiding
this act. But once the yellow light had completed this act, the Sun
set conditions for his Creation; he established the cyclical patterns
of the life process and instituted the norms according to which the
individual ought to live and to which society ought to conform. The
Sun was thus an organizer and a legislator.
The Sun Creator, nevertheless, was not the same sun that now
illuminates our earth but a creative principle that, although con-
tinuing in existence, is now invisible and can be known only by the
beneficia! inftuence that emanates from it. After the act of Creation
and of the establishment of the moral norms, the Sun returned to
l. Incestous relations between father and daughter seem to exist occa-
sionally among the Desana, but the prohibition of incest as it is formu-
lated in the myth refers rather to exogamy between phratries.
41
42 · RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM
Ahpikondiá, the region of Paradise, not to remain there as a deus

otiosus but continuing to participate in bis Creation. He sent on bis
eternal representative, this sun that we see today in the sky, and
it is through it that the Creator Sun exercises bis power, giving bis
Creation light, heat, protection and, above all, fertility. 2
The Creation consists of four fundamental elements that, in in-
numerable constellations and microcosmic combinations, constitute
the basis of the Universe and of the life that animates it: land,
water, air, and energy. Our world is formed by land and water;
that is, the forests and rivers that are two opposing but comple-
mentary elements. That which is land is masculine and that which
is water is feminine. Their dichotomy is essential because it es-
tablishes the model for all that is created and will be created. It
is a sexual dichotomy but, in a wider sense, it represents the divi-
sion between categories of givers and receivers, thus establishing
a system of reciproca! relationships. The obligatory coincidence of
opposites leads to new creations, or more correctly speaking, to
procreations, and these establish new obligations and ties among
their components. Between these two principles, the air, the great
asexual element, expands between, this world and the supernatural
world, between the biosphere ª and the exosphere; it is, therefore,
the communicating element through which contact is established.
But above all is the element of energy. Energy is the element of
the Sun itself and is essentially beneficient and protecting. lt seeks
the continuity of life through the cycle of fertilization and gestation,
of growth and renewed procreation. lt is the energy of the Sun
that makes women conceive and give birth, makes the animals
reproduce and the plants grow and causes the fruit to ripen. But
other cyclical phenomena are also subject to this power; the move-
ments of the stars, the seasons of the year, the scarcity or abun-
dance of food, and the increase or decrease of physiological human
phenomena. So the energy of procreation-creation is a masculine
power that fertilizes a feminine element that is the world. Of course,
2. It is characteristic in Desana thought that another personification can be
substituted for the Supreme Being.
3. The term biosphere is used here in the meaning of P. Teilhard de Chardin
who defines it as " . . . la péllicule meme de substance organique dont
nous apparait aujourd'hui enveloppée la Terre: couche vraiment
structurelle de la planete, malgré sa minceur." Teilhard de Chardin,
1956, p. 45).
The Creator and His Creation · 43
the biosphere has both masculine and feminine aspects, but seen
in its totality, as a field of creation, it has primarily a feminine
character over which the Sun exercises its power.
We must now analyze in greater detail these cosmological ideas
of the Desana. The Universe consists essentially of three super-
imposed cosmic zones: the upper or celestial zone, the intermediate
zone, or our earth, and the lower zone of Paradise. The most im-
portant structural component of the upper zone is the Milky Way.
The Milky Way is conceived as a large skein of fibers of the cumare
palm (Astrocaryum) that fl.oats in a turbulent current arching over
the earth. This current is called mirúnye bogá/"wind skein," and
comes from the lower zone, fl.owing from east to west.
The fibers of cumare, which are yellow or whitish, symbolize
sperm among the Desana, and the Milky Way is interpreted as an
immense seminal fl.ow that fertilizes all of the intermediate zone, or
the underlying biosphere. This principle of fertilization has, how-
ever, a somewhat ambivalent character. In the first place, the Milky
Way is the zone of communication where contact between terres-
trial beings and supernatural beings is established. These contacts
are obtained by means of hallucinogenic drugs or, at least, by means
of visions induced by a state of profound concentration. The Milky
Way is directly designated as the "zone of hallucinations and vi-
sions" into which the payé and other persons who take a hallu-
cinogenic drug can penetrate and thereby pass from one cosmic
level to another. This zone is dominated by Vihó-mahse, the divine
personification of the vihó powder ( Piptadenia) who, in a state of
perpetua} trance, travels along this celestial way observing the earth
and its inhabitants. In their trance the payés rise to the Milky Way
to ask Vihó-mahse to serve as intermediary with the other divine
personifications, Emekóri-mahse, Diroá-mahse, or Vaí-mahse. But
on the other hand, the Milky Way is the dwelling place of the
sicknesses. lt can be thought of as a large, rising river in whose
turbulent and foaming waters fl.oat residue and waste; these are the
essences of putrefaction and, consequently, are very dangerous
pathogenic factors for living beings. Putrefaction is the same as
illness, and Vihó-mahse can channel the current in such a way that
illnesses come to contaminate the earth. The Milky Way is also
the place where the vultures live, or the "ancient eagles." These
are large birds that feed on carrion and are therefore closely as-
SUN
. :-· :..·· .. ·.·-. •·. :...
/::•~. ;<:.~··
... : ... ,
~ ·•. . . .. "· ":·.: ·, .
.· .. ·
:· . ·:·:
..
. :. :~_ .. _.· -~
The Structure of the Desana Cosmos

sociated with putrefaction and sickness. At times, these birds offer

their services to mankind and carry diseases from the earth to the
sky, to put them there, using the Milky Way as a kind of "dung-
heap" where these noxious elements fioat and drift forever. Vihó-
mahse is nothing but an intermediary between the payé and society.
Since a payé may try to act with evil intentions, Vihó-mahse oc-
cupies a very ambigous position and can cause good as well as evil.
Since the birds mentioned occupy a similar position, the Milky
Way is a zone of great danger. In the dimension of hallucinations
man can obtain good and find divine illumination, but, in taking
undue advantage of this state, he can also cause evil. Of course, the
two components-the fertilizing seminal skein and the current of
"rotten wastes" of a pathogenic character-form part of one single
concept of insemination and contagion. 4
Because this is the sphere of communication, the color blue is
attributed to the Milky Way, which is intermediate between the
solar yellow and the terrestrial red. For the Desana, blue is also
conceived of in terms of an essential ambivalence because, associ-
ated as it is with the sky and supernatural beings, it has a benefi-
cient aspect; but as it is also associated with putrefaction, vomit,
and wounds, it has an evil connotation. A third factor enters here;
the blue smoke of tobacco, which is smoked ceremonially and rises
to the skies, is essentially a communicating vehicle uniting the
Milky Way with our world.
But let us follow the myth again. Above the Milky Way the ce-
lestial zone extends until it meets the sphere where the sun and the
moon rotate. As we have already noted, this is not the Creator Sun
which, after the Creation, remained in Ahpikondiá together with
the Moon, but the sun which today shines on our earth is only a
representative of the true divine Creator. When the sun goes down
every day in the west and arrives in A hpikon-diá, it loses its light
befare the resplendence of the Creator Sun and passes without light
under the earth. The same happens with the moon which is also
a representative of the first Moon which accompanied the Sun in
the Creation.
The intermediate zone, which is our earth, is not divided in a
tridimensional sense, as is the celestial zone, but forms just one
4. For the Desana any insemination has the character of a pathogenic con-
tagion; the sexual act is dangerous in any circumstance.
plane in which only the western sector is distinguished as a sub-

division. The region that líes on the western horizon is called the
"Dark Region" and is under the dominion of the Nyamíri-mahsá,
the Night People, supernatural beings who live there in a huge dark
maloca. This region is a "refuse heap," a place where many illnesses
originate and then rise to the Milky Way. But it is not truly a place
of evil; it does not represent a principle opposed to the Sun, but is
simply, by its association with the west and with the dead, a place
where pathogenic "residues" exist; these can be invoked and used
to cause injuries and sicknesses. The Nyamíri-mahsá are amoral
beings, only administrators who domínate there in the darkness on
the borderline between our world and the lower zone.
This lower zone of the Cosmos is composed of the following
parts: ahpikon-diá, a female element, ahpikon-yéba, a male ele-
ment, and ahpikon-vi'i, the cover that envelops the first two. We
will first analyze the word ahpikon that forms the basic concept.
The root ah-, ahp-, gahp- forms a nucleus of great importance in
the language and thought of the Desana. The ideas involved are
related to the physiology of sex, together with a very complex
symbolism. To give an example, we may cite the following here:
gahkí is a synonym for penis, ahpíri is the breast or womb; ahpiritó
are the testicles; nyahpí is the sweet potato whose fruit is compared
with a female breast; gahsíro is the placenta. As we will see further
on, many words that are openly erotic or metaphorically so are
constructed with the same root. So then: ahpí means coca and
ahpikón is maternal milk. The relationship is evident: as the ma-
ternal breast satisfies hunger, so coca chewing satisfies hunger.
Ahpikon-diá is the "River of Milk" described as being green in
color, and ahpikon-yéba is the land that is bathed eternally in a
subtle green light of the same color as coca leaves. Complementary
to this feminine concept is the masculine concept of ahpikon-yéba.
Y éba means land, soil, and, although it forms part of ahpikon-diá,
it is understood that the concept represents an image of our earth.
A hpikon-diá, River of Milk, is continually fertilized by ahpikon-
yéba, Land of Milk. The River of Milk as well as the Land of Milk
are wrapped up and contained in ahpikon-vi'i, the House of Milk,
which is imagined as a placenta. It is there the souls of the dead go,
returning again to the maternal womb and the uterine paradise.
We have observed that the diverse zones of the Cosmos are as-
sociated with certain colors that have symbolic value and, as we

shall see, are repeated in many microcosmic combinations. Our
world is conceived of as red, the "color of life," of blood and, in a
wider sense, of sexuality. The Milky Way is blue; but beyond it
there exists an orange colored light, then a yellow, and finally a
white light, thereby indicating the different intensities of the fertiliz-
ing energy of the Sun. The lower zone is imagined as being of a
light green color comparable to that of coca leaves. Coca is an
alkaloid plant that through its chemical action symbolizes a hunger-
less state; this is to say, in the lower zone one of the principal
tensions of human existence ceases to be felt.
We will summarize at this point sorne principles that can be
derived from what has been said in the preceding pages. In the first
place, the creative principle is masculine ( Sun, yellow) and acts
upon the biosphere (red) that, although composed of a masculine
element and a feminine one, is imagined essentially as a feminine
element. In the second place, the Universe consists of three super-
imposed planes. The upper zone is divided into a solar sphere
( orange-yellow-white) and a blue sphere of communication, this
last being constituted by the Milky Way. While the solar sphere is
exclusively beneficent, the stellar sphere is ambivalent because it
contains an ambigous seminal concept (semen= sickness); both
spheres are eventually subject to the manipulations of human beings
who are endowed with the capacity of trance and, therefore, with
communication. The intermediate zone of the biosphere is not
divided except in its western part, associated with sickness. The
lower zone has a paradisical-uterine character (coca, green) and
is, at the same time, the dwelling place of the Creator Sun, once
again combining a masculine principie with a feminine one.
THE CONCEPT OF ENERGY

The Creation of the Universe was the result of the "yellow inten-
tion" or "yellow purpose" of the Sun. The yellow color, as we said,
symbolizes semen among the Desana and plays an important role
in the image that is held of the Universe, especially on ritual occa-
sions. In invocations to the divinities, the Desana generally make
reference to different shades of this color: light yellow, clear yellow,
dark yellow, opaque yellow, and so on; but all these nuances are
associated with the concept of semen. When speaking of the Sun,
the invocations do not make direct reference to the concepts of

heat or light but emphasize the yellow color of its rays. These rays
are interpreted as the bearers of the fertilizing power that penetrates
all dimensions of space. This yellow color is then expressed in
many ways. In its liquid form semen is symbolized, among other
things, by saliva and honey; 5 in a mineralized form by crystal or
quartzite; 6 in other organic forms by a series of animals of yellow
color-the squirrel, the tinamou, macaw, and so forth, and by cer-
tain edible worms whose meat is white and soft; in a vegetable
form by manioc starch, by cotton, and by the fibers of the cumare
palm. All of these elements, anímate or not, contain in themselves
the fertilizing energy of the Sun 1 and are, therefore, of great im-
portance in religious thought and in shamanistic practices.
This idea of the solar semen leads us to reconsider the personifi-
cation of the Sun. We have seen above that the Creator is desig-
nated as Sun Father, but as the divinity and ultimate reality his
name is go'á-mee. This term is translated by the informant as god,
divinity, supreme force, and he adds that this is the way it is
understood by people who take the Creation and its Creator as
given facts without worrying about the nature of the divinity and
of his works; besides, he says that in this very name lies the key that
explains the essence of the demiurge and of the process of Creation.
5. Cf. Creation Myth; the first Desana offered honey to the Daughter of
Aracú.
6. The seminal symbolism of the crystal seems to exist in many American
Indian cultures, and is also fouñd in Asia and Australia. Among the
Kogi of Northern Colombia, the interpretation of the crystal coin-
cides in detail with that which the Desana give it. It would be most
interesting to trace this symbolism in American archeology (Reichel-
Dolmatoff, 1951, 2:102).
7. There can be no doubt that the Desana have observed the phenomenon
of solar energy by its effects on living beings. The observation of organ-
isms that grow in the shade; the reaction of a sick person who, after
months of lying in a dark maloca, goes out for the first time; the feel-
ing of relief under the rays of the sun after long periods of rain or
of low clouds; ali of this has taught the native that, behind and above
a concept of mere fertility imagined in sexual terms, there is an immeas-
urable vital energy emanating from the sun. Here then is the divinity
in this energy, and its interpretation as a seminal force is only a ra-
tionalization of a phenomenon that is outside the native's knowledge. The
chains and clusters of metaphors, images, and symbols are a mechanism
to handle these manifestations.
The word go'á-mee is derived from go'á/bone and the suffix mee
that indicates a state of potential, of power to produce something.
According to the informant, Desana symbolism operates on
various levels; one is metaphoric and is based on tacit comparison,
and the other, more abstract, is based on biological facts related to
procreation. In the first plane, the name of the divinity refers to the
bone, the skeleton that sustains the human body and, in a trans-
ferred meaning, society. The divinity is a "bone" because of his
strength, his resistance, and his quality of being an axis, a center.
He is, then, an axis mundi and constitutes the basis of the moral
code; he is the continuity of traditions and the conviction of their
validity. When the divinity is compared with a bone, the Desana
attribute to him the stability that he, in turn, gives to the organism
that is the Universe. But seen on · the second plane, the bone ac-
quires new and even more important characteristics. The Desana
compare the divine bone with a tube, and in this form it is desig-
nated as ve'e go'á. The word ve'e means "tubular cane," like those
used to make thin flutes or an arrow, and this tube is said to con-
nect the divine sphere "on high" with the divine sphere "below,"
the latter being imagined as a primogenic uterus located under our
world. This uterus is Ahpikondiá, and the tubular bone that is the
divinity penetrates the Universe vertically in the form of an im-
mense phallus. "The bone-god is a penis," says our informant, and
adds "This tube, this bone makes contact between man and Ahpi-
kondiá: through it arises inspiration. It is the principal channel that
interconnects. The bone-god is the penis, the fundamental part of
the Creation." The process of fertilization is effected through the
bone-tube that unites the cosmic levels in permanent copulation
and, the informant adds, "Between the visible world and the invisi-
ble there is sexual contact."
The solar semen, like human semen, is not necessarily an ele-
ment of good but at times can cause evil. Lightning is essentially
the ejaculation of the Sun that can fertilize the land but can also be
destructive. Where lightning has struck, the payé hopes to find
pieces of scattered crystal that he carefully keeps so that they do not
cause sickness. The payé himself can produce lightning by throw-
ing his crystal, a phallic element, the cylindrical ornament of
quartzite he wears around his neck. The gourd rattle of the payé
contains small pieces of crystal that can be pathogenic agents when
they are introduced into the organism of a person, the destined

victim of magical aggression. In the curing of illness, the solar
animals of yellow seminal color are frequently invoked for help as
phallic elements or generators.
The principal energy of the Sun does not operate along a straight
line, fertilizing this or that aspect of the Creation, but constitutes
mainly a huge closed circuit in which the entire biosphere partici-
pates. The Desana imagine this circuit as having a fixed quantity
of energy that ftows eternally between man and animal, between
society and nature. The quantity of energy being fixed, man must
remove what he needs only under certain conditions and must
convert this particle of "borrowed" energy into a form that can be
reincorporated into the circuit. For example, when an animal is
killed the energy of the local fauna is reduced; when the game is
converted into food, however, the current continues, now in the
field of society, because the consumers of the food acquire energy
that previously belonged to the animal. This energy is handled in
two ways: taken as biospermatic energy, it is repressed and thus
returns to the capital of total energy in which the animals partici-
pate again; taken as mere vitality and health, it returns to the total
energy of the biosphere. This, then, is a process of feedback. Any
human action that participates in the circuit restores energy to
nature that, for its part, acts on society again. The individual should
never cause an interruption in the circuit; that is, he should never
use energy without restoring it again.
In the previous paragraph we have represented only the basic
scheme; we shall now see in detail how the Desana imagine the
dynamics of this interaction between nature and society.
What we have called the circuit the Desana designate by the
term bogá. This word can be translated as "current," and we re-
member that the Milky Way is called mirúnye bogá/wind current
or wind skein. But the term is at times metonymic in that the effect
is designated as the causal factor. It is the effect of the Milky Way
that is bogá. In order to clarify the concept, we will seek a series
of examples: to smell is vihíri, but vihirí bogá is an extraordinarily
acute olfactory sense, for instance, that possessed by a jaguar or a
hunting dog. Inyári bogá is an extraordinary capacity for sight, like
that of an eagle. As can be seen, we are dealing here with sensory
qualities that, by their special development, fall outside the or-

dinary. Another example broadens this concept: uhúri bogá (from
uhúri/to attract with the mouth, to suck in, to ingest something) is
feminine fecundity. Here the bogá is shown to be an energy of
transformation, of creation, something which receives in order to
develop it into a new form. The expression uhúri bogá is also used
to describe the attitude of the payé when he "sucks an illness" from
the body of a patient, an act that combines two forces, that of re-
moving the sickness to incorporate it in his own body and that of
transforming the pathogenic matter into something neutral and
harmless.
This notion of transformation, characteristic of bogá, involves a
concept of contact, of communication. For example, what the
embryo receives through the umbilical cord is bogá. Returning
again to the image of the Milky Way (mirúnye bogá), we know that
the Desana see it as a huge skein of fibers that floats in the turbu-
lent winds of the heavens. As in our culture, the Desana interpret
the Milky Way as a "way," as something that connects, or relates.
When he gave this example, the informant said: "The Milky Way
is bogá because it connects something, and it has bogá because it
contains a power." This power is that of "bringing" or "taking
away" illness or other evils that, as we have already seen, are
carried by Vihó-mahse to the earth by meaos of the currents of the
winds. But the power of the Milky Way is not only that of a fer-
tilizer, in the sense of bringing (or taking away) the "seed of
illness"; it represents in itself a cosmic fecundizing force by the
symbolism of the skein of cumare, representing a seminal principle.
Also it is necessary to take into account here that it is in the
Milky Way, the sphere of hallucinations, that the rupture of the
cosmic levels is produced.
While elaborating this idea of bogá as a factor of fertilizing com-
munication, the informant mentioned that the expression uári bogá
(from uári/to go, to pass from one place to another) is used to
describe the way V aí-mahse, the Master of Animals, "travels over
his roads." V aí-mahse is a phallic being in charge of the fertility of
the game animals; that is to say, he is a part of the circuit of energy.
Another example of the fertilizing and communicating interpreta-
tion is the expression goréri bogá/to urinate, bogá being here the
ftow of the liquid. 8 An example referring to contact and relation-

ships between human beings is the following: when a payé touches
another person, someone who is ill or an enemy, not only is a
contact between two bodies produced but energy is transmitted
that originates from a luminous source, the payé, and affects a pas-
sive body, beneficially or deleteriously. Respecting this, the inform-
ant says that an electric discharge would be designated as nyóri
bogá and is "something that is felt," while a stream of light is called
gohséri bogá (from gohséri/light, reftection) and is "something
that is seen." But the Desana also interpret acoustical sensations in
terms of bogá; for example, a sound that changes in intensity and
tone when approaching or withdrawing rapidly ( an airplane, an
insect, an arrow) is called behseri bogá. The informant adds that
a botfty ftying rapidly around a person "forms its bogá"; that is, it
forms a circle of sound.
Until this point we have described the concept of bogá in terms
of sensorally perceptible energy, which travels a circuit and is con-
stituted by the intrinsic quality of certain phenomena. We need
more examples because only by analyzing this concept within dif-
ferent contexts can we establish its full significance.
Certain animals exist that "have bogá." Guári bogá is to become
enraged, an expression used when speaking of a jaguar or a forest
spirit. In this case, bogá means the capacity of fierceness or fury. A
payé will attempt to "remove the bogá" from a jaguar that
threatens a maloca or a dangerous spirit that appears in certain
places. The so-called spear fish (pez espada) figures in a myth as
subservient to the Daughter of Aracú and, in anthopomorphic form,
has a long, smooth black head of hair. Wearing long hair (poa
bogá) was a symbol of high prestige in past times, and when a
man's hair was cut as a punishment, the Daughter of Aracú trans-
formed it into a long smooth fish that was black in color. Another
animal mentioned in a very different context is the owl, called
buhpú bogá-bu. The word buhpú means thunder, a concept associ-
ated with sound-the voice of the owl-and with a seminal princi-
pie, because lightning "makes the quartz scatter ." The owl is as-
sociated with cemeteries and the night; its voice, its silent ftight,
its habit of living in rotted trunks, have made it a feared animal that
8. In the Creation Myth, the act of urinating "contaminated" the waters
and kept the fish from entering the rivers.
announces death. These, then, are the qualities that constitute the
bogá of this bird of evil ornen. The informant says: "Bogá has two
meanings: good and evil; the owl takes part in the evil aspect. The
owl is the representation of the waste of bogá." This idea of the
waste of bogá is obviously related to an action that diminishes the
total energy of the circuit, an attitude represented in this case by
an animal closely associated with a principle of evil. The evil
character of bogá appears clearly in the following example: When
a person with evil intentions wants to do harm to a pregnant
woman, he invokes the "black skein" ( bogá nyi'i). This is a nega-
tive power that obscures the "yellow skein" or, as the informant also
expresses it: " . . . it makes the gohséri bogá (light) tum black."
An intermediate form of such malefic magic is found in the case
of those who attempt to cause an illness to a newly bom child .
.Vyi'i diabíri bogá (black-reddish bogá) is invoked. The informant
says: "Then the child suffers because of the black aspect, but does
not die as a consequence. There are two aspects: the reddish one is
good and the black is evil."
We will now mention another highly significant example. When
the men go to collect edible ants, insects according to Desana
symbolism that are of a phallic character and constitute a food of a
·'male" type, they make a kind of funnel of leaves to keep the in-
sects. These recipients are called pogá and, in general, any conical
object that "contains something" is called pogá. The funnel of
leaves represents the vulva.
We are coming nearer and nearer to the ultimate meaning. The
hearth is called peamé bogá, not only because of the ftames ( bogá)
but also because of its transforming energy. In Desana symbolism
the hearth is a transforming uterus (justas an uterus is a "kitchen")
in which energies operate that cause a profound change in food.
The symbolism of the hearth implies a connotation of heat and
light, but this meaning is not limited to the phenomenon of combus-
tion but can also be applied to persons who contain this luminous
energy, as we have seen in the case of the payé.
We find the concept of bogá in yet another expression directly
related to procreation. The term ohokaríri bogá means "to live,"
but the verb is also used to describe the sexual act. When the word
bogá is added, the idea of a current, a continuity, is expressed.
"Those who make contact with this bogá live and go on procreating.
It is a succession of lives: they are born, they die, and they leave
children because of bogá." Continuing to speak of this conception
of the "current," the informant adds: "When the old men talk dur-
ing a gathering, they always mention nomé imísiri bogá/women-
sweetness-bogá); this means the continuity of procreation. It is a
continuous current; it is a circle that comes from Ahpikondiá, and
from here it returns again."
When defining the concept of bogá as a circuit of energy, we
should add that, according to the informant, we are dealing with
a feminine principle. In effect, bogá is transformation and creation,
and its most simple expressions are that of the hearth, with its heat
and its ftames, and the uterus of a woman. But our informant ob-
serves, bogá is a result, an effect caused by another force. This
force is called tulári, a complementary masculine principle.
We must now define this new concept in various contexts. Tulári
is "force," a term that can be applied to the physical qualities of
man, of an animal, of a piece of wood, or any hard and resistant
object. Water has tulári, the same as the wind, or a bent bow. But
it also means authority, command, the power of leading. A man
who leads others, who is a model in certain activities and who is
convincing with his arguments, has tulári, and thus a payé has
tulári because he dominates others through his esoteric knowledge
and his supernatural power received from the divine beings. But
these are categories of power that are known and are common,
manageable and predictable. Tulári is more than this; tulári is also
a force immanent in beings or objects that is not related at ali to
physical or intellectual qualities but is present or absent in certain
phenomena as a broad energy equivalent to bogá. Tulári is the
cause of bogá. In an idiomatic expression we find the two terms
combined: the central current of a river is called dehkó tulári bogá/
water-force-current, an expression that shows the difference between
the two concepts. Tulári is the impulse, i.e., the current of the river.
The informant explains: "Tulári makes bogá function," and he
adds, when asked for a further explanation, "Bogá is a recipient;
tulári bogá makes contact, looks for something. Bogá attracts; it is
uhúri bogá, the bogá that draws in." We continue talking, seeking
new contexts, and the informant says: "Tulári is the forest, the
mammals; bogá is the river, the fish." And suddenly the definition
becomes clearly formulated by the informant: "Tulári is masculine
energy, and bogáis feminine energy. The two together-tulári bogá

and uhúri bogá-are fertilization and fecundity; they are the great
current that circulates." 9
The idea that the forest and the river are two areas of the bio-
sphere that are in a relationship of fertilization will be observed
later when we speak of the Master of Animals and of the relation-
ship between the hunter and his prey. But this relationship forms
only a partial aspect of the total circuit. The larger circuit of fertili-
zation-fecundity, of the attraction of two fundamental complemen-
tary elements, embraces all the biosphere, all the Cosmos, in a
grand synthesis of the structure of the Universe. This structure is
hyperbiological in that it derives from the model of sexual physi-
ology an endless number of associations, images, and symbols that
withdraws farther and farther from physical facts until it constitutes
a dynamic philosophy of equilibrium.
THE CREA TION OF MANKIND

No myth of the Desana seems to refer specifically to the Creation
of Man, and the origin of humanity begins with the story of a group
of people who leave Ahpikondiá in the great Snake-Canoe guided
by the mythical personage Pamurí-gahsíru. The name of this
personage is of interest because it is derived from the verb pamurí/
to ferment, to be like yeast. 1 º This verb is also employed when one
speaks of a welling up of the river that produces turbulent waters
or of the bubbling of a liquid, whether it be a drink in the state of
fermentation or the sap that comes out a plant. The image the
Desana sees when he uses this verb is that of "bubbling," of "ftowing
forth," or that which is elaborated by imagining a succession of
drops. In accordance with this interpretation, Pamurí-mahse is the
personification of a phallus that ejaculates, a new creator, sent by
the Sun to populate the earth. The vehicle this progenitor uses has
a feminine character. The Snake-Canoe is called pamurí-gahsíru,
9. The root of the word bogá is bo, transformed on occasions into bu, po,
pu. The root of tulári is tul, tur. The two concepts have their equiv-
alents among the Kogi Indians of Northern Colombia, where the root
bu, mu designates a feminine generating principie and the root te, se, a
masculíne one. Among the Cuna Indians of the Isthmus of Panama, the
concept of mu also refers to a feminine power; besídes, the word tule
means man in Cuna.
10. The name of the Papurí River is probably deríved from the verb pamurí.
C::Zl
which means "to ferment-placenta." According to the description

given by the informant, this involves the anaconda (Eunectes muri-
nus gigas), a huge aquatic snake about whose symbolism we will
say more later (see pp. 102, 215-16). This primordial placenta was
united by an umbilical cord to Ahpikondiá, and this idea is expressed
even in current belief according to which all human beings are con-
nected during their lives by means of an umbilical cord running in-
visibly through the rivers and linking the individual to Ahpikondiá.
The myth continues, telling how the Snake-Canoe struck against
(metuári) "a perforated rock," a feminine sexual symbol, and that
"the men left by a hole in the front of the canoe; they gushed forth
like white bubbles." The symbolism is unequivocal, superimposing
on this scene various images: coi tus, ejaculation, and birth. To this
is added the hurry of Pamurí-mahse to arrive at the headwaters of
the river; that is, to the "birthplace."
The motifs as·sociated with the arrival of mankind, the First Night
that escapes through neglect (see p. 26) and the distribution of
tribal attributes, are well known themes in Amazonian mythology
and exist, with variations, among many tribes of this region. Of
interest here is the theme of the distribution of specializations,
gathering, hunting, fishing, and horticulture, because a model for
the future specialization and reciprocity in the exchange of products
is mythically expressed in it.
To sum up, it may clearly be seen that the myth of the Origin of
Mankind is a tripartite structure, a replica of the great model ex-
posed in the Myth of Creation: first, sexual procreation; then a state
of chaos (First Night) produced by disobedience, and finally, the
reestablishment of order by means of the laying down of norms of
conduct. The sequence of these three themes is found later in vari-
ous ceremonies that follow the same model and, obviously, contains
the focal points around which the religious thought of the Desana
revolves.
THE MESSAGE OF CREA TION

The heinous crime committed by the Sun Father was incest with
bis own daughter. Repenting, the Creator formulated around this
event the principal moral norm of bis code; that is, the strict pro-
hibition of incestous relations and, in a wider sense, endogamic
relationships in general. After the Creation, as we have seen in the
myth, an epoch of chaos ensued during which "monsters and

demons" appeared that put the life of society and the continuity of
everything created in danger. This chaotic situation describes, in
symbolic terms, the mechanism of incest and endogamy. The spirits
of the forest, the boráro and the uahtí, are essentially phallic beings
(see p. 71) representing sexual aggression and promiscuity. Besides,
there appear the vearí-mahsá, beings that, in the guise of close rela-
tives, commit sexual aggression against their victims who, trusting
them as family, accept their invitations to follow them into the
jungle. What is described then is a social situation of disorder, a
state of sin in which no norm regulates the relationships between
the sexes. lt is a situation full of warnings, a dreadful one, involv-
ing grave dangers to the well-being of society.
During the epoch of chaos the kusíru appeared. They are de-
scribed as horsefties that sting people, thus causing great disturb-
ance. With the help of our informant, we were able to clarify the
obscure symbolism of this account that, at first sight, lacks all mean-
ing. _Let us analyze for a moment the purely zoological aspect. The
horsefiy in question (Dermatobia hominis) is a large insect that,
when flying in circles around a person or an animal, produces a loud
buzz that is bothersome and threatening. This fiy, however, does not
oviposit directly but seeks a small mosquito as an intermediary host
upon whose abdomen it deposits its eggs. When the host mosquito
bites a person, the eggs are transferred, maggots develop, and, when
full grown, produce a painful infiammation. What does this process
symbolize?
According to the Desana, the horsefiy (as do other stinging in-
sects) represents a masculine principie, and the act of biting or
stinging is accompanied by a fertilizing insertion. As a matter of
fact, the horsefly is called nura-mee, a word derived from nurirí/to
bite or to insert the penis, and the suffix mee, which means the
power to produce something, as we have seen in the case of the
name of the supreme divinity. The sting is then the penis, and the
maggot that develops is the result of sexual impregnation; it is an
embryo whose growth causes a swelling accompanied by pain. The
insect that stings indiscriminately represents the man who, also in-
discriminately, cohabits with any woman. Consulting the Diccio-
nario de la Real Academia Española we find the following entry:

"Estro (from the Latín oestrus . . . ) horsefly, stinger. 2. Veteri-

nary. Period of excitement or sexual ardor of the mammals. 3.
Zoology. Botfly." Under the word "botfly" we find the following
definition: "Impertinent person who molests excessively and
lewdly." We looked up this last word in the Diccionario Etimo-
lógico de la Lengua Española, and we found that "lewd person"
(pícaro) comes from "beak, point, sharp-pointed . . ." The Desana
/Spanish associations coincide then, and we find a perfectly clear
link: oestrus=horse-fly=botfly=lewd person.
But let us return to the myth. When the horseflies were biting the
people, the men suddenly decided to kill them, to get rid of this
loathsome pes t. The informant says: "When the men killed the
horseflies, the norms began to rule. They killed them; that is to say,
they began to fulfill them." In other words, the law of exogamy and
the rest of the prohibitions that regulate sexual relations were estab-
lished; chaos was ended, and order was reestablished. But let us turn
back once more. The beings disturbing the social order "had a
language like the buzz of an insect," the myth says. This is another
aspect of the horsefly theme that is left for us to explain. We said
above that this insect flies in circles around people in a threatening
manner. Considering this fact it is not surprising to find that among
the Desana the bull-roarer exists and that it is called precisely nurá-
mee /horsefly. This wooden slat, suspended from a string, is swung
rapidly in a circle to make a distinctive noise. lt has religious sig-
nificance as "the voice of the power of the Sun" through which the
Creator exhorts society to observe the rules of exogamy. Although
the bull-roarer is falling into disuse today, in past times it was a
sacred instrument, an object of a ritual commemorative of the
chaos.
A final question occurs to us: exactly how did the men kill the
horseflies? They blew tobacco smoke over their infested bodies. lt
is true that a little chewed tobacco, put on the swelling caused by
the maggot, is the best remedy to make the maggot wriggle out, but
this remedy, so common in tropical South America, has a double
meaning here. On one side it represents the death of the embryo,
the infanticide of the creature that should not be born; on the other,
tobacco is the great mediator with the divine, reestablishing union
with the Sun and affirming acceptance of the Sun's moral laws.
MAN: BODY AND SPIRIT

The myths say that when the Sun committed incest with his daugh-
ter at Wainambí Rapids the blood that flowed became a permanent
reminder to humanity of the prohibition against incest; since then,
women menstruate periodically so that the great crime will never
be forgotten. The Moon, who was also in love with the Daughter of
the Sun, cried for three nights in grief and hid his light that, until
then, had always lit up the darkness. Since then, also as a reminder
of this heinous act, he hides each month for three nights, and when
he shows his full face the spots of blood of the Daughter of the Sun
are seen on it. And so that the crime of his brother may not be for-
gotten, the Moon's celestial cycle coincides with the menstrual
cycle of women.
Menstrual blood is called abé dií/sun blood, and the menstru-
ation of women is thus a reminder that for a certain period the
female is in a state of impurity. During these days the woman has
to avoid all contact with men and with objects that have a mascu-
line character, in memory of the mythical event and of the prohi-
bitions that are the consequence. If the woman <loes not comply
with these restrictions during these days, her child will have red
moles on its face and body, manifesting the negligence of his mother
and, with this, her indifference to sexual norms. 11 Menstruation is
then an occasion surrounded with shame and anxiety because the
condition of the woman is a living memory of a criminal act that
weighs continually on the conscience of humanity.
We must occupy ourselves briefly here with sorne of the ideas
that the Desana hold concerning procreation and the physiological
processes of fecundation, gestation, and birth. The initial attitude
of the male, of sexual excitation, is called momé píri, which is trans-
lated literally as "to leave honey." The verb piri is derived from
ahpíri/to build upon something, to base upon, to procreate, con-
taining the root ahp-which we have already mentioned above. It
is then the "yellow purpose" that leads to the state of nurirí, of
erection, a verb we discussed when we spoke of the horsefly and of
the equation, to sting=to cohabit.
11. Red spots are also sometimes interpreted as a punishment for a father
who has not been generous with his friends and <lid not want to share
the red pigment for body paint with them.
As the rec1p1ent of masculine semen, the female finds diverse

symbolic expression. Her receptivity is compared with the gesture
of soliciting something or of joining her hands before her breast in
the form of a concave receptable. This gesture is called se' erí, a
word that can be translated in two ways: one meaning is to extend
one's hands in order to receive something; another, to contain and
shelter something at the bosom. Se'erí suggests essentially an embry-
onic state, and we find this concept in diverse symbolic forms (see p.
113). The word se'erí evokes for the Desana the image of a bird that,
with open wings, protects its nest and its young. This protector bird
is the Sun that, in this manifestation, is called go'á mee se'e. 12 lt is
the attitude complementary to the se' erí of the woman who opens
her hands in a receiving gesture. Another image connected to the
receptivity of the woman compares the uterus with a bird's nest full
of little ftedglings that scream in an agitated manner, opening their
beaks for food. This image is called nihirí, a state of anxious wait-
ing, of great expectancy. In fact, this same image is transferred and
applied to all of humanity; human beings are nihirí mahsá/clamor-
ous persons, and "they screech in the shade of the Sun god who
takes care of us." This comparison is made mainly by the elders
who give advice during gatherings and who transmit the tribal tra-
ditions; that is, by the initiated who raise their voices "screeching"
so that the divinity will hear them.
The Desana know that during the sexual act the male semen
fertilizes the female organs and that this union produces a new life.
The semen as well as the secretions of the woman ( thought to be a
kind of female "seed") are called vará/starch or momé/honey, and
only by the mixture of the two can the embryo be procreated.
Nevertheless, it is believed that the quantity of semen is very small
in proportion to the "starch" or the "honey" of the woman, and that
the woman can never be "sweetened" in just one coitus. The po-
tential of women, in terms of sexual energy, is considered to be
higher than that of men, and as "proof' of this it is cited that chil-
dren are more apt to resemble their mothers than their fathers. The
desire of the man is that they be "spiritually" similar to him, and he
thus seeks to increase bis energy by means of restrictions and die-
tary prescriptions. He should not eat tapir, peccary, or monkey meat
12. The association between the sun and the birds has already been observed
in various solar birds having a yellow color.
because the fiesh of these animals is impure; on the other hand, he

should eat birds and fish, and the consumption of edible ants and
mojojoi larvae (Calandra palmarum) is highly recommended be-
cause it is said that these foods will increase the quantity of semen. 1 ª
When menstruation is interrupted, it is assumed that the woman
is pregnant; a new "struggle" begins between the man and woman
because it is believed that during the first three months of gestation
the sex of the child is determined. The men want to have male chil-
dren who will perpetuate tribal traditions, the women prefer girls
who will help them in their daily chores. During these three months
the man cohabits in order to infiuence the sex of the embryo, at the
same time keeping a diet of "masculine" foods so that the child will
be male. During these same months the man seeks honey in the
forest for his wife, reinforcing and repeating the sexual act symboli-
cally by giving her this food.
There is a complex symbolism associated with the uterus. It is
compared to a house, a hearth, a cooking vessel, a bird's nest, a
"shell," or cover. It is symbolized by the maloca, hollow tree trunks,
the canoe, and many other objects. The large rocky hills that rise
in lonely places in the jungle are the uteri where the animals of the
forest live; and the deep pools at the foot of the rapids are the sub-
aquatic uteri where the fish live. The hanging nests of certain birds
such as the oropendola and the cacique (both Icteridae) are com-
pared to the uterus and so are the nests of the hummingbird and the
parakeets that build in hollow trees. The armadillo and the turtle
are uterine animals, and the same is true, because of their shell, of
certain snails. A more abstract but well defined association is estab-
lished between the uterus and the cooking pots. The act of cooking
is an act of gestation, of transformation, and more will be said
conceming the symbolism of these activities. In an inverse sense,
the uterus is a "kitchen" where a mixture of diverse elements, male
and female, is prepared and transformed into a new product.
The placenta ( suríro) is a "cloth," a "wrapper," a "shell," and
in consequence is compared to a bag, a hammock, basket, or bark,
with the function of protection or isolation always being empha-
sized. While the spider and the bat represent the vagina, the spider
13. The mojojoi (Lengua Geral) is a thick, white larva that lives in rot-
ten palm trunks; it is eaten raw, cooked, or toasted.
web is compared to the placenta in the sense of a large cloth or web

of traditions and customs in which the mother wraps the child be-
fore his birth. This spider-placenta is called behpe suríro (from
behpe/spider) and is projected on the entire world when it is said
that, seen from Ahpikondiá, our world looks like a spider web. The
most frequent symbolism of the placenta is the anaconda, the huge
aquatic snake that is also compared with pamurí-gahsíru, the canoe
in which mankind arrived.
The umbilical cord is called porakerida, which is derived from
porá/children, keri/to have, da/a suffix that expresses the idea of
cord or string. Another term is seméru-da/string of beans, referring
in this case to the fruit of a mimosacea called semé. This word is
related to the verb sumuri/to ooze, to bubble, and alludes to two
related concepts: to the seeds that are spaced in rows in the pod of
this fruit, "like drops of semen" or "like children," and to the nutri-
tive element that comes through the umbilical cord and is imagined
as a succession of bubbles. A third term is abé-seméru-da (from
abé/sun) and refers directly to the contact that the cord establishes
between the individual and society. The informant says: "The um-
bilical is like the process of life: the child is born, eats, and grows,
all by means of the cord. Also, all supernatural influences come
through the cord. It is like a canal. Through it come all the powers
of living." We have already seen that the cord is represented by the
rivers; through the cord ( and through the rivers) comes food, the
"food of the Sun," imagined in the form of successive bubbles, like
a ferment arising from Ahpikondiá and nourishing the life of the
individual.
Human existence is interpreted as a perpetua! cycle of fertility,
gestation, and birth, death and birth being the steps from one uter-
ine existence to another. The individual is born from his mother,
but the main life force comes from A hpikondiá, the paradisiaca!
uterus; when born, the child is incorporated into the world, which
is another uterus, but at the same time he enters the uterus that is
the maloca. At death, he returns to Ahpikondiá, or perhaps, if he
has not deserved Paradise, he returns to the uterus of the lonely
hills in the forest where he continues his existence in the form of an
animal. The transformation is thus continued, and the individual
passes from one state to another, his final destiny being determined
by his moral behavior in this world. On this depends whether he
returns to a contemplative state in Ahpikondiá or descends to the

level of the animals. 14
Sorne observations on the concept of the soul are due here. Ac-
cording to the Desana, the seat of the soul (simpóra) is the heart. 15
It is a "little cloth" that begins to ftutter and to become agitated at
the moment of birth when the child begins to breathe and to estab-
lish contact with the air, which is the medium of communication.
This air is "the wind that gives life" ( simpóra ohokaríru) ; the soul
is interpreted as a breath that, when blowing against the "little
cloth," maintains the life state. The soul depends directly on the Sun
Father and on his intermediary, the Daughter of the Sun. This
dependency is expressed in the belief that the soul is a luminous
element that not only "exists under the reftection of the Sun" but
possesses its own luminosity that the Sun gave it at the moment of
birth. The word simpóra is derived, according to our informant,
from simpúri, a verb that can be translated as "to point with the
finger." The informant adds: " . . . the Sun points, through his de-
sire of creation," and elaborates this idea by saying that simpúri
also means "to establish, to create." So the soul is a kind of mark
or sign that the Sun gives to each individual, but which is devoid of
any moral principie.
When the soul happens to be in sorne magical danger, three kinds
of solar light are invoked to reinforce it, a reddish light, a white one,
and a pale green one. These colors, in that order, are associated
with terrestrial vitality, with the seminal energy of the Sun, and with
the satiety produced by the milk-coca that emanates from Ahpikon-
diá. No concept of heat is associated with these colors but only a
concept of interna! luminosity, visible only to the initiated, that is,
to the payé and the kumú. The soul is immortal inasmuch as it is the
part of the individual that returns to Ahpikondiá, where the body
rises again as a hummingbird; however, the soul can separate itself
occasionally from the body during life as, for example, during a
hallucinatory state or in case of a sudden accident. For example,
when a person falls from a tree, the soul leaves the body just before
it hits the ground and remains suspended in space. Such an event
14. These ideas correspond in detail to those of the Kogi Indians (Reichel-
Dolmatoff, 1950; 1951; 1967).
15. The informant vacillates, sometimes locating the soul in the heart, the
diaphragm, or in the region of the liver.
represents a great danger because the soul will try to reenter a body,
any body, even that of a passer by. Spots where such accidents have
happened are avoided, and there one can hear the lamentations and
screams of a soul unable to fulfill its destiny.
The soul of any individual is exposed to many dangers. A payé
may seize it and thus cause death or serious illness. Even the glance
of a payé may affect the soul and, through it, cause sickness. He
can also immobilize the "little cloth" without removing it from the
body, by penetrating it with severa} thorns that impede its move-
ments. In these cases, another payé, in charge of curing this con-
dition that otherwise might be fatal, can resort to the stealing of the
soul of another person to replace the immobilized soul. This possi-
bility suggests that the soul is not considered an individual element
related to a moral concept but is simply an organ, to be sure the
most vital, but interchangeable and impersonal.
The complement of the soul is the mind/ ka'í. The ka'í resides in
the brain (dihpú ka'í/head-mind) from the time of birth but does
not die with the body. It continues existing as a "shadow, a spirit."
The ka'í is intelligence, reason; it is the accumulation of experience.
Man thinks through the ka'í, and a payé can influence the function-
ing of the ka'í, but not the soul, of another person. The soul he can
only "obstruct." Animals have no simpóra but have ka'í because
they "think and reason" in remembrance of past experiences. The
only exception are fish; they have, located in the heart, a principie
of simpóra. A third component is diroá, a vital quality whose name
is related to dií;blood and di'í/flesh. Diróa is health, the "good
life," physical well-being expressed through activity and joy. Diroá
disappears at the moment of death, and animals as well as men con-
tain this principie.
We have already mentioned sorne of the eschatological ideas of
the Desana, but we must elaborate on this theme. After death, the
soul has various possibilities of continuing its existence. The souls
of persons who have been virtuous and who have complied with the
moral norms of their culture go to Ahpikondiá where they are
transformed into hummingbirds. This ideal state, however, is only
attained by a small minority, a beilef that causes profound anxiety.
The greater part of the souls have a very different destiny: that of
returning to the great uterine malocas, which are subterranean or
subaquatic, where the spirits of the inhabitants of the forest and of
the rivers live. The Desana hold the following belief: to replace the
animals that periodically fall prey to the hunters and fishermen, a
certain number of souls must go to these malocas, considered to be
large uterine "storehouses." There, the souls constitute the energy
that is converted into new creatures that eventually go forth into the
forest and the waters to be caught by men. It is the payé who de-
cides who must die or which soul must go to these storehouses, and
bis decision is based ( or at least it is anxiously thought to be so)
on bis evaluation of the moral quality of the person. Also, those
people who break the taboo of looking for magical herbs around
the hills and rapids or who kill a sacred animal that is under the
protection of those places must retum toan animal state and go into
the large storehouses. The place where the soul goes does not de-
pend, in all cases, on the sins the person has committed, but rather
on the type of "negotiation" that the payé has carried out with the
supematural owners of these storehouses. When the creatures in the
forests and rivers become scarce, the payé puts himself into a trance
and "negotiates" for a certain quantity of animals or a fruitful hunt-
ing season in exchange for the death of sorne persons whose souls
will then go to "pay the debt." 16
The souls of murderers do not go to these places but are con-
verted into haíry and terrifying spirits that show themselves oc-
casionally in the places where the criminals are buried. There, at
night, flutes and songs are heard when these evil spirits gather to
dance and talk.
As essential difference between the categories of souls-those
that are in Ahpikondiá and those that are in the hills-consists in
the fact that the former do not belong to this world any longer and
no longer participate in it while the latter continue in existence and
take part in the life of men, in animal shape or as "ghosts." The
souls in the hills appear at times in solitary places in the forest or in
the rivers where they manifest themselves, as black or white
"masses" or where strange noises, críes, and laughter are heard.
These apparitions are called nyamiri-mahsá or nyamiri-porá, people
or children of the night; they are the inhabitants of the "Dark
Region" of the west, and their occasional appearance, although it
16. The informant believes that only a small percentage of souls go to
Ahpikondiá, and he emphasizes that this perspective causes great anx-
iety.
causes terror, is interpreted as a new reminder, an exhortation to

keep the moral code. The souls of these ancestors show themselves
to their descendants not to cause them harm or to presage disgrace
but to remind them of the fatal consequences of a life that has not
been led in accordance with the code of the culture.
We shall summarize here sorne ideas that can be derived from
what has been said in the foregoing pages. Spiritually and psycho-
logically, in terms of our culture, the Desana is not an individual
we would call contented, balanced, and adjusted. His sense of being
a man is dominated by the constant conflict between his attempts
to balance the normal gratification of his sexual impulses and the
prohibitions that his culture imposes on him. The message of the
Sun Father, of avoiding incest and of maintaining exogamy, is not
simply a code designed to regulate sexual relationships in the nar-
row circle of relatives living together in one maloca or in one
neighborhood; it has a much wider and deeper meaning for the
culture. Underlying the problem are economic considerations in-
volved in maintaining a viable equilibrium between the productive
capacity of the tribal territory and the needs of human consump-
tion. We must not forget that we are dealing here with sedentary
groups that tenaciously insist on the hunt as a cultural focus. The
biotic equilibrium is thus easily upset. In the cultural world of the
Desana, men and animals live in a true symbiosis, a state of total
interdependence, conceived in terms of one single cycle of fertili-
zation and procreation. In order to live and to procreate, man needs
the animals that, through the food they offer, transmit the necessary
vital energy, a vitality interpreted as a fertilization of humanity by
the animals. In return, man should then fertilize the animals so that
they will go on multiplying. This reciproca! fertilization is accom-
plished through different means. In various ritual activities man
fertilizes nature, but at the price of a great sacrifice in the sphere of
his own sexuality. The fundamental rule of the hunter is sexual
abstinence, and this rule demands a level of repression that cannot
but lead to a state of profound anxiety. It can be said that the law
of exogamy refers not only to society but also to its symbolic
complement, the animals. The hunter should be selective and not
choose his prey arbitrarily, following only his desire for food. Only
on certain occasions can he satisfy his hunger, and these conditions
are harsh but necessary. Sexual repression has the double aim of
magically fostering sexuality and the multiplication of the animals

and of controlling at the same time population increase, i.e., to
regulate the number of potential consumers. The sexual act is con-
sidered a great danger, a situation fraught with anguished images,
especially for the man who fears to lose bis skill as a hunter. Be-
sides, a man who sires more than two or three children will be con-
sidered socially irresponsible and contemptible. And women are
encouraged to practice birth control, which is apparently very effec-
tive, by means of herbs that have contraceptive qualities. Ali of
these mechanisms attempt to maintain the biotic equilibrium, but
the strict observation of these norms undoubtedly causes serious
psychological problems, expressed in the high incidence of homo-
sexuality, acts of aggression, and other manifestations.
The message of the Sun Father, in terms of the prohibition of
incest and of the danger of endogamy is, above all, an exhortation
to conserve energy translated into the law of reciprocity. How the
Desana maintain this law and how, at times, they escape from its
harsh reality, will be the themes of other chapters.
2
Deities and Demons
CELESTIAL Boorns
Accounts of the relationship between the sun and the moon are at
times not very clear. It seems that we are dealing with a sphere of
mythical thought that is of profound importance for the culture but,
because of the very theme, has remained somewhat repressed and
hardly appears in oral tradition. 1 In the first place, it seems that the
celestial sun and the moon were twins, each representing one aspect
of sexual energy, the sun sublime fertility, and his brother the moon
carnal sexuality. But this pair of brothers has no kin relationship
to the Creator Sun. Sun and moon form a double representation,
diurna! and nocturnal, of the Creator, but they are not relatives of
this Creator. When the Daughter of the Creator Sun is introduced,
and with her the incest theme, her abduction by the moon obviously
reflects a new social situation that continues to cause great anxiety.
lt is the struggle between day and night, the opposition between
divine, "legal" love and profane, "illegal" love that is exemplified
in this relationship, eternally posing this problem for man. So far
as the Daughter of the Sun is concerned, it is probable that we are
dealing here with the planet Venus; sorne information gives us to
understand that the Sun "made a mistake" and did not realize that
he was committing incest with his own daughter. This divine "mis-
take," probably between Venus Matutina and Venus Vespertina,
is the theme of severa! South American myths and here seems also
to constitute the basis for a celestial model of a social fact. 2 Cer-
tainly, the same "mistake" appears in the mythical theme of chaos
1. Severa! married brothers generally Iive in a single maloca, and adultery

causes serious conflict.
2. For the Kogi see Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1951, 2:26-27.
71
when the vearí-mahsá cause similar confusion between blood rela-

tives.
A solar eclipse is interpreted as a great disgrace because it gives
rise to the suspicion that the Sun has relapsed into the crime of in-
cest. lt is then feared that the epoch of chaos will return and mon-
sters and demons will come from the jungle and rivers to attack
people. The huge anacondas that float in the rivers raise their
enormous heads to the dark skies, and even the dead rise up in their
graves to see what is happening. After shooting arrows into the sky,
the Desana hide in their malocas, terrorized by this new and tre-
mendous occurrence.
The moon is called nyamí abé, or "nocturnal sun," a name that
clearly suggests that, basically, two aspects of the same being are
involved. The moon is part of the Sun, a negative, evil part. The
Sun repented his sin and made it a central part of his moral law,
but the moon, when he abducted the Daughter of the Sun, showed
no repentance and, since then, has continued to be a seducer and
nocturnal adulterer. At night, the Desana tell, the moon descends in
the form of a man to cohabit with women during their sleep. He is
a celestial incubus who pursues the women in their nightmares, in-
citing them to sexuality and adultery.ª To cohabit and to eat are the
same in Desana thought, and from the violation of sleeping people
to necrophilia and necrophagia is only a step. Thus, the moon de-
scends at times and seeks out the lonely cemeteries of the Desana.
He removes the pale resplendence of his crown of white feathers
and puts it in a tree, together with his long earrings of shiny copper,
before opening a grave to devour the body and bones of the dead.
After he has satisfied his appetite, he puts on his headdress again
and ascends to the sky. In many cemeteries, the Desana say, the
bodies of persons who have just died have disappeared, devoured
by the moon.
But the moon also has beneficent powers. Dew is called dihsikó,
the "saliva of the moon," a seminal liquid that fertilizes nature.
Mainly this liquid produces the growth of plants, but it also in-
fluences beneficently the gestation of women who are pregnant. In
the nights of a full moon, these women will sit talking outside of the
3. Among the Yabarana of Venezuela, an incestous brother is changed into
the moon (Wilbert, 1961, p. 156). The moon as incubus also appears
among the Cubeo ( Goldman, 1963, pp. 180, 181).
Deities and Demons · 73
maloca, receiving the fecund power that emanates from the lunar
rays. On these same nights, it is said that the aracú fish rise to the
surface of the water to drink the menstrual blood of the women.
According to the Desana, this blood is closely related to honey
(semen), a similarity that is also expressed by a similar odor and
agrees with the Creation Myth when the Daughter of Aracú "tasted
the honey" of the first Desana and then decided to stay with him
on land. These nights of the full moon are bad for fishing because
the aracú fish do not want to take the bait but only think of the
fertilizing blood.
lt is said that the moon has great influence over bitter manioc.
The saliva of the moon contains a component that scares away the
leaf-cutter ants, insects that sometimes cause great damage to the
fields. But the relationship of the moon to the vegetable world is of
special importance in the case of magical herbs, those directly under
the protection of the moon. Because many of these plants are used
in love potions, the seducer role of the moon is related to the quali-
ties attributed to these plants. A relationship also exists between the
moon and the conditions of health and sickness. When there is a full
moon, people observe in which zone the spots are most outstanding,
east, west, south, or north, and from their position the direction
from which sicknesses come is deduced. Because these spots, ac-
cording to myth, represent the menstrual blood of the Daughter of
the Sun, we observe again an association between sexual physiology
and the concept of immanent danger.
When an eclipse of the moon occurs, it is believed that he has
been asleep and is "dying," and then people attempt to wake him
up and revive him by shooting arrows and making all kinds of
noises. But such an event in interpreted as a "lucky night." During
the eclipse, everybody demonstrates great activity; the men basten
to go to the river to fish or to clear their fields, others sing, and
women begin to grate manioc or to prepare other goods. All of these
activities, developed during the short time of darkness, will be of
great benefit for their children and grandchildren who will be great
hunters, fishermen, and dancers according to the activities that their
parents complete during the eclipse.
The stars belong to a sphere very distant from this world and
have little or no influence on the life of man, although their saliva
(néko dihsikó) in the form of dew does foster fertility. One constel-
lation called "shrimp" (nahsi káme) is designated as the Master of

the Rainy Season, because it announces the impending arrival of
the rains. Another constellation named "cut shrimp" (nahsí káme
túru) is the Master of the Dry Season and appears on the horizon
a little before the rains stop. When these two constellations appear,
the huge anacondas rise up vertically in the water to watch the
firmament and assure themselves of the change of the seasons. Thus,
the anacondas know when they should ascend or descend the rivers,
to gather and dance, and to procreate. Other constellations seem to
be related to the animals of the forest. They are, in sorne manner,
celestial replicas that announce to the hunter a certain species of
game.4
Sexual relationships exist among the stars of the firmament but
their cycle of procreation is not related at all to the fertility of the
biosphere. A shooting star signifies a visit, celestial coitus between
two stars. 5
THE DAUGHTER OF THE SUN

The image of the culture hero seems very feebly elaborated in the
mythology of the Tukano Indians of the Vaupés, and among the
Desana the only mythical beings that approach this concept are the
Daughter of the Sun and the Daughter of Aracú. As we have seen
in the Creation Myth, it was the former who invented tire, the stone
ax, the use of magic plants for the hunt, and the consumption of
wild fruit of semé, nyumú, and to'á. Without exception, all of these
elements have a strong sexual connotation and makes of the Daugh-
ter of the Sun a feminine personification who introduces man to the
secrets of sexual life.
1t is significant then, knowing Desana attitudes toward sex, that
it was she who also introduced death in to this world: the first victim
was one of her own children who perished as a punishment for his
lasciviousness. When the funerary ritual was established, the Daugh-
ter of the Sun decided to bury her son in a place called abé-goró,
4. We lack data concerning the astronomical concepts of the Desana and

especially concerning the relationships between the constellations and
the game animals. This is a field in which the informant admits his
ignorance.
5. In the !ove talk of Desana youths, a girl might be called a "shooting
star," alluding to a very fleeting relationship.
the "first cemetery." This name and place pose an interesting

problem. Abé means sun, but the word goró is difficult to translate
because it encompasses various meanings. Goró means, in general
terms, a "clean place, good to live," a "lot," an "open place." But
the mythical place designated as abé goró is also called ye' éri goró /
place of coitus. This connection explains to us the meaning of the
word. Goró is derived from go'o/fiower, go'óri/fiowers, and the in-
formant explains that it is "a place as attractive as a fiower." As we
have seen on previous occasions, from the metaphorical level we
now pass to the level of sexual physiology, and we are not surprised
then to learn that the word fiower is a synonym for vagina in
Desana symbolism. lt also happens that abé goró is used as a syno-
nym for the rocks of Wainambí Rapids where the original act of in-
cest occurred. Abé goró, the informant continues, is a place "where
tracks are left," and we have mentioned already the petroglyphs of
Wainambí that are interpreted as a pictorial record of the event
that occurred there. But the concept of "track" has still another
meaning. In abé goró, it is said, certain germs of illnesses exist,
pathogenic objects conceived in terms of pubic hairs ( uaú poári).
They are very dangerous "wastes" directly related to death and the
dead. In this case the semen is interpreted as an element causing
sickness that materializes in the form of hairs, and the places where
the ancestors have cohabited, either the Sun or the ancestors of the
phratries, are then considered as cemeteries. These are also the
places where the mythical "ancient eagles" live, those who feed on
carrion and illness. The association of ideas is clear if we understand
that the grave in which the corpse is buried is the uterus to which
the corporeal part of man returns while the spiritual part goes to
the uterus of Ahpikondiá.ª
After having taught the Desana the manufacture and use of sorne
cultural elements, the Daughter of the Sun disappeared from this
world and fulfills no function in the rituals of the society. From
what is understood of the attitudes expressed toward this divine
personification, the Daughter of the Sun is interpreted not so much
as a disgraced victim but as an accomplice in a crime whose tran-
scendence she never took into account. Nevertheless, there is also
6. The Kogi lndians have very similar ideas (Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1951,

1 :91 ).
a social situation being reflected here; Desana women worry much

less than the men about the strict observance of sexual norms.
DIVINE INTERMEDIARIES
In order to guide and protect his Creation, the Sun gave his power
to various divine personifications, each one in charge of certain
functions in the development of human life. First of all, there are
the emekóri-mahsá ( also the singular: emekori-mahse). The name
is derived from emeko/day, and the suffix indicates the plural. The
emekóri-mahsá represent a beneficient masculine principie associ-
ated with the color white. The name is translated as "People of the
Day," suggesting a temporal sequence that expresses the passing of
time and of human generations; they are not astral divinities nor
are they associated with the light of day but are associated with the
idea of the passing of time or the time-lapse of the life of an indi-
vidual. They are the special protectors of ceremonials and gather-
ings; that is to say, of the main occasions on which collective rites
are celebrated. They also are the protectors of conjugal sexual re-
lations. It is to these that the payé addresses his invocations when
chicha is being prepared so that all social gatherings will be carried
out in an atmosphere of peace and friendship.
The emekóri-mahsá live at the river bottoms, in the rapids, and
it is for this reason that the payés invoke them at the landing place.
They are not water spirits, but the large pools of the rapids are their
dwelling places; through the water of the river and their umbilical
cords, they establish contact with each individual. They are personi-
fications of good whose presence is felt in the cordial atmosphere of
reunions where, it is believed, they drink and dance together with
the rest. In any social conflict, they are the mediators invoked by the
payés to influence the antagonists and make them reconsider their
claims. The individual cannot invoke the emekóri-mahsá directly but
must ask the payé to speak with them on his behalf.
The diroá-mahsá form a different category of divine beings who
are exclusively in charge of the physical well-being of mankind.
They are the Blood People (dií/blood) and are associated with the
color red; their concern is good health, curing sickness, and child-
birth. They also live in the rapids near the maloca, and from there
they exercise their functions as guardians and defenders. On many
occasions the two categories of divinities are described not so much
as anthropomorphized personifications but rather as "states."
Through them the individual feels a continuous contact with the

power of the Sun and receives physical and moral strength that per-
mits him to fulfill bis duties as a member of society; however, only
the payé addresses them, asking that they serve as intermediaries,
the People of the Day in matters referring to spiritual and social
life, the Blood People in matters concerned with the biological as-
pects of the individual. The informant says: "The emekóri-mahsá
represent the purity of customs; the diroá-mahsá are the essence of
corporeal life."
V ihó-mahse is the divinity associated with the use of the powder
of vihó (Piptadenia) 1 and, by extension, with all the hallucinogenic
plants. The name is derived from vihíri/to inhale, to absorb, and
refers to the fine powder that the payés sniff through the nostrils by
means of a small tubular bone. The vihó-mahsá ( the name is used
at times in the plural) are the most important intermediaries in
shamanistic practices because, for any ritual action, the payé must
first put himself in contact with them to ask for their assistance.
They live under the waters and also in the hills where they occupy
huge malocas ( vihó-mahsá vi'í), but their true sphere of action is
the Milky Way from whose heights they observe the doings of man-
kind. The vihó-mahsá are essentially amoral beings because they
also serve evil persons who want to cause harm to an enemy. In this
case the intermediaries come to be the direct causes of evil because
they can disturb the currents of the Milky Way and send sickness
to the earth.
At times, the vihó-mahsá seek contact with the payés and then
manifest themselves in the form of black clouds gathering over a
hill or a large cliff. When this phenomenon is observed, the payé
puts himself into a trance and establishes contact with them to find
out their intentions. In this way the payé of a neighboring tribe can
transmit threats, formulate complaints, and convoke a gathering of
severa} payés who then, in their hallucinations, converse and decide
the fate of an individual. They decide about the course of sickness
or about the way in which hunting or fishing should be carried out.
When black clouds gather over the forest, people say: "This hill
wants to do us harm," and the payé immediately reacts by taking
vihó to find out the desires of the vihó-mahsá.
According to the myths, the jaguar was created by the Sun to be
7. It is not clear if this refers to Piptadenia or to Virola.

his main representative on earth, not remote as are the emekóri-

mahsá and diroá-mahsá but always present and visible. A fertilizing
power is especially attributed to the jaguar. We will cite here sorne
ideas that the informant elaborated in this respect. He said, for
example: "The jaguar created by the Sun is very huge and is set
above nature, dominating fecundity. As the Sun procreates with
his power, thus the jaguar is procreating, dressed in his yellow color.
lt is the way that man dominates the woman in the sexual act." As
a matter of fact, the jaguar's name itself, yé' e, corroborates these
ideas because it is derived from ye' éri/to cohabit. The jaguar is then
a phallic solar animal that takes the place of the Sun; 8 that is to say,
it represents its fertilizing energy. "The domination of the jaguar
is like the domination of man over woman. Thus nature was domi-
nated by the Sun in Creation." The same sexual symbolism is ex-
presed in various phrases that are commonly used. When, for
example, a youth puts his arm on the shoulder of a girl (pábeári),
people say: "Careful! The jaguar is grabbing hold!" When a hunter
hears the roar of a jaguar, he says: "There is the animal that wants
to embrace me."
A concept of protection is combined with the sexual symbolism
of the jaguar. The jaguar is the magical protector of the maloca, not
only fostering the fertility of its occupants but also defending it
against all kinds of dangers that may come near it. lt is also the
defender of hunters who go through the forest and, at times, follows
them invisibly to protect them from dangers. As the roar of the
jaguar is compared with thunder, its association with rain is also
evident. The supreme divinity is represented as buhpú yé'e/thunder-
jaguar. Lightning ( miarí), a fertilizing force through its association
with crystal and rain, is also interpreted as a "glance from the Sun,"
a rapid twinkle ( ku-miarí). The same concept of "glance" or of the
"penetrating look," attributed to many supernatural personifications
and to payés, contains a fertilizing element. ª
8. The expression yíge/ to do like . . . , to take the place of . . . , dohpá

yíge (from dohpá/like, yiri/to do) is frequently used by the informant
when he speaks of the invocations and of the intermediaries.
9. The interpretation of the jaguar as a solar divinity associated with rain,
the crystal, and other seminal objects is highly significant for archeol-
ogists. The religious complex of the "feline cult" is a very early element
in the prehistory of the continent.
When a person approaches a cave where he believes there may

be a jaguar, he calls in a loud voice: "né álkero" /"Hey there, grand-
father!" so that the animal will not attack him. The use of a kin-
ship term suggests here that the jaguar, by bis fertilizing power,
contributes to the cycle of human procreation and is thus considered
a relative.
The nyamíri-mahsá are the Night People; they are the spirits of
those who, during their lifetime, did not obey the moral norm and
whose souls, therefore, had to enter the dark hills of Vaí-mahse. As
evil spirits they sometimes roam through the forest, making strange,
uncanny noises, throwing stones or branches, and even striking
people who travel at night. As supernatural intermediaries they are
of importance because it is through them that a person of evil in-
tention can send sickness or harm an enemy, whenever a payé is
disposed to put himself in contact with these beings through vihó-
mahse.
A representative of the Sun of minor importance is the rainbow.
In mythical times, under the name of búime, the rainbow was a fish,
a kind of eel that, after the Great World Fire, carne out of the water
to see what had happened. When it found no people anywhere it
appeared in búime goró, a place whose symbolism is related to that
of abé goró, the first cemetery (see p. 74). It established itself there
as a new intermediary between the sky and the earth "in order to give
continuity to the Creation of the Sun and to bis teachings," as our
informant put it. Today the rainbow has little importance except
that it predicts rain. There is a single taboo involving the rainbow.
One should not point at it with one's finger because, in its fish form,
it bites and causes an infection of the fingernail. According to sorne
otherwise unrelated information, the rainbow also symbolizes a sort
of cosmic vagina, perhaps of the Daughter of the Sun, a concept
that may be related to the place-name mentioned above and to the
prohibition of pointing with the finger.
All of these divine intermediaries are representatives of the Sun,
but only a payé can address them by utilizing invocations, smoking
bis tobacco, and putting himself into a hallucinatory trance. The
individual, although he continually finds himself under the inftuence
of these personifications, cannot establish direct contact with them;
only the payé can do this because he is the representative of them
all.
THE MASTER OF ANIMALS
All animals are thought to be subject to an "owner" ( kege), chief

( dorege, from doréri/to give orders), who is their protector and
master. This "Master of Animals" is Vaí-mahse, perhaps the most
important divine personification for the Desana hunter. 1 º The name
Vaí-mahse is derived from vaí /fish, but this name is applied to both
the Master of Fish and the Master of Animals of the forest, mainly
the mammals. The two are equal in their respective functions of
protectors, and each one lives with his charges in different places.
But fundamentally, there is only one being, one concept. At times
the V aí-mahse of the forest is also called V aí-mera, a word that
means "beasts" and is mainly applied to animals that fly-birds,
bats, or insects. But by calling him by this name, all mammals, fish,
and reptiles are also put under his dominion. The word meéra also
means "old," "ancient," not in the sense of chronological age but
in that of "father" or owner. For example, an animal or a person
who has many lice is called meéra kege/the owner of insects.
Vaí-mahse appears under diverse forms and generally is described
as a small man, a dwarf with his body painted red. His presence
can be detected by the strong odor of magical plants with the juice
of which his body is covered. Being the Master of Animals, he is
also the master of the hunt and, consequently, the owner and pro-
tector of magical herbs that bring luck to the hunter. Vaí-mahse
also appears as an animal, in the form of a small lizard (Plica plica
L.) that is quite rare and lives in dry clearings at the foot of large
rocks. When he appears in this form, he keeps his eyes closed, but
when someone approaches he opens them as a sign of recognition.
He tries to bite menstruating or pregnant women or to whip them
with his long tail that, like the arm of a payé, contains magical
10. The concept of a Master of Animals or Keeper of the Game has been
treated in detail by Zerries (19 54). Besides being known in various
native tribes in Colombia, the motif of a Master of Animals survives
in the Creole folklore of the inter-Andean valleys where it appears as
the "Madremonte" (Mother of the Forest) in the Colombian Central
Cordillera, and the "Tunda" on the southern Pacific Coast. Two female
beings are designated with these names, and they protect the animals
of the forest. In the middle Magdalena Valley region, the fishermen
call the Master of Fish by the name of "Poira"; in other parts of the
same valley he is called "Mohán."
splinters and thorns that he can shoot out to cause sickness. For the
men, however, his manifestation as a lizard represents no danger
but is rather a sign of friendship and protection. To greet him and
to make him content the men smoke tobacco and blow the smoke
in the direction of the lizard.
In the rain forests of the Vaupés there exist, here and there, rock
formations that stand out like dark islands on the horizon. These
isolated hills or ridges often have steep walls and flat, mesa-like
plateaus and are full of caverns and dark recesses. These uncanny
places are the dwellings of Vaí-mahse ( ehtenge ví'i /hill house,
Vaí-mahse vi'í/Vaí-mahse's house where, surrounded by his ani-
mals, he dominates the forest. The rapids of the rivers, where the
torrents pass between huge rocks and form deep whirlpools, are the
dwellings places of Vaí-mahse as protector of fish. Both places are
imagined as large malocas regardless of whether they are in the hills
or under the water; there the creatures live and from thence they go
forth to the forest or to the river.
These "houses of the hills" or "houses of the waters" are sacred
and dangerous places. The rapids are, of course, unavoidable passes
for the traveler and are navigated in silence, but the hills of the
forest are avoided at all times. Besides being the places where the
animals live, the houses of the hills also contain illness, and their
dark and inhospitable aspect indicates this danger. The cracks,
caverns, and tunnels are the entrances to the interior of the hills, to
the great malocas of the animals. There, within their dark interior,
the gigantic prototypes of each species exist, and thousands of ani-
mals are kept-deer, tapirs, peccaries, monkeys, rodents, and many
more, in a great community similar to that of human beings. At
the foot of the hills, right in the forest, lie open clearings where the
inhabitants of the hill sometimes gather to amuse themselves by
feasting and dancing. The deer are the ones in charge of keeping
these "playgrounds" clean. At times, after a dance of the animals, a
straying hunter can see there the tracks of the crowd and may even
find sorne ornament or perhaps a flute that had been forgotten or
lost by the participants in the dance. The hills and their play-
ing grounds have their special guardian: the cock-of-the-rock
( ehtateóno; Rupicola sp.) that lives in the dark crevices and with
its screeching voice warns of danger. When the cock-of-the-rock
is seen, people know that soon there will be a dance, and afterward
for sorne days the surroundings will smell of the many magical
plants with which the animals have rubbed their bodies. The pec-
caries move in herds about the hills chasing away intruders. These
are sacred places that should be avoided, otherwise Vaí-mahse will
be angered and will punish the offender with illness. But at the same
time, these dark rocky bilis contain what each hunter longs for:
animals in abundance, magical plants ( tá-dehka) that give success
in the hunt and in love, and also from the bare, humid rocks little
streams of droplets of a yellowish color trickling down. Only a
hunter in a state of ritual purity, aided by the invocations of a
payé, dares to go near a hill and obtain these precious gifts with
impunity and without incurring the malediction of Vaí-mahse.
The only ones who know the bilis and their "houses" are the
payés because their role is to speak with Vaí-mahsé so that he will
cede sorne of bis animals to the hunter. In a state of hallucination
induced by absorbing the narcotic powder of vihó, and with the
help of Vihó-mahse who serves as an intermediary, the payé enters
the hill to negotiate with Vaí-mahse. He does not ask for individual
animals but asks for herds or a good hunting season, and as "pay-
ment" he promises to send to the house of V aí-mahse a certain num-
ber of souls of persons who, at their death, must return to this great
"storehouse" of the hills to replenish the energy of those animals
the Master of Animals gives to the hunters. When a payé arrives at
one of these places, Vaí-mahse receives him and shows him bis
animals hanging from the rafters of the maloca "in bunches." After
having agreed on the price in souls, the payé chooses the game ani-
mals that the hunters have asked him for. Walking through the
maloca he shakes the rafters and beams to wake up the animals that
then go out into the jungle. The price is charged "per shake" and
sometimes more are awakened than had been agreed upon and the
payé must reopen negotiations.
But sometimes the payés go to the hills, not in their hallucinations
but in reality, to affirm their requests and to foster the fertility of
the animals. On many of the bilis today the rock walls are covered
with pictographs representing various animals and fertility symbols,
where generations of payés have drawn, in red, yellow, or black,
the forms of game animals. The drawings show deer, tapirs, mon-
keys, rodents, turtles, and birds, together with phallic and uterine
symbols; the stripes and diamonds of pamurí-gahsíru, the mythical
snake that brought man to earth, are also depicted. Sometimes

these rock walls are true palimpsests with a superposition of draw-
ings that, through the centuries, show changing styles. At times the
figure of a jaguar dominates the multitude of representations, just
as the fertilizing power of this divine beast dominates the jungle.11
The houses of the hills and of the waters are interpreted by the
Desana as large uteri where the gestation of the fauna occurs. 1t
is there that the species are fertilized and from there creatures are
born to populate the forests or, in the case of the rapids, the waters
of the rivers. This concept is very important for the Desana for
whom these places are the true sources of their daily sustenance as far
as game is concerned. The colonization and penetration of the for-
ests by the rubber collectors, who bum the land surrounding the
hills to make their fields and who indiscriminately kill the game
that they find in the neighborhood, is a source of great concern to
the natives.
But we must return to the Master of Animals. Vaí-mahse is a
jealous guardian of his flock and, moreover, he is directly their
procreator. He takes a personal sexual interest in the fertility and
multiplication of the different animal species, mainly in the deer
and the tapir. But at the same time he is a hunter and even helps
other hunters in their task. As a weapon, Vaí-mahse possesses a
short wand that is highly polished and red in color; when he leaves
his maloca and sees an animal that attracts his attention as prey,
he takes his wand and points it. With just this gesture the animal
falls down dead. It is said that, at times, a hidden hunter has been
able to observe Vaí-mahse in this act, and there have been occasions
11. It is necessary to distinguish clearly between pictographs, or paintings,

and petroglyphs that are carved or chiseled in the rock surface. In the
hills one finds almost exclusively this first type while the second ap-
pears on the boulders near the rapids. Vestiges of this rock art are found
in many regions to the east of the Eastern Cordillera and also, of course,
in regions abandoned today by the lndians. These rock paintings or en-
gravings are not vestiges. of "mysterious civilizations" as sorne au-
thors have it, but simply places that are supposed to be the dwel-
lings of the Master of Animals, whether in forest or river. The two
types, pictographs and petroglyphs, probably belong originally to hunt-
ing and fishing cultures respectively. For descriptions and illustrations
(Vaupés area) see: Koch-Grünberg, 1907; Gansser, 1954; Bisch-
ler and Pinto, 1959; Stradelli, 1900; Carvajal, 1962; Reichel-Dolmatoff,
1967.
when a hunter dared to attempt to seize the magic wand that Vaí-
mahse had forgotten or neglected. But Vaí-mahse defends bis wand
with great tenacity because, without it, he loses all bis power.
Another aspect of Vaí-mahse and, perhaps, the most important,
is bis sexual interest in human beings. Vaí-mahse pursues women,
especially those who have not yet reached puberty, and waits for an
occasion to violate them. He also follows women who walk alone in
the forest or on the riverbanks. Vaí-mahse then transforms himself
into one of a number of forms, as a fish, a squirrel, or a lizard.
When the women are at the landing, he causes them to fall into a
deep sleep during which he cohabits with them. His victims do not
realize what happens because they only dream of having sexual in-
tercourse, but after a short time they die. At the place on the river
where the act occurred, a huge quantity of fish appear shortly after-
ward, and if the violation took place in the vicinity of a hill, the
animals are increased in the surrounding area. In certain places
where the mihí palms (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) abound, Vaí-mahse
appears under the name of Mihí-mahse. When the palms are loaded
with bunches of ripe fruit, the squirrels (mihsóka) come to eat
them, and Vaí-mahse takes their form to pursue the women. No
young girl who has not yet reached puberty should go near these
places because V aí-mahse will cause her to have a painful first men-
struation. This is because the normal cycle will be interrupted by
the influence of Vaí-mahse. Women who go near the hills or walk
alone in the forest risk the same danger. Vaí-mahse attacks them in
one guise or another, now as a lizard "lashing out" at the women
with bis tail, now in human form as a red dwarf. The consequences
are generally death. Although the quantity of game animals is then
increased at the place of the violation, the payés fear that this un-
asked-for abundance will exact its price and will cause the death of
many people as a payment for the animals.
A daughter of Vaí-mahse ( Vaí-mahse mangó) is al so mentioned;
she appears in the forest or along the riverbanks and seduces young
boys. At the place of the encounter many animals appear as a pay-
ment for the sexual favor, but at the same time the surrounding
areas are filled with dangerous beasts that escape from the hills at
the same time as the other animals.
As an insatiable satyr Vaí-mahse is jealous of all men and of hu-
man sex life. Any gesture or allusion excites him, and he always
watches the sexual life of society, spying through cracks in the wall
and observing from a hiding place the couples who walk in the
fields. Pregnant women and those who have recently given birth are
the main object of the jealousy of Vaí-mahse who, angry because
he was not the cause of the pregnancy, sends sickness to them. As
we shall see later, this aspect of Vaí-mahse can also be of great
importance in the curing of diseases and, in effect, to achieve a cure
Vaí-mahse is permitted to participate to a certain degree in human
sexual life.
Men fear V aí-mahse when they have not fulfilled in detail the
many rituals considered a prerequisite to the hunt. The hunter may
kill only certain game animals and only on specified occasions; if he
does not do this, Vaí-mahse takes revenge by sending illness or
dangerous animals. But the hunter who fears punishment from
Vaí-mahse may take advantage of his erotic interests. lt is believed
that Vaí-mahse follows the steps of the hunters when they go along
the jungle trails to watch over them and to make sure that they do
not kill too many animals. In order to free themselves from this
control, the men cut designs in to the bark of the trees; these designs
are sexual symbols, and their purpose is to distract Vaí-mahse, who
will pause to look at drawings that excite him sexually. For ex-
ample, the outlines of objects that symbolize the vagina-a vessel,
a snail, or a flute-are scratched in the bark, and when Vaí-mahse
sees these drawings he forgets about the hunters. 12
Any scom directed against V aí-mahse is punished by him im-
mediately. There is a story of a man who went near a hill where
the Master of Animals had planted sorne magical herbs ( called
hará in Lengua Geral). Defying all prohibitions, the man urinated
on the plants, and immediately his penis became so swollen that
his companions had to carry him to his maloca.
The figure of Vaí-mahse is obviously the personification of the
sexual life of the game animals. The "red dwarf" with his polished
wand is a phallic being, the owner of the uterine storehouses where
the animals procreate. Animals and men are only parts of one sin-
gle fertilizing cycle, of one interlocking mesh. There is a sexual
relationship between the Master of Animals and women, while the
men, as hunters, enter into sexual relationship with the game ani-
12. Sorne of the drawings that the payé makes on the "malocas of the hills"
have the same objective.
mals (see p. 218). In this way, man and animal form complementary
reciproca! and interdependent units, each one personified, more-
over, by his representative, be it Vaí-mahse or the payé. There is
then a very fine balance here and its daily maintenance is a focal
point of Desana thought.
THE SPIRITS OF THE FOREST

The forests and the rivers are believed to be peopled by a multitude
of dangerous spirits, demons or monsters, sorne of whom pursue
people in order to kill them. They do not belong to the category of
beings that cause lingering illness, but rather they kill at once and
in the majority of cases devour their victims. Initially created by the
Sun Father as immortal beings, they were the ones who caused the
chaos after the Creation, before the arrival of the Daughter of the
Sun.
The best-known and the most feared of these beings is the bor{Íro
(from boréri/white), commonly called kurupíra, a term coming
from the Lengua Geral). The boráro is described as a tall naked
man with a hairy chest, short hair cut horizontally, and a huge penis.
His eyes are red and glowing, and he has large, curved fangs like
those of a jaguar. When he attacks his victim, he roars boráaaaa-ro,
from whence his name, and it is said that this cry is like that of an
enraged jaguar. 13 The ears of the boráro are very large, erect, and
pointing forward as if to hear better. His feet are large, the length
of a human forearm, but they have only four toes, the little one be-
ing missing. Moreover, they are twisted in such a way that the toes
face backward and the heels forward. He does not have joints in his
knees; when he falls, he has great difficulty in getting up again. The
boráro lives with Vaí-mahse inside the hills but passes the greater
part of his time in the forest or on the headwaters of the streams
where he gathers crabs, which are his favorite food. There are al-
ways a multitude of insects around him, usually flies and mosqui-
toes, being attracted by his fetid odor, but a number of small birds,
the "lice" or servants of the boráro, defend him and devour the
insects.
Sometimes the boráro is seen sunning himself in a clearing in the
jungle; he has a stone hoe hanging over his shoulder, and when he
13. The boráro and the jaguar have many characteristics in common that
makes one suspect that only one basic concept is involved.
carries this weapon people know that he is on the lookout for some-
one to devour. But sometimes he appears unarmed, and then he has
no evil intentions. All the power of the boráro resides in this wea-
pon.
The unwary hunter who falls into the hands of the boráro has
little chance to escape. One way of killing his victim consists of
urinating on him; the urine of the boráro is a very strong poison.
Another way of overpowering his victim is the following: the boráro
embraces the person, holding him tightly to his chest until the body
turns to pulp and all the flesh is crushed, but without breaking the
bones. Then he opens a small hole on the top of the skull with his
sharp fangs and sucks out the mass of blood and fiesh until only the
skin is left covering the skeleton. Then he blows up the skin, closes
the hole carefully, and orders the man to return to his maloca. The
victim then returns to his house but, conscious of his state, turns
over to his wife the care of the children and the chores of the
maloca and lies down in his hammock. The next day when he rises,
however, he is not the same person. Now he has the voice of the
boráro and is possessed by him. The men of the maloca give him a
large cigar, ritually prepared, and smoking the cigar the man goes
again to the place of his encounter with the boráro. The boráro re-
cei ves him and takes him to a hill where he lives from then on with
the animals.
Against the attacks of the boráro there are but few defenses. If
one finds his tracks in the forest, one should put one's fist in the de-
pression; this causes the legs of the monster to stiffen, and he will
not be able to pursue the hunter. Also, one can step into the track,
but in the opposite direction, and then the boráro loses his orienta-
tion. When pursued by the boráro or any other spirit of the forest,
one should run backward with one's face toward the pursuer in
order to escape.
Although the boráro is sometimes called a "chief of the animals,"
with the exception of fish and birds, his functions are very different
from those of Vaí-mahse. One does not ask permission from the
boráro to hunt, nor does he aid the hunter or punish him if he does
not observe the rules of the hunt. Nevertheless, the boráro is closely
associated with the animals and sometimes changes himself into a
peccary or a deer ( not a tapir), which might make a hunter hesitate
to kill these animals for fear of wounding the boráro. The peccaries
are the favorite animals of the boráro, who gives his cry to frighten
the hunter and protect his prey. In itself, it is dangerous to follow
a peccary into the forest because it might lead the hunter directly to
the boráro. The toucan bird (Ramphastus sp.) is also the friend of
the boráro and tries to imitate his voice. These creatures who usu-
ally follow the monster are called his "lice," his servants, who de-
fend him. The cry of the boráro is called "the voice of death."
Before we continue, we ought to discuss sorne of the character-
istics of this jungle demon. The concept of the boráro ( or kurupíra)
has a wide diffusion among the Amazonian tribes, but the specific
interpretation that each tribe gives to this being varíes according to
the local culture. 14 Among the Desana, whose constant preoccupa-
tion is the sexualizing of the Cosmos and the Biosphere, the boráro
has the characteristics of a phallic being, not so much in the sense
of a beneficient fertilizing power in nature and society, but rather
in a negative sense, as a destroyer of sexuality. We observe in the
first place the description of the demon as hairy and foul-smelling,
his sexual organs of extraordinary size. The hoe he carries as a wea-
pon, according to the Desana, is a phallic symbol, to be mentioned
later when we discuss ritual objects. We have also mentioned that
the urine of the boráro is poisonous, and this has a special meaning
for the following reason: a food preferred by the boráro is the fruit
of barbasco ( Lonchocarpus sp.), a powerful fish-poison. Fish ha ve
a triple symbolic meaning for the Desana, representing children,
women, and phallic elements. A being that eats a fish-poison and
then expels a lethal liquid obviously represents a negative concept
of procreation. In the second place, another way the boráro kills
( and "to kill" symbolizes a forbidden coitus) is by "softening" the
body of the victim, an action as we have seen, that represents
masturbation. Even the name of the boráro is connected with a
seminal concept ( cf. boréka, boréri). V aí-mahse and boráro appear
to be two opposing aspects of the same concept of the fertility of
nature, the latter exemplifying all that is negative and forbidden.
The association of the boráro with the game animals represents a
very different aspect. It is possible that, in past times, the boráro
was the "Master of Animals" and that he carne to occupy his posi-
tion as a negative force only in a recent epoch in the socioreligious
evolution of Desana culture.
14. Cf. Zerries, 1954, p. 9.
But we must now mention sorne of the other beings that populate
the depths of the forest. A very distinct category is that of the uahtí.
The name is derived from uahú/hair, uahuári/to become covered
with hair. Two groups are distinguished: the uahtí of the forest
(nengere uahtí; from nenge/forest) and those of the water (diá
uahtí, from diá/water). Those of the water do not attack men and
are only evil omens, but those of the forest can be dangerous for
the hunter. The uahtí are generally described as a small being in
human form, hairy, at times having a large belly or having feet
without toes. The bats (oyó) are their constant companions and
warn of the arrival of one of these spirits, and the large vampire bats
that suck blood are called oyó uahtí. The whippoorwill ( tu'ío) also
precedes the coming of a uahtí.
Nenge uahtí looks like a man with an enormous penis, "of the
size of a pot-stand for a cassava plate." His back is covered with
huge blue butterflies (Morpho sp.); for this reason these insects are
greatly feared. Today the uahtí is not aggressive, but during the
chaos that followed the Creation he was among those demons who
attacked the malocas in order to violate the women. lt is told that
once a nenge uahtí hid in a large basket under a bunch of vahsú
fruit and had himself carried into a maloca by another uahtí who
had taken on human form. Someone uncovered the basket, and the
uahtí rushed out and tried to violate the immature girls who were
in the maloca; the men of the maloca armed themselves and over-
came the demon. Another kind of nenge uahtí is tall, strong, and
has a very big belly. He usually pursues the rubber collectors. His
legs do not end in feet but in cylindrical pieces of wood, distinguish-
ing his tracks in the jungle. Another, emano uahtí (from
emano /tall), is also potbellied, but he has short legs and long arms
and travels in the trees, jumping from branch to branch. Toré uahtí
(toré/hollow trunk) is a dwarf who lives in the depths of the forest.
Around his neck he wears a quartz cylinder suspended from a cord,
and sometimes he throws this stone against the large ftat roots of
large trees, perforating them by the impact of the quartz. He also
uses these roots as a drum, striking them rhythmically, and the
sound can be heard over great distances. Like Vaí-mahse, toré
uahtí possesses a polished wand that he points at an animal, this
gesture alone being sufficient to kill it.
The following story describes this spirit in more detail. In a cer-
tain part of the forest there was a large hollow tree that had fallen
to the ground, and near it stood a nyumú palm, the ripe fruit of
which attracted many birds. A hunter approached the spot and tried
to kill sorne of the birds with bis blowgun, but somehow bis darts
always missed. Suddenly, he noticed that on the other side of the
fallen tree was a dwarf shooting tiny arrows with a bow. With each
shot a bird fell dead. In a moment of carelessness, the dwarf put
bis bow and arrows on the ground and went to gather up the dead
birds, thereby giving the hunter an opportunity to steal bis weapon
and sorne of the fallen birds. When the dwarf discovered the theft
he addressed the hunter in a foreign tongue, but the man bid and
then went back to bis maloca. There he studied the shape of the
bow and the arrows and made others like them, but without saying
anything to bis family. He had observed that bits of an herb ad-
hered to the dwarf's arrowheads, and now he looked for this plant
and put it on bis arrows. From that moment, the man became a
great hunter.
Other uahtí have been seen near the rivers, and a story is told
of a man who observed one of these spirits fishing with a line. He
was not using a hook, but the fish were attracted as if by a magnet,
and the uahtí caught a lot of them. When the man wanted to speak
to him, the uahtí fled into the jungle, but in the place where he had
been sitting, on top of a large boulder, the man found sorne strange
seeds. He gathered them up and planted them and grew an herb
that is still used as bait.
Punge uahtí is a double being composed of a male and a female
whose bodies are joined in permanent copulation. This being ap-
pears in the rivers, and it has a thick mane like yellowish palm
fibers covering it in such a way that its features are almost indis-
tinguishable. Talóbege is another uahtí that appears by day in the
form of a huge toad but changes into a man at night and attacks
fishermen and ant collectors. He feeds on ants and appears in places
where these insects are found.
From the foregoing descriptions of the uahtí it can be deduced
that they have a marked sexual character, generally phallic, al-
though feminine concepts sometimes appear. The bat, the uahtí's
companion, is a symbol of the vagina, and the description of sorne
uahtí as potbellied also suggests a feminine concept. It may be pos-
sible to interpret the uahtí image as a representation of an exogamic
situation, an encounter between two different cultures (blowgun

versus bow), the bow-men culture participating in the females of
the other group. On another level, the boráro as well as the uahtí
are beings who live in the depths of the forest, and their mythical
association with the epoch of chaos makes one think that they are
personifications related to the fear of unrestrained, dissociating
sexuality that, in a latent state, continues to exist in a sphere of
darkness and anxiety.
3
Symbols and Associations
SYMBOLS AND SIGNS
In order to understand Desana culture it is necessary to leam more

about their symbolic system by first isolating its diverse components
and then tracing the structural pattems according to which these
components form sets of coherent units. First of all we must define
what is understood here by symbol. The definition that best seems
to express this elusive concept is that of Langer (1953; 1960) : a
symbol is "any object, act, event, quality or relation that serves as
a vehicle for a conception-the conception is the symbol's 'mean-
ing'." Of course, it must be taken into account that we will always
be dealing with two phenomena because one can speak of a symbol
of something and of a symbol for something ( Geertz, 1966). In
terms of the Desana, a stone, for example, can be a symbol of
lightning, a magic product of it, but if a payé, in bis imagination,
throws this stone, then it is he who produces the lightning. There is
a difference between the symbol as replica and the symbol as model.
On the other hand, a symbol can be conceived and interpreted on
different levels of abstraction. An armadillo can be a uterine sym-
bol and, as a consequence, can be compared with a drum, the
"uterus of the sib," and, from there, with the structure of the Uni-
verse. There are chains of such symbolic associations that follow an
order, although frequently a transposition of component elements
occurs.
We shall now try to describe how the Desana select and define
their symbols. The Desana clearly distinguish between perceiving
and conceiving. To perceive is inyamahsíri, a word formed by the
verbs inyári/to see, and mahsíri/to know. That which is seen be-
comes known because it is recognized and can now be classified;
that which is perceived comes to form part of a classificatory cate-
93
gory. But to conceive is different; to conceive is pemahsíri, com-

posed of peri/to hear, and mahsíri/to know. When perceiving, it
is the eye that sees and recognizes, but when conceiving, it is the
mind (ka'í) that "hears" and reftects. And that which is "heard"
is the "echo" of things. Hearing this "echo," one knows what it is
that is being perceived, what it is that is symbolized. The concept
of symbolism, of symbolic thought, is expressed then in the word
keorí, the echo, the shadow, the image, the essence. Used as a verb,
keorí means to measure or to take the measure of something, and
our informant explains that "the echo is the measure of sound."
Mahsíri is to know, and mahse is man, a person, a thinking being.
A man is he who sees and hears the echo and thus knows. A man
is he who knows the symbolism of things, objects, acts, events, and
who has the capacity to establish chains of symbolic associations,
which become more and more abstract. Conversely, a man is one
who can reduce an abstract concept to its simplest symbolic ex-
pression.
The ability of conceiving resides in the ka'í, the mind of the per-
son. The ka'í permits man to reftect; man comes to "stabilize" bis
thoughts and emotions by reftecting. This cognitive act is designated
as pesi k'ranyeári, a term derived from peri/to hear, to understand,
k'rapíri/to step, and nyeári/to seize. Mentally, this expression is
accompanied by a fixed image: a man standing upright, firmly
planted on the ground as a cosmic axis, stepping firmly. Mere un-
derstanding, pesi turáge ( derived from tulári/force) is something
very different because it only refers to intellectual agility, good
memory, and eloquence, but "to understand-step-seize" embraces a
more profound dimension because it leads to wisdom and not simply
to knowledge. To achieve this state of reftection, of "stabilization"
and equilibrium, is the ideal of a Desana man because only then
<loes he find security through the comprehension of religion and its
function in the life of society. But in arder to achieve this goal it
is necessary to hear the echo of things; in other words, it is neces-
sary to know the ramifications of the symbolic system and to be
able to reduce them to their elemental bases.
When speaking of symbolism in its diverse manifestations, the
informant frequently made associations of ideas that were difficult
for us to follow. When we questioned him in greater detail, he sim-
ply said that "thought jumps," meaning that ideas, or complexes of
Symbols and Associations · 95
ideas, are easily associated and, for him, have a meaningful form.
It was obvious that these "jumps" represented precisely the most
essential part of symbolic thought and would give the key to its
structure and functioning. We therefore attempted systematically
to follow these "jumps" each time they carne up in the course of our
conversations, and soon certain patterns began to emerge, certain
"plays" one might say, which fell within a series of fixed rules. This
observation, which led to a large accumulation of data, permitted
us to establish a sequence of levels of abstraction, as follows:
4-cosmic energy
3-sexual energy of the biosphere
2-personal sexual physiology
1-metaphor-metonymy
"object-act-event-etc."
We must explain this sequence in greater detail. Taking an "ob-
ject, act, event, etc." as point of reference, it can be transformed by
metaphor or metonymy to give it a figurative expression. Referring
in Desana, to a fluff of cotton, it can be said, for example, that "it
is an ornament." As a matter of fact, the same word-buyá-is
also a synonym for semen, and immediately the connection with
the sphere of sexual physiology results. Furthermore, if the ex-
pression "to waste cotton" is employed, we come to a more abstract
level on which the use or waste of cotton is equated with a sexual
act that, because prohibited, diminishes the energetic potential
of the biosphere. When we speak then of the "ornament of the Sun,"
we come to a cosmic level, a reference to solar energy; the "cotton
of the Sun" is an expression of this energy.
But let us take another example. A man observes a nest contain-
ing sorne small parrots. On a metaphorical level the nest is com-
pared to a woman, a parallel established because tacitly a nest is a
uterus. The act of the little parrots' squawking and of impatiently
opening their beaks in anticipation of being fed is converted into a
symbol of expectancy, of sexual frustration, the occupants of the
nest waiting for "food" in the form of semen. Then comes another
jump; the image of the nest with its small occupants represents an
important phase in the circuit of sexual energy of the terrestrial
world, a phase of transformation of the egg into a bird and of the
fledgling into an adult. On a cosmic level, the squawking of the
little birds is transformed into an imploring attitude of mankind
that clamors to the Sun F ather so that he will give life and fertility.
A few more complex examples will demonstrate the forms these
connections take. We shall analyze the phrase: "They went to fish."
As only men fish, reference is made to only one object, the fish. On
the metaphorical level, then, the phrase turns out this way: "Fish
are women," a comparison tacitly understood by all because it is
known that Desana women come from exogamic phratries associ-
ated with fish, that the river is a female element, and that fish is a
food of female character, that is to say, this quality is intrinsically
attributed to it. When the river is taken as a cause and the fish as an
effect, one can then use the metonymy: "The women of the
river. .." Now, "to fish the women of the river" acquires a dis-
tinctly erotic meaning because "the women" are naturally those of
the fishing phratries, i.e., the Pira-Tapuya, Tukano, Uanano, and
others. This is then the second level, on which the expression "They
went to fish" has the meaning of cohabitation. The next "jump"
takes us to the plane of the biosphere because now what it attempted
is an interpretation in terms of reciprocity. "To fish" means to main-
tain the rules of exogamy and thus to contribute to the maintenance
of sexual energy on the terrestrial plane. From there to the cosmic
circuit is only a short step. The act of fishing is transformed i:qto a
religious attitude of participation in the universal balance. Mere,
the fisherman is converted into a stabilizer of a dualistic Universe, a
stabilizer of principies that must continuously be renewed in order
to assure existence. The simple phrase "They went to fish" ultimately
expresses an essentially sacred act.
We shall look briefly at another example. lt is said, in sorne story,
that "The flutes made a monotonous sound." The initiated im-
mediately understands its significan ce because the object ( flute) is
played ( act) monotonously only on a certain ceremonial occasion
( event). The metaphor is expressed by saying that the sound is
"dirty," and metonymy adds that "it sounds like a horsefly." lt is
now necessary to know the following associations: to play the flute
always has a sexual connotation and is an attitude of excitation and
invitation; but to play it monotonously and with a "dirty" sound
means the contrary and is a warning, an admonishment to curb
sexuality. The flutes of monotonous sound promulgate the divine
law of exogamy and of reciprocity in order to keep the circuit of
cosmic energy closed. The comparison with the horsefly refers to its
threatening buzz, which in Desana musical language represents the
divine prohibition (see p. 59), that is, prohibition against the act of
biting-cohabiting.
We shall end this brief introduction with sorne observations and
general deductions. The cultural focus of the Desana is the hunt,
and as hunters they live in close contact with their natural environ-
ment. Their home is the forest, the same jungle that is the home of
the game animals they pursue; in this intimate association, the roles
of hunter and hunted are sometimes reversed. There is only one
Creation, only one potential of energy in which all participate, both
men and animals. The hunter needs animals to be able to live and
to procreate new generations and must, therefore, foster the increase
of the species. The game animals, on the other hand, according to
the Desana, acknowledge the interest of the hunter in their increase
and thus become bis dependents. But at the same time they fear that
human sexuality, which always diminishes the total potential, may
set a limit to their own powers of procreation. The principle under-
lying this interdependence is the concept of the great circuit. The
sexual act executed freely leads to multiplication; repressed, it leads
to the restriction of the species. Only its selective control, by man,
establishes a balance and guarantees survival.
The central preoccupation of Desana religious thinking is the
control of human and animal fertility, and around this fundamental
nucleus revolves the language of their myths and the message of
their ceremonies and dances, their moral norms, their social and
economic relationships, in other words, all of their institutions and
cultural patterns. It is not sex in its carnal, erotic meaning that pre-
occupies them but the simple fact of male fertilizing power that acts
upon female principle and thus creates a new being. Sexuality is
thus the most simple expression of an economic principle. The Crea-
tion of the Universe was the primordial fertilizing act that estab-
lished the great model for the continuity of life thus created. But
Creation, for the Desana, resulted in essentially two beings, man
and animals, the hunter and bis prey. Since then, the fertility and
fecundity of both have been the great framework within which
existence and life are developed. Outside of this framework, there
is no possible place for the Desana.
THE SYMBOLIC VALUE OF NATURE

In continuation, we shall describe a series of phenomena that have
symbolic value for the Desana and establish significant associations
for them.
Sun. This is the principal factor of cosmic energy; it is the fertiliz-
ing power and the Creator of the Universe. lt is also the principie
of good. The Sun Father is the primogenic phallus, also designated
as "bone." The power of its energy is expressed by its hot and yellow
light, which has the characteristics of semen. The Sun and its halo
is the symbol of the maloca within its defensive fence. The feather
headdress symbolizes the Sun with its rays. The animals associated
with the Sun, the carriers of its benefic power by means of their
color, are the jaguar, the cock-of-the-rock, the tinamou, the macaw,
the squirrel, and the bee.
Moon. lt represents male carnal and incestuous sexuality. lts
saliva (dew) has a fertilizing power anda power of growth, espe-
cially for plants with medicinal and magical properties.
Stars. They fertilize the earth with their saliva ( dew), which has
a seminal character. There are male and female stars, and a shoot-
ing star signifies coitus.
Milky Way. lt is a path, a stormy current, a skein of palm fibers
that ftoats in the wind. lt is the zone of communication and of hallu-
cinatory phenomena where the divinities that serve as intermediaries 1
between the Sun and mankind are located. lt is also the zone of
illnesses and of the forces that send them to earth. The harpies and
buzzards, consumers of sickness and of all that is putrid, live there.
As a sphere of communication, it has an ambivalent character be-
cause man can establish a supernatural contact for good or evil.
Lightning. lt is: a) a glance the Sun casts upon the earth; b) the
product of a payé who throws bis quartz cylinder at an enemy; c)
a fertilizing force that impregnates the earth with its crystal-semen.
lt is associated with the jaguar because of its fertilizing power and
its "roar."
Rainbow. lt is a sign of fertility, associated with the vagina of the
Daughter of the Sun. 1
1. From sorne fragmentary data it appears that the rainbow is a kind of
cosmic vagina; consequently, the act of pointing at it with the finger
(phallus) is prohibited.
Clouds. They are: a) carriers of fertilizing rain; b) instruments

of an evil payé who prepares a tempest.
Rain. It is a symbol of fertility and semen; it comes from the
Milky Way.
Centipede. lt licked the blood of the first birth of the Daughter of
Aracú and, since then, its bite produces a pain similar to that of
childbirth. Moreover it is compared to an umbilical cord.
Ant. This stinging ant licked the blood of the first birth of the
Daughter of Aracú and, because of this, its bite causes people to
vomit.
Ant. Edible species. It has a male, and phallic, connotation, re-
lated to its odor and to the act of "biting." lts yellow secretion is
compared with semen.
Termite. This insect is compared with semen and is "pure" food.
Mojojoi. (Calandra palmarum). The white meat of this larva is
compared to semen and is said to be an aphrodisiac, but its soft
body also symbolizes impotence. lt is a "pure" food.
Cockroach. The meat of an edible species is compared to semen.
Spider. The black, hairy kind, which inflicts a painful bite, licked
the blood of the first birth of the Daughter of Aracú and ever since
its bite produces strong pains. lt symbolizes the vagina, in a sense
of latent danger. The spiderweb is compared to the placenta.
Bee. lt is a solar animal, a produced of honey or semen. lt sym-
bolizes the collection of food, a male activity.
Aracú. This fish is a phallic animal, the procreator of the prin-
cipal sib of the Desana. Parts of its anatomy are compared to semi-
nal liquid, and the process of its ovulation is compared with hum~
procreation. lt may also symbolize a female aquatic principie (v.
Daughter of Aracú).
Wind. lt is an agent of communication associated with the blue
sphere of the Milky Way and, as a consequence, of ambivalent
character; it serves as a vehicle to send sickness and is invoked to
carry it away.
Forest. lt is a male principie.
Hills. They are the "houses" of the game animals of the forest,
imagined as large malocas of a uterine character.
River. It is a female principie. Along the rivers extend the um-
bilical cords that unite the individual with the uterine paradise of
Ahpikondiá.
Rapids. They are the "houses" of the fish, imagined as large sub-
aquatic malocas of a uterine character.
Water. lt is essentially a female element but with an ambivalent
character. When associated with the amniotic liquid, it represents
sickness, but otherwise it has a purifying character.
Fire. It is the source of vital transformation associated with the
Sun by its heat, color, and light. lt is associated with coitus and
food. Its light is also the source of communication. lt is associated
with the color red and yellow.
Firewood. It represents accumulated or condensed male energy.
Ashes. These are of ambivalent character; as ashes from tires
they are associated with fertility, but they also represent the Great
World Pire.
Smoke. lt is the principie of communication with the supernat-
ural forces, especially in the form of tobacco smoke. lt is also a
purifying agent and can even have a seminal character. lt is asso-
ciated with the color blue and with the male principie.
Hollow trunk. lt represents a female principie of uterine protec-
tion.
Quartz. In its crystalline and opaque form it symbolizes semen.
Its fertilizing power can be favorable in the curing of sicknesses, but
directed with evil intentions, it can be lethal. lt is associated with
the Sun and with all the phallic beings as well as with a range of
colors: transparent-white-yellow.
Decay, rotten matter. They symbolize sickness and can be the
cause of it. The main association is with entangled vegeta-6Íe fibers
that represent semen; as a consequence, an association with the
Milky Way, harpies and buzzards, and with all animals that feed
on carrion.
Jaguar. As the principal representative of the Sun, it symbolizes
the fertilizing energy of nature. It is the protector of the maloca and
of the forest. By its color, it is associated with fire, and by its roar
with thunder. It is closely associated with the payé because what the
payé is for society, the jaguar is for all of nature; the jaguar and the
payé are not identified but are equivalents.
Deer. lt represents a female principie of strong sexual attraction.
The <leer is the most "human" animal of the forest; it symbolizes
cleanliness.
Tapir. It symbolizes gluttony and brute force. Quite often it

symbolizes the male dominance over the women of another phratry
or tribe.
Paca. lt symbolizes fertility.
Howler monkey. It is an evil ornen that foreshadows bad luck
and witchcraft. lt does not howl but "weeps."
Coati. The small size of its penis is considered exemplary for the
Desana.
Opossum. lt is associated with bad odor and the fties attracted by
it. Its pouch, naked tail, and baculum have marked erotic connota-
tions.
Squirrel. By its color it is a solar animal, but at the same time it
represents carnal sexuality. Its tail combines a phallic aspect with
the representation of the vagina. lts teeth represent a magical force
that gnaws and perforates.
Guinea pig. lt symbolizes agility and cunning; it is a friend of
man, sometimes a trickster. Quite often it represents female lascivi-
ousness.
Anteater. The size of its sexual organs make it a symbol of sexual
potency; however, its long flexible tangue is sometimes a symbol of
impotence. lt is the defender of all other animals. When pursued
and cornered, it tries to castrate the hunter with its sharp claws.
Sloth. It observed the first coitus of the Daughter of Aracú who,
as a punishment, converted it into a very slow animal.
Armadillo. By its shell, it is a uterine animal. lt also symbolizes
astuteness by hiding itself and by making itself "invisible"; its shell
is compared with the protection a maloca gives. /
Bat. lt symbolizes the vagina; by its association with blood (suck-
ing) it symbolizes menstruation and dysentery. lts hanging position
is compared with that of the embryo in the uterus. lt is the friend
and herald of the spirits of the forest.
Harpy and buzzard. Because they eat carrion, they are important
agents in the curing of illnesses. They are associated with the Milky
Way.
Oropendola. By the form of their purse-shaped nests, they are
uterine animals important in the curing of sickness; they eliminate
diseases with their strong beaks just as they eliminate the insects
that come near their nests. They are examples for those who take
good care of their progeny. By their yellow feathers, they are as-
sociated with the Sun. Their nests can also be compared with testi-
cles.
Tinamou. Because of its yellow color it is a solar animal. The
Sun itself considered it as the most perfect achievement of bis Crea-
tion. lt represents gentleness and esthetic beauty. lts meat is "pure"
food.
Hummingbird. It is the ancestral animal of the Desana. lt repre-
sents the penis, and the act of "sucking honey" symbolizes the sexual
act. It is an expression of beauty and joy. lt takes very good care of
its nest. Its long beak is invoked to remove sickness. The hum of its
flight is a warning that promulgates the law of exogamy.
Trumpeter. lt is a good ornen and the guardian of the maloca,
especially of children. lts keen sight permits it to see approaching
illness. lts meat is "pure" food.
Woodpecker. lts red head and long beak symbolize the penis.
Duck. lt symbolizes joy and serenity. lts feathers are imperme-
able, and when it swims, the duck fl.oats on the water like a sick
person must "fl.oat" in order to be cured. A certain duck with a red
head symbolizes the vagina.
Tijereto. Its agility when it dives and rapidly rises from the water
is an example for a sick person who must "rise from the waters of
illness."
Curassow. It observed the first coitus of the Daughter of Aracú
who condemned it to have a red neck, "like the testicles of the first
Desana."
Macaw. Because of its red and orange color it is a solar animal.
Parakeet. lt symbolizes the concept of uterine protection because
it makes its nest in hollow tree trunks.
Owl. As guardian of graves and cemeteries it symbolizes death.
Anaconda. It is a uterine and maternal symbol, a devourer and
destroyer, but at the same time it is a procreator. As an aquatic
snake, "it springs from the waters" and has the connotation of putrid
matter, of a pathogenic "residue." Sometimes it also symbolizes the
negative, lethal aspect of male sexuality. lt is associated with the
color black.
Boa constrictor. This snake symbolizes the male principie and
is opposed to the anaconda in every sense. Because of its bright
coloring and its undulating movements it symbolizes the joy of

dancing.
Morrocoy. lt is a uterine animal that represents protection, but
as it feeds on carrion it is associated with illnesses. lts strong bite
is emphasized. In myths it has a mischievous character and often
appears as a trickster.
Aquatic turtle. It observed the first birth of the Daughter of Aracú
and since then it resembles the vagina. lt must not be eaten, espe-
cially not after an erotic dream, because it causes a skin rash, fever,
and vomiting.
Lizard. (Plica plica L.) It is the representative or personification
of Vaí-mahse. lt symbolizes the penis by its tail, which it "whips,"
and by a red pocket on its throat.
Lizard. lt symbolizes the kumú. The spines of its tail represent a
principie of supernatural communication.
Tatacoa. It symbolizes sexual impotence.
Stingray. The stingray is the placenta of the first birth of the
Daughter of Aracú. Its sting produces pains similar to those of
childbirth, and in the victim's vomit there appear small stingrays.
Mojarra. This fish carries in its head a yellowish liquid that is
compared to semen.
Minnow. This is a solar animal because of the "crystalline" tex-
ture of its meat, which is compared with semen. lt is "pure" food.
Crab. Because of the appearance of its meat it is compared to
semen; because of its slow and cauti6us movements it is invoked to
take care of the sick.
The foregoing list certainly does not include all of the animals or
other phenomena that have symbolic value for the Desana, but it
does contain the principal species that play a role in their daily life
and thought. We must now ask what criterion of selection is used
whereby certain animals have a place in the symbolic language and
others are ignored. Among the Desana, as in any other culture,
certain stereotyped animals are distinguished that, for them, repre-
sent human characteristics considered culturally desirable or unde-
sirable. Sorne of these characteristics warn of dangers while others
herald the good; again others simply express a certain quality. The
emphasis is obviously on those animals that, in sorne manner, ex-
press a sexual symbolism, by their total form or only in part, by their
color, or by their activities. This symbolism is, of course, of great

importance in daily life because it is directly connected with food,
dreams, and omens, and on the basis of this symbolism associations
of ideas are established that, ultimately, dominate a large sector of
the activities of the individual. The symbolism of animals is then one
of the fundamental bases of Desana thought and represents an op-
erational system that permits the management and expression of
motivations and values, together with their cultural goals.
THE MALOCA
The large malocas ( ví'i) have a rectangular, elongated ground plan
and hip roof of thatch that slopes in a longitudinal direction. 2 Some-
times the rear part of the maloca is rounded, but this form is now
disappearing. The structure has two doors, a main door in the front
that faces the landing (nyahári dihsipóro; from nyahári/to enter,
dihsípo/female mouth, poro/leaf), and another secondary one on
the opposite end ( viariári dihsipóro; from viariárijto leave). In the
orientation of a maloca not the sun but the river is taken as a point
of reference, and because it is thought that all the rivers run east,
the maloca has thus its "eastern" and "western" side.
The construction of a maloca is carried out by communal labor
on the part of the members of the sib ( or sibs) who are going to
occupy it, and it takes about three months. As materials of construc-
tion, only wood and palm leaves ate used, these being selected very
carefully. The first step consists in erecting a series of strong house
posts joined with transverse beams to form the base of the structure.
Over these beams longitudinal poles are placed to form a frame-
work, and on top of these the supports for the thatch are placed.
The doors are covered with twined mats of palm leaves, which can
be rolled up like window blinds. A well-constructed maloca can
last for severa} generations if the thatch is changed about every four
years and if the beams and poles are replaced periodically. If a
maloca is totally destroyed by decay or fire, it is generally recon-
structed on the same spot even though the economic potential of the
adjacent region has diminished in the meantime.
In each of these large communal houses reside the members of
one or more patrilineal sibs. Sometimes the interior has partitions
2. Por a study of Tukano architecture see Rodríguez, 1966.

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Ritual Distribution of a Maloca
of woven palm leaves and, generally, the nuclear families live along
the walls in the rear half with the families of higher status occupy-
ing the area closest to the middle. The front area is reserved for
visitors.
The symbolic associations referring to a maloca are the follow-
ing: the maloca is the uterus of the sib and as such its structure
corresponds to that of the Cosmos. The most important part of the
structure is formed by the "three red jaguars," represented by three
pairs of large forked posts and their respective beams, located at
the two extremes and in the center of the building. These three
"jaguars," which are sometimes painted red and adorned with black
spots, are interpreted as the guardians and the most important fe-
cundating forces of the dwelling; they "cover" ( beári) the occu-
pants. Another important structural unit is formed by a large longi-
tudinal beam that joins horizontally the three jaguars and in turn
is connected by vertical supports to another large beam that forms
the ridge of the roof. This central beam is called gumú and is
thought to be the representation of the Sun priest (kumú). Al-
though it is laid horizontally, it has the meaning of a "ladder" that
penetrates the cosmic levels and forms an axis. The inclined poles
that form the framework of the roof are called vahsúni and are
phallic elements; they are identified with the male members of the
sib. In the case of conflict with neighbors, piec~s of wood are cut
that represent these vahsúni and serve as punit1ve arms to be used
against the enemy. The roof is placed over the framework provided
by the vahsúni and consists of interwoven palm leaves identified
with mihí-mahse, the "Owner of the Roof" or "Owner of Leaves."
The large, stout house posts, cracked and with deep fissures, are
believed to be the preferred hiding places for the essence of illness.
Being phallic symbols, they are exposed to much magical aggres-
sion and therefore should be protected with gre.at care. For this,
the payé pretends to put an imaginary fishing net ( vehé díge; from
vehéri/to kill, díge/net) at each door to trap the diseases that want
to enter the maloca. These funnel-shaped nets extend somewhat
into the interior of the maloca, and their oval-shaped openings con-
sist of two parallel, elastic sticks separated by a short crosspiece.
When a maloca is being constructed, work that ends with a puri-
fication ritual, certain trees are planted around it-muenge,
merenge, and uyunge-that serve as observation posts for the "an-
cient eagles." These are mythical birds with white heads and "beaks
smeared with coca juice" that feed on illnesses or on all that is con-
sidered rotten. When sickness or evil spirits fall into the nets hung
on the doors, the eagles fly down rapidly from the trees and remove
the crosspiece; the net is closed, and the eagles devour the illnesses
and throw the nets into the Milky Way.
It is imagined that there is an invisible cape or shell covering the
entire maloca "like a placenta." Around the maloca, surrounding
the circular clearing, is imagined a large fence (imike yaru; from
imikéya/a palm, lriartea exorrhiza Mart.) identical to that used in
fishing, a sort of close-woven grating made of thin sticks. The ce-
lestial model for this fence is the halo of the sun that, in this case,
is identified with a maloca. This fence gives great protection to the
dwelling because no evil infiuence, sickness, or harmful animal can
penetrate it. "To fence the maloca" (sanisáni) is a very important
concept in the invocations of the payés.
The front of the maloca, formed of large pieces of flattened bark,
is painted with yellow clay, charcoal, and vegeta ble colors to repre-
sent Ahpikondiá as seen in yajé-induced hallucinations. Over this
base diverse black or white motifs are drawn that symbolize pamurí-
gahsíru, the Snake-Canoe. Also painted on the wall are the designs
on the skin of the boa ( mahka píru) and a series of black circles
that imitate the anaconda, symbolizing in thislcase drops of semen. 3
The interior of the maloca is a sacral space that is imagined as
being divided according to a complex scheme. The function of this
scheme is demonstrated mainly on the occasion of ceremonial
gatherings and dances. In the first place, the rectangular ground
plan is imagined as divided by the "three jaguars" into two sectors,
the anterior, close to the main door and associated with the color yel-
low and the male sex, and the posterior sector toward the back door
that is associated with the color red and the female sex. The in-
fluence of these colors is expressed in opposites, the male sector
imagined as being bathed in red light by the refiection(gohserí) of
the female sector, which in turn refiects the yellow of the male
sector. Moreover, the red part (lying under the yellow refl.ection)
is said to occupy a somewhat higher level than the sector from
3. The custom of painting the front of the maloca is disappearing at the

present time and is only conserved in a few isolated regions.
which the yellow light emanates, thus repeating the image of two
superimposed cosmic planes.
The central dividing line in a transverse direction is thought to
be indicated by the "second jaguar" and is called the "road of
pamurí-gahsíru," which in its mythical journey traveled from east
to west. At the center of this line, the true center of the maloca, a
wooden seat is placed from which the kumú or payé officiates and
recites on the occasion of reunions. It is also the place where the
dancers adorn themselves before a feast. lt is the most sacred spot
in the maloca: "The furor of the jaguar resides in the center of the
ridgepole; it was the Sun who put this power there,'' says our in-
formant.
The front door of the maloca has a male character and the back
door a female one. Only the inhabitants of the maloca use the back
door, and visitors enter or leave by the front door.
In many invocations it is said that "the Sun covers a man in his
maloca as if he were under a gourd cup." The expression beári vi'í,
"to cover the house,'' "that which hides us, protects us," is fre-
quently repeated in the invocations against sickness. The protective
quality of the maloca is also mentioned in terms of its protecting
"shade" under which the sibs seek refuge. At the same time, the
maloca is verbalized as "attractive" and is identified with the snake
mahka píru; of this snake it is said that "it breathes like a magnet,''
and thus it attracts to the maloca "the goed life" and the protection
of Diroá-mahse, the Blood People in charge of the physical well-
being of mankind.
The hearth is called peame'e ( from peá/firewood, mee /fire). In
the ashes various pot-stands made of coarse clay are placed (peam-
e'e yeri; from yéri/round hollow thing). These stands are approxi-
mately hourglass-shaped and are tubular and open at both ends. On
top of them rests the large circular earthenware plate that is used
to prepare cassava bread and manioc ftour, or the cooking vessels
are placed on them. Symbolically the hearth represents the uterus,
and "it is the sign of how humanity was born,'' because the yellow
ftames symbolize the fertility of the Sun and the red ftames the fe-
cundity of nature. The vessels and the plate represent the Creation.
The hearth is thus an instrument of cosmic transformation, a cruci-
ble. The pot-stands placed in the fire are a "contact,'' that is, they
unite the cosmic levels, but, apart from this, they symbolize sexual
organs, be it the penis ( cylindrical and "canal" -shaped form) or the

vagina (tubular and funnel-shaped form). The word yéri is an al-
lusion to the vagina; but of a large penis, it is said that it "looks
like a pot-stand."
Pire is produced with a fire-drill (peamii'e sarirí/fire-to rotate)
that consists of two small sticks of soft wood tied together side by
side in whose union a vertical stick of hard wood is made to rotate.
Also, a friable piece of sandstone provided with small cup-shaped
pits can be used as a base. It is curious to observe that the act of
producing fire in this way does not have a symbolic interpretation-
at least it does not in the data at our disposal.
A distinction is always made between the hearth used for cooking
(peamee) and the fire for illumination (gohséri peamee; from
gohséri/light, reflection). Pire is in itself a cosmic symbol of energy
because its components are the yellow and red of the flames and the
blue of the smoke. lt is "a part of the Sun Pather." lt is also a sym-
bol of life and of transformation; fire destroys but also creates, and
the act of cooking has, as we shall see later, a fundamental impor-
tance in the symbolic system. Also, the vitality of a sick person is
compared with fire, and in curative invocations one speaks of the
"yellow fire," the "medium-yellow fire," the "red fire," the "very
pale fire," the "fire with much light," the "opaque fire," or the "fire
that goes out little by little." It may be added here that one should
never urinate in the fire because as a punishment the anacondas will
come and occupy the hearth.
We must now consider the immediate surroundings of the ma-
loca. The magic fence that surrounds it is "the limit of the Uni-
verse," and the circular space enclosed by it offers security and
protection. Various trails start from this circle, equally protected
with "fences," that connect the maloca to the landing and to the
fields. The landing place is often situated on a rapid where there
are large boulders and where deep pools are formed. There the
personifications of Vaí-mahse and Diroá-mahse live. The former
is invoked so that he will not let the anacondas approach the land-
ing but prepare for them instead a passage to sorne other spot, up
or down river. Moreover, the landing is under the protection of
Diroá-mahse because it is the place where the umbilical cord of the
individual connects the maloca with Ahpikondiá. The landing space
is divided into three sections: the part lying upriver, which is desig-
nated as the "men's landing" (e meya perá), the one lying down-
river, which is the "women's landing" (noméya perá), and the
space in between (dehkó-maha perá) where both sexes gather to
chat and where the payé has his apprenticeship and officiates in
certain rituals.
The safest places outside of the maloca itself are the zone im-
mediately surrounding it, the landing, and the trails that lead to the
fields. Sexual intercourse takes place in these places where rites are
celebrated, and here people can live without danger because the
magic fences protect them.
ÁRTIFACTS
Many objects of Desana material culture, and not only those that
form part of their ceremonial paraphernalia, contain a profound
symbolic meaning. We shall describe sorne of these objects, destined
for the most diverse uses.
The small benches (seá-peno) men sit on are carved from a
single block of wood and, according to the Desana, their function
is not only to offer physical rest to the body but also to aid mental
concentration. ldiomatically, this idea is expressed in man y forms;
for example, of a person who lacks good judgment, it is said that
"he does not have a bench," "he does not know how to be seated"
(doámahsimbeami; from doári/to sit down, mahsíri/to know,
beami/negation). One might also use the expression doára bohka-
beámi (from bohkári/to find); i.e., a person who cannot find a
place to think, one who is unstable and untrustworthy. If a person
of bad habits sits down on a bench, it will harm him, justas a sick
person is harmed by a very strong medicine because "the beneficient
force of the bench does not find a field to act upon and thus does
harm to the person."
The wooden bench is thus a symbol of stability and wisdom. The
Sun Father and Pamurí-mahse had their benches at the time of
Creation. When one sits on a bench, one is protected by all the be-
nevolent powers, especially by Emekóri-mahse and Diroá-mahse.
The bench contains in itself a cosmic and fertility symbolism that
is verbalized in the following manner: the lower part, the feet prop-
erly speaking, is of a white or yellowish color and represents the
seminal power of A hpikondiá; the flat surface of the bench is our
world and is decorated with the black and red designs that represent
. Symbols and Associations · 111
pamurí-gahsíru. Sitting on a bench is a procreating and protecting

posture that, at the same time, forms a yellow-red-blue cosmic axis
with the last element, that of communication, being expressed by
the seated and thinking person. "The flat part of the seat is our
earth; the yellow part is the security that gives the 'yellow world';
above is man with his thought," the informant says. 4 Only adult
men should use these benches, and women never.
In the puberty ritual for boys, different benches are invoked:
that "having white feet, that which is entirely white, painted,
striped," and so on; and the payé asks the supernatural beings to
concede that the life of the youth be similar from now on to "a
bench with white feet."
A special bench is carved in the form of an armadillo and is
called pamú-séro/armadillo bench. lt is mainly used by the payés
when they go to the landing for the ceremonial smoking of tobacco,
or by old men or old women when they give advice to young peo-
ple. The symbolism of the armadillo is based, in thise case, on the
ability of this animal to dig a hole rapidly in the ground, that is,
"deepening himself" as the informant expresses it. The person who
sits on this bench "does as the armadillo does" when it penetrates
the earth and makes contact with A hpikondiá. Seated on this bench
"one thinks hard" (pesí tuláge) (from pesíri/to think, tulári/force,
ge /suffix) or with concentration.
Musical instruments have a very complex symbolism because in
this instance the fundamental criterion of interpretation is not only
the specific form of the instrument but the type of sound fñat the
instrument produces. We can classify these objects into wind instru-
ments, vibration instruments, and precussion instruments. 5
On many occasions, youths as well as adult men play panpipes
( veó-páme: from veó/cane, páme/composed of parallel objects).
The number of tubes and the size of these panpipes vary according
to the age of those who are playing them and according to the oc-
casion on which these instruments are played. If the player is be-
tween five and nine years of age, the panpipe will have only three
tubes; the boys who have attained puberty have flutes that are sorne-
4. The person seated on a little bench is a frequent motif in Colombian
archeology and probably represents a formalized ritual position.
5. For an extraordinarily interesting analysis of the acoustical code of
the Amazonian Indians see Lévi-Strauss, 1966.
what larger, having from four to five tubes, and adult men play even
larger instruments composed of eight or nine tubes. Again, we find
in these instruments a sexual symbolism explained by the informant
in the following terms: the development of the sexual organs is com-
pared with the number and size of the tubes. The instrument and
the sounds it produces-sustained whistles-symbolize male sexu-
ality, first latent, then fully developed. The act of playing the in-
strument is compared directly with the sex act. It is usual for the
youths to play their panpipes on the trail to the forest or on the
riverbanks because this music is sexually exciting to Vaí-mahse and
thus contributes to the fertility of the game animals.
The large flutes played on the occasion of the yuruparí ceremony
(see pp. 166 ff) are painted yellow, but the upper part, the mouth-
piece, is red. On the upper and lower edges of the rectangular aper-
ture two thin, movable blades are fastened that must be gauged with
precision before the instrument can be played. We mentioned that
there are two flutes, one male and the other female. The male flute
produces a sustained sound that excites, while the sound produced
by the female flute is interpreted as a threatening vibration. In these
two instruments we then have a combination of two principies, one
that invites incitingly and the other that rebuffs threateningly. The
symbolism of these two actions was explained by the informant as
the promulgation of exogamic norms.
We find the vibrant sound in other large flutes in which the tone
is also gauged by a thin, movable vibrating blade. 6 This flute is
called mehte palo, a name derived from mehte/fly, and páli/to
touch slightly, to pet. The vibrating reed is compared to a large
fly, a horsefly, which is licking or "petting," anc!_!he act of playing
these flutes is interpreted again as the sexual act insinuated but not
consummated. This instrument is also characteristic of youths and
adolescents, and involved when it is played is an erotic game well
known to all. Especially when a group of girls goes to bathe in the
river, the playing of these instruments causes great hilarity among
both men and women.
Another instrument that produces a vibrant sound is made from
a turtle shell. The upper end of the plastron is covered with a thick
lump of black beeswax; when the shell is kept tightly under the left
6. For a detailed description see Izikowitz, 1935, pp. 337-42; Koch-
Grünberg, 1909, 1 :299.
arm and the wax is rubbed with the palm of the hand, the instrument
produces a rapid croaking sound. The object is called peyú vári/
turtle-to scratch, and symbolizes the vagina and clítoris of the
Daughter of the Sun, clearly indicating its threatening character. 7
In sorne gatherings and rituals the men use long, thin stick-rattles.
These lance-shaped objects are adorned at their lower end with
yellow feathers and have an oblong, sonorous chamber containing
fruit kernels that produce a strong rattling hum when the stick is
shaken. This stick is called ye'e-ge (from yeru/penis, ye'éri/to
cohabit, -ge/male suffix). Being a phallic symbol, the stick is es-
sentially a cosmic axis. When it is stuck vertically in the ground, it
is imagined that its lower part, called "yellow," penetrates to Ahpi-
kondiá, while the sonorous "blue" part represents the communi-
cation with the Milky Way. The central "red" part where the payé
or another man grasps it is symbolic of our world. Moreover, the
small, dry kernels in its resonating chamber are called "embryos"
(se'erí) and are precisely the elements that communicate the warn-
ing. The rattle-sticks are an important symbol of power of the payé
and, theoretically, each sib possesses one of these ritual objects. The
sound is "the voice of the sib" or "the voice of the payé" because
he is the representative of his group. 8
We have already mentioned the bull-roarer, another musical in-
strument of vibrating sound, in another section (see p. 59) .9
Passing on now to the percussion instruments, we shall first men-
tion the drum. In times past, the Desana used large drums that con-
sisted of a thick, hollow cylinder carved from á-slngle tree trunk.
The wood was the same as that used for the manufacture of canoes.
These drums had a longitudinal opening in the form of two circular
perforations joined by a straight slit. The instrument was suspended
horizontally from ropes held up by a frame of four thick stakes and
placed outside the maloca, near the main door. When the drum was
not in use, it was generally kept in the center of the maloca. 10 The
drum was called toá-toré (from toá/onomatopoetic, toré/cavity,
hollow trunk) and represents the uterus of the sib or phratry. The
7. Izikowitz, 1935, pp. 161-63; Koch-Grünberg, 1909, p. 303.
8. Izikowitz, 1935, pp. 139-40; Koch-Grünberg, 1909, 1 :344 ff.
9. Zerries, 1958.
10. NordenskiOld, 1930; Izikowitz, 1935, pp. 17-33; Koch-Grünberg, 1909,
1 :276.
drumstick (toá-toré padíge) was called the "penis of the Sun," and
the slit represented a vagina. The drum was painted yellow on the
lower outside and red on the upper part; it was also decorated with
the diamonds and stripes of pamurí-gahsíru, the Snake-Canoe. The
drum was thus considered to be a replica of the Snake-Canoe in
which humanity arrived. Generally, the drum was played at dawn
on the day of a gathering, and in the past it was also played on oc-
casions of intertribal war. When the drum was played to convoke
the neighbors, it was "the voice of the uterus" that called the mem-
bers of the group.
Another instrument, the gourd rattle (nyahsánu/to shake), is
divided into three parts: the handle, painted red and symbolizing
the penis and the terrestrial world; a decoration of yellow feathers
where the handle joins the resonating chamber, representing the
fertility of the Sun; and the gourd body, a uterine element. Its ex-
terior is covered with incised motifs that, in part, imitate those that
adorned pamurí-gahsíru. The noise the rattle produces when it is
shaken by a payé is believed to be the "echo" of the sound made by
the thorns and splinters that the payé carries hidden in bis fore-
arm (see p. 129).
Small rattles are made from the dry seeds of a tree ( uaitúge; from
uaití/bell) and, tied to the ankles, are used by the dancers, es-
pecially by prominent "counselors." The word uaitú is derived from
uai/name, and tu'úri/to name, to designate, to point out; the expli-
cation given by the informant is that these rattles call attention to
the name or status of the person who uses them.
In many dances the rhythm is marked by the beat of thick hollow
sticks made of light guarumo (Cecropia) wood. With the lower end
the dancers stomp the ground rhythmically, keeping the stick verti-
cal. These instruments are called borépiidearíyuhke (from boréri/
white, deári/to strike the ground, yuhke/stick, branch). The white
wood is decorated with the black and red designs of the Snake-
Canoe. Although, by their decoration, these stomping tubes are
identified with a uterine concept, they are also interpreted as phallic
objects. According to our informant, these objects are a cultural
borrowing from the Cubeo and are not a traditional Desana ele-
ment.11
11. Métraux, 1928, pp. 214-16; Izikowitz, 1935, pp. 151-59; Koch-
Grünberg, 1909, 1 :336.
Sorne instruments of lesser importance may be mentioned here.

The young men sometimes make small ftutes of tubular deer bone
(nyamá go'á) that they carry on their belts and play on the trails
to the forest orto the riverbanks. lt is said that those boys who dur-
ing their puberty do not show much interest in myths and tradition
become very pale due to the harmful inftuence of these bone ftutes.
"The bone is harmful for those who do not comply with the norms,"
the informant says, alluding to the phallic symbolism of the "bone"
and making it understood that this refers to the prohibition of mas-
turbation. Similar ideas are connected with a musical instrument
made of the cranium of a deer. 12
An instrument that, until sorne two or three generations ago, was
very characteristic of the Desana but today is found only in a few
isolated regions is a kind of ftute or ocarina made of pottery. The
object is shaped like two eones joined at their bases and open at
one end. As this opening is touched rhythmically with the palm of
the hand, one blows over the circular orífice located on the upper
surface. This instrument is called gahpí soró and symbolizes the
vagina of the Daughter of the Sun. 13
We have said above that the musical instruments of the Desana
could be roughly grouped into three categories, wind, vibration, and
percussion instruments. Our informant elaborated on this classifi-
cation in the following manner: the wind instruments, the ftutes,
produce a sustained whistling sound that always has the connotation
of sexual invitation. It is a sound that incites others to commit a
prohibited or, at least, a dangerous act. The deer and certain ro-
dents "whistle," inciting the hunter, just as do certain birds- of prey
that symbolize female sexuality. The opposite sound is that of vi-
bration, a buzzing or humming noise. It is the aggressive male
principie associated with the hummingbird, bees, ants, and the
horsefty, those animals that "buzz" when they fty, that "bite" and
"sting," that "suck honey." The buzzing is a warning, a threat: it
is the voice that warns and thus establishes a dialogue with the
whistling sound. The model of the symbolic interpretation of the
buzzing is, essentially, the sound of the kettle on the tire; water as
it begins to boíl; the combustion of firewood and tobacco; the creak-
12. Koch-Grünberg, 1909, 1 :302.

13. Koch-Grünberg, 1909, 1 :259.
ing of elastic reeds when a basket is being filled; the distant roar and
murmur of the rapids. When he said: "The buzzing is the result of
accumulation," the informant expressed the concept of retained en-
ergy, ready to explode, to overflow. Associated with the buzzing
and humming instruments are the yuruparí ftutes (see pp. 166 ff),
the bull-roarer, and the stick-rattle, when they are swung in a wide,
circular movement. They are "the voices" that warn of the dangers
of incest, promulgate the law, and, finally, conserve sexual energy.
In between these two categories of sounds, the sustained whistle
and the humming buzz, is percussion, the dry clap, the staccato of
realization. These instruments are the drum, the gourd rattle, and
the seed rattles of the dancers; they represent the pecking of the
woodpecker against a hollow tree trunk, or the dry, smacking sound
( "tái-tái-tái") produced by the lizard, symbolic of Vaí-mahse when
he sees a woman. When the drum or the rattle is played, or when
the dancers stomp the ground to make their seed anklets ring, the
act is being fulfilled, they have arrived at a synthesis of opposites. lt
is an act of creation in which male and female energy have united.
But we must deal now with other categories of objects. The
feather crown consists of a ring-shaped, woven base of thin reeds
and fibers, decorated with small feathers placed vertically, with a
series of long, radial feathers added, somewhat spread apart. The
symbolic interpretation of this crown is the following: the little
feathers at the base are yellow and represent the fertility of the Sun
and, at the same time, the "calm, hospitable conduct of the De-
sana." The large radial feathers are blue and signify contact, com-
munication, interpreted here also in sociarlerms. A man of bad
habits cannot put on such a feather crown, a remembrance of the
mythical scene when the Sun took away the feather head-dress from
the moon and gave him a smaller one as a punishment. The kumú
wears a special crown called abé béro ( sun-circle) that consists
only of yellow and red feathers and does not have large tail feathers.
The young boys wear small crowns called ngái poári béro (para-
keet-feathers-circle), made from feathers of small parrots; these
crowns are indicative only of their status as youths. 14
A cultural element characteristic of the Desana, but disappear-
ing now, is the dance shield ( vabéro). It consists of a large disk
14. Koch-Grünberg, 1909, 1 :347, 351.

woven of reeds, sorne sixty centimeters in diameter, with a small,

conical protuberance in the center. The border is decorated with
several feather tassels. The word béro means circle, but the verb
vabéri is to dive, to move the water, and alludes to the similarity
between the shield and the concentric waves produced by an object
as it falls into the water. The verbalization is the following: the
shield protects its bearer against the waves, which are the evil deeds
or intentions of an enemy, or against the revenge of Vaí-mahse.
Besides, it is imagined that the outer part of the. shield reftects a red
light while the interior reftects a pink light, both colors symbolizing
uterine protection. The shield is worn in dances, hanging from the
left forearm, and is generally combined with a stick-rattle. In the
invocations to "protect the good life" the payé gives each man, in
imagination, one of these shields to protect him against evil inftu-
ence. lt is said that the Sun Father, when he created the Universe,
carried a shield on his arm. 15
Another element characteristic of the Desana in former times is
the ritual hoe (yohóka dehpee; from yohó/cumare fibers, dehpee/
branch, hook). The object consists of a wooden hook sorne forty
centimeters in length at whose shorter end a blade of polished stone
or of black wood is fastened by means of yellow vegetable fibers.
The handle is decorated with red feathers of the toucan (Rham-
phastus sp.). During dances, this object was carried over the left
shoulder and held in place by a cord that passed under the armpit.
The hoe is interpreted as a phallic symbol; it is "the power of the
Sun" and represents the fertility of man. The point, or the blade of
stone or wood, is imagined to represent "white semen," and the
fibers of cumare, by their color, signify the same concept. To pro-
create sons is porá ye'éri, but one can also say porá sirí/to hang
sons. The idea is that, as the hoe is hung from a beam in the ma-
loca, thus a son is "hung within tiré uterus." The hoe is the insignia
of Emekóri-mahse, Vihó-mahse, Vaí-mahse, and of the boráro, and
is also associated with a certain constellation of stars. 16
The warclub (gohpébu) is a weapon carved from heavy red
wood. As a lethal weapon, it has a certain sacred character. When
a person suddenly has muscular spasms in sorne part of the body,
15. Koch-Grünberg, 1909, 1 :344, 346.

16. Koch-Grünberg, 1909, 1 :350.
they are interpreted as a presage of death. The person says: "They

are saying gohpé to me," alluding to a blow from a club.
A ceremonial object frequently used is the forked cigar holder
finely carved of hardwood. The thick cigar that is smoked in cere-
monies is placed in this. The object is sorne fifty centimeters in
length and consists of three parts: a long, tapering point that forms
the lower part; two ftat, hourglass-shaped bodies superimposed one
upon the other in the center, and a bifurcation that consists of two
thin prolongations between which the cigar is secured. During its
ceremonial use, the instrument goes from hand to hand among
exogamic phratries to reaffirm their alliance. The interpretation is
again that of a cosmic axis. The point or "yellow" part is imagined
to penetrate to Ahpikondiá; the central part represents our world.
with the male and female elements indicated by the two super-
imposed parts; and the bifurcation continues this sexual symbolism
because it represents a pair of legs between which the cigar is en-
closed, this being the blue, phallic communication. The common
name of this object is murún-ge (from murú/tobacco, -ge/male
suffix) but it is also designated as k'ranyeá doári (from k'rapíri/to
step, nyári/to seize, to assure, and doári/to sit down). This term
expresses an act of affirmation, of assuring, and is verbalized thus:
the forked cigar holder penetrates to A hpikon-diá where its lower
end is firmly embedded, and "when contact is made, children are
born and thus communication is established. The forked cigar
holder is man, as the originator of mankind." 11
The characteristic adornment of the payé or of men of high
status is a short cylinder of white or yellowish quartzite that is perfo-
rated transversely at one end so that it can be suspended from the
neck. The object is called ehtambohóru (from ehtá/stone, bohó!
fragile, -ru/male suffix). Small fragments of quartzite are also put
into the gourd rattles, and the payés carry small pieces of quartz
in their purses. The quartz symbolizes the semen of the Sun, and
the cylinder of quartz is designated as the "penis of the Sun" (abé
yeru). A transparent piece of quartz symbolizes Diroá-mahse,
while one that is somewhat opaque is a symbol of Emekóri-mahse.
We are approaching the end of our discussion of manufactured
objects, and we still have to mention severa} very simple artifacts
17. Koch-Grünberg, 1909, 1: 282.

whose symbolism is reftected in many activities. The bow of the

hunter and the basket in which the woman carries food are two
objects in daily use that best symbolize the two sexes and their re-
spective activities. The man is identified with his bow ( buiri-béru/
to shoot-arc), which is his weapon, his working tool and, even
more, a phallic symbol. In order to make his bow, a man retires to
the riverbank, a solitary place, where no woman can see him. He
carves it and polishes it carefully, rubbing it with the sap of magic
herbs. The women must never touch a bow, nor must a man whose
wife is pregnant or is menstruating touch another's bow, because
the owner of the weapon would lose his skill and all his luck in the
hunt. If by chance a woman happens to touch a bow, its owner
should withdraw for severa! days, consuming only liquid foods and
especially abstaining from eating chili peppers. The best bows are
made by old men who no longer go hunting and who make these
weapons with great skill for their sons or grandsons. At the death of
a hunter, his closest male relative or his wife breaks the bow and puts
it in his grave.
The complementary feminine object is the carrying basket
(puíbu). Daily, the woman brings it, full of fruit, from the field,
carrying it on her back, and empties it and fills it again. This simple
artifact is most intimately identified with feminine tasks. At the
same time, it is a uterine symbol, the recipient continually refilled
and emptied, from which comes the daily food and that, every day,
receives the product of the woman's labor. Because it is identified
with the woman throughout her entire life, the carrying basket is
burned when its owner dies. lt is of interest to note here that the
typical carrying basket that Desana women use is not made by them
but by the Makú. Again, we see an expression of the female position
that this tribe occupies within the culture of their "masters." 18
SIGNS, DREAMS, AND COLORS
We have seen that certain graphic elements have a fixed symbolism,

for example, diamonds and stripes that represent the skin of the
mythical snake that brought the first men. We find these motifs
painted on the front of the malocas as well as on the large drums,
the bench, the gourd rattles, and the ceremonial vessel from which
18. In this respect see the excellent paper by Clastres, 1966.

yajé is served. lt is the graphic expression of a uterine concept

whose model was the snake-progenitor. The opposing motif, mascu-
line and fertilizing, consists of the representation of semen expressed
in the form of a chain of "drops," or rows of points or small circles.
We find it associated sometimes with certain musical instruments
and with the facial paint used by the hunters; The small flutes of the
boys, for example, are decorated by tying threads of fibers around
the tubular shafts of the instrument. The fibers are wrapped in
narrow, spaced bands that mark off segments of the tube. This
decoration varíes on the flutes of adults; in this case, the spaces
between the transverse fibers are filled with crosses made by other
threads, and these crosses symbolize drops of semen.
The facial painting is very similar. The youths paint their faces
above the cheeks with a long rectangle in the form of a bar divided
by a series of short, transverse lines. The adult men, on the other
hand, divide these columns with crosses, or with a combination of
crosses and circles. The informant says: "Each cross or circle is a
drop that man puts into society. It is semen, which creates a new
member of the sib." And speaking about the relationship or these
motifs to the hunt, he adds: "This refers to both, to man and to the
game animals. The animals are the medium for fertility; they foster
human fertility because by eating them man can procreate. At the
same time, men promote the fertility of the game animals." Another
motif sometimes observed in the facial paintings of the youths con-
sists of a short line ending in a spiral element. This drawing repre-
sents the "stinger of a mosquito" ( mehteamé), a phallic symbol
with the connotation of "to inject," to fertilize. Nevertheless, it is
necessary to understand that we are speaking here of boys, and
those who decorate themselves in this manner still do not participate
in the sexual life of the sib. "The mosquito only pets and touches,"
explains our informant.
For another type of facial painting, but with the same meaning of
drops of semen, a yellow sap is used; this sap is viscous and slightly
perfumed and comes from a tree called si'i pénge. Round spots are
painted on the cheeks with the sap as a sign of masculine fertility,
and on the occasion of dances color is mixed with this or other saps
from aromatic plants. In Desana si'i pé means something acid or
bitter, and the word serves as a qualifier of semen in the expression:
eme si'ipé/acid-semen-man, as also of a medicinal infusion of bit-
ter flavor. In Tukano, on the other hand, si'i pé is a synonym for

anus, and among the Makú this expression is used as an insult to
stubborn or stupid persons who do not understand what is said to
them. Obviously, the Makú have borrowed this term from the
Tukano who often speak of the Makú in this way when calling them
stubborn or stupid. The use of such a term of derision for the Makú
is certainly very significant.
With respect to the petroglyphs and pictographs, it is important
to observe that in the "houses of the hills" only painted designs
seem to be involved, while on the large boulders of the rapids, the
"houses of the waters," petroglyphs are deeply engraved in the rock.
Stylistically, the two forms of rock art do not coincide, and it might
be supposed that they correspond to two wide cultural horizons, of
hunters and fishermen, and that these paintings and engravings were
executed in prehistoric times. The uterine symbolism of the subter-
ranean or subaquatic "houses" is certainly very ancient, and the
specific meaning attached to these motifs has probably changed a
great <leal in the course of time, especially with regard to geometri-
cal abstractions. 19
Sorne gestures and attitudes have a symbolic value to the Desana,
and we observe first of all the beneficient meaning of the right side
and the evil of the left. The right side and the right hand mean good
luck, protection, that which is male, cold, and powerful, while the
left is disgrace and defenselessness, the female, the hot and the sub-
missive. Creative power is in the right hand, and the negative and
destructive are in the left. The essence of sickness must always be
gathered up with the right hand in order to eliminate it, because
should it be touched with the left hand the contagion will continue.
Persons of importance sit down on the right, and it is told that the
Daughter of the Sun was always at the left side of her father. If two
men walk together side by side, the one on the right is under the
protection of the Sun while the one on the left is exposed to magical
dangers. The point of union is the middle, the center, whose im-
portance we have observed in the case of the maloca. Also, any
place where a cosmic axis is established is a center, as where a stick-
19. When speaking of the rock art of the Vaupés, it is impossible not to
think of the cave art of the Old World Paleolithic. Por a recent, highly
stimulating discussion of the possible significance of this art see Leroi-
Gourhan, 1965.
rattle is placed or where the cigar holder is stuck into the ground,
or where a bench is put when a payé is "refiecting" or giving advice.
To be seated in a crouching position, with the head between the
hands, symbolizes death. The son of the Daughter of the Sun was
sitting in this manner shortly before dying. When one suspects that
the boráro might be near a certain hunting territory, the payé in-
vokes him and offers him a bench in a dark comer of the "house of
the hills"; he settles him there in this position and "takes away his
power of thinking"; having done this, the men cango hunting.
The material we were able to obtain on dreams is very limited,
and we were not able to establish a list of oneiric symbols. It seems
evident, however, that the content of dreams is interpreted primarily
in terms of sexuality and hunting. Erotic dreams represent an "em-
brace from V aí-mahse" or warn of the danger of poisonous snakes,
of monsters of the forest, or of attacks of an anaconda. The dream
is favorable if the erotic wish is not fulfilled, and the next <lay the
hunter will have luck. An animal cannot appear in the dream of a
person without being expressly sent by Vaí-mahse, who, through
him, makes it known to the hunter if he should or should not go
hunting.
In the symbolism of colors three stand out and are of great im-
portance: yellow, red, and blue. In the first two cases there is gener-
ally a differentiation between certain tones and intensities, and
within the first two, light yellow, bright yellow, yellow-red, light
red, and dark red are distinguished. The color yellow is "good" and
represents fertility, protection, and the energy of the Sun; in the
human body it is associated with the abdomen and with that area
of the anatomy that líes below the waist. Ahpikondiá is imagined
as bathed in this color, which also represents all that is born there,
and as a consequence the east is associated with this color. The
essential idea is that yellow represents the concept of fertility, not
only in terms of sexuality but of cosmic energy of procreation and
renovation.
The color red, on the other hand, is representative of sex in the
sense of uterine fecundity, and of the vitality of our world. It is the
color of the sexual organs, of coitus, of the uterus, and of blood.
V aí-mahse is red in his phallic manifestation; the payé paints him-
self red. The trunk of the human body is called red. A yellowish
red tone is associated with Diroá-mahse, thus combining the princi-
ples of cosmic fertility and terrestrial fecundity with the concepts of

health and of the "good life."
The color blue occupies a somewhat ambivalent position. Being
associated with the Milky Way and the hallucinatory sphere, it is
the color of communication, of the contact with the supernatural
and the extraterrestrial. As such, blue can be "good" or "bad" be-
cause it depends on the intention of the contact and of the results
that develop from it. Blue is also the color of tobacco smoke and of
incense, another means of communication. Thought and reflection
belong to the color blue, and in human anatomy the head is associ-
ated with this color.
In addition to these colors, others are mentioned but are of minor
importance. The color white distinguishes the kumú and his sacred
activities, while black, associated with the west, is the color of dis-
grace. The coca plant and coca chewing are symbolized by the color
green, and in Ahpikondiá there is also a v~ry subtle light of this
color because Paradise is the "land of coca." The color brown
symbolizes bad habits, criticism of others, and magical aggression;
purple is the color of sickness and of all that is rotten and unhealthy.
4
Man and the Supernatural
THE PAYÉ
As in many other Amazonian tribes, among the Desana, the insti-
tution of shamanism has developed in a very complex manner. The
shaman is undoubtedly the most important specialist in the entire
society, and great responsibilities fall upon him, responsibilities that
he attempts to meet with dedication and extraorciinary energy. The
payé (we will continue using the term of the Lengua Geral, com-
mon in the Vaupés) is nota simple witchdoctor or curer who, with
bis trickery, cheats people in arder to dominate and use them, but
is a dedicated individual, convinced of bis sacred mission and
generally imbued with a high sense of service to the community.
While the priest (kumú, see p. 135) rules overa sphere that is per-
haps closer to the supernatural than to men, the payé is a man of
action who is continually in contact with the events and demands of
the daily life of the group that he attempts to protect and guide. He
is the interpreter of society, its leading spokesman with the super-
natural forces. In the fine equilibrium between production and con-
sumption, between what nature gives and what culture demands,
it is the payé who continually fulfills the role of mediator and
moderator. Sometimes the payé meets with others to consult with
them and to make decisions, but more often than not he acts alone,
in part perhaps through distrust because he knows that the other
payés, too, attempt to favor their own groups and to gain ad-
vantages for them. This position, in part isolated and solitary, can
give him a somewhat mysterious and even ~angerou~ a~r, b~t there
is no doubt that, as a general rule, a paye acts, w1thm hts code,
always in favor of his communi~y. lf occasio!rnlly the awaren~ss of
his power corrupts and causes htm to act. agamst the common mter-
est and for personal ends, it would be qutte understandable, but ac-
125
cording to our informant these cases do not seem to be frequent,

and the payé is generally considered by his group as a well-meaning
and useful person.
The office and shamanistic power are directly derived from the
Sun Father who was the first payé. The Sun guarded the narcotic
powder of vihó in his navel but, the myth says, " . . . women
scratched the navel and gave the powder to tpeir relatives." Since
then, vihó is the main attribute of the payés and is the most common
medium by which contact is established with all the supernatural
forces that the Sun had created as his representatives. Besides vihó,
the Sun also established the rest of the paraphernalia used by the
payés; the Sun determined their form, manner of manufacture, and
their mode of use.
A payé embodies various concepts of "power." One is tulári,
which includes physical strength, intellectual capacity, and certain
supernatl;lral faculties. The word tulári can also be translated "to
inject," in the sense of transmitting something through a "sting."
The act of an insect's stinging is called tulári, but the term also
applies to persons who have a "penetrating glance" ( see p. 13 8).
This power of "penetrating" has severa} interpretations; on one hand
it describes the visionary, the one who sees what is considered the
occult by other men; 1 on the other hand, it has a sexual meaning
because the payé, as we shall see, represents a phallic concept of
procreation. Also, an aspect of the power of "penetration" is the
capacity to enter into a trance and to undertake the magical ftight
that permits the payé to leave the biosphere and penetrate to
another existential plane. A payé is at bottom a specialist in develop-
ing this rupture of levels in a spatial, ecstatic sense as well as in the
sense of passing from one conceptual unit of time to another; ecstasy
is equivalent to death and is, therefore, a process of acceleration of
time.
The soul (simpóra) of a payé is compared with a tire whose light
penetrates obscurity and makes things visible; it is imagined as a
flame that comes out of the "little web" and emits a light, according
to the d~gree of his power, which is stronger or weaker. Of a payé
who is not very active it is said: "His soul is not seen, it does not
bum; it does not shine." It is the simpóra deyóri, the letting-itself-
1. Compare this with the concept of "sojorín" arnong the Kogi Indians
(Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1951, p. 134).
Man and the Supernatural · 127
be-seen, that is the true manifestation of his soul in nature. The

light of the soul of the payé and the light of lightning are both of a
yellow color; that is, they represent the fertilizing power of the Sun.
The payé is then obviously a person who contains a strong lumi-
nous and thermal quality. It manifests itself as a light and acts
through it and through the associated heat. Our informant says in
t~is respect: "The ka'í ("mind") of a payé does not have strength
w1thout the knowledge that the light provides. He can only act in a
field already explored by the light. He is a part of the light of the
Sun." Underlying all shamanistic activities of the payé we observe
this same concept of the mystical light and of actions and objects
associated with luminous experiences. These represent a great
energy of biocosmic fertility that, in another chapter, we have de-
fined as bogá. The paradigmatic model is the Sun and, in fact, the
payé is a solar figure, a representative of the Creator.
Before describing the activities of the payé, we shall occupy our-
selves with his personality and apprenticeship. In order to become
a payé an individual must have demonstrated since childhood a pro-
found interest in the religious traditions of his culture besides hav-
ing a good knowledge of myths, genealogies, and invocations. He
must know how "to sit on his bench" and reflect; he must practice
sexual abstinence, and he must also be a good drinker of chicha,
a good dancer and singer, and he must be able to give sound advice
to others. He should not be too fond of women, and he must chan-
nel his sexual energy toward other goals; however, he should be a
family man. The most necessary quality is that he have the capacity
to achieve well-defined hallucinations when he takes a concoction,
and to be able to interpret them. Also, in the learning of myths and
traditions what is involved is not so much a good memory but a
capacity for interpreting their symbolism, and of "hearing the echo"
of the tales told by tradition.
It is at about twenty-five years of age that a person begins to show
these qualities, and it is then that formal training is begun. The
office of the payé is not hereditary but depends on personality type,
recognized early in childhood by other member_s of the group, ob-
served and evaluated in detail, and, from that tune on, fostered by
the older men. Generally, the apprentice goes to another phratry or
tribe to be instructed there at the side of a famed payé, a service for
which he pays sorne ten canoes or their equivalent. (There are no
linguistic barriers in the Vaupés because all Indians speak several

languages or dialects.) The apprenticeship lasts sorne six months or
longer, during which the payé communicates to the apprentice the
invocations, the myths referring to the Creation of the Universe,
and the genealogies of the sibs and phratries. Also, after three or
more months, the neophyte practices the use of hallucinogenic
drugs, and together they sniff the powder of vihó and drink yajé.
Using a long tube, the payé blows the powder into the nostrils of
his pupil, communicating to him not only the snuff but also the
power to have visions. At the same time the payé teaches him to
consume only certain foods and to avoid such others as fried fish,
monkey meat, or any meat that is well roasted or smoked, because
the odor of smoke ( other than tobacco) or of roast is considered
impure. The apprentice must practice sexual abstinence and rise
at night to go alone to bathe in the river; there he must sniff in an
infusion of liquid chili through his nostrils by means of a small leaf
funnel, and he must take emetic plants to vomit. In the course of his
apprenticeship, he leams the various dances and rituals. Before
dawn, an hour of special magical significance, the payé and his
apprentice, both painted red from head to foot, meet at the landing
where they sing and invoke the Sun. With them in imagination are
severa! other neighboring payés who, at this same hour, are engaged
in similar activities. Emekóri-mahse, Diroá-mahse, and Vaí-mahse
are also present. All of these personifications lend their help in the
preparation of the youth and transmit to him the necessary power
to fulfill the functions of his future office. Finally, the payé puts on
the inside of the left forearm of his pupil a number o thin splinters
or thorns of the macana palm (nyahsá vahká, vahkári). He presses
them firmly with his quartz cylinder, pretending to introduce them
into the flesh. At the same time, he instructs him in the use of these
splinters, to be "shot" with a movement of the arm to cause sick-
ness to those who have offended against the moral code.
The apprenticeship ends with a culminating act at the Ianding.
After taking a dose of hallucinogenic yajé, the neophyte dives into
the river and there, underwater, finds an object that, from now on,
contains his power and publicly indicates his status as a payé. The
object he finds at the bottom can be a stick-rattle, an arrow, or a
carved or well-polished staff, hidden there in anticipation by his
teacher. The act of submerging himself in the water has the double
me~ning of a sexual act (see p. 100) and of rebirth, after which the
p~p1I emerges, now imbued with the power of a phallic symbol and
w1th the knowledge of its significance.
The payé is essentially an intermediary between society and the
fo~ces of the supernatural. His principie function-and this is a
pomt of great importance-is that of procuring the fertility of na-
ture necessary for the survival of his group. Ali his other functions,
be they the curing of diseases, the protection of the maloca, or the
invocations of the game animals, are subordinate to the fostering of
the principie of fertility.
In Desana the payé is called ye'e, a word that also means jaguar
and, in effect, the payé is said to be able to change himself into this
feline. The word is derived from ye'éri/to cohabit, ye'éru/penis,
and the payé is thus a phallic instrument that interferes with its
power (ye'e tulári) directly in the process of biocosmic procreation.
His characteristic attributes are also phallic; in the first place we
have the stick-rattle (ye'ege), the payé's staff of command and his
"voice." The payé also possesses the phallic weapon, the ceremonial
hoe (see p. 117). The cylinder of quartz that every payé carries is
called abé ye'éru/penis of the Sun Father, and represents semen.
Lightning, besides its luminous aspect, is produced when a payé
casts this quartz and is in itself a symbol of fertilization. When
Jightning strikes nearby, the payé goes to the spot to collect from
the ground fragments of quartz because these particles are a very
dangerous seminal matter and have to be neutralized. The gourd
rattle that the payé uses in his rituals is called nyahsáru, a word de-
rived from nyahsá/a white ant that stings; allusion is made to the
swiftness with which these insects disperse when their nests are
touched, the same swiftness with which the noise of the rattle
spreads. The rattle is a prolongation of the payé's arm, and the dry
seeds that produce the sound represent the movement of the splin-
ters the payé carries locked up in his arm. Whe? ?e shakes t_he
gourd rattle these splinters are shaken towa~d. the_ v1ct1m. The splm-
ters or thorns are always imagined to be carned m the left forcarm
because otherwise any blow the payé might strike with his right
hand, perhaps during an unimportant quarrel, would be fa~.-il. The
left side is always associated with ?ealh and the force~ of ev1l. ,
In order to establish contact w1th supernatural b~mgs,_ the paye
uses the hallucinogenic powder of vihó. The word 1s denved from
vihíri/to sniff or to inhale, because the powder is absorbed through

the nose by means of a small V-shaped bone. All supernatural con-
tacts are effected through Vihó-mahsii, who, also in a hallucinatory
state, wanders over the Milky Way, over his "road" ( Vihó-mahsii
ma'á). The ability to have visions by means of vihó and the power
of establishing this contact determine the pqtential capacity of a
payé. A payé ought to view the Milky Way as a road, the hills and
pools as malocas, and animals as persons. Those who do not react
in this manner to the hallucinogenic drug see only clouds and stones,
and "the birds laugh at them." In their trance they tear off their
loincloths and walk around naked, without shame; they even uri-
nate or defecate in public. But others, the truly experienced payés,
control these impulses; they are transported to the Milky Way or to
the "houses" of the hills or the waters, and there they talk and ne-
gotiate with the beings occupying these places. Then they return
and rejoin their bodies that meanwhile have remained in their ham-
mocks as if asleep.
When he takes vijó, the payé enters into the state of ventúri, of
hallucination, which takes him to the blue zone where he meets
Vihó-mahse. The latter, however, is only an intermediary, and it is
through him that the payé meets with Emekóri-mahse, Diroá-
mahsii, and Vaí-mahse. Vihó-mahse is an amoral entity, and the
payé can solicit from him good or evil: he can kill persons by send-
ing an illness to them, or he can cure them of their affiictions. Vihó-
mahse is indifferent in these cases because he only serves as a link
to establish communication with the winds and currents of the blue
zone.
The principal objective of the payé in contacting Vihó-mahsii is
to go to the abode of Vaí-mahse. As we have mentioned, the payé
asks him for a limited number of game animals or solicits a certain
period for hunting, but he then must promise to cause the death of
a certain number of people. The souls of these persons are not
changed into hummingbirds but into animals that return to the
dominion of Vaí-mahse in replenishment of those the hunters have
killed. These negotiations, which are so essential for the life of the
community, cause great anxiety because people fear that occasion-
ally the payé may make use of them to take personal revenge by
causing the death of his enemies. But generally, the payé will not
negotiate with souls of his own tribe, much less of his own phratry,
but r~ther with .those of neighboring groups and eventually with

enem1es: Many time~ the subordinate Makú are the objects of these
transach~ns, and their souls are sold for game animals. An epidemic
that. dec1mated the Makú of the Vaupés in 1965 was directly
attnbuted t? a negotiation of a payé of the Arawakan Kuripáko,
who was sa1d to have caused the death of many of these Indians in
order to obtain food for his group. For the Makú, however, whose
culture is quite different from that of the Tukano and Arawakan
tribes, the idea of losing their souls and of going to the hills after
death does not seem to have the same fearful connotation that it
has for the Desana. Remembering his childhood, our informant
told us the following story: during a time of scarcity, an old Makú
woman who was a servant in the maloca felt sorry for the hungry
children. Addressing the payé she said: "Why don't you use me as
a pawn in your deals? 1 am too old to be alive. Let me go to the hills
so that you will have food."
In the "houses of the hills" a Desana payé meet payés of the
Kuripáko, Cubeo, or other tribes that often live far from the Papurí
River, and among them they agree on who and how many people
ought to die in exchange for a successful hunting season. The payés
arrange to meet in their hallucinatory trances and discuss the needs
of each one. During these negotiations, it is imagined that the payés,
Vaí-mahse, and the game animals drink yajé, sing, and dance. The
image is that of a friendly reunion, but at the same time it is con-
cerned with obtaining advantages. lt is said that sometimes violent
quarrels break out among various payés because each one tries to
get the better of the others. Enclosed in a small cubicle formed by
mats, within the maloca of the hills, the payés discuss matters in an
agitated manner; sometimes, to punish one who is particularly
recalcitrant, they leave him to himself. Then a great noise is heard,
as if an immense door were closing. Only if the captive payé has
very great power can he save himself from this situation; in such
cases a small hole opens in the wall, such a tiny hole that only by
converting himself into a flea can the payé escape.
Jn the monotonous Jandscape of the Amazon rain forest, an out-
standing natural point-a hill, a large rock, or a very tall tree-
attracts attention. These are points of reference, topographical land-
marks that are more exposed to the view than others that do not
stand out on the jungle horizon. The same can be said of certain
rocky stretches along the riverbanks or of small patches in the forest

almost devoid of vegetation that form small clearings where the
sunlight penetrates. These places are important for the payés who
say that such spots always remain under the vigilant observation of
Vaí-mahsii and of other supernatural beings. They are dangerous
places for people. Our informant says: "They are places where a
person can be seen and attacked. Everybody watches these spots."
In effect, it is forbidden for the boys to climb very high trees or
rocks, and on the whole the places mentione.d are avoided by peo-
ple. For the payés, however, these are the precise spots that can be
used to enter into contact with Vaí-mahsii and other personifi-
cations; in their hallucinations, it is here they gather and agree on
the details of hunting and fishing. Of course, no payé alone can
make contact with these supematural beings. In the cosmic circuit
there are no secrets, and in this there is a control that inhibits an
evil-intentioned payé from unjustly bargaining for the disgrace or
death of others.
To keep Vaí-mahsii content is the goal because if he refuses to
release his animals famine will follow. When Vaí-mahsii agrees, he
permits the payé to choose the animals he needs; the payé then goes
through the "maloca" shaking the rafters where innumerable ani-
mals hang as if asleep. Each one shaken has its price and, according
to the deal, the payé wakes the animals up; they then go forth to
the forest or to the river. If a payé should break his agreement with
V aí-mahsii there might be grave consequences because it can cause
serious sickness among the people. To cause this disgrace, V aí-
mahsii does not act in person but uses other intermediaries, such as
his game animals or, perhaps, his anacondas, poisonous snakes, or
the jaguars.
Another important objective for the payé in visiting the "houses
of the hills" is to cohabit there under the guise of V aí-mahsii with
the female animals, to procreate new prey for the hunters. The
erotic visions that a payé has during his state of hallucination are
always interpreted in this sense.
The power of transformation of a payé is one of the most im-
portant aspects of the office that he fulfills in his group. This ability
to transform himself is called ye' e mahsá uári/payé-people-to pass
from one place to another. On a horizontal plane, within the bio-
sphere, the payé can transfer himself geographically, for example,
to a hill, or can convert himself (dohpá ye'ege/to take the place of)
into a jaguar or into an anaconda. That the jaguar represents a
phallic concept of active biospermatic energy while the anaconda
has the character of a maternal, uterine being is of interest here be-
cause it suggests the energetic ambivalence of the payé as well as
bis equivalence with land and aquatic animals. The transformation
into a jaguar can have two different objectives: the payé might turn
into a feline in arder to protect a maloca ora solitary hunter; in the
latter case the jaguar remains invisible to human beings and is only
perceived by supernatural beings. Or he can change himself visibly
into a jaguar (ye' e dohpá yege/making himself like a jaguar) in
arder to attack an enemy. He also assumes the latter attitude when
he changes himself into an anaconda. In this case the payé takes
the forro of a large manioc squeezer and, floating in the river,
attempts to devour his victim when he is bathing by squeezing him
to death.
In a tridimensional plane the payé transforms himself in arder to
pass from the biosphere to the exosphere when, in his trance, he fties
up to the Milky Way. This transformation is generally induced by
the ingestion of a hallucinogenic drug ( vihó or yajé), but it is said
that an experienced payé can fall into a hallucinatory trance even
if he does not take any drug. It is very probable that changes in the
body chemistry of an individual, whether he is a payé or a solitary
hunter, can be produced by prolonged social isolation, sexual re-
pression, fasting, or a specific diet and, last but not least, by a
latent sense of guilt.
A payé, it is also said, may change himself into a vearí-mahse, a
beguiler, a ransacker. These beings appear in human form as a rela-
tive or friend and invite those they meet to accompany them, only
in arder to make them lose their way in the forest. Many times
these "ransackers" in the guise of relatives attack their victims
sexually. When sorne conflict breaks out among sibs or phratries,
the payés of the opposing groups transform themselves in this
manner and appear on the trails, attempting to disorient or attack
their enemies in this manner.
The clairvoyance of a payé is manifeste~ in his dreams as well as
in his conscious state. When he dreams of a "red person," he knows
that it is Vaí-mahse who is giving him information that visitors are
approaching the maloca. The payé will then predict which sib they
belong to, identifying them by the odor of the aromatic herbs they
carry in their belts. Vaí-mahse also appears near the door of the
maloca in the form of a lizard or a bunch of cotton, both forms
being signs of the prompt arrival of visitors. Since we know the
phallic symbolism of Vaí-mahse ( the "red person"), the female
symbolism of the door of the maloca, and the seminal character of
cotton, it is evident that this dream is an er~tic projection in which
"the visit" represents the sexual act.
The dominion that a payé exercises over nature is strictly con-
ditioned by bis contacts with Vihó-mahse without whose aid he can-
not act. Only helped by this supematural personification can the
payé gather clouds or disperse them or cause lightning to strike a
maloca or the landing place of an enemy. 2 On the spot where the
lightning struck, the payé of the group under attack, after smoking
bis tobacco, carefully searches the ground for sorne splinters of
quartz, perhaps a whole cylinder thrown there by an enemy with
the intention of causing sickness. But a payé does not have powers
over the water; he cannot make a river rise or fall nor can he cause
a storm without the aid of Vihó-mahse. Neither does he command
any messengers who might serve as spies or carry out his orders.
A payé can "close a house of the waters" near the maloca of an
enemy and thereby cause all the fish to abandon the spot. In its
place he casts "a vessel full of illnesses," especially fevers, and soon
the surroundings become infested with mosquitoes; the inhabitants
of the maloca fall ill or are forced to leave their dwellings. The
natural explanation of this phenomenon that, according to talk, is
frequent enough is this: sometimes the fish that live in the large
pools of the rapids, near the landings, migrate and abandon a cer-
tain sector of the river. As soon as this happens, the place becomes
almost uninhabitable due to the great quantity of mosquitoes whose
increase is caused by the absence of the fish that previously fed on
the larvae of these insects. However, as these places are also natural
camp sites, many mosquitoes become contaminated with malaria
causing these sites to be very unhealthy. 3
2. The informant cited severa! recent cases that occurred in his presence.
3. Near Piramirí (now Teresita) on the Papurí River there is a stretch of
rocky ground called V ~í-~ahs~ toré. In ~he river adjacent to this part
there are no fish, and 1t 1s sa1d that Vaz-mahse went away because a
local payé did not fulfill his promises to him.
At the death of a payé, bis body is buried in the center of the

maloca and the site is abandoned. His soul goes to Ahpikondiá,
but if he was an evil payé, then it enters the hills or the rapids,
where the soul continues its existence, not in the form of an animal
but as a ghostly being that accompanies Vaí-mahse. Many of the
hills are especially feared because certain payés of old times live in
them, and stories are still told about their evil deeds. For example,
a famous payé of the Desana called pe'e mangé is said to dwell in
the hill nyahsánge (rattle hill), not far from Teresita. These payés
who are shut up in a hill or a rapids, although they were evil, form
an important medium of contact for the still living payés, and it is
supposed that ali the payés maintain contact with their dead col-
leagues whose souls still dwell in this world.
THE KuMú
Among the Desana exist sorne individuals who have what we might
call priestly functions that are rather different from the shamanistic
activities of the payé. These men are given the name kumú and
occupy a very respected position in society. During the last two or
three generations, approximately since the arrival of the mission-
aries sorne fifty years ago, the institution of the kumú has Iost its
former inftuence, but persons with the attributes of this particular
status still exist and bear the high prestige this office carries.
According to tradition, the office of the kumú was created by the
Sun Father who determined that these men should be called upon
to perpetuate moral teachings in the highest ethical sense. In effect,
a kumú is not concerned with the curing of common organic ill-
nesses nor does he lend himself to magical manipulations of any
sort. He is not concerned with the world of Vaí-mahse; his relation-
ships with supernatural beings are carried out through Emekóri-
mahse and Diroá-mahsii, with Vihó-mahse ,serving as an intermedi-
ary. A kumú only does good and has no enemies; he is not exposed
to criticism and envy.
The term kumú is related to gumú, the large horizontal house
beam that connects the entire structure of the maloca. The kumú
identifies himself with this "yellow" beam that "joins" and gives
stability to society through the transmission of traditions and
through contact with the Sun. In Desana the word gumú rneans
reinforcement, and in Pira-Tapuya and Tukano kumú is bench;
between these two concepts there is a meaningful relationship be-

cause the central beam as well as the ceremonial bench on which
the kumú sits express stability and protection. Gumú is also a bridge
made from a single trunk, an element which unites two opposite
sides and which permits the passage from one to another. Also the
word gumúro/support, is related to this complex of ideas.
Traditionally, the kumús belong to the sib Umusí-porá, the Sons
of the Oropendola ( see p. 196), and it seems that their office is he-
reditary, the tradition and teachings being transmitted from father to
son. The apprenticeship lasts several years, and in it are emphasized
the interpretation of hallucinatory images produced by ya jé, the
kumú's ability to give constructive advice, and the power of con-
viction in settling social conflicts. But above all it is necessary to
stress that the area of expression of a kumú is not that of mere
knowledge of phenomena that concern daily human existence but
rather of wisdom and serene meditation.
Generally speaking, a kumú does not live in the maloca of his
group but occupies an isolated dwelling with his nuclear family.
There he receives visits from people who resort to him; he may also
take part in certain collective rituals, celebrated in the malocas of
the different sibs of the neighborhood. On these occasions the kumú
occupies an important and highly respected position. When offici-
ating the kumú puts on a red skirt-like garment of barkcloth deco-
rated with short feathers. On his head he wears a feather crown
different from those used at dances; the feathers are short and white,
rising horizontally from their ring-shaped base. On his arms he
wears several wide bands woven of very fine fibers, adorned with
feathers and with interwoven diamond motifs. Hanging from bis
left elbow he wears a large black palm seed in which he keeps sorne
little red and white feathers as well as a red pigment to paint his
face. This adomment is the exclusive privilege of the kumú and
publicly represents his authority; a cylinder of quartz hung from his
neck complements this costume.
Although the kumú occasionally intervenes in sorne rites of the
life cycle, his main public function consists of pronouncing the
go'a mee bayári, the "songs of god," that are sometimes sung on the
occasion of large gatherings when gifts of food are distributed be-
tween phratries. During these ceremonies, which may last for two
or three days, people bring quantities of smoked fish or wild fruits

that the kumú receives and keeps in bis house.
After having recited invocations to the Sun, offering him these
foods, he distributes them among the participants in the gathering.
This ceremonial distribution is called abé kóa/sun-gourd bowl, and
the food is interpreted as consecrated, coming directly from the
divinity. This ceremony generally takes place at the end of the first
rainy season, between May and June, and begins at dawn. The
kumú faces east to greet the rising sun. Because at this time of the
year the fish begin to run, and it is also the time in which the new
planting is begun in the fields, the main objective of this ceremony
is to ask the Sun for abundance and the fostering of growth.
On the occasion of these rites the kumú sometimes uses a small
altar-like object that consists of a woven box of the leaves of a cer-
tain palm. The box is called go'á-mee komóro/god's chest, and in it
the kumú keeps bis ritual objects. Among these objects there are
severa! anthropomorphic figurines of wood sorne twenty centimeters
in height that represent the Sun, the Daughter of the Sun, and
Emekóri-mahse. These figurines are made by the kumú himself or
by sorne youth who is still unmarried and has not yet had sexual
relations. It is also said that in the past these figurines were made
of stone and were carved with sandstone tools of a white color that
were extracted from a lagoon located near a rapids on the Mihpínya,
a tributary of the Macú-paraná. For the invocation of the Sun, the
kumú places bis little figurines on the box and then dances in a
circle around them. During this dance he marks the beat with a
stomping tube decorated with two black stripes and a series of tri-
angles, representing the designs of the Snake-Canoe.·'
On a much higher leve! than the payé, the kumú is a luminous
personage who has an interior light, a brilliant ftame that shines and
unveils the intimate thoughts of ali people who speak to him. His
power and his wísdom are always compare'd to an intense light that
is invisible but perceptible through its effects. The manifestation of
this Iuminous energy is the "penetrating glance" that is attributed to
the kumú, his capacity of fathoming the psyche of a person and of
thus knowing his intimate motivations. From time to time the kumú
4. To our knowledge, this is the first information on the ceremonial use of
anthropomorphic figurines in lhe Vaupés area.
summons a person who has not lived according to the traditional

norms, and on other occasions he is approached spontaneously to
discuss sorne personal problem. The dialogue which tlÍén develops
has the character of a confession. It is here that a concept called
penyóri enters into consideration. This word is derived from peri/to
hear, and nyóri that designates the effect of the "penetrating
glance." Nyóri is the impact that the words of the kumú make, the
sudden insight that then leads to comprehension. To explain more
clearly the character of nyóri, the informant enumerated severa!
sensations that, according to him, are similar: the sudden fear when
lightning strikes nearby, the charge from an electric eel, the shock
felt when the elbow is struck against a hard object, and the sen-
sation of guilt on having been discovered in a reprehensible act.
During the dialogue, the reaction of the individual is produced by
the process of inyári/to see, uári/to transfer, and pepíri/to be re-
newed. This last term is derived from peri/to hear, and ahpíri/to
rest on something. The informant explains: "The entire conversation
is directed to Ahpikondiá. When concentrating (pepíri) in this
manner, one sees, one is there." Properly speaking, the experience
it trance-like but not hallucinatory. "The soul is transported," and
an acceleration of time is produced, Iike a momentary death and
return to the uterus. As a catharsis, the beneficial effect cannot be
doubted. "After conversing in this way with the kumú, one goes
away relieved," says the informant.
No one would dare to ignore such a summons from a kumú;
sooner or later, bis conduct would bring him enemies and, even
worse, the malevolence of the payé, who eventually would condemn
the soul of the offender to return to a hill. In any case, the relations
between kumú and payé are generally harmonious and of mutual
respect. There is no conftict between their respective functions, and
while the payé dedicates his efforts mainly to his relations with Vaí-
mahse and the economic problems of society, the kumú watches
over its spiritual well-being.
At the death of a kumú his body is buried in the center of bis
maloca and the dwelling is abandoned. The place of the burla! is not
feared or avoided but is considered as saturated with bis wisdom
and his good advice. After five years or more have passed, the mem-
bers of the sib Umusi-porá gather there and exhume the body. The
bones of the toes and hands are burned and pulverized and the
powder is then mixed with chicha, which the men drink to incorpo-
rate into themselves the wisdom of the dead kumú. The cranium
and the rest of the bones are collected together with his personal
ornaments and wooden figurines into a large earthen jar and then
buried in a hidden place. 5
With the institution of the kumú we find ourselves on the highest
level of Desana religion. The attitude of the kumú is always one of
imploring and adoration, never of imposition. Although the kumú,
as we have seen, officiates in a fertility ceremony, its form is far
removed from the crude sexual symbolism that characterizes other
ritual activities, and it is evident that what is involved is a true cult
in which the problem of mere earthly existence has been subli-
mated.ª
RITUALS OF THE LIFE CYCLE

The principal rites of the life cycle of the Desana concentrate on
puberty and death. These two phenomena are the culminating as-
pects of existence: the beginning of the participation in the circuit
of sexual energy and its termination. For the majority of the Desana
these two moments are separated by only twenty or thirty years
which belong to the community and whose rituals are collective.
But puberty and death are personal events in which society has a
special interest because they delimit the period during which the
individual is an active link in the chain of transmission of energy.
In the following pages we shall describe the principal ceremonial
events that mark the main stages in the life of the individual, from
birth to death.
Birth takes place in the field or on the trail to it; in any case, it
does not occur near the river where the jealous Vaí-mahse might
observe it. At the birth the father's mother and, perhaps, some
blood relative of the mother may assist. The paternal grandmother
receives the child and cuts the umbilical cord, severing it with the
rough stem of a specics of nettle and then tying the end a little way
from the body of the newborn. Sometimes this occasion is used to
express future reciproca! relationships when, for example, a relative
of the woman asks to be allowed to cut the cord. This action di-
5. A recenl compilation concerning this form of endocannibalism has been
published by Zerries ( 1960).
6. This would point to the sub-Andean pricst-temple-idol complex.
rected toward the newborn signifies "Your daughters will be for my

sons and my daughters will be for your sons."
The cord and the placenta are buried immediately at the place
of birth. No externa! sign marks the exact spot, but each individual
knows where he or she was born and considers this place as bis own
property. When the umbilical cord is cut, the child ,enters a very
dangerous state; bis contact with the maternal uterus· and .with the
cosmic uterus of Ahpikon-diá is broken, but he .has stiU not'.been
incorporated into the uterus of the maloca. The circuit is b'roken,
and now the great medium of comrnunication, that of tobacco,, takes
the field. The father srnokes bis cigar in and around the maloca
to "surround it" against all danger, and he recites invocations to
Diroá-mahse so that he will help to dispel the dangers of Vaí-mahse.
At last, the women bring the child and enter the maloca with it,
safe and sound. When they pass through the <loor, the contact with
Ahpikón-diá is reestablished, the circuit is closed again, and the
newly born child effects the passage from one uterine existence to
another.
After a few months a small ceremony called muhusíro tári/to cut
fingernails, is celebrated. The father of the child designates a "god-
mother" who must be a wornan from another phratry, generally a
close relative of the child's mother, and she cuts the fingemails of
the baby ·and 'bums·,them. Fingernails symbolize " . . . the filth of
this worldJ the bad habits." The word muhusíro /fingemail, is re-
lated to mohó/hand and, in a wider sense, weapon; from now on the
child will have "good weapons," good defenses. With this ceremony
the godmother anticipates an alliance in the future, similar in sig-
nificance ·t<I> that estab-Ushed when the umbilical cord is cut.
At the age of three years approximately, the ceremony through
which the child receives a name is celebrated. This is called bayí
waípeóri (from bayíri/to invoke; waí/name, peóri/to give). The
nuclear family and sorne other members of the sib gather at the
landing, the place where the umbilical cord of the river attaches the
individual to the earth, and the payé invokes the Sun "so that he
will give life to the child as a part of bis reflection." From the land-
ing the family then returns to the maloca where the kumú offi.ciates,
walking around mother and child until they arrive at the door of
the dwelling. Then the payé recites other invocations, this time to
ask that the child be "invisible" behind the magic fence that sur-
rounds the maloca. Entering by the main door, the kumú now re-
ceives the child to introduce it to the "protection of the shade." The
kumú says: "Just as you carne forth from a fertile place, now you
are entering to live in a fertile spot, in the protecting shade." The
uterine symbolism of the maloca is mentioned severa! times during
these invocations, and the group proceeds to the center of the
maloca where the payé rises with his stick-rattle in his hand. He
directs a short invocation in a loud voice to the Sun: "To the evil
spirits, your body will be invisible; poisonous snakes will go else-
where but not near you. A fence will protect you from evil jaguars.
Your life will be peaceful because the bench on which you sit will
serve you not only as a place of rest but also as a place of reftec-
tion." Now the kumú begins to recite the Creation Myth followed
by the arrival of mankind in the Snake-Canoe. He then recites
the genealogy of the child from the first progenitor of his sib until
the present. Finally, he gives the child a name, generally of an ani-
mal associated with its sib. For example, when he gives the name
umusí ( oropendola) the kumú says: "You will be called umusí be-
ca use of the beauty of the feathers of this bird. Your life will be
like a reftection of light; your habits will be good ones. You are go-
ing to be a man who will have good relationships with other phra-
tries." The kumú then invokes Emekori-mahse and Diroá-mahse so
that they will take care of the child during his entire life, and then
he invokes the "ornament of the Sun" (abé buyá) so that the child
"may participate in the reftection." The term buyá also means se-
men, i.e., the child is made to participate in the fertilizing energy of
the Sun. Among the most common masculine names are umusí
( oropendola), tora mee (a mythical ancestor, see p. 190), gahkí
( monkey or penis), semé-peyáru ( fruit of a mimosacea). For the
girls a preferred name is diákara ( duck). Any sib can use these
names because, to avoid confusion, the person is also designated by
the name of his sib. Ali these names have a marked sexual connota-
tion as we shall see when we discuss the 'characteristics of the sib
(pp.' ] 89 ff.).
In order to be initiated into adult life, the boys must prepare
themselves from the age of nine to ten years. During this period of
their childhood, they must get up every morning well before dawn
and go to the landing to purify and bathe themselves. Before leaving
the maloca they absorb a few drops of fresh chili, ground and
diluted in water, using a small funnel made from a leah, This prac-
tice is said to produce a greasy layer on the face, an important requi-
site of male beauty because in this film the red facial paint finds an
adequate base that a dry skin cannot provide. Once in the river,
the boys must vomit severa! times by taking sorne emetic plants
or by drinking a Iarge quantity of water. When they bathe, they
"drum" on the water, striking the surface with rhythmic beats with
both hands to produce a dull noise that is heard a considerable
distance off. Cupping hands together, they blow through them and
produce a sound similar to a trumpet. These two noises, which are
made while they bathe, have a special meaning; the "drumming"
is an expression of incipient virility, a "male" noise, while the noise
produced by blowing between the hands is "female." They also
carry small panpipes to the river in pairs of "male" and "female"
and play these instruments at intervals. On returning to the maloca,
where the first meal of the day awaits them, they arrive with their
faces well painted and with small bundles of aromatic herbs tucked
under their belts. The erotic meaning of these morning baths and
of the music that accompanies them is well known to all, and the
adults listen from the maloca and comment on the doings of the boys.
Ali of these activities that, for five or six years, mark the begin-
ning of each day are observed and discussed in detail by their fa-
thers. It is a phase of life during which the youth is prepared for
bis future functions as a hunter and father, both imbued with
specific sexual attitudes. The purification as well as the adornment
of the body and the music are preparations for entering the fertility
cycle, in which the hunt and matrimony are equated symbolically.
The "drumming" and the music have an erotic meaning because
they are an incitation, an announcement of their puberty. It is dur-
ing these years that a selection is established that is lasting and that
separates the weak and indifferent from those who aspire actively to
continue the cultural tradition. During this time-span, the boys must
learn the myths and the strict order of all collective ceremonials as
well as ki;·<Jhip terms together with the specific behavior they imply.
When the boys are about sixteen, their initiation is hardly more
than a test of the results of this previous training. Generally, severa}
youths take part at the same time. Chicha and abundant food are
prepared, and sorne neighbors are invited from other phratries or
sibs. Befo re dawn the payé ( or the kumú) goes with the boys to
the landing where incantations are recited recommendíng the youth
to the care of the supernatural beings. The payé then hands them a
large cigar that they smoke, blowing the smoke into the air and
spreadin!! it with their hands toward the river the forest and the
~ ' '
sky. Then the youths bathe themselves in the river and paint their
bodies red before returning to the maloca as it is struck by the first
rays of the sun. They then greet all present. The payé speaks at
length, exhorting them to obey the laws of exogamy and to observe
ali the traditions of their elders. The Creation Myth is recited and
the genealogies, and the youths answer in a ceremonial dialogue
recognizing those present as their relatives and allies. Then they
invite all, including the children, to eat and drink. From the center
of the maloca, where the large chicha vessels are Jocated, the adult
males are served first, then the women, then the youth, and lastly
the girls. After sorne eight or ten rounds of chicha, dancing begins.
The initiates carry large feather crown for the first time, and seed
rattles, and panpipes of a size larger than they have been allowed
before.
When the celebration is over the young initiate may smoke and
go alone in to the forest or participate in the feasts celebrated in
the vicinity. Until then, he has addressed others by their given
names; from now on, he must use only kinship terms in order to be
conscious of the precise ties that unite his group. On his forearm he
now receives a series of burns ( eheri/to bum oneself, to transform
oneself) produced by the point of a lighted stalk to indicate his new
status.
When a girl has her first menstruation, the sib prepares for an im-
portant ceremony during which the young girl will be incorporated
into the group as a marriageable woman. When menstruation be-
gins, a small cubicle formed of mats is built at the left side of the
main door in the interior of the maloca. The ground is covered with
ashes symbolizing the state of the world after the Great World Fire,
thus promulgating the law of exogamy. During these days and nights
the girl can eat only certain small fish trapped in the brooks; this is
food that is ritually pure, and she must not drink anything at ali.
Sorne three times a day the payé comes and blows over her the
smoke of his cigar while she twists cords of cumare fibers. The payé
cuts her hair and throws it into the river; he then paints the body
and face of the girl with red and black that symbolize positive and
negative energy. ,.,,
When menstruation is over, the girl leaves the cubicle and goes to
the river where she bathes; on her return to the maloca, the payé
begins his invocations. Taking sorne glowing embers from a small
tire, he blows smoke on the trail between the maloca and the land-
ing. At the landing the invocations he pronounces are similar to
those that the payé makes on the occasion of the initiation of the
youths, and he now asks for the girl the protection of the divinities.
On their return, the ritual greeting is repeated along with the recita-
tion of myths and the genealogies and the exhortation to maintain
cultural norms. But now it is the father of the girl who answers and
reaffirms kinship and alliance. The girl offers the first drink of
chicha to the payé, after which her father passes the beverage to the
others present. Then follows the dance. Sometimes this is an occa-
sion on which a young visitor shows interest in the girl, and the par-
ents of both phratries initiate negotiations concerning the number
of canoes, baskets, or fish that the parents of the girl will receive as
a gift in exchange for her.
A marriage ceremony, properly speaking, does not exist. The
name gamu bayíri that is given to the initiation of both sexes implies
that we are dealing here with a "pairing off," since gamúri means
precisely that, and bayíri is the ritual invocation for this union.
Sometimes a transaction of goods between the parents of a girl
and those of her suitor is agreed upon and then a ritual kidnapping
occurs. During the night, or even in the daytime, the youth and his
friends wait in ambush for a chance to overpower the girl and carry
her to her future husband's maloca. On these occasions a sham bat-
tle may be fought, but generally the kidnapping is foreseen by the
relatives of the girl. The objects delivered to her parents, graters,
canoes, or other utensils, do not constitute a payment; they are only
a symbol of the reciproca! interrelationship that will now exist be-
tween the two families. A delay in the delivery of this security or a
kidnapping without forewarning can cause serious conftict between
phratries.
The Desana do not want to have many children, an opinion that
is shared by both parents and society. Individually, the father pre-
fers to have sons who will be hunters and good dancers, and the
mother prefers a daughter who will help her in her daily chores in
the maloca and fields. The number of children is kept to a few; a
couple with six or seven children is regarded with scorn as a "family
of dogs." Public opinion criticizes such a couple for two reasons:
they are called irresponsible and asocial because the food supply of
the group is so precarious and is thus endangered by their self-
indulgence; worse still, the animals of the forest will be jealous be-
cause they consider numerous human offspring "a stealing," a mis-
spending of sexual energy that reduces their number. Men and
animals participate in one single potential of procreation that must
be shared and balanced. A large family abuses this common capital,
and the animals then scorn this family and do not want to serve it as
prey.
At the bottom of these ideas is the consciousness that the physical
environment, with regard to fauna, offers a limited potential of
utilization and that an uncontrolled demographic increase would
necessarily lead to a serious biotic disequilibrium. The balance is
maintained by means of two institutionalized mechanisms: the sex-
ual repression of the hunter, who will only be successful in the hunt
in a state of abstinence, and birth control produced by the use of
contraceptives. The first mechanism has a double action: on the one
hand, the hunter simply avoids sexual relations: on the other hand,
with the increase of the hunter's own sexual energy, the game ani-
mals are made to participate in this potential of procreation. In the
second case there are no magical formulations; the women simply
use mixtures of certain herbs that seem to have a very strong contra-
ceptive action. 7 It might be mentioned here that the blame for a
sterile union is always ascribed to the woman, and it is not believed
possible that a man can be sterile. The family is planned in such a
way that, in the first place, the couple has only a small number of
children; in the second place, these children are spaced over sev-
era! years in such a way that when a woman has her second child
the first is already sufticiently independertt'so that he is nota bother.
7. The lndian women who live as concubines with Colombian rubber

collectors or settlers rarely have children of these unions because they
protect against il with conlraceptive plants. This causes certain problems
for the man who, according to the prestige patterns prevalen! in Colombia,
attempts to affirm his virility by fathering many children. As soon as these
women return to their tribe, they have childrcn by Indian husbands.
A pregnant wornan rnust observe a great nurnber of taboos, rnany

of thern related to food. She should not eat a certain catfish that is
sornewhat greasy because this would cause diarrhea in the child,
and this fish is also said to eat rninnows or srnall fish, that is, "little
children" in Desana syrnbolisrn. Neither should she eat "swordfish"
during the last four rnonths of pregnancy because it produces ab-
dominal pains. The fish bu'u is also prohibited because it is said to
be sired by a snake called bu'u piru, the same as the fish vaí-pe,
another catfish that is said to belong to the farnily of pamurí-gahsíru,
the Snake-Canoe. Meat of rnarnrnals and birds can be eaten only
until the fourth rnonth of pregnancy except fo¡ the tinarnou and the
trurnpeter (see p. 102) whose rneat is "pure" and can be consurned
any time. The rnain diet, however, is vegetable, rnanioc and cas-
sava, although sorne srnall fish (dihki-páru, meega-síba, gogoáme,
etc.) can also be ea ten. These constitute foods that are ritually pure
and that "were born of thernselves" or are believed to have been
sired by birds (see p. 204). Ants and honey rnay be eaten, although
not at the sarne time. These foods are believed to contain a rnale
fertilizing cornponent that contributes to gestation.
Besides these and other dietary prohibitions, a wornan who is go-
ing to have a child rnust not touch the weapons or hunting traps of
the rnen nor should she watch the firing of pottery vessels that a
fernale potter is rnaking because these will crack under the gaze of
a pregnant wornan. ª
When a wornan gives birth, her husband is thought to be exposed
to great supernatural dangers and for severa} weeks after the birth
rnust conduct hirnself in accordance with rnany restrictions on his
activities and diet. Both parents are considered to be in danger and
are designated by one terrn: porá-keri mahsá/sons-to-bear people,
that describes this special situation. We will see how the custorn of
the couvade is developed arnong the Desana and what interpreta-
tion they give to the conduct it involves.
As soon as a wornan gives birth, the man interrupts all his daily
activities in the forest and the river that occupied hirn until then and
rernains inside the maloca. Although he can occasionally Ieave, he
should not go to the forest or to the landing and, in any case, he
should not stray too far frorn the dwelling. He rnust not hunt or fish
8. In this case, the cooking vessel is symbolically equated with the uterus.
When the child is born, "the vessel is broken."
nor should he touch his weapons or those of other people. Nor

should he bathe in the river or go near the rapids. His diet is of
great importance, consisting only of small fish from the brooks,
mojojoi larvae, and other ritually pure foods.
The explanation that the Desana give to these restrictions is the
following: the woman's pregnancy and, above ali, its end, birth,
cause Vaí-mahse, the Keeper of the Game, to be violently jealous.
Vaí-mahse, who is always sexually attracted to women, now feels
profoundly jealous of the man who was the cause of the pregnancy
and attempts to revenge himself on him far having usurped the sex-
ual priviledges that Vaí-mahse believed to be his. In revenge, Vaí-
mahse uses his animals, especially spiders, scorpions, and snakes;
not only does he pursue the man with "animals that bite," but he also
chases him with "animals that devour," such as the jaguar and huge
aquatic snakes. The woman is also exposed to dangers because V aí-
mahse sends his anacondas after her. Invisibly, they wrap them-
selves around the body of their victim to strangle her in a deadly
imitation of the embraces of Vaí-mahse. But what angers Vaí-mahse
most is not so much the birth of a child as the flow of blood that
accompanies the birth. "He <loes not like blood to flow," and bis
a'ttitude here is the same as at the first menstruation of a girl that
also causes the rage of Vaí-mahse. Our informant explains that a
link is established between birth, menstruation, and the violation of
a girl who has not yet reached puberty, in other words, a prohibited
feminine element. Also, we are dealing here with the problem dis-
cussed above, egua! participation in the common potential of pro-
creative energy of men and animals. The danger represented by
V aí-mahse is nothing less than a new exhortation of the exogamic
law as well as a mechanism of control of the biotic equilibrium.
The custom of the couvade should be interpreted then within the
context of this constellation of ideas.
Death is called sirirí, a term that means to endose, to hinder
one's path. It is the stale in which the soul has lost its vital com-
munication with the air and is now isolated within a magir. fence.
On the death of a person, lhe body is placed in a hammock and
the members of the family gather with the payé to intone their grief
with long wailing. Speaking of her husband, a wife might say: "My
husband was very good to me. He was a very good hunter; he al-
ways gol meat for us. He was a good counselor. Now he has gane
away and left me alone." In the case of a wife, a man says she was
a very hard worker, a good mother, and that she was as competent a
dancer as he is. When the wailing is over, the body is placed in a
supine position in a canoe that has been cut in half transversely,
forming a coffin. The grave is then dug outside the maloca, but still
beneath the roof, beside the wall and directly in front of the place
where the bereaved family lives.
Because a maloca is sometimes abandoned and decays com-
pletely, the place where it stood can continue to function as a
cemetery. If the deceased belonged to the sib that occupied the
abandoned maloca, the body can be taken there for burial. Before
digging the grave, a blood relative of the dead man, generally his
brother, invokes the ancestors of the sib in a loud voice to ask their
permission to bury the body. Thrusting a long stick here and there
into the soil, .he searches the ground, and when the stick penetrates
without resistance, this is taken as a sign that permission is granted.
The body is then buried in this solitary place; when leaving the
burial ground, no one must look back because during these moments
the spirits of the dead become visible for a short while.
Sorne tobacco, a small pottery vessel with chicha, and the ear-
rings are buried with the body, except in the case of a child. The
brother of the dead man breaks the bow and puts it over the grave.
Sometimes the box of reeds and leaves that contain the dance orna-
ments of the dead man is also buried with him. A small mound is
left over the grave, and on this a fire is lit that is maintained for
eight days "so that the dead one will not be cold." A vessel with
chicha is also placed over the grave. The people who have touched
the corpse must purify themselves by blowing tobacco smoke over
their bodies.
When a person of importance dies, such as a payé or a kumú, the
body is buried in the center of the maloca or at the spot where the
person used to sleep and the dwelling is abandoned. The sib con-
structs another maloca in the vicinity, and the place of burial is
avoided until sorne three or four months have passed. After this
lapse of time, the brothers of the deceased gather together the mem-
bers of various sibs, and now the men go to the abandoned maloca
where they cut the weeds that have grown up in the meantime and
clear the interior of the maloca. Fresh earth is thrown over the grave
to make it look as if it is recently made. The men then return to the
neighboring maloca where a ceremonial greeting is made and the

genealogies are recited for several hours.
Then the mourning ceremony begins. It is called ore bayári (from
oréri/to cry, and bayári/to sing). Early in the morning, after a
ceremonial bath in the river, the men gather around the grave where
the forked cigar holder is stuck in the ground. The brother lights the
cigar and smokes first. Standing up beside the grave, he then re-
counts in a loud voice the life of the dead man, emphasizing his
many virtues. If the dead man had enemies, then this is the occa-
sion to incite revenge. Only friendly sibs or phratries are invited
to this ceremony because if sorne enemy were present it would lead
to a serious conftict. When this long eulogy of the dead man is
finished, the men form a narrow circle around the grave and each
puts his right arm over the shoulder of his neighbor. They weep
with their heads bent. Approximately at noon the men go to the
maloca of the brother of the dead man who serves them a large mea!
of fish, and a celebration begins with dancing and singing but with
no reference to the deceased. It simply represents an act of brother-
hood. A dead person of importance often leaves sorne ritual objects
such as feather crowns, a stick-rattle, or a quartz cylinder, and this
celebration offers an occasion to exchange these objects for others,
eventually for women of another phratry. Somtimes the brother of
the dead man or another close relative will keep them. After this
ritual is over, the dead person's name is never mentioned again.
In closing this chapter we must mention sorne other ritual activi-
ties that sometimes occur in the course of an individual's life al-
though they are not connected with the rites of passage.
Conflicts occasionally arise among sibs or phratries. These may
not be limited to mere controversies between individuals but may
extend to two antagonistic groups. The causes are generally the vio-
lation or rape of women, the failure to carry out the exchange of
women or any other transaction, and also mutual accusations of
witchcraft. The cohesion of the offended' group is expressed sym-
bolically when the men prepare a number of short sticks ( vahsúni)
approximately one and a half mcters in length that represent the
supports of the roof of the maloca and are identified with the entire
construction. These sticks are painted red and are used as weapons
against the offending group. In this way t~e m~Ioca '.'punishes" the
enemies, and the red sticks represent phalhc ob1ects, m the sense of
a retributive sexual aggression. At the same time the men decorate

themselves with necklaces made of jaguar teeth (ye'e geikeridá/jag-
uar-teeth-string), and these teeth invoke the ferocity of this animal
when they go forth on their punitive expedition. 9
The concept of revenge until death is of great importance in the
emotional life of the Desana as we will see further on. Here we will
note only the following. In the case of a murder, a ritual is carried
out that <loes not consist of purification but of a magical defense
against possible retribution. When, as a personal revenge or during
a conftict among sibs or phratries, a man kills another, the murderer,
assisted by his friends, calls on a long series of thorny trees and
shrubs that form an impenetrable circle around him. In his invoca-
tion the man intertwines these spiny plants, summoning "long,
medium and short ones," until they form an impenetrable barrier
against any retributative aggression. The summoning ends by his ask-
ing for protection from the jaguar so that, invisibly, he will surround
this fortification within which the murderer will remain for severa!
weeks. The murderer also burns tar and incense around the spot
that he occupies within the maloca and, smoking his cigar, he blows
the smoke over his body.
MEANS OF SUPERNATURAL COMMUNICATION

The problem of communication with the divine sphere is central to
religious thought, and the Desana recognize that, in order to make
contact with the "invisible world" ( deyóbiri), it is necessary to pass
from one dimension of consciousness to another, from one cosmic
level to another.
The word gahpí that is used to designate the hallucinogenic plant
yajé (Banisteriopsis caapi) expresses a metonymy in that its effect
is exchanged for the cause; gahpí is not a plant or a drink but is the
effect that these produce. This effect implies passage over a thresh-
old. According to our informant: " . . . here is a wall, a shell that
separates the natural world from Ahpikondiá. This shell impedes
vision; men who Iive in our world do not see Ahpikondiá. In order
to see it, they must drink yajé." But at the same time, once again
9. It is interesting to observe similar ideas among the Abelam and Iatmül

of New Guinea. In both cases a communal house is interpreted as a
female element, and its most important structural part is of a male
character while the timbers are associated with war. (Forge, 1966, p.
27).
using a metonymical formula, the informant says that "gahpí is the

shell"; he compares it with a "wall that divides," "something that
protects," "something that is something else." Referring to the word
gahsíru (pamurí-gahsíru, the Snake-Canoe), he says:" "The canoe
is a foreign thing in the water. It is not of water; if it were outside
the water it would not ftoat. It is another thing. It is a protecting
shell" (séru/bark, skin). Elaborating on this "other thinob' "the infor-
mant uses a very significant comparison. "If one removes the skin
( mercury) that is behind a mirror, one sees through it. One does
not see this world although it continues to be reftected in the mirror,
but one sees that which is beyond it." To explain the objective of
this transcendental passage, the informant says: "It is to connect
that which is different to that which is known. It is to reassure one-
self; it is to be humanized, to be aware of human life. One knows
that it is another thing, but then one knows that one belongs to it."
After analyzing the root ahp within a large number of different
contexts, we arrive at the conclusion that we are dealing with a
concept that can be expressed by: the essence of passage, of trans-
portation, or of uterine transformation. The passage from one cos-
mic plane to another is, in reality, a process of birth; the rupture of
the plane ( or shell) is the rupture of the placenta (gahsíru), fol-
lowed by the entrance into another dimension of existence and
cognition. Many other ideas enter into the formation of this con-
cept, ideas that, for the Desana, are closely related: coi tus
( gahkíjpenis), birth, ecstasy, hallucination, sickness, death; but
also the nursing at the maternal breast ( ahpíri) that also is a
"shell" that must be penetrated; the consumption of coca, which
removes all hunger justas does Ahpikondiá; the testicles (ahpiritó)
that "protect the semen." The communication with the supernatural
sphere is therefore conceived in terms of a passive sexual contact:
the penetration of the cosmic uterus, in order to find security within
it, to find food and the necessary energy to be able to exist outside
of it.
But this passive contact has, as is to be expected, its active count-
erpart. There exist severa! mechanisms tllrough which contact can
be established by means of attitudes that represent fertilization.
Asceticism, the privations to which an individual submits himself to
achieve a state of ritual purity, obligatory for the hunter, is ac-
companied by the intentional accumulation of sexual energy whose
purpose is precisely that of contributing to the total procreative
energy of the Universe. By saving his own bogá, the individual c::>n-
tributes actively to the bogá of the Universe. Desana thought is
very clear in this respect: it is not a problem of the conservation of
matter but of energy. By maintaining energy in a state of equilib-
rium, matter will be created; there will be food and security.
Hallucinogenic drugs are therefore of great importance in Desana
religion. There probably exist many others besides vih6 and yajé,
and it also seems probable that the Desana are fully aware of the
fact that hallucinatory visions can be induced endogenously by fast-
ing, concentration, certain bodily postures, aQd many other means.
The hallucinatory experience is then a true revelation, in which the
veil-the enveloping "shell"-is momentarily lifted. We shall men-
tion sorne details of this experience in another chapter (see pp.
171 ff).
Another means of communication is tobacco, although in this
case contact is established only on a symbolic level. In the act of
smoking there is a complex symbolism in which the act of nursing
is combined with a phallic symbol, the cigar, and a uterine symbol,
burning, and ashes, the latter being the "residue." On the other
hand, smoke is bogá, an element of fertilizing energy that rises
from below in an upward direction to unite the Milky Way with
the great universal bogá. The tiny seeds of the tobacco plant also
have a seminal meaning. When the forked cigar holder is used, the
sexual symbolism is clear: sticking it into the earth like a world axis,
the phallic union between the various planes of above and below is
achieved.
A relationship exists between smoke and rain, the latter naturally
being a fertilizing element. As the rain puts out tire, tobacco smoke
is an imitation of the clouds and can disperse them or cause them
to gather. On the other hand, smoke makes one invisible and is, as a
consequence, a means of defense. By blowing smoke around a place
or an object, one forms a magic fence that acts as a protection
against dangers. Another quality of smoke is that of purifying;
smoke is blown over the body, weapons, traps, and over a sick per-
son; the objects exposed to evil inftuences "are bathed in smoke,"
says our informant. Here we also observe a relationship to a seminal
concept because semen (see pp. 175 ff), in the form of honey or
starch has beneficial effects in the curing of diseases.
Tobacco can also be a means of magical aggression. An invoca-
tion is pronounced over a large cigar, and it is then buried near the
m.aloca or the la~ding of an enemy. After two or three days this
w1tchcraft causes Illness among the people living there: the women
who have recently given birth suffer great pains, the children have
diarrhea, the men ache with pains in their shoulders, and epileptic
attacks become more frequent. Characteristically, at night this
buried cigar manifests itself as a yellow light. If the enemy lives far
away, the procedure is the following: the cigar is lit and is thrown
in the direction of the victim. The cigar then "flies like a spark in the
wind" and when it arrives at its destination, it disappears with a
great explosion.
In a horizontal sense the cigar acts in two ways: when its smoke
is blown over something or toward something, a circular barrier is
set up that widens while the smoke expands; the smoke "opens the
eyes" of the agents of evil who, in its place, see a fence; it has a Iimit
in space. On the other hand, when burying or throwing the cigar,
it is this that is converted into an agent of evil. In a vertical sense,
it is the smoke (not the cigar) again that acts, carrying a message
to the skies whose content is not of an aggressive character.
In the life of the individual then tobacco is the principal magical
instrument through which the most diverse situations can be han-
dled. Its multiple symbolism makes it an universally useful and ever-
accessible element that is always available and always applicable to
any contingency of daily life that requires a defensive attitude, one
of aggression or of supernatural communication. When smoke is
being inhaled, a direct contact is established with the soul of the
smoker and carries a personal message, either a warning or a re-
quest.
INVOCATIONS ANO SPELLS

lnvocations play an important role in collective and individual
rites. 1º To invoke is bayíri, a word relate.d to bayári/to dance, that
1
indicates that the dances should essentially be interpreted as im-

ploring attitudes. In ali invocations tobacco smoke is the principie
medium because the request ( or threat, as the case may be) is
directly transmitted through the smoke.
10. The informant uses the terms invocation, oration, and prayer inter-
changeably.
Invocations are learned collectively during gatherings in which

the kumú or the payé teach them and explain them; but they are
then used individually. A person purified and smoking tobacco says
the spell, not necessarily repeating the words in a fixed order but
rather giving the phrases the form of a personal conversation.
The occasions on which these invocations are made fall into the
following categories: curing of illnesses, success in hunting and fish-
ing, the attainment of food in general, fecundity of women, social
cohesion, and harmonic relationships on the phratric, sib, and
family level. These are almost always verbalized in the form of a
conversation according to the form: "Just as . . . so will. . . ."
Generally, this formula is preceded by a description, more or less
detailed, of the physical aspects of the personification that is in-
voked. In the majority of cases, animals are involved; their aid is
solicited, and they are then described by their form, color, move-
ments. Addressing a bird, one might say, for example: "As your
strong beak protects your young, as your yellow feathers contain
the power of the Sun, so will my maloca be protected," and so on.
Invoking the oropendola, one says: "Make our lives resistant and
tough like your nest; because your nest is not destroyed easily." Or
one might say: "As is the life of the aracú fish ("yellow," "red,"
"white," "dark," etc.) thus will the life of be," a point where
the name of a sick person is mentioned or perhaps that of a child
or of another person in whose favor the invocation is said. To close
sorne area off with a fence or barrier against evil inftuences,
emekóri-sarinó/days-fence is invoked. This refers to the halo of the
sun. In this case the sun is identified with a maloca surrounded by
a defensive fence that is the halo of the sun, and this fence is put
around the place of the individual who is in danger. A person who
wants to hide himself quickly so as not to be seen invokes the arma-
dillo, an animal that personifies this ability of being "invisible" be-
cause of its shell and because it can quickly dig a hole in the ground.
For the physical beauty of children the hummingbird is invoked
because of its colorful plumage; finally, any animal to which desir-
able qualities are attributed at a given moment can be invoked to
give help. Invocations addressed to a supernatural force such as the
Sun, Emekóri-mahse, or Vaí-mahse are generally made by the
kumú or the payé, and only rarely does the individual attempt to
put hi~self into direct contact with a supernatural personificatíon. 11

To g1ve sorne examples of how invocations are used, we wíll cite
here a few cases that were mentioned by the ínformant. Once he was
traveling in a canoe with his cousin and hís cousin's wife who was
pregnant. During the long trip the future father was very worried
~bout the sex of the expected baby; he smoked hís cigar and, blow-
mg the smoke toward his wife, invoked the turtle to ask hím that
the child be male. The turtle, as a uterine animal, is believed to have
great power in these cases, and the man invoked various turtles to
ask for their help. But the wind was contrary, and the smoke did
not reach the woman at the other end of the canoe or come near
the turtles. After a while the man stopped smoking and interrupted
his invocation, saying: "It's no use; she is going to have a girl." This
was true, the informant added; a short time after a girl was born.
The following personal account illustrates another case. The fa-
ther of the informant once told him that in his youth he worked far
a camp of Colombian rubber collectors. When he became seriously
i1l with fever, he was abandoned by his patrons in the forest, sorne
distance from the camp. As a last recourse, he invoked Vaí-mahse.
Immediately he noticed the presence of a strange person, almost in-
visible, who stood close by and encouraged him to get up and walk
toward the camp. In attempting to reach the camp, he found on the
trail a deep trench over which a tree trunk had been placed as a
bridge. But dizziness and weakness did not allow him to pass until
the uncanny personage offered a stick to the sick man, helping him
cross the improvised bridge. Once in sight of the camp, the mysteri-
ous helper gave the sick man several seeds and quartz fragments
and then disappeared. The father of the informant was soon cured
of his fevers, and he lived for many years convinced that Vaí-mahse
himself had saved him from certain death.
Jnvocation, combined with the use of tobacco, is probably the
ritual attitude that is most frequently observed by the individual.
Daily life requires this attitude for many different ends, generally
very personal ones, and through it the individual maintains his sense
of security through the knowledge that he' is continually in contact
11. There are contradictions in this respect: some data indica te that the
individual can never directly address a supernatural being; it can only
be done by the payé or the kumú.
with the powers that permit him to dominate the conditions of exist-
ence. We may add here that what is involved are not mere formulas,
mechanically repeated and blindly trusted, but a true feeling of
piety.
BLACK MAGIC
That the sense of personal security itself should sometimes require
negative actions is only natural. Magical aggressiveness to cause
one's neighbor misfortune, sickness, or even death is frequent among
the Desana, and the reasons for these hostilities may be many: the
intrusion into a hunting or fishing territory, a theft committed in a
field or, perhaps, sorne affront offered during a gathering. But one
of the principie causes of profound hostility among men is the de-
structive criticism by which doubt is cast on whether a person is a
"good Desana," in the sense of observing and promulgating the
norms and traditions of his culture. Any fault in the behavior of
children is attributed to a lack of responsibility of their parents, and
these are criticized when their children are not good dancers or
when it is suspected that their daughters are not loyal wives to their
husbands. To accuse a man of being abad hunter, abad adviser, or
a bad dancer is a very grave offense because on these qualities the
entire concept of personal prestige is based. lt would be just as bad
to insinuate that he is lazy in his work of clearing the chagra or of
maintaining his maloca in good condition. A man who has sired
many children is accused of being a bad husband and of causing
too much work for his wife. On these occasions it is always pointed
out that every man or woman is, first of ali, a public representative
of his ( or her) sib or phratry, and that the community to which he
belongs will be judged by others in accordance with the behavior
of the individual. The same accusations are made of women who are
occasionally called lazy, talkative, bad mothers or advisers, or bad
representatives of their phratry. Rarely, or hardly ever, are such
accusations made openly in public; they appear rather in gossip
and malicious insinuations that are then heard by the accused per-
son through others.
The offended person takes his time in preparing his revenge in
order not to cause suspicion. Months or even years may pass before
he acts, but in the meantime his resentment and hatred build up
and, although he carefully hides his thoughts in the presence of his
enemy'. he never f~rgets the offense and thinks only of his revenge.
In reahty, revenge 1s a central theme in the life of the Desana male. 12
In order to cause evil the person acts alone, without invoking any
supernatural forces. Generally he uses magical or poisonous herbs
planted by him or found in the forest that produce their effect on the
victim when ingested by him or simply when touched. Sorne of these
plants are said to take effect simply by the victím smelling them.
By using these herbs in liquid form or as an ointment, a strong
headache can be produced. Thís paín attacks the victim at certain
hours of the day and can develop in such a way that he becomes
weak, has severe diarrhea with loss of blood, or has spells of fever
at certain times. By rubbing the sap of certain plants on the bench
on which the victim sits in the canoe, inflammations and painful
ulcers are caused, and other herbs can cause the hair to fall out. It
is believed that invoking the horsefty causes the skin of the victim to
crack, and then all kinds of illnesses can enter through these fis-
sures. An idea that is frequently expressed on these occasions is that
the victim must be isolated from beneficia! forces and surrounded
by a covering or invisible shell that presents an obstacle and inter-
rupts all contact between the person and cosmic forces. In order to
produce strong fevers, for example, the victim is surrounded by a
sort of imaginary "tent" so that he cannot perceive the heat of the
sun; or to cause the death of a foetus the nutritive flow that runs
through the umbilical cord is obstructed.
Sometimes a payé sends aid to the offended person to effect his
revenge. In these cases the payé invokes Vihó-mahse and Vaí-mahse
so that the latter will send sorne of his animals to pursue the of-
fender. A kumú never intervenes in personal revenge. lt is rather the
isolated individual who attempts to obtain satisfaction for the of-
fense against him by means of magic plants.
12. We Jack data on this aspect of Desana personalíty.
5
Society and the Supernatural
REUNIONS AND DANCES
In the entire Vaupés area, social cohesíon, whether among sibs or

among neighboring phratries, is expressed by periodic gatherings
during whích religious attitudes, economic obligations, and, espe-
cially, reciprocity in the exchange of women between the various
groups are reaffirmed. These reunions form the most structured in-
stitution in the socioreligíous life of the Desana, and they serve a
fundamental principle by integrating the security system of the com-
muni ty. Two principal types of gatherings can be observed: the
dabucurí or ceremonial exchange of food is essentially a ritual of
alliance, and the cachirí, a simple social gathering during which
chicha beer is consumed.
Many preparations are made for these meetings. In the first place
there must be a sufficient quantity of chicha of severa! types to serve
to the guests, and food must also be prepared, much of it in the form
of smoked meat or fish. The men prepare their feather headdresses
and other adornments that they will show off during the celebration.
The youths who await excitedly the arrival of girls from other phra-
tries devote special care to this. Weeks ahead the neighbors are told
about the gathering because they too must prepare themselves be-
forehand, bringing presents of food and exhibiting their most beauti-
ful adornments. The maloca and the space that surrounds it are
cleaned. The path leading to the landing is cleared; the entire setting
is prepared far the event. ,
Far all Iarge gatherings in which various sibs or phratries partici-
pate, the ritual divísion of the space of the maloca is of great im-
portance. The "second jaguar," formed by the pair of houseposts
and the beam that marks the center of the dwelling, divides it into a
forward section where the men gather and into a rear section that is
159
occupied by the women. Fires are lit only in the women's section so
that the men are in the shadow, "under the red reflection of the
women," or of the female and terrestrial fecundity: nomé peamé'e
diá biríro/women-fire-reflection-red. The men, on the other hand,
occupy the "yellow" section of male, solar fertility, and their "re-
flection" falls upon the women's section.
In a longitudinal sense it is the large beam gumú, imagined as
being yellow in color, that divides the house into two sides, the right
side that is occupied by the adults and the left that is for the young
people. In the forward section of the maloca the adult men are op-
posite the young men and in the rear section the elder women face
the girls.
On the dividing line between the men and the women, which is a
passageway which symbolizes the "path of pamurí gahsíru," the
large chicha containers are placed, and the center where the two
dividing lines cross is the spot where the old people recite the myths
and genealogies and where the dancers put on their finery that is de-
posited in boxes.
When the canoes arrive with the visitors, the men, followed by
the women, walk toward the maloca where the gathering is to be
held, and when they arrive at the door they slap it soundly several
times with their hands to announce their presence. Then they enter
and walk rapidly toward the center of the maloca, exclaiming in a
loud voice: so-o-o-o-o, só-0-0-0-0! They then return and remain
standing to the right of the door while the oldest of the first sib to
arrive returns to the center of the maloca to speak and recite the
history of their origin. When the men take their places at the side
of the main door, the following order is observed: at the right side
of each visitor stands a member of the host maloca, and the same
order is observed among the women and the young people. A sib or
phratry should not forma cluster but should be interspaced: a visitor
at the side of a host, i.e., a kinsman at the side of an ally. 1
At almost all gatherings and dances the Creation Myth, or part
of it, is recited at the beginning. It is generally recited by an old
man who speaks in a high voice while the others listen in silence.
With this prologue a propitious psychological atmosphere is pro-
1. In the case of a gathering of several phratries the same order is ob-
served.
Society and the Supernatural · 161
duced for the_ celebration; an awareness of continuity of customs is

created. The mformant says: "This is so that ali will feel Iike chil-
dren of only one father, the Sun; so that they will have confidence
and tranquillity. Only afterward do they drink and dance."
. The order of recitals (veretamúri/to converse) is not by rank of
s1b but by order of arrival. Nevertheless, it is taken for granted that
the sib Boréka will always speak Ionger than the others. The recita-
tions generally begin with an account of the act of Creation fol-
lowed by the journey of the Snake-Canoe, the arrival of the Daugh-
ter of the Sun after the chaos and, finally, the manner in which
institutions and moral norms were established. The representative
of the Boréka will say, for example: "We are the Sons of the Aracú
fish. As such our first progenitor taught us the invocations to use
and cure the illnesses of our wives and chi!dren, as we now do.
Thus we were taught by Boréka mangó, the Daughter of Aracú.
Our wives bear us sons according to the teachings of the Daughter
of Aracú. We invoke the Daughter of Aracú so that she will protect
us from danger and will give us peace!"
The recitations always make allusion to the red and yellow sec-
tions of the maloca; each one says that the men of his phratry are
admirers of the light of the opposite side. The fecundity of the
women of each phratry is discussed and the necessity of uniting the
two "reflections" for the good of mankind and of the tribe. Then
lengthy discussions are held about sexual relations ( nomé kéyu),
and it is said that man is born as a result of semen in order to live
"under the red sign that is the protection of Diroá-mahse." The
symbolism of colors is discussed, emphasizing that yellow light rep-
resents fertilization and that the "red section" is the receiving and
fecund part.
Following this there will be talk of other sibs, of the "younger
brothers," always in the same solemn tone and, at times, there will
be chanting. Speaking, for example, of the sib Semé-peyáry porá, it
is said that they are good counselors, good 'singers, and that severa!
kumú belong to this sib. Thcn thcy talk about the maloca of their
hosts, of the protection that it affords lo their sib, and then follows
praise of ali the malocas of the phratry. The names of the mythical
progenitors are proclaimed; just as with their knowledge they fortify
the maloca with their magic fences, now they offer their protection
under the rafters of the three jaguars. Quite often these recitations
take on the form of a ceremonial dialogue. With exclamations and
repetitions what is said is reaffirmed, and sometimes many hours
are spent with these proclamations. Finally, the speakers formulate
a series of pieces of good advice for the youths, exhorting them to
observe the traditional customs.
Then the men greet each other individually. The host expresses
his satisfaction and declares that all of .his guests are brothers and
that they are welcome in his maloca. The oldest man of each sib
receives the gifts of food on a large circular tray, meat, fish, and
fruits of various kinds, and then all is distributed among his com-
panions. Finally, the oldest men give the ord~r to serve the chicha.
A man in full ceremonial dress, with his feather crown, seed rat-
tles, and other ornaments, now walks around the maloca, circling
in a counterclockwise direction and speaking in a loud voice to the
assembly. He tells them that the women have worked hard in the
preparation of the chicha and that the celebration was organized for
all to attend; he asks ali to be happy and to feel themselves mem-
bers of one single family. 2
In the preparation of the gathering the Makú play an important
role because they are entrusted to get the firewood, to keep the fires
going, to take care of the canoes of the visitors, and to watch out
for the little children. They are also in charge of preparing the huge
ceremonial cigars that are smoked when an alliance between phra-
tries is being confirmed. Now, from the center of the maloca, they
begin to pass out the chicha.
Seated along the wall, men and women drink and chatter. Shrill
laughter, highly formalized and coded, interrupts the conversations,
and when the euphoria increases sorne begin to sing or to play their
instruments. The youths are generally the first ones to blow their
panpipes. Suddenly two or three men walk to the center of the
maloca and sing there, standing side by side but without dancing.
Only "the movements of the dance are imagined," says the inform-
2. According to our informant, there are three stages or states of intoxica-

tion: the euphoric phase, the aggressive phase, and the "sacred" phase.
In the first there is dancing and singing, and the young people show in-
terest in learning from their elders; in the second phase they begin to mo-
Iest the women, and frequently there are quarrels. In the third phase
young and old gather together in groups "to talk and to reflect."
ant: they sing for a while until they slowly begin to accompany the
tune by rhythmic gestures.ª
In each sib there is generally one man who is considered a true
specialist in dances and who, during celebrations, fulfills the func-
tions of organizer and dance master ( bayáru). Adorned with a large
feather crown, seed-rattles on his ankles, dance shield and stick-
rattle in hand, he leads the dance of the participating sibs. These
men have the privilege of being allowed to choose from among the
women present, even the married ones, a "godmother" who must
assist them and accompany them during the whole celebration.
These "godmothers" are designated with the term gohadégo ( from
gohári/to paint, dégo/feminine suffix) because they are especially
entrusted to paint their dance partners with korá, a blackish tint
obtained from the fruit of a tree. They themselves, however, are
painted red all over. lt is understood that between the main dancers
and their "godmothers" there will be sexual relations, considered
permissible on the occasion of these gatherings. The name
diádu/red one, which is given to these women, symbolizes the rela-
tionship. The dark paint with which the man covers bis body is a
preventive measure because this color is said to protect one against
sickness and against all kinds of magical dangers.'1 It is natural for
a Jeading dancer to be exposed to certain dangers from those who
are envious of him. But underneath this institution of paired dancers
is a deeper symbolism. The pair of black and red dancers represents
a union between the supernatural forces and the vitality of nature,
the union between sky and earth, and this explains the permis-
sibility, and even the necessity, of a sexual union. "Black and red
paint expresses permission. They are the sign of the increase of
people," the informant says.
Desana dances have a marked erotic component, and above ali
they represent a ritual action that fosters fertility among animals as
well as among the dancers. Generally, the dances imitate animals
and the songs that accompany them refer to the movements and
colors of the animals they represent. "But underneath goes the in-
1
vocation," says the informant, and by "underneath" he is referring

to the symbolic language of the songs (vaí bayári/fish song) in
3. Thc coming and going of a group of dancers is interpreted at times as rep-
resenting the swaying movements of the Snake-Canoe.
4. Probably this refers to Gcnipa paint.
which all references to the river, the traps, and the catch are, in
reality, allusions to sexual intercourse.
A song consists essentially of two phases. In the first ( bayári/to
sing) the song only describes the animal, its form, its movements
and colors, its fleetness, and other characteristics. In the second
phase ( bayíri/to invoke; bayíri uri/to invoke and to call) the song
changes rhythm, and the words now compare these characteristics
with desirable qualities, especially those referring to the 'Sun. The
color red is invoked to ask for help from Diroá-mcihse, and· allusions
are made to the procreation and fertility of. the ariimal, speaking of
the "power of the Sun" in fostering the abundance of the species.
A group dance is generally initiated with mahká piru bayári (vil-
lage-snake-dance), a name that is derived from that' of a large snake
(boa constrictor?) whose markings are said to represent a "village,"
and pamurí gahsíru, because it has many greenish, yellow, and black
spots. 5 It is said that this snake twists a great deal, "like a brook,"
and the dance repeats these undulating movements. The dancers
move in zigzag, turning and returning rapidly to the place of start-
ing, all with quick steps and in a joyful mood. This dance is con-
nected, in part, with the idea that the snakes are the procreators of
fish and that, by imitating them, "the children of the dancers will
be great fishermen." On the other hand, fishing symbolizes, for the
Desana, coitus and "to catch fish" expresses exogamy.
Another common dance is called boréka piru bayári ( aracú fish-
dance) in which not only the members of the sib Boréka take part
but those of any other sib too. According to mythology, when the
mother-in-law of the Daughter of Aracú bathed her child in the
river, the aracú carne and rubbed against the child's body as a sign
of recognizing it as a member of the family; the dance imitates this
scene, in that pairs of men and women dance opposite each other.
The man rubs bis body against that of the woman opposite him,
steps back three steps and to the side until he is facing another
woman, and the act is repeated. At the same time a song is sung
enumerating the diverse aspects of the fish, their spots, scales, and
colors. The names boréka diári/yellow aracú) are repeated, and the
fish is described as swimming in the river, singing ( boréka poréru
diári yaságe nyomeríjaracú-tail-yellow-green-black-movement).
5. The informant recognizes nevertheless that among the Desana and their
neighbors, properly speaking, villages do not exist.
Similar references are made in many songs that represent fish or

snakes, repeating at length expressions such as vayáka ( stripes)
vayáka piru yasá (stripes-snake-green) or vayáka piru diári
( stripes-snake-yellow). It must be pointed out here that the term
for stripes also means ditch or cleft and, in a wider sense, vagina.
In the dance called bohsó bayári (from bohsó/guinea pig), the
movements of this small rodent are imitated. The bohsó is described
as a restless little animal that jumps around here and there in a most
unexpected manner. The dancers, in pairs, imitate these rapid
jumps, changing from group to group, then walk zigzag, suddenly
changing partners or running between the lines of the others. Other
dances are uaú bayári in which the movements of a monkey/uaú
are imitated, and mahá bayári, which is so called because crowns
of macaw (mahá) feathers are worn. In both dances there is an
erotic element based on the symbolism of the color yellow as well
as on the feathers, and the associations that are established with the
monkey refer to its name, a synonym for penis.
According to the Desana, the masked dances do not constitute
an element native to their culture but were introduced in fairly re-
cent times from other tribes. We have found no myth or tradi-
tion that refers to these dances, and everything indicates that they
are a cultural borrowing from the Cubeo and that they were then
reinterpreted by the Desana to adapt them to their local culture.
The Desana say that those members of their phratry who, after
their death, have had to return to the dominions of V aí-mahse exist
there as animals but, during feasts, wear masks of painted bark-
cloth. By dressing up in these masks, which are the symbol of ter-
restrial though not of human existence, the ancestors sometimes ap-
pear to the living.º This belief in the tra'nsformation of masked
beings is very probably derived from the Cubeo who, according to
what the Desana say, believe that al! their dead, without any distinc-
tion between the sinners and the virtuous, go back to a particular
hill located sorne distance upriver from Mitú. This hill, which is
called suriró-ge/garment hill, is a sacred spot for the Cubeo, and
at the foot of it they say there is a small clearing where the dead
sometimes gather to hold celebrations. On the eve of the death of a
6. This concept of ancestors must not be confused with that of the mythical
progenitors of the sibs, who are called nyehke semára/grandfather-
peoplc.
Cubeo, music is heard there along with voices, and they say that
the dead, disguised in their masks, dance in order to celebrate the
immediate arrival of a kinsman.
Among the Desana, the masked dances are called surirá bayári,
from sa, sari/to dress oneself, to disguise oneself, and bayári/to
dance. The masks appear on sorne ceremonial occasions as, for ex-
ample, muhuséro tári/to cut fingernails, bayí waipeóri/baptism, the
initiation of the young people of both sexes, the consecration of a
new maloca, and sorne gatherings for exchange of food. But masked
dances are not common at ali, and in no case do they constitute the
central part of the ceremonies mentioned. As a matter of fact, they
do not have specific names but are simply designated as mahsá
meera/ancient people. For the Desana these, "ancient people" per-
sonify those ancestors who, at their death," did not go back to
Ahpikon-diá but were condemned because of their carnal sins to go
to the hills where, converted into animals, they go on participating
in this world. Their sins were incest or, in a wider sense, failure to
observe exogamic rules, and it is for this reason that they now ap-
pear in sorne ceremonies to demonstrate to their descendants the
sad consequences of their sinful lives. Among the Desana, the masks
are a memento, a warning, promulgating the law of exogamy. They
are threatening, anonymous beings who come to remind their rela-
tives of the obligation to obey sexual prohibitions. lt is clear then
that among the Desana we cannot speak of masked dances, and that
we are dealing here with a foreign element that is only partly
adopted, being reinterpreted in the form of threatening but subsid-
iary acts during the ceremonial occasion in which it appears.
THE YURUPARÍ
The name yuruparí is a term borrowed from the Lengua Geral, and
its etymology has not yet been satisfactorily clarified. lt refers to a
ceremonial complex that, for the past century, has caught the at-
tention of ethnologists, missionaries, and travelers. An abundant
literature exists concerning it, although much of this literature deals
with speculations that only seldom seem to approach reality, that
is, the ideas formulated by the natives themselves about this cere-
mony. Thus, yuruparí has been interpreted by various authors as
the commemoration of a culture hero, as a fertility rite, as a diabolic
orgy, and even as a romantic legend, full of poetry. As to general

features, the "feast of yuruparí" can be described as an exclusive
ceremony of initiated men during which Iarge ftutes are play~d. The
women are not allowed to see or hear these on pain of severe
punishment. At the same time, the men bring large quantities of
wild fruit far the event, a procession or dance is organized, the par-
ticipants sometimes wear masks, and occasionally the ceremony is
combined with the initiation of a group of youth who in this manner
are incorporated into a secret society. Ali travelers in the Vaupés
have heard of the yuruparí, a ceremony that has always been a
source of anxiety to the imagination of missiona1 ies and about
whose significance many theories have been advanced. As is obvi-
ous, it represents a very complex ritual, charged with a marked
sexual symbolism. In the face of so many bothersorne guestions the
Indians themselves often choose to answer sirnply that "the yuru-
parí is the devil" or give sorne other reply in this vein, an expla-
nation that satisfies many people but disorients others who wish to
know more. 7
The data at our disposition, which we have taken care to check
in great detail, make this cerernony appear in a very different light.
We shall describe this event as the Desana celebrate and interpret it.
The ceremony is held about once ayear, generally at a time when
there is an abundance of small fish, fruits of vahsú, semé, toá, and
hearts of palmito mihí or of other palms such as nyumú or me'e. A
group of men gather in the forest to collect these fruit, to smoke
meat and fish, and to prepare other foods. They then carry them
back to the maloca that has been chosen as the center of the cele-
bration. Days or weeks beforehand the members of the other phra-
tries such as Pira-Tapuya, Tukano, and Uanano have been invited
and large quantities of chicha have been prepared. The choice of
the place of the gathering is determined by the number of pubescent
girls in the maloca-that is to say, when a Desana maloca is dis-
posed to enter into a reciproca} relationship of interchange of
women with a sib of another phratry. Once the food is prepared,
the men, now gathered at the landing, march off. On the path to
the maloca they play various large, tubular ftutes and canica! trum-
7. The most poetic and least authentic version is that of Stradelli (l 890).
pets that are made from a piece of bark wrapped into a spiral shape
and provided with wooden mouthpieces. 8
We must first look at sorne of the details of these musical instru-
ments that, obviously, fulfill a central function. The flutes or trum-
pets are manufactured in the same place in the forest where the men
gather fruit, and consist of long pieces of wrapped bark about one
meter long. In order to give this conical tube stability it is reinforced
by tying two or three thin sticks secured by fibers around it. While
the tube can be made out of any available bark, the mouthpiece
(dihsiró/mouth) must be made from the wood of a macana palm
( Guilielma speciosa Mart.). The flute consists of a short, heavy
tube sorne fifteen or twenty centimeters in length that is inserted in
the narrower end of the bark tube. The flut~s are always played in
pairs, a "male" one called poré and a "femalel' one called ponenó.
Now, when the dull sounds of these flutes are heard approaching,
all the women, except those who have passed menopause, leave the
maloca and hide in the underbrush while the men arrive. Playing
their instruments, they enter the maloca and there deposit the fruit
and the rest of the food on a large basket tray near the main door.
Each man, however, keeps for himself a small bunch of fruit, sorne
fish, or a bit of smoked meat. Playing another set of flutes that are
not taboo, they now walk in line through the maloca toward the
rear door; before arriving at the other end, they suddenly disperse
and pretend to look for the young women while they touch the old
women with the food they carry in their hands. After leaving
through the back door and continuing to play their flutes, the men
then leave and return to the landing where they hide their instru-
ments under water.
While the meo are busy at the landing, the old women call the
young girls to return to the maloca. Simultaneously, the men return,
now without their flutes but carrying handfuls of nettles in their
hands as well as the fruit or smoked meats. They enter the maloca
with laughter, joking and shoving, attacking the women and the
girls. Striking them on the back or the breasts with the meat and
the fruits or scratching them with the nettles, they stage a sham battle.
The women pretend to flee but, with laughter and shouts, they allow
themselves to be touched by the men who pursue them inside and
8. Koch-Grünberg gives a good description of this phase of the celebra-
tion (1909, 1: 313-19).
Overleaf
Slender palms rise high over the
dense underbrush covering the
riverbanks
The Yutuparí Rapids on the Vaupés
River. From here to Yavareté on the
Brazilian border are more than
seventy rapids. These spots figure
prominently in Indian mythology
A maloca on the Pira-paraná. The

painted designs on the front of the
communal house are derived from
hallucinations; in this instance, they
represent the Master of Animals
and a series of abstract symbols
A group of Barasana Indians in
front of their maloca. The women
rarely take part in these informal
gatherings
This man wears proudly a polisheq

quartz cylinder and a necklace o~
· jaguar teeth
A girl from the Pira-paraná. Her
body is painted with dark blue
stripes in anticipation of a dance
Edible ants are a delicacy. This

woman offers a handful of the
insects she has prepared on a bed
of Ieaves
The wornen spend
hours painting
their bodies with
the sap of certain
trees
Manioc is the staple
food of the Tukano
lndians. The grated
mass is soaked in
water and pressed
out in a sieve
A Tatuyo Indian displays the hollow
dancing staffs that will be used in
a ceremonial gathering
The yuruparí flute of twisted bark

is a ritual instrument that is played
on rare occaslons. The man on the
left holds a stick-rattle
Por theír highly
formalized ceremonial
dances the meo wear
feather headdresses and
seed rattles
The walls of this rock
shelter on the upper
Inírida River are
painted with
representations of
game animals and
abstract symbols. It
is here that the Master
of Animals has bis
dwelling
Petroglyphs at
Wainambí Rapids
commemorate a
mythological scene
According to the
Tukano Creation
Myth, mankind
arrived in a canoe
shaped like an
anaconda. This Jarge
aquatic snake is
common in the rivers
of the Vaupes
outside the maloca. After a while, and in the same atmosphere of

joy and excitement, the various foods are distributed. What follows
then is a gathering like any other, during which chicha is served,
food is eaten, and there is dancing. We can observe clearly two
phases: the first is solemn, and threatening, producing a separation
of the sexes, the second is joyful and seeks union.
In arder to understand these ritual attitudes, we must first con-
sider the mythical background of this ceremony. The Sun Father,
as we know, committed incest by violating his own daughter who
had not yet reached puberty; this is the highest sin among the
Desana, and thus is a mythical event of extraordinary importance
far them. The scene ocurred at the Wainambí Rapids, at the foot of
a vahsúpe tree, and on the large boulders on the river bank marks
can still be seen in the stone, reminders of this violation: the im-
pression of the buttocks of the girl, the red spots of blood, and a
series of small hales where she urinated. The only witness of the
violation was a small insect, the praying mantis, which is called
bári buge or bári uáhti, after the name of a fruit that is said to smell
like onion (A nacardium excelsum?). The insect heard the laughter
of the Daughter of the Sun and went closer to see what had hap-
pened. Being a witness of the act, the insect changed into a person
( the myth does not give more details) " and manufactured a trum-
pet, the first trumpet of yuruparí, and used it to denounce publicly
the crime that he had observed. On the rocks of Wainambí a circle
(or spiral) marking the spot where he put the mouthpiece of the
flute can still be seen. The sound that this instrument produced was
sad and menacing because it proclaimed the existence of a great
sin, and the instrument itself smelled like the bári fruit, having the
odor of the genitals of the Daughter of the Sun.
Bul the myth continues, relating a new stage. Sorne time after
the introduction of the flutes and of the ceremonial playing of them,
still during the time of Creation, some women followed the men
when they went to the Ianding to hide the instruments. When the
men had gane, the women took out the flutes to look at them; they
took them into their hands and touched them with their fingers.
But when they touched their own bodies with the hands that had
9. On one occasion the informant affirmed lhat the Sun Father himself
appeared in human form to promulgate the law, but then he expressed
doubts in this respect.
been touching the flutes, suddenly hair grew on their pubis and
under their armpits, places that previously had no hair. When the
men returned to the landing, the women seduced them and, al-
though they belonged to the same phratry, they cohabited with
them. Only after supernatural punishments, which the myth does
not describe, were the men able to establish arder again. Since then
the rules that are observed at present have been enforced. 1º
This fragmentary myth shows us again the passage from Creation
to chaos because of forbidden sexual acts, followed by the reestab-
lishment of the social arder in terms of exogamic low. Since then
the flutes are played periodically as a reminder of this great sin.
But while the commemorative ceremony has as its objective the
prohibition of incest, it also indicates what sexual relations are to
be permitted. After the commemorative and, threatening phase, a
phase of sexual excitation comes during whlch the permitted re-
lationships are expressed symbolically.
We can now complete this interpretation by analyzing sorne de-
tails of the story. We have said that there are two flutes, amale and
a female one. The sound which the male one produces is said to be
poré-e-e-e-e, which is interpreted as koré/vulva. When one blows
into the mouthpiece, the sound of k is necessarily changed into a p,
but all know the erotic meaning of the sound in question. It may be
said here that the term koré is considered to be rather obscene and
that in conversation the word sibiá (from sibíjquail, an euphemism
for clitoris) is generally substituted. The canica! form of the instru-
ment is compared to the clítoris. When the flutes approach the ma-
loca, the women and girls who are hidden nearby shout together
"bi-bí, bi-bí," an expression of scom and rejection, but they also
laugh loudly, imitating the laughter of the Daughter of the Sun be-
fare coitus. This cry imitates the sibí, a bird whose song is of evil
augury for the hunter ( who, not only symbolically, is a man who
is excited sexually). When they cry bi-bí, the women want to ex-
press their wish that "bad luck will stay away from them," i.e., they
will not commit the sin of incest. The sound of the female flute, on
the other hand, is harsh, monotonous, and threatening. It is tran-
scribed as a Iong-drawn li-li-li-li-li. While the male flute incites and
insinuates, the female one rejects and threatens.
It is interesting to observe here that the Pira-Tapuya, who also
10. There are lacunae in this myth that are probably due to the fact that it
refers to the projections of sexual aspects that form an area of denial.
have yuruparí ceremonies, call the flutes minia-poári and the peo-
ple who play them are designated as miniá-poári mahsá. This name
is derived from miníye/to be drowned, to sink, and from poári/hair,
pubic hair. We have already mentioned that the sexual act is com-
pared with the act of "submerging oneself in water," to cast oneself
into the water," and thus this alludes to the sexual character of the
flutes. The men who play them represent those who are "drowned,"
those who committed the sin.
We now pass on to the second phase of the ceremony. The dis-
tribution of food is called po'ori, a word that has severa! meanings.
It is derived from po'o píri/to scatter something, to broadcast, to
sow a very fine seed Iike tobacco, to make a present. When it is re-
lated to the verb puri, it means to cohabit. In any case, we are now
concerned with a markedly erotic aspect of the cercmony. The im-
petuous entrance of the men into the maloca carrying fruits and
meats is interpreted as a sexual aggression, but within permissible
limits, and the very symbolism of the different fruits and of smoked
meat, with which they try to touch the bodies of the women, makes
this celebration an event with an orgiastic connotation. The act of
rubbing the bodies of the women with nettles, a "male" plant, is
called nya-suári ( from nya/nettle, suári/to make penetrate, to pene-
trate with force), and is interpreted as an act that is symbolic of
permitted sexual contact. It remains for us to add here a phrase
from our informant: "Yuruparí is not a person; it is a state-it is
a warning not to commit incest and to marry only the women from
another group."
According to our data, this interprelation of yuruparí is the one
that ali the Tukano tribes give to this ceremony, principally the
Desana, Tukano, and Uanano, but probably their neighbors, too.
Among the Desana, masked dancers do not participate in this cele-
bration, but among sorne other groups they may do so. 11
THE COLLECTIVE EcSTASY
The fundamental basis of Desana religion is the inlerpretation of

visions induced by lhe use of hallucinogenic drugs. The use of these
drugs is very widespread in the Northwest Amazon and has been
11. Goldman ( 1963, p. 129), referring to the yuruparí, is correct in saying

that: "One of the striking characteristics of lhe el'ltire Amazon drainage
is the ready way in which form and content separate and recombine
in ncw ways."
observed by many ethnologists, although detailed descriptions of

the diverse aspects of this complex are still lacking. Considerable
work has been done by botanists who have identified severa! plant
species used by the lndians, but little is known about the pharma-
cological, psychological, and cultural aspects; the last particularly
promises to be a fertile field for further research.
The principal hallucinogenic drug is prepared from Banisteriopsis
caapi, a vine commonly called yajé (Lengua Geral) or gahpí (De-
sana). Short pieces of the stem are pounded in a wooden mortar,
and cold water is then added. After straining, it is taken in small
doses on the occasion of ceremonial gatherings. Several times a
year, the kumú or the payé, assisted by severa} other men, prepare
the infusion and invite others to participate in the ceremony. 12
The liquid is kept in a special pottery vessel (gahpí soró) that
has a sacred character. The vessel is manufactl:lred by an old woman
who, before firing it, polishes the surface with a very hard smooth
stone of a yellowish color, called uararí-ye. The stone represents a
fertilizing phallus that "keeps on modeling" the vessel, itself a uter-
ine symbol. The vessel is globular, with a short cylindrical base and
low neck. Like other ceremonial objects, this vessel also consists of
three parts: the "yellow" base, the "red" body, and the "blue" upper
part through which communication is established with the super-
natural world when the Iiquid is served. The body of the vessel is
painted in red, white, and yellow, repeating the designs that adorned
the mythical Snake-Canoe. As a matter of fact, the vessel is identi-
fied with the Snake-Canoe, especially with its prow, " . . . the part
that leads, that carries, that explores. As mankind arrived in this
world in the Snake-Canoe, so will it now undertake the journey of
the return. The point of pamurí-gahsíru explored, and now it is the
yajé that explores," says the informant.
The participants are exclusively men of sorne thirty years or
older, and they sit in the center of the maloca. A man fills a small
cup (gahpí koa) with the drink and, carrying it toward the others,
says rapidly: ma-ma-ma-ma-ma! (Take!). While they are drinking,
they must smoke tobacco because this is said to help to produce the
desired hallucinations.
In the rear part of the maloca are the women who, although they
12. The informant says that different vines are distinguished, and that they
are classified by colors: yellow, reddish, and brownish red.
are not allowed to drink yajé, play an important part in the cere-
mony. The men drink in silence until, after a while, the first effects
are produced by the drug. Now the kumú fulfills his principal role.
In a loud voice, the kumú says: "I am the central person ( deyage;
doári mahse/the "person seated"), I am the only who is left. There-
fore I am going to teach you." The kumú means to say that the old
traditions are in danger and that he is the only one who can still
teach the religious bases. Then, step by step, the kumú explaíns and
interprets the development of the hallucinations and the diverse
visual and acoustical sensations that accompany them. Speaking in
a hypnotic tone, with great precision and insistence, he explains
what the men see and feel. The hallucination has severa! phases,
and during the first the person feels and hears a violent current of
air, as if a strong wind were pulling him along; the kumú explains
that it is the ascent to the Milky Way; in order to arrive at their
final destination, they must leave this world and first find the current
of communication with the winds. Now, following the Milky Way,
the men descend to A hpikondiá. They now feel enclosed by ftoat-
ing sheets that move and ftutter, as if they were in a room whose
walls consist of cloth; yellow lights appear that become stronger
and stronger, until they give the impression of a mass of luminous
bodies in movement. 1 ' The second phase is the arrival at Ahpikon-
diá. Now shapes and figures of different colors appear that move
and change in size, and the kumú explains that these shapes are
pamuri-gahsíru, Vaí-mahse in the "houses of the hills," Emekóri-
mahse, Diroá-mahse, and the Daughter of the Sun. The sound of
the stick-rattle that the kumú shakes becomes the voice of the Sun.
Vihó-mahse appears, together with the "ancient eagles," the Daugh-
ter of Aracú, and beyond the blue sphere the men can see the yellow
light of the Sun. At the same time they hear the buzz of the hum-
mingbird; they see it suck honey; they see the sguirrel, the cock-of-
the-rock, ali the animals and beings of myth and nature.
During the first phase the men talk and ask the kumú about their
visions, and he interrogates each one about what he is experiencing,
always explaining, pointing out details, and interpreting them. Son~e
men, usually the younger ones, still do not have well-defined hal-
Jucinations but only see lights and feel nauseated; in that case they
13. According to our informan!, thc colors vary notably with each phase of
thc hallucinalion.
17 4 · RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM
withdraw, followed by the deprecating laughter of the women whose

function consists in animating the men. The women sing: "Drink,
drink! This is why we were born. Drink, drink! Because this is our
task. By drinking they will know ali of the traditions of their fathers.
By drinking, they will be brave. We will help them!"
After about half an hour the effect passes. Music can still be
heard in the distance, but the forms, colors, and movements have
disappeared. The men gather together and continue drinking chicha.
Taking yajé is called gahpí irí-inyári ( from iri/to drink, inyári/
to see), and is interpreted as a return to the cosmic uterus, to the
"mine," to the source of all things. It has the objective of reaffirm-
ing religious faith, through the personal experience of seeing with
one's own eyes the origin of the Universe and of tnankind, together
with ali the supernatural beings. On awakening from the trance,
the individual remains convinced of the truth of the religious teach-
ings. He has seen everything; he has seen Vaí-mahse and the
Daughter of the Sun, he has heard her voice; he has seen the Snake-
Canoe tloat through the rivers, and he has seen the first men spring
from it. The voice of the kumú has guided him and has explained
everything to him in detail.
During the ceremony of yajé, the presence of a kumú, or another
person of wide esoteric knowledge, is certainly of the highest im-
portance. Speaking or singing continually, explaining each phase
of the hallucinations, which he has experienced on many previous
occasions, the kumú imprints his interpretation of the sensations in
such a manner that a new hallucinatory experience is readily
founded on a preestablished basis. The power of conviction of these
hallucinations must be truly extraordinary in these circumstances.
Of course, two factors are combined here: trance, or the sepa-
ration of the "soul" and its mystical union with the divinity, and,
simultaneously, an acceleration of time. "To take yajé is to die,"
the informant says, and, as a matter of fact, the "return to the
uterus" is considered the anticipation of death. The person not only
passes from one cosmic plane to another but enters a fourth di-
mension, the temporal one, the one that permits the establishment
of divine contact. This acceleration of time is consciously produced
and does not occur exclusively with the drinking of yajé. As we
have already seen, a similar mechanism operates in the "dialogues"
( veretamúri) or confessions in which the kumú offers catharsis by

the same return to the uterus.
DISEASE ANO ITS CURE

The concept of disease is called doré, a term that denotes a com-
plex symbolism that, at first sight, obscures the sequence of inter-
connected ideas. The word doré is derived from doréri/to order, to
send. lllness is thus commonly interpreted as a mandate, or the
product of a mandate, sent by or through a supernatural agency.
But, on the other hand, doréri also means "to change into some-
thing in imagination," and in this sense, too, the term is connected
with the concept of disease. To make a person fall ill is called doré
ye'eri, and this last word (ye-eri/to cohabit) shows us that a sexual
element has been introduced. We then have three basic ideas: the
mandate, the transformation, and the sexual act. Now Jet us see
how these ideas are interrelated.
In the first place, the person or the supernatural agent who
"sends" an illness must be transformed, and this transformation
generally operates through a concept designated as the "spotted
jaguar" (doróri ye'e), a variety of this feline to which many magi-
cal qualities are attributed. Just as the spots (observe here the in-
vocatory formula!) of the jaguar make him almost invisible in the
twilight of the jungle, so does the aggresor hide under the guise of
this feline. But at the same time he "transforms" his victim. We
know that for the Desana any phenornenon related to sexual physi-
ology is interpreted as a "transformation," whether it is coitus, ges-
tation, or birth. The phallic jaguar now commits an imaginary act
upan his victum, a sexual imposition that is the equivalent of a
magic violation followed by a pathological impregnation. So the
illness is the result of a sexual act, etiologically imagined as a super-
natural phenomenon, but morally seen as a fact. Coitus is sickness
( or death), and this is the message that the symbolism carries. For
the Desana, sexuality, in any form, connotes serious danger, and the
most adequate exemplifying condition is disease. Thus we are es-
sentially dealing here with psychosomatic phenomena, a fact that
appears to play a very important role among the Desana.
According to popular etiology, sickness may be due to many
different causes. The most common cause is the malevolence of
Vaí-mahse, the phallic Keeper of the Game. A second cause can

be a payé and, finally, any person who is an enemy. The game ani-
mals themselves cannot cause illnesses nor can the rain; 14 only the
contact with the "crystals" scattered by lightning can cause evil.
It is said that all diseases were created by the Sun Father to con-
trol human conduct through them, especially, as we have seen,
sexual conduct, but the execution of punishment for not obeying
moral norms is not the task of the Sun but of his instruments, prin-
cipally Vihó-mahse. All illnesses except those caused by Vaí-mahse
are produced by Vihó-mahse who serves as an instrument. His field
of action being the Milky Way, he is thus associated with the har-
pies and buzzards, consumers of all that is rotten and represents
the essence of all that is sick and pathogenic. The winds are instru-
ments for carrying illnesses from the Milky Way to the earth, being
the currents that Vihó-mahse diverts for this end.
The specific pathogenic agents are the following: a) small, black
splinters or thorns of a palm trunk and little quartz fragments that
penetra te the organism and are then localized in sorne organ; b)
blows with the feather crown of a malevolent personification or the
act of "putting the crown on" a victim to cause an illness; e) vege-
table fibers of the cumare palm (Astrocaryum), or, d) a magic
"fence" with which the organ is encircled or which is put around it
to isolate and destroy it. Fish, or the hairs of certain animals, can
also be introduced into the body of the victim.
Vaí-mahse sends illnesses for various reasons. In the first place,
he can punish a hunter who did not ask his permission before hunt-
ing or who omitted sorne of the rules that he should observe before
killing an animal. In the second place, he might punish a person or
a group of people because of the failure of a payé to cause the death
of a person whose soul must substitute for dead garue animals. In
order to compensate for this, V aí-mahse then makes sorne people
seriously ill. A third cause is Vaí-mahse's envy of the sex life of
mankind. For example, if a pregnant woman goes to the river to
bathe without having made the prescribed invocations, Vaí-mahse
can cause her to have a tumor, i.e., a difficult childbirth, by putting
a small crystal (semen) into her body. Instead of caressing the
woman, V aí-mahse strikes her furiously because he was not the one
14. The informant expresses here a certain doubt about the jaguar that does
occasionally seem to be able to cause diseases.
who caused her to be pregnant. By putting a fish into the woman's

vagina, Vaí-mahse can cause her to have sharp pains, and it is
understood that the soul of the child who is going to be born will be
transformed into an animal that will enter the dominions of Vaí-
mahse. He can also give the woman a blow with his feather crown or
place the crown, or a basket, on her head with such force that she
develops violent pains. Vaí-mahse is especially adept at causing heart
trouble; wrapping up the "little web" of the soul with fibers, fencing
it off with a "mat," and putting around it one or more of his feather
crowns, he can impede contact of the air between the soul and the
atmosphere.
A payé can cause sickness in order to fulfill a "deal" made with
Vaí-mahse or for personal reasons. It is possible that he may want
to eliminate an enemy or that he may carry out the request of an-
other person who longs for revenge. In any case the payé has to
solicit the help of Vihó-mahse because by himself he cannot cause
an illness. Vihó-mahse, on the other hand, operates through Vaí-
mahse who causes evil by means of his instruments, the scorpion,
the centipede, the anaconda, splinters, thorns and feather crowns, or
bits of vegetable fibers. In the case of an illness requested by a payé,
he prefers to use splinters and little pieces of quartz; he can also put
illnesses into a vessel and throw it into the river close to the landing
or near the maloca. Another way consists of throwing Iightning in
the form of a crystal and causing it to strike near the maloca of an
enemy.
The diagnosis of the illness is generally made by the patient him-
self or by his relatives, and only rarely are a payé or a kumú con-
sulted. The Jatter attends only in very serious cases. The kumú
takes a small, spherical gourd vessel in his hands and says an invo-
cation over its contents. If the cup falls to the ftoor and those pres-
ent see it is changed suddenly into a skull, the sick person will die
soon. Cures are effected only in the daytime because it is feared
that during the night hours Vaí-mahse might come near and cause
harm. Preferentially, sick persons are carried to lhe landing- where
the treatment is made, but in serious cases they can remain in the
maloca.
In principie, an illness is imagined as a wrapping, a thin black
cape that envelops the patient and must be broken in sorne manner
to accomplish the cure. Obviously, this cape represents the placenta,
and the sick person himself is compared with a foetus. An effective

cure consists then in producing a birth. What is sought is to rupture
the envelope and to reincorporate the patient into normal life.
There is one single word -mahsári-meaning to cure and to be
born. Moreover, it is believed that, in order to produce a rebirth, it
is necessary in many cases to symbolically effect coitus with the
patient, an act which introduces into his organism an elerrient of
vitality and growth. These two concepts, that of the patient con-
ceived as a foetus and that of the cure as a birth produced by a new
coitus, are based on the underlying assumption that the illness itself
was caused by a sexual act, a kind of contagious insemination. The
sex of the sick person is not taken into account under these cir-
cumstances for it is believed that all sick people have an essentially
feminine character. lt is interesting to observe that the Desana do
not have a fixed concept of time but one that can be manipulated,
accelerated or retarded, in combination with the rupture of levels of
perception.
The first phase of the therapeutic process consists in penetrating
the wrapping that envelops the patient. To accomplish this, the payé
invokes a number of creatures that, with their teeth, bite and perfo-
rate the envelope. The turtle, a reptile whose grip is diffi.cult to
loosen, is invoked and is asked to bite and devour the wrapping.
The species that is invoked in this case is the box turtle ( Geo-
chelone denticulata), a reptile that feeds on carrion, in other words,
on all that is illness. In the invocation his bite is compared with the
resistance of a stone. To the same end the eel ( buíme) is invoked;
its bony gums are similar to those of the turtle.
Then various species of fish are invoked. These have very sharp
teeth, and tear the envelope to shreds and devour it. The squirrel is
especially important in destroying the wrapping, and in invoking it
the expression aíya'a vea dihú (aíri/to seize, ya'ári/to open the
mouth, veári/to pull out, dihúri/to throw) is used, meaning that
the squirrel must open its mouth to pull away the cover and throw
it off.
Once this envelope has been eliminated, other animals are in-
voked to carry away the sickness. The attention of the harpies and
buzzards is called to the fetid odor of the rotten substance, which is
the illness, and they are asked to come and carry it away and throw
it on the Milky Way; their ability to descend rapidly from the

heights is evoked along with their ability to rise again; the force of
the wind, it is said, carries away the bad odor that might adhere to
their plumage. Another invocation is addressed to the hummingbird
and the weaverbird, both of which exemplify the cleanliness of the
nest because with their strong beaks they extract and exterminate
insects. Moreover, both birds build nests in the form of a "purse,"
i.e., a uterine symbolization. In this case various species of hum-
mingbirds or weaverbirds are called upon: large or srnall, accord-
ing to the place where they nest, or according to their color. An-
other animal that exemplifies cleanliness, according to the Desana,
is the deer that is invoked to clean the sick person, especially those
suffering from smallpox or frorn cutaneous diseases. The worker-
ants are invoked to form a circle of defense around the patient. Then
the "saliva of the stars," the dew, is invoked as a seminal element
that produces growth. The patient "must grow" and fortify hirnself
in arder to be reborn. The saliva of the stars must counteract the
venom of the sickness; one concept of insemination attempts to neu-
tralize the other.
A category of invocations of great importance refers to the bene-
ficia] action of certain colors. Here, the most diverse animals are
invoked, especially those of a yellow, orange, or red color. The "red
squirrel" (mihsóka diáge) is called upan, and the "reddish-yellow"
squirrel ( mihsóka nyíge), the "yellow" squirrel ( mihsóka dia-
birÍf?ii), the "large" sguirrel (mihsóka uáge), the "squirrel of the
field" ( mihsóka poéri mahanf?ii), the squirrel of the riverbanks
( mihsóka diavehkámalwnge), the "sguirrel that is ne ar the ma-
loca" ( mihsóka vi'i tero mahánge), the "sguirrel of the guamo tree"
( mihsóka meréngii mahánge), the "squirrel of the lonely places"
(mihsóka maharó mahánf?ii), the "sguirrel of the low trees" (mih-
sóka viadó mahán{fe), and many others. Ali are requested to saturate
the body of the patient (irá diabiríri meró) with their reddish-
yellow color. In the course of the invocation the squirrel, having
billen and thrown away the sickness, is asked to turn around and
"cover the patient with its tail." In the same manner the weaverbird
(limíri) or the oropendola ( umú) are invoked. The land snail
(sii'i) is invoked to Iend bis power of hiding himself and of making
himself "invisible"; the varnpire bat (oyó uahti) is invoked so that
he will carry away the blood of patients who are suffering from
diarrhea or hemorrhages. The jaguar is invoked so that with his
roar he will frighten the illness and keep it away.
Another creature of the air frequently invoked is a large fork-
tailed bird (pingusé; from pingúru/tail, senó/bifurcation) that
dives in the river and rises rapidly out of the water. 16 In this case
the patient is imagined as being "submerged in the waters of ill-
ness," and it is the agility of the bird in rising again that is invoked.
Another quality of the weaverbird invoked is bis habit of not stray-
ing from its nest and, therefore, rarely exposing itself to dangers.
The last phase of the cure comes when the payé invokes the
quartz cylinder so that it will share its powen In his invocation the
payé extracts the crystalline quality from the cylinder and intro-
duces it into the patient's body in the form of semen: "crystalized
semen, white semen, yellow semen, reddish semen," and the cylinder
is referred to by the term ihtamboro diro/crystal-flesh, which al-
ludes to its phallic character. The payé says, moreover, that "instead
of the sickness fertilizing the patient, he must be impregnated by the
semen of the crystal, so that he will grow and cast out the sickness."
Once the disease has been eliminated, invocations follow to
strengthen and calm the patient. This aspect is an essential part of
the cure because the psychosomatic character of many diseases is
well recognized, and attempts are made to alleviate the depressive
state that the patient suffers from. There is a small, white dove
(buhá) that eats only certain red berries and, to the Desana, is the
expression of cleanliness, health, and joy; when invoked, the dove
is asked to impart these qualities to the sick person. Another bird
invoked beca use of its pleasant aspect is a small duck ( dia góma) ;
the little duck has the same name and aspect as certain red ftowers
that are somewhat wing-shaped and are heavily perfumed; these
ftowers fall from the trees and ftoat on still waters. The duck and
the ftowers too are considered as an "adornment" ( buyá) and as a
manifestation of rest and joy; they are good omens when they ap-
pear at the landings. By invoking this duck and the red ftowers
associated with it, an attempt is made to reassure the sick person
and to calm his fears. The sick person "ftoats like a duck or like a
ftower on the waters of illness." The water-repellent pluma ge of the
15. Colymbus sp.

duck is also invoked because it makes the sick person impermeable

to disease.
When a person is being cured of sorne disease, the payé does not
pronounce the name of the patient but invokes beneficia! inftuences
only on his remedies: infusions, baths, and so on. The benefit is not
invoked upon the sick person but upan the materia medica. When
the sickness is believed to be caused by a personal enemy, it is sup-
posed that the enemy places an invisible "watchman" ( koréri
mahse) beside the victim, and the corresponding invocations then
have the purpose of removing this sentinel.
When a disease is believed to be caused by a splinter or a quartz
fragment, the payé first locates this foreign body by taking vihó and
then proceeds to massage the patient's body, "collecting the evil"
into just one place. He then extracts it by sucking with his mouth.
He can also handle this foreign body in such a way that it moves
slowly toward a limb, eventually toward the head, from whence he
removes the evil with corresponding gestures. The extraction must
always be carried out with the right hand and with a gesture that
goes from the center of the body ( soul) toward the extremities. At
the same time, the payé keeps smoking bis cigar and blows the
smoke over the afflicted part. If the treatment is undertaken inside
the maloca, the payé must go outside to spit, or he must spit into a
vessel that is then thrown into the river. Befare eliminating the
pathogenic matter, the payé shows the patient the splinters, thorns,
fibers or little stones that have caused the illness. It may be men-
tioned here that the treatment of blowing and sucking is more
characteristic of the kumú than the payé who produces his cures
rather by invocation or by throwing water on the sick person. In
any case, curing is strictly a masculine field in which women do not
participa te.
In lhe following pages, the principal categories of diseases will be
described, with their symptoms and the corresponding therapeutic
practices.
Uahti poári (from uahti/spiril, poári/hair); in a transferred
meaning, pubic hair. The symptoms are described as a dry cough,
light inlermittent fevers, and general malaise that last over a
period of severa! years. This condition is attributed to one or severa!
hairs that an enemy has introduced into the soul or the liver of the
victim. As a cure the payé invokes Diroá-mahse and the warm color
of the sun. During this invocation, the payé removes the diseased
organs, in imagination, exposing them one by one to the heat and
the light of the sun, washes them with water, dries them, and then
replaces them. He then throws water on the sick person, and when
the drops fall to the ground, he locates in them the hairs that have
caused the disease.
Uaú poári (from uaú/a monkey; poári/haír, pubic hair). This is
a throat infection that is believed to be caused by monkey hairs
that adhere to the mucous lining of the throat. The patient suffers
from fevers and pains and can swallow only hot liquids. As a cure
the payé invokes a yellow secretion from cert~in ants as well as the
eggs of the aracú fish that he causes to go down the throat to clean
it. He then invokes a gentle breeze to pass down the throat and also
blows tobacco smoke over the afflicted part in order to remove the
hairs. 1t should be added here that "monkey" is a synonym for
penis and that, symbolically, this illness is attributed to pubic hairs,
i. e., to coitus. The cure consists of another, symbolic, coitus in
which the eggs (verá) of the aracú fish are mixed with the seminal
liquid of the ants, considered "male" animals.
Geh sarí. These are intermittent fevers accompanied by chills
and vomit of a greenish color. The patient has strong headaches but
generally recovers after a few months. The disease cannot be cured
by invocations, but the payé administers herb infusions that have a
very bitter taste and must be taken in the morning. They have a
laxative and emetic effect. Once the "residues" are eliminated, invo-
cations are made to Diroá-mahse to help the patient to have a good
appetite. In imagination, the payé administers the essence of various
species of ants and termites (men!?a diára/red ant, buruá diára/red
termite) to the patient. The payé also says invocations over the
manioc, cassava, and fish that the patient must eat.
Be ári (to swell). Only adults are victims of this condition, de-
scribed as a state of paralysis in which the entire body becomes
swollen and heavy. The patient <loes not feel any pains but has chills
and is somnolent and apathetic. This conditioñ. is believed to be
caused by a malevolent payé who, at the request of an enemy, has
sent an anaconda to wrap itself around the victim and immobilize
him. In order to cure the disease, the payé invokes different kinds
of anacondas ("black, brown, big," etc.) so that they may attack
the person who sent the illness. At the same time, Vaí-mahse is in-
voked to come and cure the patient who is generally a woman. The
patient is painted an imaginary red, to "call the attention of Vaí-
mahse," who immediately takes a sexual interest in her. The payé
prepares for him a "road that is like a channel but is at the same
time a container that holds the crystal" (i.e., a phallic conduct),
Vaí-mahse comes along this road and finds the sick woman, well
adomed and pretty, but in the hold of the anaconda. With his red
wand he "strikes and whips" the anaconda who, little by little, be-
gins to loosen his grip on the victim and then leaves by way of a
path that has been especially prepared by the payé. The sexual act
is here symbolized quite clearly. But an extraordinary arrangement
is made if the patient happens to be male. In this case the payé must
be accompanied during the treatment by a girl who is well painted
and pretty and who establishes the transference by attracting Vaí-
mahse.
Mesearí (from mepíri/to let fall, siári/to loose consciousness).
This illness has all the characteristics of a hysterical attack; it is far
more frequent in women than in men. It is believed to be caused by
an enemy payé who has sent a skein of cumare fibers to wrap up the
soul. This again involves coitus represented by the yellow seminal
fibers. The payé who is in charge of the cure in imagination
"adorns" the soul, giving it the color of ftesh and putting it on top
of a crystal container that is ful! of semen. At the same time he
paints the sick woman with imaginary dye, to make her look very
pretty and attractive, and then calls Vaí-mahse for whom he has
prepared a special road. Vaí-mahse, with his red stick, removes the
fibers and thus produces the cure. In the case of a male patient, the
payé must be accompanied by a good-looking girl.
Porá-keri dohári (from porá/children, keré/to have, dohári/to
sit down; the last verb refers to the expression "to make the e vil
smoke settle" on the uterus to obstruct childbirth). It is believed
that a payé has put a fence around the uterus ( like the one used for
fishing) to prevent birth and that the child has been turned in such
a manner that it is in breech position. The payé who assists the
pregnant woman makes her sit down on a small bench, in imagi-
nation, and he then penetrates her uterus with his gaze to ascertain
the exact position of the child. He turns the child until it is in the
proper position for birth and gives it certain foods, ants, termites,
and white manioc, so that it will be strong. He then rolls up the
fence as if it were a little mat and throws it away. He invokes the

yellow color of the sun to stretch the vagina and to facilitate the
birth. Then he invokes Diroá-mahse to give the woman strength.
The payé breathes deeply, imitating the childbearing woman until
she gives birth.
In a similar pathological condition it is believed that the patient,
generally a woman, is sick because an enemy has put a very closely
woven basket over her head, completely isolating her from this
world. To begin the cure, the payé absorbs vihó and smokes bis
cigar. Once under the effects of the drug he blows the smoke over
the sick woman and covers her with imaginary paint, makes her
appear young and smiling, at times only a girl at puberty, who
makes amorous gestures to attract Vaí-mahse. The payé has pre-
pared a "path" for him and now invites him to come. Vaí-mahse
sees the sick woman, who is so attractive that he agrees to help her.
With his red stick he overturns the basket and throws it away.
Góro verédi (from goro/empty place, symbolically the vagina or
the uterus; also cemetery; veríri/obstructed place, the opposite of
goro). This illness is designated as "madness," as a psychological
condition in which the individual seems to be in a catatonic state.
This condition is explained in the following way: the ka'í (mind) of
the patient has been attracted by a "thicket in the jungle" full of
thorns and vines. The patient, coming originally from an open,
empty place, goes step by step toward a dark thicket without know-
ing where he is going. The cure is in this case the responsibility of
the kumú who attempts to "awaken" the person by giving him ad-
vice. This advice is formulated in these words: "Everyone wears a
loincloth, but a madman does not want to have one; he tears it off.
Sexual organs should not be exposed; people will make fun. Only
animals expose them; but we are not animals." This "advice" alludes
to the frequent tendency of persons who are said to be mentally dis-
turbed or who are under the influence of a hallucinogenic drug to
take off all their clothes and to defecate in public. On the other
hand, the kumú attempts to reincorporate the patient into the
normal life of the group. He says to him: "You are an important
person in our phratry. You are a great singer, a good dancer, a
man of good habits. You should not humble yourself in this man-
ner." lf this "advice" does not have the desired results, the kumú
invokes Diroá-mahse and then calls up the crab (gamí) so that it
will act as a guide to the patient. A desirable quality of the crab is

the yellowish color of its raw meat and the red color of its cooked
meat, but of more importance still are the slow, cautious steps by
which this crustacean moves while observing everything with his
periscopic eyes. The crab is asked to accompany the patient and
take care of him, guiding him very slowly toward the "open place."
It is imagined that the patient as well as the crab will travel very
slowly, step by step, the latter conducting the patient, who will
always try to escape ( veréri), until they Ieave the thicket behind.
The woodpecker is also invoked; this is another phallic animal, and
this bird is asked to peck a hollow tree in the "open space" ( the
vagina) and with the noise of the tapping of his beak to signa! to
the sick man the direction of the way out. The kumú places in the
ear of the patient the peckings of the birds so th at he will find the
ro ad.
Páru begári (from paru/stomach, abdomen; begari/to swell, to
grow). The abdomen of the patient swells up while bis extremities
grow thin. The sick person, having a very pallid appearance, feels a
great weight in his body, but he has no fever or pains. The cause is
believed to be the malevolence of a payé who filled the stomach of
the person with cotton wool, a substance that, as we know, has a
seminal character. The payé who undertakes the cure invokes the
yellow light of the sun and asks the squirrels to help him with the
power of their bright color. Then he shakes his gourd rattle and with
the handle, painted red and representing the phallic end of the in-
strument, removes the cotton from the body of the palient, little by
little, and throws it away. This cure takes a long time, and finally
the payé invokes a fresh breeze to carry away the remainder of the
cotton.
As we have seen in the preceding pages, a wide category of
psychosomatic diseases with hysterical overtones is involved here.
These are probably caused by lhe strong mechanisms of sexual re-
pression that Desana culture imposes on thc individual with the aim
of maintaining the biotic equilibrium of lhe concept of total energy.
The diverse cures constituted by symbolic acts of coitus and rebirth,
executed by both or one of the phallic personifications-the payé
or Vaí-mahse-demonstrate a perspicacity and insight into the
psychological mechanisms that undoubtedly are very efficient in
achieving at least a temporary cure.
There are other illnesses and afHictions that are considered to

have natural causes and are called simply penerídoré/contagious
disease. The pain of an aching molar (pingú pulíri; from pingúru/
tail, pulíri/pain) is believed to be caused by a tiny worm gnawing
at the "tail", i. e., the root of the tooth. The payé invokes the worm,
offering it far better food so that it will stop gnawing. He otfers it
"white manioc, hard manioc, yellow manioc, starchy manioc," all
having the fl.avor of fish. At the same time, the payé offers a small
bench to the worm so that, comfortably seated, it can eat in peace
and forget the molar.
Snake bites are treated without the intervention of the payé;
herbs are administered, and the patient must submit to certain
dietary rules. Besides, no inhabitant of the maloca may eat fresh
chili because this would increase the pain. Headaches, gastrointesti-
nal malfunctions, or colds are treated with herbs and are generally
attributed to natural causes.
Sorne final observations are in order here concerning the concept
of preventive medicine. In many malocas forest animals are kept,
small mammals or birds that the natives raise with great care. They
are not kept as pets or raised as a pastime or for their pleasant
company; rather, in the keeping of these animals very practica! aims
are pursued. It is believed that these animals have defensive quali-
ties, in the sense that they attract contagious diseases that come near
the maloca, thereby protecting the occupants of the dwelling. The
principal animals raised for this purpose are, in the first place, those
that assimilate the danger of such epidemic diseases as measles or
smallpox. They are the rodents: the paca, the guinea pig, and
others. The first two frequently have fleas, and these are said to
"devour" the disease without the animal itself suffering any conse-
quences. The guinea pigs also attract contagious diseases; and as
this small animal hides for preference in a manioc squeezer that
líes on the fl.oor, the disease follows it there and is "devoured" by
the squeezer. Monkeys are raised to neutralize other contagious
diseases, but they generally die as a consequence of it. Among the
birds raised, the oropendola is important because it is said to destroy
all contagion with its strong beak. The trumpeter bird neutralizes
the diseases of women and children; this bird will often hide under
a hammock and, as it has a very sharp eyesight, it can see when
illnesses approach, and it then moves the hammock with its back
so that its owner will not be exposed to any contagion. The trum-
peter bird is called moá borébu (from moá/meat, in Cubeo, and
boréri/to tum white, to dawn, to mature). Boré also means "bun-
dle," and this bird is thus called "white bundle," a term that ex-
presses a principie of good and protection. The meat of this animal
is very white and "inoffensive" because the trumpeter bird can never
be an instrument of Vaí-mahse. The small parakeets that nest in
hollow tree trunks and are raised in the malocas exemplify good
care and the protection that ought to be given to small children.
Also the tinamou is raised as a personification of the "good life" and
good health. It is also an "inoffensive" animal, an expression that
refers to its meat, often given to sick persons. Feathers are extracted
from macaws, and the skin of the birds is rubbed with a resin that
eventually produces a plumage of a brillíant yellow color ( tapirage).
On the whole, birds of yellow or orange feathers are preferred be-
cause their bright colors are associated with the power of the sun.
6
Man and Society
THE ÜRIGIN oF Srns

Tradition tells that in the beginning the aracú fish ( boréka)
formed a large family which lived below the waters in their malocas.
They lived like people, drinking chicha and dancing and, like the
Desana of today, they had servants, their Makú. The servants were
other fish; the piran ha ( monyó) took care of the maloca and stirred
the fire when the aracú were away at a feast; other fish stayed out-
side and took care of the landing. Others were entrusted with other
tasks. Thus the aracú lived well.
Then, one day, the first men who had come in the Snake-Canoe
had a party. An aracú fish, the Daughter of Aracú ( boréka mangó),
heard the music and, coming out of the water, went near where the
men were dancing. She fell in love with the Desana, and they co-
habited. According to tradition, the manifest proof of this event are
the petroglyphs at the rapids of Wainambí where the impression of
the woman's buttocks can still be seen, together with the figure of a
fish and a row of small holes that mark the spot where she urinated
after coitus.
The Daughter of Aracú and the first Desana had many descend-
ants. The sons as well as the daughters figure prominently in the
myths and genealogies because they were the progenitors of the
different sibs and, moreover, with their individual qualities estab-
lished certain rules of exemplary conduct for the future. When
speaking of these mythical ancestors, the informant explains that
their names and attitudes should always be interpreted on severa!
levels. Generally, the ancestor is first compared to an animal or an
object and from the common characteristics certain rules of con-
duct are derived that are models for their descendants. Parallel to
this metaphorical interpretation, however, is another based on sexual
189
symbolism and derived etymologically or attributed to a certain

quality or attitude. With this interpretation the progenitor of a sib is
thus reduced to a phallic symbol or to sorne other concept directly
related to an act of creation. This is not a form of "popular ety-
mology" or individual projection but is the recognition of a basic
form of thought that is very generalized in Desana culture.
We will enumerate here first the immediate descendants of the
original couple, following the chronological order of their birth and
adding in each case their traditional characteristics. The males who
were born from this first union were:
Toramee. When saying that the name is derived from torasári, an
emetic plant, our informant explained that this ancestor represents
ritual purity because it was he who established the custom of taking
abundant emetics at dawn to purify himself before going hunting.
But when he ended this explanation, our informant mentioned that
"thought jumps" and added that the name is also related to the
word torá, a name for a small frog. This frog Iives in the underbrush
near the riverbanks and "makes itself invisible" when it sits on a
trunk or a leaf: The informant made the following associations: in
the first place, the underbrush near the river is a preferred place for
the sexual act; during this act the men "have invisible sons" in a
place which is favorable, protected, and "invisible" in the sense of
being unobserved. In the second place, the frog, when sticking to a
bough or leaf, blends in to its surroundings as men and women are
"blended" when they unite in coitus.
Mirupú. The interpretation given is the following: the name is
derived from mirúnye/wind, and puríri/to blow, and refers to a
tradition according to which this ancestor received from Vihó-
mahse the hallucinogenic vihó powder and became thus the first
payé. The name also alludes to the Milky Way, the zone of the
winds where supernatural contact is established by means of halluci-
nogenic drugs. To this the informant adds that the name also alludes
to a common metaphor by which the sexual act is compared with
a hallucinatory state, "a moment of visions."
Púmbora. The informant explained this name in two ways. The
derivation is from pu/leaf, and boré/light color, and refers to the
very light skin this child had. lt is said that ali of his descendants
are distinguished by their light skin color, which is similar to a dry
leaf. According to the second interpretation, the name is derived
ManandSociety · 191
from the verb puri/to cohabit, and borá/housepost. The ancestor

had a penis "like a housepost." Puri also means to saw, to plant,
and this term is more usual in designating the sexual act than the
verb ye'eri, which is considered to be somewhat obscene.
Payatege. Again, the informant offers two interpretations. Ac-
cording to the first, the name is derived from payáge, payáru/astute,
smooth, and alludes to the imperturbable character of this ancestor.
He paid no attention to provocations and insults, which "slipped off"
without affecting him; he is the model of the calm or even-tempered
and nonaggressive man. The second interpretation is the following:
the quality of "slipping" is related to the idea of "floating," or of
moving as if the body had no weight. In this case the name alludes
to coitus in which the man must "float" over the woman.
The daughters of the first couple were the following:
Diákara. A small duck is designated by this name, and it alludes
to two qualities of this bird; that of bathing frequently and that of
floating on the water. 1 This mythical woman enjoyed swimming in
the river and rose early, together with the men, to dive into the
waters. She also drank a lot at feasts, but the drink did not hurt her
because "she floated on the chicha," an expression used for people
who drink a great deal but can control themselves. A third interpre-
tation, however, introduces the sexual theme again: the duck has
a red spot on its head that is compared with a vagina.
Puriró. It is said that this word means ftood or inundation, and
that the woman was called this because of her extraordinary elo-
quence and her great ability in giving good advice. She "filled
people with her ad vice; her words were a flood." However, this na me
also has a sexual connotation because the informant related it to the
verb puri/to cohabit, and says that this woman was the model of
female fecundity.
Uágo. When deriving the name from uá/palm leaf, and the femi-
nine suffix -go, the informant associates this daughter with the roof
of the maloca. The roof is inviting because it offers shade and pro-
lection. This daughter is then a model of hospitality, and she always
received visitors very well. The informant continues, saying that the
name can also be derived from the verb uári/to rub, and that it
l. lts material representation in thc form. of a .bird woven of leaves is
sometimes placed in thc maloca where 1t presides over gatherings and
fcasts.
alludes to the narrowness of the vagina of this woman who was a

virgin. In connection with this allusion he mentioned the popular
Desana saying: "A widow <loes not rub."
Mirigó. The name is said to be derived from mirini/to be filled.
Her eloquent advice filled and "transformed" the people who
listened to her; "as a river is filled, so the person is filled and
changes in aspect." Here the informant adds that the woman is
"filled with sexual pleasure."
Diayehseru. The informant offers two interpretations. According
to the first, the name is derived from día/water, and vehse/wad.
The woman is imagined as a wad of cotton impregnated with water;
that is, as something good but in a very small quantity. She was
good but not completely; it was not enough. lrl the second interpre-
tation the informant derived the name from yehsarí/cold, and men-
tioned the sensation of shuddering when submerging in cold water;
he compares this sensation with the sexual act.
These nine direct descendants of the first couple then gave rise
to the sibs. Traditionally, a fixed order exists in which these groups
are formed, each one "owing services" to those of higher rank. At
present, sorne 28 sibs are named whose distribution, by order of
rank, is given in Table 2.
In the multiple associations of the sibs ennumerated in Table 2,
the "totemic" concept of the Desana appears in all clarity. It will be
obvious, however, that it does not refer solely to animals of eco-
nomic utility. If the concept of ancestral animals, plants, or objects
appears here, it does so not in the sense of the ethnological theories
of the past. The "ancestors" are nothing else but the sexual organs,
a "totemic" idea, simple as well as logical. Without exception, the
progenitors of the sibs are phallic, uterine, or similar representa-
tions, with the "totem" then being reduced to its most fundamental
expression. The symbolism of the associations is covert but mani-
fests its sexual meaning as soon as the characteristics of the animals
or plants in question are analyzed.
We will examine in the first place the "totemic" animal of the
whole Desana phratry, the hummingbird. All Desana are designated
as mimí-porá/Sons of the Hummingbird, not in the sense of de-
scending from the bird but being under its supernatural protection.
The hummingbird rules in Ahpikondiá, the uterine paradise, and
bis fellow creatures on earth represent him in the capacity of
Man and Society · 193
TABLE 2 DISTRIBUTION OF SIBS BY RANK

No. NAME MALOCAS HABITAT
1 Boréka-porá 3 Virarí River (Nimánya)

2 Seme-peyáru-porá 2 Macú-paraná
3 Sibiá-porá 2 Montfort, Tucunaré
4 Umusí-porá 4 U acaricuara
5 Limini-porá 4 Uacaricuara
6 De'e-porá 2 Montfort, U acaricuara
7 Mihsóka-porá 5 Mihsokánya, tributary of the Papurí
8 Ogege-porá 3 U acaricuara, Piracuara
9 Begeyéri-porá 3 Montfort, Piracuara
1O Bugú-porá 1 Montfort, Piracuara
11 Vahsúpe-porá 3 Turí-igarapé, Vahsupúnya
12 Buyáka-porá 5 Puyayá, tributary of Turí River
13 Mahá-porá 4 Mahayá, a river toward the Tiquié
drainage
14 Mirupú-porá 3 Macú-paraná, U acaricuara
15 Mihpí-porá 3 Mihpínya, tributary of Macú-paraná
16 Dihpútina-porá 2 Dihpútinaya, tributary of Tiquié river
17 Yehsé-porá 2 Macú-paraná, Uasái-paraná
18 Toá-porá 2 Toábu Rapids; Toayá river, Montfort
19 Yeboréna-porá 3 Headwaters of Uacaricuara
20 Pamó-porá 5 Poayá, tributary of Papurí River
21 Buhí-porá 3 Near Tucunaré
22 Payatege-porá 5 Payá River (Viña), near Uacaricuara
23 Memeré-bayári-porá 5 Payá River (Viña)
24 Yebári-bayári-porá 4 Payá River (Viña)
25 Boré-poári-porá 3 Virarí River (Nimánya)
26 Ye-diríge-porá 2 Behsúnya River
27 Yege-porá 2 ?
28 O'oyúhke-deadíge-porá 1 Montfort, Uacaricuara
Note: The suffix -porá means "children of."
models. At death, the souls of those Desana who have led a virtuous
life are converted into hummingbirds and return to the uterine para-
dise. What are then the ideas about this bird?
We will transcribe here in detail the observations our informant
made. In the interpretation of the hummingbird, Desana thought
operates on two levels: one is simple and descriptive, of compari-
sons based on the behavior of this bird with respect to its nest, and
the other is more abstract, in which all the complex symbolism of
Desana culture, with all its ramifications, is unfolded. We will first
consider the simple interpretation. The hummingbird builds a very
strong and compact nest, generally under a leaf. The Desana com-
pare this nest with a well-constructed maloca because of its stability

and security. The hummingbird zealously defends this nest and at
the least noise becomes alert and, poised in the air in front of the
nest, attempts to defend it. The payés invoke this posture of the
hummingbird when they want to defend a maloca from magical
dangers, malevolent spirits, or diseases. The sharp beak of the
hummingbird destroys the danger and defends the maloca nest. The
hummingbird is thus a symbol of the magical defenses that protect
the maloca and, as such, is a bird of great importance in rituals.
On a more abstract level, the hummingbird has other attributes.
The hummingbird with its thin, slightly curved beak flies from
fiower to flower and extracts honey from them. The Desana see a
sexual symbolism in this because the flower represents the vagina,
the hummingbird the penis, and the honey th~ semen. The expres-
sion "the hummingbird is sucking honey" is a common metaphor
for coitus, and honey (momé) is a synonym for semen, expressed
in the words mahse-momé/person-honey. Furthermore, it is said
that an adult man ought to have a penis "of the size of a humming-
bird" and not a large one "like an anteater." This difference is
emphasized a great <leal in conversation because a penis of small
size is considered a sign of high social status. The comparison
honey-semen is elaborated in the following form, quoting here the
words of the informant: "The honey of the flowers is pure because
the flower has not made contact with the other fiowers; it was not
created by human hands." What is involved here then is a concept
of purity. Honey, which is at the same time crystal, is a crystalline
liquid and represents the fertilizing force of the Sun Father; that is
to say, it represents the semen of the original phallus. It is empha-
sized here that the honey of the flowers is "pure" and that it was
"transformed by nature into a transparent liquid," which means that
it was not a raw element but a "transformed" one, an idea which is
significant in Desana thought. The act of boiling or cooking food
"transforms" it in a sexual sense because it not only changes its
quality from raw to cooked but, above all, produces a change in sex;
from male to female, from evil to beneficia!, from offensive to
harmless, from profane to pure. On the other hand, to cook is a
symbol of to cohabit, which is also a mechanism of transformation.
Moreover, the idea that the penis "eats" is common, not only in
Desana culture where to cohabit equals to eat. The sexual symbol-
ism of honey leads us then to consider another element of "trans-

formation," the bees. According to a Desana myth, when the Sun
Father created the Universe ( or cohabited, in Desana symbolism),
a small yellow bee appeared. The myth says that, at this moment,
"the Sun Father had honey on the tip of his tongue and that he spat
and his saliva fell upon the feet of the bee." The bee moistened its
feet with his saliva, and on one foot there stuck a little piece of
clay. This represented the earth where the bee had to make its
honeycomb. The bee represents the earth. The bee is the represen-
tation of the purity of the Sun. We must remember here that the
act of stinging or biting in Desana symbolism means to cohabit and
that an animal provided with a sting is a phallic animal. In this
manner both the hummingbird and the bee represent "the penis of
the Sun" (abé yeru), and they are phallic symbols associated with
the concept of a seminal liquid formulated as honey /crystal. The
symbolism of honey also appears in everyday life; the men look for
honey in the forest and give it to pregnant women to eat because
it is a "pu re fooJ" which aids gestation. "J ust as in the sexual act,
the man now provides his woman with honey," that is, he syrnboli-
cally repeats the coitus to insure birth. 2
After what has been said above, it becomes clear that the
"totemic" animal of the phratry is reduced to a phallic concept of
original procreation. We must now examine the mythical progeni-
tors of each sib, together with their diverse association.
l. Boréka-porá ( Sons of the Aracú Fish). The name boréka is
derived from boré, boréri/to turn white, "to ripen like the dawn,"
to be born, and refers in this case to a gelatinous part in the head
of the fish. This matter is compared with human semen, and the fish
itself is interpreted as a phallus. The eggs ( boréka verá) are com-
pared with cotton, another synonym for semen. Also, at the nape of
the neck, the aracú fish is said to carry a gelatinous mass, "like
honey," which is designated by the term omahselíri. This word is
derived from omári/to carry on the back, and selíri/odor, smell.
Our informant translates it is "instinct," heredity, vocation, and
interprets it as a sexual quality. At the same time he points out
severa! "human" qualities of the aracú fish; his food is the same as
2. For references to the symbolism of honey among South American In-

dians see Lévi-Strauss, 1966.
man consumes: fruits of vahsú and semé, and especially manioc.

The aracú is not a flesh-eating fish.
2. Semé-peyáru-porá (Sons of the Semé Chicha). The name
comes from semé, the fruit of a mimosacea (Inga sp. ?), and
peyáru/chicha. This fruit is used as an ingredient in a certain kind
of chicha and can also be mixed with manioc. For the Desana,
generally speaking, all mimosaceae that have fruits enclosed in pods
have a sexual connotation because a row of small round bodies is
interpreted as "children," "generations," or "drops of semen." In
addition, the spongy quality of the covering enclosing the fruits is
compared with a germinal, uterine, principie. The same association
of ideas is val id for the sib Vahsúpe-porá ( cf. infra) that is also
related to a fruit.
3. Sibiá-porá (Sons of the Quail). The progenitor of this sib is
described as "mischievious, drunk, crazy about women, and lazy."
He did not know how to dance or to sing and so could not fulfill
his functions during the gatherings of his relatives. He is compared
to a quail, a bird that "does not dance either" because it only runs
on the ground without any fixed direction and as if disoriented.
The members of this sib are said to have the same characteristics
and, mockingly, it is pointed out that their only song is sibí-sibí-sibí
or sené-senené.
At first sight these associations seem to lack any meaning, but
we will see soon that the underlying ideas are quite coherent. The
progenitor of the sib is called sibí-ye'e, a term derived from the
name of the quail and from the verb ye'eri/to cohabit. The quail
is called sibiá, but this is also a synonym for clítoris. Moreover, the
terms "mischievous" and "drunk" are often used in Desana to ex-
press states of sexual excitation. The "totemic" designation "Sons
of the Quail" has then a very different meaning once the basis of
the associations are known. It must be added here that the sib also
receives the contemptuous nickname of keisibi, derived from kei/
red, and sibí/cross-eyed, alluding to the tradition that the progeni-
tor, when he tried to violate a woman, received from her a heavy
blow in the eye.
4. Umusí-porá (Sons of the Oropendola). The name comes from
umú, umusí/oropendola. This bird, because of its yellow tail feath-
ers, is associated with the seminal power of the Sun. With the form
of its nests that hang like long purses from branches there is a double
association: on one hand, the nests ha ve a uterine meaning of "bags

that contain the brood"; on the other hand, they are compared with
testicles. The latter are compared by the Desana with "grapes" of
the to'o fruit, and obviously the colonies of nests hang "Iike grapes"
from the trees. By its rapid movements, the oropendola is said to be
a "dancer," another attitude that is essentially sexual, as dancing is
compared to cohabitation; the bird is thus the phallus that comple-
ments the "nest." The strong beak of this bird is invoked against
diseases and asked to "destroy evil," in the same way as the birds
destroy the insects that attack their young. lt should also be noted
that the oropendola lives in a curious symbiosis with certain wasps,
a fact that has not escaped the attention of the lndians. These wasps
make their nests in the top of the same tree where the colony of
birds' nests is; when danger is approaching, the birds warn the
wasps which then swarm and defend the common territory.
5. Liminí-porá (Sons of the Cacique Bird). The name is derived
from /i/peach palm (Guilielma gasipaes) and refers to "the one
which eats peach palm fruits." The purse-shaped nests of these birds
are quite similar to those of the larger oropendola ( cf. supra) and
are frequently found on peach palm trees. This is also a bird with
yellow tail feathers and is said to "dance." The sexual symbolism is
the same as that rrientioned for the oropendola.
6. De'e-porá. The word de'e is said to imitate the sound or noise
produced when a person falls suddenly and heavily to the ground.
It is "the sound of fright." It is said that the progenitor of this sib
became very drunk at a feast and fell down, making this noise.
Years afterward, as an old man, he was sitting at the <loor of his
maloca teaching his son to weave a basket tray when he suddenly
slumped over dead because an enemy payé had seized his soul. The
obscure symbolism is explained by the informant in the following
terms: the sexual act is violent, and the name of the sib imitates the
noise of the woman falling on lhe ground. Many times the young
men hide in the darkness near a maloca to rape a girl, and the sib
is said to be that of rapists and violators.
7. Mihsóka-porá ( Sons of the Squirrel). From mihsóka/red
squirrel. This little rodent, of a yellowish-red color, is a solar ani-
mal and is one of the principal phallic helpers in the curing of cer-
tain diseases (see p. 179). Its tail represents a penis and, seen from
behind, the vagina. By its agility and its piercing voice, the squirrel
exemplifies dancing and singing. lt is said to be very active sexually

and "pursues women." Of the members of this sib it is said that they
are very agile in dancing and that they are very good curers too.
8. Ogege-porá (Sons of the Babbler). The name is said to be de-
rived from ogéri/to babble, to murmur, to speak softly. The ances-
tor when he drank chicha babbled and murmured in a comer in
such a manner that he could not be a good counselor. But he also
behaved this way during the sexual act and ''did not know how to
express himself." His descendants are said to have the same charac-
teristics.
9. Begeyéri-porá (Sons of the Hammer Stone). The name is said
to refer to a small stone that is very hard and rough and is used to
crush fruits or to crack seeds. This stone is kept in the maloca
in a fixed place so that it is easily found, and is always available to
people who need it. The descendants have then two qualities: hard-
ness and permanence in the same place. The members of this sib
are healthy people whose organism cannot be penetrated by illness
and, above all, they are good sons who do not abandon their fami-
Iies but remain in the maloca. Bege means old, and ye'eri is to co-
habit; the mythical progenitor was an old man. The hammer-stone
is called ehta-ye, combining in its name the noun for stone with the
verb for cohabiting.
10. Bugú-porá (Sons of the Anteater). From bugú/anteater. The
anteater is said to have a very large penis, considered characteristic
of people of low status among the Desana. Nevertheless, the anteater
also symbolizes virility by the size of its sexual organs, its large tail,
and the elongated shape of its head.
11. Vahsúpe-porá ( Children of the Rubber Tree) The name is
derived from vahsú, the rubber tree (Hevea pauciflora, var.
coriacea). The fruit is very appetizing and serves to make a thick
soup, but it has to be boiled and squeezed because it contains a
poison similar to that in bitter manioc. lt is also an excellent bait
for fishing and, in a raw state, can be used as a fish poison. The sib
received this name because its progenitor ate many of these fruits
and used them as bait for fishing, activities for which he was some-
what criticized because they were not becoming to a hunter. In
forro, the fruit of vahsú is compared with the testicles, and the
gelationous mass of its interior with semen. It is thought to be an
aphrodisiac. The white sap of the rubber tree is also associated
with semen. We remember here that the act of "fishing" refers to

coi tus.
12. Buyáka-porá ( Sons of the Adornments). From buyá/adorn-
ment for dances. The progenitor of this sib did not sing well and
therefore only played a minor role during feasts. The only thing he
could do was to accompany the last singer of the feast, in the ca-
pacity of a helper and servant. This singer wears a special feather
crown that indicates his low status among the other singers. Again,
what is referred to is a complex symbolism, explained by our in-
formant in this manner: the word buyá means adornment but also
means cotton, which is a synonym of semen. The verb buyá ye' eri
means then "to decorate," in the sense of "cotton/to cohabit"; the
adornments for a dance are compared to the semen of coitus. With
this play on words, the idea of the progenitor being the "last" and
of low status is combined with the tradition that he was very stylish
and was not at all disliked by women.
13. Mahá-porá (Sons of the Macaw) From mahá/yellow macaw.
The mythical progenitor of this sib was in charge of distributing the
feather crowns and of keeping them after the feast was over. The
members of this sib are traditionally the keepers and guardians of
these crowns. The sexual symbolism is dual: on one hand, there is
reference to the yellow color of the feathers of this bird, which
represents semen; on the other hand, the concept of the "tail" of the
macaw is emphasized. The common word for tail is pi11g1íru, but, in
a transferred meaning, the word poréro is used. This means "some-
thing that is prominent, like a penis." The verb poréri means to re-
produce, to sprout.
14. Mirupú-porá (Sons of the Hollow Trunk). The name comes
from that of a constellation called mirup1í-turú, which consists of
five stars that appear in lhe sky in December and represent a hollow
trunk ( turú). Because these stars shine brighter than the others
close by, the members of this sib stand out and "shine" in the feasts
by their songs and dances. The association with a tree trunk has
a double meaning as a phallic and a uterine object because the
trunk of a tree represents the penis and a hollow trunk a feminine
concept, especially if this trunk contains a bird's nest.
15. Mihpí-porá (Children of the Coatí). From mihpí/coati
(Nasua rufa). It is said that the coati has a very small penis, a sym-
bol of high social status.
16. Dihpútina-porá (Sons of the Ant). From dihpútina/an ant

with a big head. The progenitor of this sib was killed by a jaguar
while he was gathering edible ants. The name is derived from
dihpúru/head, a phallic symbol, and the ant is described as having
a big round head with strong pincers. The expression "the ant
stings" means coitus, and as such the insect is a phallic represen-
tation.
17. Yehse-porá (Sons of the Peccary). From yehse/peccary. The
progenitor of the sib as well as bis descendants are said to be corpu-
lent, dirty, thievish, and adulterous, but very hard workers. All of
these qualities are attributed to the peccary as well as to the penis.
The m usky secretion of the dorsal gland of this mammal has a very
marked sexual connotation for the Desana.
18. Toá-porá (Sons of the Toá Fruit). This refers to a small,
black fruit, called toá in Desana and vivapichúna in Lengua Geral,
from which a very strong chicha can be prepared. This fruit grows
in "grapes"; when it is gathered, men and women use it to play an
erotic game which consists of squeezing the fruit between the
fingers until the seed bursts forth suddenly. The players try to hit
their partner and to cause the seed, which has a gelatinous covering
and is compared to the glans, to hit his ( or her) backside. The
progenitor of this sib liked to play this game and also Iiked to drink
chicha prepared from this fruit.
19. Yeboréna-porá The term is derived from ye'eri/to cohabit,
and boré/white. The progenitor of the sib cohabited with a woman
whose pubic hair was white.
20. Pamó-porá (Sons of the Armadillo). From pamó/armadillo.
The armadillo is sometimes considered to be a phallic animal be-
cause of its "digging," "exploring," "burying," and also because its
body is enclosed in a shell and, as a consequence, "covers," which
is equal to coitus. lt is also associated with a certain ritual bench
on which the payé sits when he gives advice to the youths. The mem-
bers of this sib are great counselors and are said to have profound
esoteric knowledge.
21. B uhí-porá ( Children of the Paca). From buhíípaca or aguti.
According to the myths, the paca stole manioc from the Desana, an
act that symbolizes the theft of women, without reciprocity. Since
then, the members of this sib are said to be manioc thieves and are
obliged to bring large quantities of manioc as presents when they
participate in the ritual distribution of food. A very active sexual

life is attributed to the paca.
22. Payatege-porá ( Sons of the Cautious One). From payári /
smooth, cautious, and the suffix-tege. The progenitor of this sib was
so "smooth" and unperturbable that all calumnies "slid off" him.
The underlying meaning is that he did not Jet himself be surprised
in illicit sexual affairs.
23. M emeré-bayári-porá (So ns of the Gesticulating Dancer).
From memeréri/to fall down, rneréri/to become intoxicated, bayári
/to dance. The men of this sib are said to gesture violently when
they dance. The sexual meaning is expressed by the equivalence
dance=coitus, and in the expression that coitus is a kind of "inebri-
ation."
24. Yebári-bayári-porá (Sons of the Small Fat Dancer). This
name is derived from yebi:iri/fat, and bayári/to dance. The progeni-
tor and his descendants are small and fat, but dance gracefully and
with aplomb. The word yebári/"the fat one," is a common euphe-
mism for penis.
25. Boré-poarí-porá (Sons of the White Hair). From boré/white,
poári/hair. The progenitor of this sib had white hair from birth.
Beneath this there is another meaning: the progenitor was the son
of an old woman and "was born from a vagina with white hair."
26. Ye-diríge-porá (Sons of the Knot-Coitus). From ye'eri/to
cohabit, diríge/knot. The progenitor of this sib deftowered a girl
and compared her vulva with a knot.
27. Yoge-porá (Sons of the yóge Worm) From YºRe/large head;
yoári/large object. This name refers to a thick, white worm that
lives in the earth, frequently in the malocas, and, according to the
Desana, has the form of a penis.
28. O'oyuhke-deadíge-porá (Sons of the Pestle). The progenitor
of this sib, which is the last, hid in the forest to masturbate, an act
observed by a curassow, a bird that has a long, thin neck, compared
with the penis. This bird is called o'oyuhke deadíge, a name de-
rived in the following manner: o'o pu'úri/war club, yuhke/stick,
deadíge/pestle. The object consists of a short stick with a thickened
end that serves to grind or to crush seeds in a cup-shaped wooden
rnortar. The pestle is a phallic symbol, and the act of pounding or
crushing signifies masturbation.
7
Man and Nature
CA TEGORIES OF ÁNIMALS
The Desana classify animals into severa! categories of great impor-
tance from a symbolic point of view. The first large category is
formed by those animals created directly by the Sun Father when he
made this world. These animals are mainly the mammals of the
forest-the deer, the tapir, the peccary, the monkeys, the various
rodents and, finally, the birds. These animals obviously constitute
the principal prey of the hunter, but they have very ambivalent
attributes because, in accordance with circumstances, Vaí-mahse
can use them to cause harm to men. Although Vaí-mahse is gener-
ally called master of ali animals, those mentioned above-including
the fish-are the ones that obey him and, under his orders, consti-
tute a control mechanism for human society. However, what con-
tributes most to setting these animals apart is that they form an im-
porant link in the procreative circuit of the biosphere in which man
and animal complement each other. While their phallic representa-
tive, Vaí-mahse, participates up to a certain point in human sexual
life, the hunter through his representative, who is the payé, promotes
the fertility of animals.
A second category is constituted by the fish of the rivers and la-
goons. According to the Creation Myth, these came with the
Snake-Canoe that carried the first human beings. Their creation is
not mentioned in the myths, and thus the fish form an intermediate
category between the mammals and those animals that form a third
category composed of a very different group, as we shall see. Fish
and snakes belong, essentially, to one large single family, and the
acquatic serpents are directly designated as progenitors of the fish,
a concept reflected in the mythical motif of the Snake-Canoe. Land
turtles and aquatic turtes as well as other reptiles, alligators, lizards,
203
and so forth, are classified with the fish, the basic criterion being
their life in or near the water as well as their fishy odor.
The third category is formed by animals that were "created by
themselves." They were not created individually by the Sun Father
but simply carne into existence when this world was formed and,
since then, have continued procreating in a form that, in sorne man-
ner, remains outside the dynamics of the energy circuit. This cate-
gory consists of the following animals: small fish of the rivers and
the brooks, toads, frogs, edible ants, termites, mojojoi larvae, bees,
the trumpeter bird, the tinamou, and the pigeons. Although these
animals "belong to Vaí-mahse," none can be his instrument; they
are "inoffensive" animals, and it follows that they can be pursued
without danger and their meat can be eaten ,without fear of illness
because it is "pure." The informant says: "The Sun Father protects
mankind by means of these animals. These animals do not shoot
arrows." 1 From the point of view of ritual diet, the small fish of the
brooks occupy here a very important position, one that the inform-
ant emphasized when he said: "The fish of the brooks eat better be-
cause they eat the best fruits and flowers that fall into the water.
Those of the large rivers eat whatever the little fish, which live in
the small tributaries and at the headwaters, do not eat. The fish of
the large rivers are dirty." We can see again that the concept of
ritual purity is closcly related to the quality of the food and of its
"pure" origin.
These three large categories, 1) mammals and birds created by
the Sun, 2) fish and reptiles, and 3) "inoffensive" animals that cre-
ated themselves, form then the large group of game animals of eco-
nomic importance for the Desana. Besides these, of course, other
animals are recognized: diverse insects and mollusks, for example,
but apart from sorne edible insects they have little importance in the
life of the natives. At times sorne of them ( scorpion, spider, centi-
pede, snail, or fleas) can serve as a symbolic allusion because of
certain attributes assigned to them, but otherwise they play a margi-
nal and subordinate role.
We must now concem ourselves in greater detail with each of
the categories and with their characteristics. In the first category a
scale is commonly established according to which the most impor-
1. This expression alludes to pathogenic splinters.

Man and Nature · 205
tant game animal is the deer. Human qualities are attributed to it,
qualities that make it "almost people," beca use it is said that the
deer speak and that the male is always accompanied by the same
female as if they were "a married couple." When people speak about
this animal, the cleanliness of its body is mentioned as well as the
"perfect" form of its head, its rapid movements, all observations
that lead one to understand that a marked erotic interest exists in
this particular animal. This preoccupation is expressed in a mythical
fragment that tells of a journey made by the Daughter of the Sun
along the Macú-paraná River. She was carving up a dead deer so
that her companions could eat but, when she carne to the head,
she caressed it with her hands and "shaped it" with her caresses in
such a way that, since then, it has had its present form. The Daugh-
ter of the Sun did not want to eat that part of the animal.
The tapir follows in importance and stands out among the others
because it is a rather solitary beast. Even the individuals in a pair
stay at sorne distance from each other. For its abundance of meat,
it is the most desired by the hunter, but it is also one of the scarcest
in the forest. The next group is formed by the peccaries that go in
herds and whose meat is highly appreciated. The monkeys follow
and then the rodents, both relatively common game. The birds
form the last group.
This scale does not so much express the relative desirability of
the animal for the hunter but rather the preferential position it oc-
cupies before Vaí-mahse. The Master of Animals prefers the deer
and stands in a closer sexual relationship with it than, for example,
with the peccary or the rodents. Monkeys and rodents are said to
have a very active sexual life that causes these animals to be Jess
dependent on the fertilizing influence of Vaí-mahse. It is for this
reason that this group figures last on the scale, while the fertility of
the bigger animals is believed to depend to a much greater degree
on the Master of Animals.
In the second category, that of fish and reptiles, the animals in-
cluded are those whose fertility is closely related to that of human
society and that, as a consequence, can be instruments of Vaí-
mahse who controls the exploitation of the riverine resources. The
aracú fish have a special importance because they are a preferred
food; ali of the other fish are subordinate to and "must serve" the
aracú.
In the third category we find animals that are not precisely the
objective of the hunt, properly speaking, but rather are caught oc-
casionally. Besides constituting a ritually pure food, a certain
aphrodisiacal character is attributed to these animals, especially
to the consumption of little fish, larvae, and ants. The toads and
earthworms are not eaten, but they belong to the category of crea-
tures that were spontaneously created.
The underlying ideas can be clarified by sorne examples. On the
branches of large trees found along the riverbanks grow many
paraphytes. Rainwater accumulates at the base of the leaves. Dur-
ing the rainy seasons it is supposed that this water contains "the
seed" of certain small fish that first develop among the leaves and
then fall into the water of the brooks. Particularly the small fish
called dihki-páru and meenga-síba are said to be created in this
manner. On other occasions the existence of 'the small fish of the
creeks is attributed to certain birds that appear in large flocks at
the headwaters of the rivers. Their sudden appearance in certain
places is believed to be related to the abundance of small fish that
appear there a little time after the flocks of birds have gone away.
The basis of the classificatory interest and of the symbolic value
of all the animals of the forest and the river is to be found in the
constant preoccupation of the native with the abundance or scarcity
of the game and thus in the sexual life of the animals. This activity
is controlled and promoted by various factors or agents that repeat
the model given by humanity and by exogamic society. As we have
mentioned, there are two V aí-mahse, one the master of the animals
of the forest and the other that of the river, specifically of fish. Now,
as the animals of the forest have an essentially masculine character
while those of the river have a feminine character, the two Vaí-
mahse also represent a complementary pair. Each Vaí-mahse has
his own family with which he lives in the hills or in the rapids, and
between these families a relationship of sexual reciprocity exists that
expresses an interdependence between the animals of the forest and
the creatt._es of the rivers, especially between the mammals and
the fish. It is said that the V aí-mahse of the hills periodically visits
the rapids where he takes part in gatherings and dances, an occa-
sion during which he has sexual intercourse with the "women of the
fish," the vaí-nomé. As a result of these contacts, many fish are
born. "The fish are children of the animals of the forest," the in-
formant says. When the Vaí-mahse of the hills is visiting the rapids,
music and voices are heard; then the hunters make baste to go to the
forest beccause they know that they run no risk while the feast lasts.
An odor of magic plants is perceived near the rapids; the hunters
or fishermen use these herbs to attract their prey, and Vaí-mahse
uses them, too, to anoint his body. It is the odor called mamá seríri,
de mamee/to adorn oneself, "to make oneself young." This expres-
sion has a markedly erotic connotation that indicates that V aí-
mahse is fulfilling his function as procreator of animals. The payés,
when taking their hallucinogenic drugs, say that they can see these
scenes and communicate this to the people as good news and a
presage of abundant game.
But the fertility of fish is also assured by other types of progeni-
tors. During the month of August, large ftocks of a species of ca-
cique bird are observed, sorne one hundred to three hundred, which
migrate toward the Iagoons. These birds stay for a few weeks and
then disappear from the region. It is believed that these birds are
transformed directly into fish that stock the Iagoons. These birds
are called ye'a mera, an expression derived from the verb ye'eri/to
cohabit, and mera/beings, beasts, and they are thought to be emis-
saries from Vaí-mahsii, who thus guarantees the fertility of the
waters.
The large aquatic snakes occupy a very special position in rela-
tion to the fish. Generally speaking, they are directly designated as
progenitors of ali the fish, and it is believed that each river or brook
is under the protection of a certain snake. This snake is entrusted
with the fertility of its fish and thus "supplies" the region. It is said
that these snakes, which are called vaí-page/fi.sh-father, live in cer-
tain rapids or in other places in the river where there are large
boulders. They remain hidden during most of the year but then sud-
denly appear, at the beginning of the rainy season, when the fish run
to spawn in the headwaters. This spawning is attributed to the
snakes, and it is thought that they guide the fish on their journey.
It is said that just before the rains begin these snakes ftoat at night
on the surface of the water watching the stars to find out when the
rains will come. Then the snakes travel downriver and gather in a
large Iagoon on the Río Negro, in Brazil; this Iagoon is called
sibú dihtáru/sifter-Iagoon. There the snakes have their malocas

where they celebrate a large feast during which they fertilize the
fish. When the rivers rise with the rains, the snakes return upriver
and are then followed by large schools of fish ( pirasémo, in Lengua
Geral). These snakes can be seen on this occasion and also la ter
on, when they descend again, followed by many small fish. The
coming of these snakes is impatiently awaited and sometimes,
when their arrival is delayed, the payé invokes Vaí-mahse to send
them. But these snakes do not always appear in their natural form;
sometimes they transform themselves and appear as large canoes
manned by many "fish-people" who silently ascend the rivers by
night. It is important to note here that the snakes believed to be
progenitors of fish are not the anacondas but belong to another,
unidentified species.
Overlaying this tripartite classification of the animals into forest,
aquatic, and "inoffensive," there is another division according to
which the Desana group the animals into three categories deter-
mined by their sexual character. As we have seen, the fish are es-
sentially "female" animals while the felines, for example, have a
marked "male" character. This sexual division can be amplified to
include a whole series of male and female animals. Of course, the
Desana recognize that among ali these animals there are male as
well as female but, seen collectively, they affirm that they represent
female and male characteristics. The model for this idea is human
society in which, as we have already mentioned, the Desana con-
sider themselves as a "male" phratry and the Pira-Tapuya as a
"female" phratry. The third group is then formed by animals of
both sexes, without the dominance of either, and characteristically
refers to those that are the principal objective of the hunt, i.e.,
those animals whose multiplication is the center of the hunter's
preoccupations.
The attributing of the animals to a male or female category is
established on the basis of certain symbolic associations that have
already been mentioned in part. Thus, for example, birds with
prominent beaks are masculine, as are birds that eat fish, or insects
that bite or sting. Feminine, on the other hand, would be animals
associated with the water that, in sorne other way, are related to a
gynecological symbolism. The division is as follows:
Males Females Male and Fema/e

jaguar fish <leer
ocelot turtle tapir
armadillo alligator peccary
macaw tinamou rodents
toucan curassow coa ti
oropendola pigeon monkeys
cacique bird owl snakes
cock-of-the-rock buzzard
he ron parakeet
kingfisher snail
hummingbird
ant
bee
scorpion
It is important to observe here that the buzzard and the owl ap-
pear as female animals. In the first case, the basis of the symbolism
of the buzzard is his habit of eating carrion, i.e., that which is rot-
ten and, by extension, all that is diseased. Thus it is a bird with
uterine associations, of "manure" and "residues." In the second case,
we have seen that the owls are associated with night, death, and
cemeteries, giving them a similar symbolism. The anaconda and a
large earthworm called ehse (A mphisbaena fuliginosa) are said to
have no sex whatsoever, an affirmation that needs clarification. The
name of the anaconda is diá oréro, which means literally "abortion
of the water." On the other hand, it is the devouring animal par
excellence, and it is greatly feared by fishermen. At the same time
a phallic symbolism is sometimes attributed to it as when one says,
for example, in a joking manner to a girl over whose shoulders a
youth has placed his arm: "Be careful of the anaconda!" The mul-
tiple symbolism of this animal is probably the reason why a deter-
mined sex is denied to it. In the case of the earthworm ehse, this
polyvalence is also observed: on one hand, it is compared with an
erect penis, on the other, it is designated as a representation of
impotence.
We must mention as a last point a classification in which the ani-
mals are grouped into categories according to their voices. As the

reader will remember, when speaking of the symbolism of musical

instruments we said that the Desana distinguish three categories of
sounds: the sustained whistle, the vibrating hum, and percussion.
We now add that the model for this classification of musical in-
struments is provided by the animals, reptiles, insects, and birds.
According to the Desana, creatures are divided into three groups ac-
cording to the sounds they produce: whistling (or singing), hum-
ming, and croaking. These groups are:
l. Whistling (virí): dove, fork-tailed diver, large curassow,
tinamou, heron, owl, tapir, guinea pig, paca, squirrel, edible frogs;
2. Humming ( behseri): hummingbird, cock-of-the-rock, certain
pigeons, trumpeter bird, bee, ant, termite, cockroach, horsefiy, fty,
cicada, monkey, anteater, certain snakes, anim,als which "weep";
3. Percussion (dohtéri): woodpecker, curassow, macaw, parrots,
toucan, quail, cacique bird, kingfisher, eagles and hawks ( when
they ha ve caught their prey), the lizard of Vaí-mahse (beca use of
its dry cackle "tái-tái-tái"), poisonous snakes, certain toads, coa ti,
peccary ( the noise of its tusks), jaguar (because of its panting
which is described as a rapid hi-hi-hi-hi).
Furthermore, these sounds are associated with certain hours: the
whistling sound corresponds to the morning, the humming to the
afternoon, and the percussion to the night. If we now remember the
musical symbolism according to which the whistle was sexual incita-
tion, the humming prohibition, and percussion gratification, we can
see that this code dominates all nature. The voices of these creatures
are a permanent expression of the cultural norms, an immense
orchestra in which each voice, each sound, each cadence has a
profound significance for the native.These sounds, associated with
mythical images and ritual symbols, become good or evil omens
and, above ali, keep society continually aware of the cultural norms
to be observed by all.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ANIMALS
The functions that the Desana attribute to the different animals in

the symbolic sphere and in the socioeconomic life of the group are
based on certain characteristics that the natives observe in their ap-
pearance and behavior. Many animals are stereotypes for certain
human activities and thus serve to express comparisons, critiques, or
models of conduct.
On the whole, a behavior very similar to that of human society is

attributed to the animals. In the "houses of the hills" as well as in
those of the rapids, Vaí-mahse fulfills the functions of the payé for
them. It is believed that the animals gather periodically to celebrate
their feasts and dances; that they suffer from illnesses and know how
to cure them; that sorne of them have their own Ianguage, as for
example, the <leer, tapir, monkeys, peccaries, the aracú fish, and
sorne others. Their voices and movements are interpreted as a means
of communication through which they manifest themselves to men
and express their sympathy or disregard. Thus, for example, the
roar of the jaguar is interpreted as a greeting, and the howling of
the monkeys as a sad sigh. The <leer, the squirrel, the guinea pig, the
dog, and the quail "laugh," while the toucan, the curassow, the
pigeons and the tinamou only "talk." The owl and the nocturnal
monkeys "weep." Of the monkeys it is said that, when a hunter
wounds them with a dart from his blowgun they tear it out and
throw it back at their pursuer; then they urinate on their hand,
drink a Iittle, and rub the rest on the wound, thereby counteracting
the effects of the arrow poison.
The various species generally do not have specific chiefs or mas-
ters and yet ali, with the exception of the jaguar, are subordinate to
Vaí-mahse. Only rarely is a white fish mentioned as "master of the
fish" ( vaí-diáme), and sometimes people mention a "master of ants"
(mengá-diáme), but there is no further elaboration of these ideas.
Many animals, on the other hand, have their "guardians" or keepers
(koréri mahsá), that is to say, a hierarchy of "servants" is recog-
nized, but not within the same species. They are generally birds
that are said to accompany certain mammals and warn them when
danger approaches. The quail is said to be the guardian of the tapir,
<leer, and peccaries. Other small animals are designated as "fteas"
for other Jarger animals, thereby indicating a parasítica! relation-
ship. A small bird that accompanies the jaguar and removes its
ticks is called ye'e geí/jaguar-ftea.~
Animals also serve as points of comparison in daily conversation.
A good fisherman will be compared with an otter, a dirty and bad
2. Jt is intercsting to observe the emphasis that the Desana put on the

description of symbiotic and parasitic relationships between animals.
This seems to be relatcd to a social situation: the Makú, the concept
of "owing services," etc.
smelling person with an opossum, a good runner with a guinea pig,

anda tall and heavy man with an anteater.
We will describe here sorne of the characteristics of the principal
animals. Of course, in the manner in which the Desana speak of
anímals the objective observation is quite often mixed with magical
and mythical elements, but these are essential to the characteriza-
tion and form an integral part of it.
Among the mammals of the forest the jaguar occupies the prin-
cipal position. It is the only animal that is not under the control of
Vaí-mahse but is, up to a certain point, another "master" because it
represents a fertilizing force derived directly from the Sun. Although,
on the cosmic plane there exists only one concept of the jaguar
(ye' e), in the biosphere certain varieties are distinguished. One of
these is designated as ohopú ye' e (Heliconia-leaf-jaguar) because it
is said that it lives in thickets formed by this plant (Heliconia bihai
L.) Another variety is called nyamá ye' e (<leer-jaguar) and is said
to have the same color as the deer and to prefer it as prey. Boróri
ye' e is the designation for the "painted" jaguar 3 that lives in the
densest part of the forest, and another variety is called koápu ye'e
(gourd-bowl-leaf-jaguar) because it has the color of this fruit
( Crescentia cujete) when it is dry. A type of jaguar that is greatly
feared is called piyubári ye'e (from piyúri/to call, bári/to eat) and
it is said to have a human voice; when it roars in the depths of the
forest, the hunters believe they hear the cries of a person who has
lost the trail, and when they approach the spot they are devoured
by the beast. According to our informant, when a jaguar devours a
person-anyone of the jaguars mentioned here-it first eats the
eyes of its victim and sometimes it eats these and nothing else. The
eye represents, in many contexts, a seminal principie, and it is this
that the jaguar seeks to incorporate. The Desana emphasize that
the jaguar is an animal that lives in a number of different environ-
ments; it lives in the densest parts of the jungle, climbs trees, swims
in the water, and roams about by day and night. It is then an animal
that participates in various dimensions, air, land, and water, and
belongs to light as well as to darkness. It has been observed, how-
ever, that the jaguar is hardly even seen in moonlight. An aspect
that always causes comments is that the jaguar always obtains food
and is very resourceful as a hunter.
The ocelot (ye' e vého), although it is a "relative of the jaguar,"
3. The term "painted" al so has the meaning of transformation or disguise.
<loes not have great importance except that its fleetness is mentioned
and also its keen vision. The characteristics of the deer have already
been discussed in another part ( see p. 100). The tapir is called
vehke, a word related to vehka/above, superior; obviously, this is not
a name properly speaking but a designation that expresses a certain
rank in a scale. The great strength of the tapir is emphasized, and
also its solitary life; the size of its genitals is always the subject of
much commentary. This last feature is also emphasized when people
speak of the anteater. This animals is considered to be the "friend
and defender" of al! the other animals, and the peccaries and vari-
ous rodents seek protection near it. When the anteater defends itself
with its strong claws, it is said that it attempts to castrate the hunters
who come near it. Its position of a "friend" is based on the idea that,
although it is a large animal, it does not pursue other mammals of
the forest but eats mainly ants. These insects are a "male" and
aphrodisiac food and for this reason great sexual potency is attrib-
uted to this animal. The porcupine ( bohsoóra; from bohsó /guinea
pig, porá/bristle) is not eaten because of its musky flavor; it is said
that it "eats manioc and ants," an indication that it is an impure
animal because male and female elements are mixed in its diet. The
opossum (oá) is scorned because of its bad odor and because its
thin, naked tail symbolizes sexual impotence. The sloth (uná) is of
minor importance; its slow movements are explained in a mythical
fragment (see p. 30). The monkeys (sege) as often described as
animals of bad ornen; they are designated as immoral, promiscuous,
and "adulterers," and their cries in the forest are interpreted as a
sad wail that presages disaster and evil. The nocturnal monkeys
( ukuáme) have similar characteristics, and when they are heard
"weeping" in the night someone will die.
Among the rodenls the guinea pig ( bohsó) oc cu pies an im por-
tant place. It is the personification of craft and rapidity, and of the
ability to approach without being seen. The guinea pig has many
resources for defending itself but at the same time is a friend of
man; for example, when enemies approach the maloca at night, it
warns with its críes.
The bats (oyó) symbolize the vagina and are believed to be
transformed birds. The vampire bats ( ohó uahtí) are not animals
properly speaking but rather fall into the category of the spirits of
the forest, as their name indicates.
The most common characteristics of the birds remarked on when
these animals are mentioned are their color, size of beak, and, at
times, sorne other trait connected with their particular habits. The
yellow birds such as the cock-of-the-rock, the macaws, the oropen-
dola, and the cacique bird, which have at least sorne feathers of
this color, are always associated with the fertilizing power of the
Sun and are, therefore, important helpers in the curing of diseases.
The red birds are related to the sexuality of the biosphere, and their
color syrnbolizes a ferninine or rnasculine sexual organ. Thus, the
neck of a certain species of curassow is compared with a penis and
the red crest of the woodpecker and of a certain duck with a vagina.
The woodpecker is called directly koré/vagina. The large beak of
the toucan ( nahsí/pincers) is a phallic symbol as well, and it is said
that this bird warns the hunter when a poisonous snake is in the
vicinity; that is, when a prohibited, feminine element is near. 4 The
koro, a blackish anhinga, with a long S-curved neck, is compared
with a penis, and men whose sexual organs are exceptionally large
are ridiculed with its name. The purse-shaped hanging nests of the
oropendola or cacique bird carry an important symbolism in the
curing of diseases because in part they represent sexual organs and
in part the "stability" of the Universe. Other birds are of a some-
what evil ornen; the owls are said to live near cemeteries, and their
cry announces death. The tu'ío, a large nightjar, also presages death
and "makes a noise like that of a coffin being tied." The symbolism
of the buzzard (yuhká) and the eagle (ga'a) has already been men-
tioned elsewhere ( see p. 1O1). Perhaps the most outstanding bird is
the tinamou (angá) that, because of its yellowish feathers and blue
eggs, is considered to be an animal having all the beneficia! powers
of the Cosmos. But this is not all; the Sun Father himself admired
the "perfection" of this bird, one of the three creatures saved from
the Great World Fire. The tinamou "belongs to the hills and not to
the forest"; i.e., it is an animal that is especially protected and is
not related to the fertility circuit of the forest animals. It is an "in-
offensive" animal, and the consumption of its meat can never be
harmful; on the contrary, it is the preferred food of people who must
observe a ritually pure diet. By emphasizing that the eagles pursue
this bird a lot, the antagonism between "offensive" and "inoffensive,"
that also dominates the biosphere, is underscored.
4. Women and snakes are complementary dream symbols.

Among the fish the most important is the aracú ( boréka), which
is directly designated as the "daughter of the first Desana," and it
plays an outstanding role in myths and dances. The migrations of
these fish, which run upriver for spawning, represent an important
event for the economic life of the natives, and it is understandable
why so many ideas connected with fertility are associated with this
species. Spawning is compared with the human sexual act, the eggs
being called "starch" (verá), and the behavior of the fish serves as
a model for a dance ( see p. 164). A certain species of fish, rare and
somewhat similar to the aracú, is said to carry a small stone in its
gills, a gift from Pamurí-mahse; the fisherman who obtains one of
these stones keeps it for good Iuck in fishing. The vaí-pe, a species
of catfish, also "belongs to the family of Pamurí-gahsíru," because
its spots and stripes are similar to the designs that adorned the
Snake-Canoe. The electric eel (sa'a pirú; from sa'a/ticklish) is be-
Iieved to be the offspring of a large snake. The stingray ( nyohsén i
vaí/sting-fish) is the placenta of the Daughter of Aracú. Sorne fish
such as the piranha and a species of aracú have severa! red spots
that are interpreted as a mark of Vaí-mahse; they are "gifts" that
the Master of Fish makes to the fisherman, and when these fish are
being cooked plenty of anatta (Bixa orellana) is added to the soup
to distinguish it and thus to reward Vaí-mahse. The meat of the
small fish that constitute a ritually pure food is said to "look like
crystal" and "is provided by the Sun Father himself"; the luster of
its scales is also believed to contain a fertilizing element.
The reptiles do not have great economic importance for the
Desana; however, they occupy an outstanding position in their
symbolic system where they represent concepts charged with deep
anxiety. The nucleus of these ideas is the anaconda (Eunectes
murinus gigas). This snake is called diá oréro, a term that can be
translated as abortion, creature, or reject of the river. With this
idea, the concepls of "leftovers," "dirty," and "loathsome" are as-
sociated. The anaconda is not an especially dangerous reptile, but
it causes a profound disgust to those who see it, and the expression
frequently repeated when this snake is mentioned in conversation is
"despicable." When attempting to clarify the feelings underlying
this highly emotional attitude, it appears that the anaconda sym-
bolizes a maternal image. According to the informant, it is "the re-
mains of something that was . . . ; the hole where something was
. . . an impotent, useless penis." But, on the other hand, the ana-

conda is closely associated with Vaí-mahse, for whom it fulfills
the functions of a "caretaker" ( koréri mahse); it is "bis watchdog."
When a man happens upan an anaconda, he calls loudly to Vaí-
mahse and asks him to "tie up bis dog." In sorne invocations said
with intention to cause harm to an enemy, the anaconda is men-
tioned as being transformed into an arrow that is shot at the victim.
The complex symbolism of this reptile is somewhat clarified in the
following mythical fragment. Vaí-mahsii once decided to make an
inventory of bis animals and to determine their respective duties
and privileges. The fish and mammals did not, object and accepted
the orders of their master; thus their lot is to serve as food for men.
But the anaconda did not want to obey. Vaí-mahse had forbidden
it to harm people who travel or swim in the rivers, but the anaconda
continued to persecute them. Worse yet, it continued to devour the
deer, which Vaí-mahse had especially prohibited. As a punishment,
V aí-mahse converted the anaconda into an insatiable reptile that
will always be hungry for more and more food. Here the informant
ended, saying "this story is related to our marriage rules," and ex-
plained that the anaconda represents a principie of insatiable female
sexuality that does not respect kin-ties or laws of exogamy. The key
words are "devourer," "insatiable," "despicable," and "disobedient,"
i.e., terms that characterize a person who defies the norms that
sexual restrictions impose.
The other snakes lack these symbolic associations and are simply
described according to sorne characteristics of their color, size, or
habitat. One snake is said to have scales that are similar to those of
the aracú fish and to live near it, under the water. In the anal zone
of these snakes small parasitic crabs (gamí) attach themselves, and
for this reason this snake is called gamí piru. One large snake whose
skin has a design of squares and triangles is called mahka piru (Boa
constrictor constrictor) and its movements are imitated in certain
dances. An aquatic snake called mayú piru is said to be the progeni-
tor of the piranha. Sorne large and old snakes, which occupy the
same spot for years, perhaps a cave or a hale under the roots of a
large tree, acquire a. certain supernatural character, although not
necessarily an evil one. They are called "people" (mahse) and are
said to be "caretakers" of the place, at the service of Vaí-mahse.
The change of skin of the snakes is not interpreted as a rejuvena-
tion, but the cast-off skin is believed to be the "mask of a payé from
another tribe" who has temporarily occupied the body of this reptile.
A very poisonous snake (Lachesis muta L. ?) is called sunguséru, a
name derived from sungu/triangle, sero/small piece; it is compared
with a piece of a manioc grater in which incrustations of little stones
forro geometrical motifs. A "viper" (anyá), which is also very poi-
sonous, is believed to announce the rainy season; the appearance in
the sky of a constellation of the same name is a presage of heavy
rains and is called anyá puiró/viper-wínter.º
The small common lizards ( arakásolo) seem to ha ve little im-
portance, but two species, both relatively rare among the local fauna,
are of great significance for the Desana. In the first place, there is
the small lizard Plica plica L. that frequents the somewhat arid
zones around the hills and is the personification of Vaí-mahse him-
self. It is called by his name, and when it appears near a maloca, it
is taken as a sign of good luck formen. Another lizard ( Urocentron
werneri) is said to be the personification of the kumú. The spiny
rings of its tail are interpreted in the same manner as the feathers of
a dance crown, in the sense of an irradiation of beneficia! forces.
Both lizards, but especially the one that represents Vaí-mahse, are
said to have a phallic character. Women are afraid of being "at-
tacked" by them because it is said that "they lash out with their tail."
The land turtle, called peyú ( Geochelone denticulata), has al-
ready been mentioned as uterine animal; but in mythology it some-
times has a picaresgue character and represents the trickster in many
stories. As it feeds on carrion, it is associated with diseases, with the
rotten and decayed, and with the concept of uterine "residues." The
aguatic turtle peyú diáge (Phrynops geofjrana ssp.) represents the
vagina of the Daughter of the Sun and, for this reason, is a "forbid-
den food" because its consumption would cause fevers , vomitinob'
and a violent skin rash. The large earthworm (Amphisbaena
fuliginosa) is called ehse, and the shape of its head and tail, which
it lifts simultaneously, is compared to two erect penises, but because
of its ftexibility it also carries an association of impotence.
The centipede (nyangí), the black spider ( behpe), and an ant
that is not edible were witnesses to the childbirth of the Daughter of
5. The informant says: "In this lies the similarity: it rains, and soon it
slops raining again."
Aracú, and we have already mentioned them (see p. 30). The hairy
spider symbolizes the vagina, and in jokes told about single women
allusions are made to its "venom." The dragonflies are the guardians
of the aquatic plants that grow in places where the Master of Fish
lives; they care for the leaves and ftowers that ftoat on the water,
those that Vaí-mahse keeps there to give shade for his fish. The large
blue butterfties (Morpho sp.) are bad omens (see p. 89). A certain
species of black and yellow cockroach is called mi mi dolo ( from
dolóri/spotted) and is said to be the procreator of the mojojoi
larvae (Calandra palmarum). Both animals are ea ten, generally in
a toasted form, and it is said that they taste like honey. In both
cases aphrodisiacal effects are attributed to this food.
Although the Desana are excellent observers who know and clas-
sify in detail the fauna of their habitat, sorne small animals without
economic importance do not figure in their symbolic system at all.
All of these "belong to the family" of sorne other animal and are
classified within sorne category, but by their form and conduct they
do not offer associations; they are not used in expressing similarities
or in forming examples.
In all of these sexual interpretations of the animals listed above
we must not think for a minute of obscene comparisons in terms of
our own culture. The native establishes the similarities and sym-
bolism with deep concern; the animals of the forest and of the river
are his food, they are the givers of life and of energy, and thus they
form an essential part of the great procreative circuit of the bio-
sphere and of its transcendental projections. At the same time, this
sexualization of nature reflects the deeper problems of a culture that
establishes these rnodels and replicas, thereby giving us a better
understanding of rnany of its mechanisms.
THE HUNTER AND HIS PREY

The structure of Desana thought is in large part determined by the
activity of the rain forest hunter, and the form in which his funda-
mental ideas are developed reflects the deep preoccupations that
are felt concerning the relationship between man and animal. Ac-
cording to the Desana, human society and the fauna of its habitat
both participate in the sarne great potential of reproductive energy,
a large circuit that animates the biosphere in a continua} ebb and
flow. The fertility and fecundity of men and anirnals proceeds frorn
one common source, composed of male energy ( tulári) and female

energy ( bogá). These complement each other and replenish each
other continually, but their total capacity has a fixed limit. It is not
an inexhaustible source but a restricted capital; there is only a cer-
tain amount of available energy and, therefore, it is necessary to
maintain an equilibrium. The human waste of energy immediately
diminishes the procreative energy of the animals and, as this is
known to be very restricted, the obligation of society is to curb any
activity that might cause loss or dissipation of human energy. Rec-
ognizing man's tendency to consume without restraint as well as
his tendency to exploit the environment, Desana culture has formu-
lated a series of very strict norms in order to assure the maintenance
of a biotic equilibrium. In this mechanism the two administrators
of the energetic capital meet: the payé and Vaí-mahse. Both are
phallic beings, procreators, each one attempting to influence the
sexu'al sphere of the other; between them the dialogue is established;
they bargain, and each one attempts to gain advantages for their
charges. It is not a competition for food, for meat, or for the mere
physiological satisfaction of the moment; it is a struggle for the partic-
ipation in energy, in life itself, and the pawns that are put up are the
souls of men. Thus the relationship between the payé and V aí-
mahse is not a simple, routine ritual but represents a contest in
which the entire society participates because survival, in the bio-
logical and metaphysical sense, is at stake.
Within the wider framework established by the law of reciprocity,
the sexual repression of the hunter figures in first place. The reten-
tion and accumulation of human sexual energy is not only conceived
as a conscious control of the birthrate but has as its equally impor-
tant goal the conservation of a broad margin of sexual potential in
which the game animals can participate. This participati~n operates
on two levels: on one hand it is indirect and metaphysical, the ani-
mals receiving a generalized energetic inftuence; on the other hand
it is direct in the sense that, in an imaginary sphere-but not for that
less real for the person-an erotic relationship exists between men
and animals. This relationship or contact is effected in dreams,
nightmares, and hallucinations, or simply in daydreams. In these
cases the animal is a sexual object, a voluntary succubus, fertilized
by man, that multiplies its own animal species. But this contact
can also be produced in the inverse; the animal can appear in the
visions or dreams as an incubus, and in this case the investment of

energy is not only lost but can even be lethal to the involuntary
victim.
The relationship between man the hunter and his prey has then
a marked erotic component.ª The hunt is practically a courtship and
a sexual act, an event that must be prepared far with great care in
accordance with the strictest norms. The verb to hunt is vai-meri:i
gametarári, translated as "to make lave to the animals." The expres-
sion is derived from vaí-mera/animals, "beasts," gamé/mutua1,
tarári/to pet, to caress, in a wider sense, to cohabit. The manifest
idea is that of sexually exciting the game so that it will draw near
and allow itself to be killed, an act that in itself is an attitude of
sexual domination. "The game animals are li](e coquettes," the in-
formant says. Even the dangerous animals like snakes or jaguars
are "caressed" in this manner, the person trying to appear to them
sexually attractive and, thereby, friendly and harmless.
In arder to achieve this sexual attractiveness, the hunter has the
following means at his disposition: sexual abstinence and conse-
quently a latent state of excitation; physical cleanliness produced by
bathing, emetics, and dieting; ritual purity of his weapons; the use
of aromatic herbs whose perfume is exciting; facial paint; the use of
tobacco; special amulets and, finally, magical invocations. By fol-
lowing these rules, man may hunt; he is always conscious of the
erotic aspect and of the essentially sexual relationship that unites
him to his prey. The man prepares himself far the courtship and
"under this disguise he goes hunting."
The magical preparation of the hunter begins in childhood. Be-
fare a hoy has reached puberty, he has already taken small doses of
infusions of certain plants that become stronger and stronger, so
that their aroma and magic power will saturate his body. From his
male kinsmen he has learned the details of the behavior of the game
animals, their habits, their weaknesses and strengths. He has learned
that which is the animal and that which it can be as a gift from the
Sun Father or as an instrument of the Master of Animals who pun-
ishes those who do not observe the rules. The child already knows
that he should never mock a dead animal and, above all, he knows
6. Zerries (1954, pp. 186 ff) has already observed this relationship.
that not ali of the animals can be hunted but only sorne of them and
under very strict conditions.
The principal condition for hunting is sexual abstinence. For at
least one day before undertaking a hunting trip the man should
avoid ali sexual contact, and he should not have had dreams with
an erotic content. On the contrary " . . . the animals are jealous;
it would be like a theft for them. Only those who have had no sex-
ual contacts can count on the sympathy of the animals," the in-
formant says. Besides, it is ncessary that none of the women or girls
who live in the maloca be menstruating. It is important to note that
these three conditions in themselves represem a very strong system
of control that notably limits the activities of the hunter.
The next phase of the preparation obliges the hunter to purify
himself physically. Hours before dawn he must absorb an infusion
of chili through the nose and take emetics and thereby cleanses him-
self of ali "residues" in the form of phlegm or stomach content. He
then takes a bath in the river. Moreover, befare going off to hunt,
he must not consume any food prepared with fresh chili peppers but
only that which is cooked, and in general the hunter must consume
only cooked food. He should not eat fish or meat that is roasted over
the coals: the odor of burning or of smoke other than tobacco has
an impure character that would repel the game.
The use of aromatic herbs is considered to be of great importance
for the success of the hunt. The plants used and the manner of using
them correspond in detail to the practices of love magic a man uses
in his courtship of a woman. Under the generic term of
tá-diihka/little herb, a multitude of small plants are known; these
grow in the forest or can be planted near the maloca. The criterion
used in the selection of these plants is based upon the similarity be-
tween the color of the leaves. and that of the animal one wants to
hunt. There is tá-diihlw of deer, tá-diihka of tapir, and many others
because their color is similar to that of the specific prey. The roots,
or leaves, of these plants are chewed, and the entire body is rubbed
with the mass as well as the weapons the hunter uses. On the one
hand, the hunter looks for herbs that drive away certain dangers,
whether they be snakes, the boráro, or other spirits; on the other
hand, he uses herbs that attract the game. Finally, a small part of
the chewed mass is mixed with red paint, which is kept in a deer's
skull, and the hunter paints bis face, drawing certain motifs on bis
cheekbones, forehead, and chin. These designs correspond in their
form to the game animals he wishes to pursue or, rather, "to make
love to." In order to hunt deer, for example, the outline of deer
bones are painted vertically on the cheeks; to kill certain rodents,
motifs in the form of eyes or triangles are painted, each drawing
corresponding to a certain species. The eye motif can also be inter-
preted as "drops of semen," a motif believed to have strong in-
fluence on the fertility of the animals. 1
In a small bag hanging from bis belt the hunter carries a provi-
sion of tá-dehka and of red paint to replace or to change bis orna-
ments as the case may be. Facial painting is also interpreted as a
"mask"; while making the hunter appear as a harmless friend, a
"member of the family," it hides bis true intentions; the animals ap-
proach without fear, also attracted by the exciting smell of the herbs.
The perfume not only produces a state of excitation between man
and animal but also between anirnals of the same species, thus con-
tributing to their increase. OriginaUy, the game animals were the
only possessors of these magic herbs, and only later did the hunters
also come to know of their qualities. The animals recognize the at-
traction of these srnells and do not ftee but come closer to the
hunter.
The use of tobacco in hunting rituals has other, very different
aims. Before leaving for the forest, the hunter smokes to make a
"fence" of smoke around the territory that he will transverse so that
unwanted animals will not wander into it. He also blows smoke over
his weapons to give them the power of wounding the prey.
Besides these preparations, the hunter uses a series of amulets
and magical practices in order to assure success in hunting. The dry
and pulverized brains of a certain snake ( vége) are carried in a
small container to give the hunter the sight, agility, and aim of this
reptile. In the same manner an eye of a guinea pig is carried to give
the hunter the ability to approach silently and without being seen,
as this animal does. A small bone of the cervical vertebrae of the
rodent is also kept as a hunting amulet. A leg bone of a certain
variety of jaguar called ye' e yama (jaguar-deer) is used to make a
flute whose sound attracts the <leer, but this instrument can be
7. Zerries, 1965.
dangerous because it also might attract the jaguars. The eye of a

jaguar itself can be used far success in hunting, but it also carries a
certain risk because its possessor can easily become too aggressive. º
Invocations are an important part of the preparations far a hunt.
Generally, the payé is in charge of these, and he takes vihó to put
himself in contact with Vihó-mahse who serves as an intermediary
with Vaí-mahse and with other supernatural beings. There are many
farms of invocations. Above all, the payé attempts to find out ex-
actly where the game animals are to be faund. To insure that they
will gather, or stay, at a certain place, the payé, in a trance and
smoking his cigar, attempts to prepare the pL.ice by making it at-
tractive far the animals. He puts fresh grass and clean water there;
in the drinking places of the animals he "sweetens" the water with
the flavor of pineapple, the "flavor of maternal milk or with the
milk of the Daughter of the Sun." When the Sun is invoked or
Emekóri-mahse, the payé says: "By your power we are going to put
fresh grass and pineapple-flavored water in the place where the
animals are." When the hunting is done with traps, a technique used
to capture certain birds or rodents, the corresponding invocations
speak of the trap as a "garden" where there are small, red, delicious
fruit or other especially attractive faods. Of course, the person who
makes and sets the traps must be ritually pure and must not have
eaten fresh chili peppers. In the trails of access to the hunting ter-
ritories or to the place where the traps are, the payé now places a
series of magical obstacles, tree trunks, branches, or ditches, so
that the boráro, the poisonous snakes, or other dangerous beasts
will not come near. The payé prepares open and attractive "trails"
so that ali dangerous animals or spirits will leave the place where
the hunters are. Putting himself in contact with Vaí-mahse, the payé
finds out where the boráro is and whether he is near the place where
the men want to hunt. lf he should be there, he attempts to put him
to sleep; he leads him to his "house of the hills" and makes him sit
on a bench, curled up in a comer, where he sleeps and forgets about
the hunters. In his invocations the payé also refers directly to the
hunters, making them appear to be friendly and harmless not only
to the animals but also to Vaí-mahse. The payé speaks of their sex-
ual attractiveness, their ritual purity, their perfume, and he describes
8. Koch-Grünberg ( 1909, l : 153) mentions that among the Cubeo the
eye of a small falcon is u~ed.
the hunters as feminine elements, sexual objects for Vai-mahse who

thus "falls in love with them and tries to caress them." However,
there is no consummation of the sexual act between the Master of
Animals and the hunters; the aim is only that of "pleasing" Vaí-
mahse and of favorably disposing him to the hunters. It is interest-
ing to note that in the course of the invocations the payé never
speaks of killing or of food. Addressing the game or Vaí-mahse,
the payé speaks of "making love," "caressing," and other erotic acts,
but he never openly asks the animals to allow themselves to be
killed to serve as food for men.
Hunting dogs must also be prepared properly. The day before the
hunt they are given morsels of meat and cassava over which their
owner has blown tobacco smoke, and the payé invokes the Sun so
that they will pick up the scent of the game. The hunters themselves
attempt to sharpen their own olfactory sense and absorb through
their noses sorne dry, pulverized herbs that are kept in a small con-
cave bone extracted from the muzzle of a tapir.
Finally, before entering the forest, the participants, generally a
group of three or four men, must again observe a number of rules
without which the hunt would be unsuccessful. It is believed that the
hours when certain animals begin to roam in the forest correspond
to the appearance of certain constellations of stars with which the
species are identified. 9 The animals "weep" when their constellation
has not yet risen over the horizon, or they "sing" when it appears,
and the hunters listen anxiously to all the noises of the forest that,
like a great dock of nature, mark the entrance or exit of the actors
of the drama. If sorne member of the group has not strictly followed
the prescriptions, especially those referring to sexual abstinence,
the hunters will find only anacondas, which cast themselves upon
the men, and laughter is heard from the bilis from whence the ani-
mals make fun of thcm. When they see these men, "the animals
closc their eyes" because they are ridiculous and repulsive. The
hunter must also listen carefully to the voices of the birds because
they predict the success or failure of the hunt. When the hunter
approaches his quarry, the sibiá (quail) jumps and dances, an-
nouncing good luck, but if this bird runs on the ground, which is
its custom, the luck will be bad, and it is advisable to return to the
9. We unfortunately lack more data about this interesting aspect.

maloca. The water hales, or the places where the tapir, peccary, or
rodents wallow in the mud, are places which have been especially
prepared by Vaí-mahse and should be respected as such. Adult
women or prepubescent girls should never pass there.
When a hunting excursion is prolonged far severa! days, the nights
in the farest bring new dangers far the hunter. The game animals
appear in the dreams and nightmares of the men and, in the shape
of attractive girls, try to seduce them. The infarmant says: "The
animals seek sexual contact with the hunters in arder to increase
their brood. The females of the animals seduce the men." When
they return to their maloca, these men become ill and die; their
souls are transfoimed into animals that return to the houses of the
hills. It is told of a recent case, of a youth who went to hunt without
having observed sexual abstinence: after an unsuccessful trip, the
youth went to sleep in the forest and had an erotic dream in which
a female ainmal appeared to him. When he returned to his maloca,
purple spots appeared ali over his body, and shortly after he died.
The most dangerous places where the animals attempt to seduce the
hunters are the water hales; frequently, after hours of silent waiting,
the tired hunter falls asleep and thus becomes a victim of the ani-
mals.
When the hunter catches up with his prey and kills it, again cer-
tain rules must be observed. When a deer is killed the tangue is cut
out immediately, and it is buried at the spot where the animal fell.
Then tobacco is smoked and, blowing the smoke over the spot, the
hunter asks pardon from Vaí-mahse. The tangue is thought to be
the most essential part of this animal because "the deer speak."
When the tangue is buried in the farest, the danger of revenge from
Vaí-mahse is avoided, at least. near the maloca, but the spot of the
burial must be avoided from then on. There is a story of a hunter
who did not carry out this ritual and was dragging his prey along the
trail when suddenly an immense deer appeared and barred his path;
the man tried to flee, but the "spirit" of the deer pursued him.
A hunter does not excuse himself to the game far having killed
it, but quite often he speaks to the dead animal, especially when it
is a female. In any case, he observes in detail the genitals of his
prey and makes comments on their size or form. When asked if
the hunter felt sexually excited, the informant answered dryly: "To
kili is to cohabit."
When a jaguar is killed, the payé invokes Vaí-mahse in order to

avoid the revenge of a payé from another tribe or phratry who
might have been incorporated in the beast. In the corresponding
invocation, the "penetrating glance" of Vihó-mahse is compared to
that of the payé who looks fixedly at the dead animal and "makes
the skin of the jaguar sink into the ground." As it is feared that a
dead jaguar can revive, it is burned. If the burned carcass "bursts,"
producing a loud noise, this means that the jaguar will rise again,
in another place.
Children should not see a dead animal, especially not a tapir,
a peccary, ora monkey. This prohibition mainly attempts to prevent
children from making fun of animals, especially their sexual organs,
that would cause the fury of the boráro. 1 º The boráro takes a special
interest in these three animals because they use the same trails that
he has prepared for himself. As young children do not yet have ef-
fective magical protection, the boráro could cause sudden death,
thus "recovering the prey." After hunters have killed a tapir, a pec-
cary, or a deer, the old women of the maloca bum grains of a fra-
grant resin in a broken pottery vessel and blow smoke around the
maloca and over the trails near it.
The first quarry of a youth requires the observation of special
rites. When the boy returns from the forest with his first prey, the
payé invokes Vaí-mahse, giving thanks and asking him not to take
revenge for the death of his animal. lnvoking Emekóri-mahse, the
payé surrounds the young hunter in imagination with a magic fence
to make him invisible and invulnerable. At the same time, he in-
vokes the "shadow of the maloca" and the magic fence that sur-
rounds the dwelling. Around the soul of the youth another fence is
placed so that, from this moment on, he can begin to hunt freely.
The first catch of the young hunter is painted red, and the boy him-
self is covered from head to foot with the same color, thereby
identifying himself with the Master of Animals and identify~ng his
gift. Smoke is blown over the container holding the red paint, and
Vaí-mahse is invoked as a protector. Only then can the meat be
eaten and, if it is prepared as a soup, plenty of anatta is added to
dye it red.
When a hunter uses a new bow, the first game he kills with it
10. Or of Vaí-mahse? The informant expresses doubts in this respect.

must be prepared without fresh chili, and no pregnant woman must

participate in the meal; otherwise the hunter will lose his aim. Only
after having used the bow for sorne time can the meat be prepared
and consumed in other ways. The same restrictions apply in the case
of the first game that a dog catches.
The distribution of the prey is as follows: whosoever kills an ani-
mal is considered to be its owner, but after the meat is cooked at
least half of it is distributed among the other families of the maloca.
The liver, which is not highly appreciated, is given to the old
women. Pregnant women must not take much brnth so that it will not
rain on the day of their delivery. Should it rain, this would cause
great pain to those who suffer from rheumatism, and all other dis-
eases will be aggravated. The bones of game animals or the scales
of fish can be thrown anywhere outside of the maloca, and neither
the skulls nor other parts are kept as trophies. Blood, however, is an
element that must be dealt with with care. As a general rule, the
animal is bled outside of the maloca, although then a risk is taken
that the odor will attract snakes as well as lightning. The informant
says: "It is blood that unites men and animals, in a sense of fertility
and kinship. Semen is quite another thing; that would be a matter
of lineage. But blood is a tie that establishes communication and
unity. Between men and animals there is a very close kinship, and
the expression of this kinship is blood."
This kinship is a reality if we take into account that the game
animals owe their existence and their vital energy in Jarge part to
the incarnation of the souls of those men who, by their conduct,
have been condemned to the hills of Vaí-mahse after death. Speak-
ing of this, the informant says: "To kill animals is to kill people. It
is a punishment that the Sun Father imposed because they went
away to the bilis and did not obey the rules. However, when killing
an animal, one does not think about this"; after a Iittle while he
added: "But there is a sense of family ties."
And in order to conclude this part, we quote the words of our
informant in summing up the relationships that exist between man
and animal: "The animals have no ~orals; they have only their way
of procreatmg. They have no spec1al rules; they simply multiply,
live, and die, but they are always subject to Vaí-mahse. He tells
them what they sho~ld. eat, where they should walk, and how they
should procreate. It 1s hke a second world. Vaí-mahse is the reward
for man's actions; his zeal serves to formalize the rules that the Sun
Father has established, and he makes uses of the animals to enforce
these rules."
FISHING
We said at the beginning that the Desana consider fishing an ac-
tivity of minor importance and of little or no prestige for a man.
This attitude is maintained even in view of the fact that the riverine
resources are a most important part of the food supply and that
most men have to admit that they devote considerable time and ef-
fort to fishing.
Only the men dedicate themselves to this task, while the women
are in charge of most horticultura! Iabors, activities that, in the
scale of values, occupy an even lower position than fishing. Just as
hunting is a true masculine activity in every sense of the word, fish-
ing has a feminine connotation, not symbolically but as a physical
task. Besides, the rivers and the water are female elements; so are
the fish and the reptiles, and in this manner the fisherman acts now
in another sphere that is not considered masculine.
The ritual preparations for fishing are essentially the same as
those required for hunting. The man must be ritually purified; he
must have kept a rigorous diet and have made himself attractive to
the fish he will have to "seduce." Facial paint, composed of red pig-
ment and of the sap of certain plants, varies; the motifs that cover
the cheeks represent the fins of the fish or, sometimes, their heads
or eyes. In a tubular container made of <leer or peccary bone, the
fisherman also carries a supply of this pigment so that he can change
the motifs to accord with the kind of fish he happens upon.
The invocations of the payé are addressed to Vaí-mahse, in this
case to his personifications as the Master of Fish, in his dwelling
place in the rapids. At the same time the wife of Vaí-mahse, V aí-
bogó, who acquires here the characteristics of a Mother of Fish, is
invoked. Vaí-bogó sometimes shows herself as a large aquatic
snake, the progenitor of fish, and when such a snake attempts to
overturn the canoe of a fisherman, it is insinuated that it was a
"caress" from the Mother of Fish and an unequivocal sign that the
fisherman will be lucky. She and her daughters forro the category
of Vaí-nomé, or Fish Women, to which the fishermen should appear
sexually attractive in order to be able to trap them. Sometimes the
youths sit for hours on the large boulders along the riverbanks, and
when they watch the waters they say: "We are wooing the Fish
Women."
The anaconda represents a danger to the fishermen, and in his
invocations the payé "doses the path" of this snake and opens
others that lead away from the place where the men are. Painting
the face with circles and spots that imitate the anaconda would in
this case be very dangerous for a fisherman or for any person who
travels on the river.
Fishing with barbasco poison (Lonchocarpus?) is a special event
in which the payé plays an important role by invoking Vaí-mahse
and also by "opening a path" so that the poison ftows and is effec-
tively diluted in the water. It is the only occasion during fishing
when the participation of women, even pregnant women, is per-
mitted, and it is interesting to learn the reasons for this exception.
Under normal conditions, during daily tasks, the women live in fear
of the attacks of Vaí-mahse, who in dreams or in the form of a liz-
ard or a squirrel might attempt to cohabit with them. This danger
is especially serious for women who bathe in the rivers; Vaí-mahse
then turns into a phallic fish and enters her body and fertilizes it.
The creature, after causing great pain to its mother, dies during
birth "because it cannot cry; its soul does not make contact with
the air." In this instance the soul of the child goes back to the do-
minions of Vaí-mahse where it is transformed into an animal. But
in the case of fishing with barbasco, this danger does not exist. The
women can participate freely as long as they have bathed before-
hand in water poisoned with barbasco. This bath produces a passing
form of sterility because the poison that kills the fish is, at the same
time, a contraceptive and a protection against V aí-mahse who,
having turned into a fish in order to attack the woman, would also
die. This explains why women are permitted to take part in the fish-
ing with barbasco, a necessary collaboration because a maximum
number of hands is needed. Apart from this, only those who are
ritually pure can take part, and even newlywed couples are ex-
cluded. Fishing with barbasco is also considered to be a kind of
"game" with Vaí-mahse, an erotic incitation to "deliver his dauoh-
b
ters to the fishermen."
But fishing and hunting are two very different activities. A man
who has been hunting in the forest and comes suddenly to a river-
bank cannot fish there; in such a case, he must return to his maloca
and ritually prepare himself for fishing. He might gather up sorne
little fish in the brooks which he finds in the forest, but he must not
fish in the river; one must not mix the two activities. The hunter
carries with him the smell of smoke, singeing, and blood, which fish
loathe, especially the anacondas that are their representatives. This
smell also causes the fury of the boráro and of V aí-mahse in bis role
as Master of Animals of the forest. Thus, a man who is fishing can-
not switch suddenly to hunting; the two activities must be kept
strictly apart because the "mixture" of the male with the female, of
the forest with the river, of meat and fish, wol,lld be equivalent to a
forbidden sexual relationship, contrary to the law of exogamy.
There is no doubt that at the present time fishing is increasing in
economic importance among the Desana. The rivers and the la-
goons offer more permanent and abundant resources than the forest,
and it also seems that fishing involves less physical effort than the
long excursions through the forest. But even though the economic
basis is changing and the exploitation of riverine and horticultural
resources becomes more pressing, the attitude of the men has not
changed. For them, to accept being a fisherman or a tiller of the soil
would be to admit the decline of the hunter; it would mean that man
has ceased to fulfill his true functions that has given him the highest
prestige and the most desirable food.
GAME AS Fooo
The diet of the Desana is based on cultivated vegetable products,
on game, and on the gathering of wild fruit, insects, and honey. All
of these foodstuffs are divided into certain categories that carry a
well-defined symbolism according to which food is evaluated and
its use is determined in the diet of the individual and group. The
categories refer as much to the qualities of raw foodstuffs as to those
of cooked foods.
In the daily food cycle, the obtaining of foodstuffs, whether they
are animal or vegetable, is only a first step in the nutritional process
whose associations constitute a complex mesh of traditional con-
cepts. Categories of foods exist, but these classes change according
to the phase of the process in question and their values and at-
tributes are transposed step by step until the food is consumed.
Even then, as we shall see, the cycle continues, now oriented to-
ward the use of the new energy far the obtaining of new foods.
The first dividing line is established by a sexual dichotomy ac-
cording to which the produce of the forest has essentially a mascu-
line character while the produce of the river and of the fields has a
feminine character. This dichotomy is not established by the di-
vision of labor, because fishing is a masculine activity, but is it em-
phasized that the forest and its animals belong strictly to the sphere
of man. We wiJJ first consider the produce of the hunt. In the pre-
ceding pages in which we spoke of the erotic relationship that exists
between the hunter and his prey, we said that the act of killing
transforms the game animal into a feminine element; this element is
dominated by the male, i.e., by the hunter, the real sexual character-
istics of the animal no longer being important here. The hunter feels
a certain sexual excitcment, carefully examines the genitals of his
prey, and if he has killed a female sometimes speaks to the animal,
expressing his sorrow at having killed "such a pretty beast." This
sexual transformation into a feminine element, however, has validity
only at the moment of death or during the short instant in which
the hunter takes his prey. When this instant has passed, a new trans-
position operates, and the prey then acquires a masculine character
and must be manipulated in accordance with this new property.
Now the prey is a representative of the forest, of the environment
of men. Once it is dead, the game animal enters into another sphere,
another stage of the energy circuit. The immediate erotic element
remains covert, but now there is no longer a direct relationship be-
tween the hunter as a person and a specific animal, and the next
step consists of reincorporating it into the circuit, but in another
forro.
When returning from the forest, the hunter deposits the dead ani-
mal near the entrance of the maloca, and it is then taken in by the
women; if the hunt took place in a site accessible only by river, he
leaves the dead animal in his canoe at the landing and goes to the
maloca to tell the women. Under no circumstances should the man
carry the animal into the maloca, whether this is represented by the
door of the dwelling or the canoe at the landing: both form a
threshold, a limit between two spheres of activities, that must be
very strictly observed. To this point, but no farther, can the hunter
act; once this threshold is crossed, the prey enters the feminine
sphere where it will be transformed into food. Of course, during the
entire process, the hunter has not acted as an individual; his actions
and their results, according to our informant, have always formed
part of a social fact that is the maloca, the sib, and the biosphere.
These rules and attitudes have the following ideological basis for
the Desana. The maloca is a uterus and therefore a place at whose
entrance a fundamental transformation operates. The act of the man
in bringing an animal to the maloca is equivalent to a sexual act, a
fertilization of the uterus by the male factor. This act, that of pro-
viding male foods, is expressed with the words bári moa yúri/food-
to-produce-to-introduce, a phrase in which the meaning of the verb
yúri is of special importance. Yúri has here the meaning of "insemi-
nation," "fertilization"; it is thought that "the food prepares the
uterus"-the uterus of the maloca as well as tqe uterus of woman-
so that it will be fertile thanks to the energy it has assimilated. At
the same time, the men who consume this food receive new energy,
prepared by their women through the culinary process. Thus the
circuit remains closed; energy is conserved and life has continuity.
The further preparation of the prey, women's work, is thus equal
to a process of gestation. The scheme of reciprocity is evident in
that the man fertilizes the feminine environment of the maloca and
receives in exchange the product of this fertilization in the form
of food. This food, in turn, is interpreted as a contribution of the
women.
In the case of foodstuffs coming from the fields, from the river,
or from gathering in the forest, the women themselves carry the ob-
ject in to the maloca. Here, however, we are not dealing with an act of
fertilization since, for the most part, these foods have an inherent
female character. It is above all the dead game animal, the product of
the hunt, of the forest, that has this seminal quality when it is incor-
porated into the female environment of the dwelling. Certain wild
fruit, however, have a marked masculine character, especially those
gathered in the form of pods of mimosaceas or of the fruit of the
rubber tree ( vahsú). In these cases the male factor is identified in
the gelatinous texture that is associated with semen and with the
arrangement of the seeds that are compared with "drops of semen."
In the case of vahsú, and notwithstanding the fact that it is a tri-
partite fruit, an association is made with the testicles.
An important criterion in the divisen into male and female food-
stuffs is the smell; the meat of game killed in the forest is said to
have a male odor of smoke and blood while the aquatic animals
have a female odor of fish. The principal male foods are the mam-
mals, birds, the different species of edible ants, and the above-
mentioned fruit. The female foods are fish and turtles, ali eggs, the
fruit of the avocado, and all of the vegetable products grown in the
fields.
The culinary process, or the transformation in to a "meal" ( bári),
introduces a new dividing line on the basis of sexual attributes. 11
Everything that is boiled (solará) is considered to be female, the
fundamental criterion being the intrinsic quality of hot Iiquid and
the process of boiling. In opposition, that which is roasted ( meh-
pera) or smoked ( siyúra) has a male character; in both cases what
is emphasized is the odor of smoke, of singeing or scorching, said
to have a very marked masculine quality. However, the culinary act
does not necessarily transform all foodstuffs in the same way; a
piece of meat cooked in water becomes a female element, but a
smoked fish continues to be female because its characteristic smell
is not eliminated with the smoke. We will add here that all foods
with a salty or sour taste are essentially male while those with a
sweet or insipid taste have a female character. The rotten and the
fetid are always associated with the female sex; the same is true of
overripe fruits or any very bland food.
The act of cooking and boiling has the feminine connotation of
uterine gestation. The humming of a kettle or the vibration of a
simmering liquid introduces here a note of warning, a latent threat.
The very hearth, as we have mentioned in another chapter, is a
feminine element of transformation, a uterine microcosm in which
an act of creation is prepared. For this same reason, the fact that a
bubbling liquid might boíl over is considered dangerous because the
odor causes the fury of Vaí-mahse who, at once, produces the flood-
ing of the rivers and sends the anacondas. In these cases one must
blow tobacco smoke over a firebrand and throw it into the river
where the sizzle frightens the serpents and calms the waters. Given
the sexual interests of Vaí-mahse, the underlying symbolism is clear.
Equal importance to the hearth is the barbecue for smoking meat
or fish. This simple apparatus, which is formed by four vertical
supports of wood over which a framework of crosspieces has been
11. Concerning this theme see Lévi-Strauss, 1965.

placed, is another microcosmos with its associations of colors, solar

and telluric forces, and its capacity for transformation by means of
heat and smoke. The barbecue is called abé kéya/sun-barbecue,
and the crosspieces, shiny with soot, are identified with a seminal
concept. The entire structure of the barbecue has a male character
attributed to it. The animal or the piece of meat that is put on top
of the crosspieces is a female element that now, under the inftuence
of the smoke and the yellow color of the ftames, is transformed into
a male one. In dealing here with a culinary manipulation so com-
plex in symbolic terms, it is natural that the activities involved are
controlled by special norms. In the first place, due to the male
character of the process, meat and fish should be smoked only out-
side the maloca and only men should take part in this work. These
are, above all, the old men who build the ba{becue, bring the fire-
wood, prepare the meat, smoke it, and watch over the entire proc-
ess. In the second place, not all meats can be smoked, and this
method of preparation is limited almost exclusively to the meat of
tapir, deer, peccary, monkey, and guinea pig. Of birds, only the
toucan is prepared in this manner, and we observe in passing that
because of its large beak it is considered a phallic animal. Of
course, fish are sometimes smoked, and as we have already men-
tioned, they do not lose their quality of being female food by being
prepared in this manner. Once the process is ended, the men tell
the women to take the smoked meat to the maloca. The act of smok-
ing meat itself is interpreted as an act of fertilization in a double
sense: the food thus prepared increases the virility of its consumer,
but at the same time the smoke and the smell have a fertilizing in-
fl.uence upon all the animals of the forest.
Meat is either smoked or cooked; it would be unthought of to
prepare the meat of one and the same animal in different ways.
Also, the rule of not cooking and smoking simultaneously over the
same tire is strictly observed. The intestines of the animals are never
eaten but are discarded, as are the foetuses of animals. The kidneys
are only rarely eaten, but the liver and the eyes are eaten either
cooked or smoked. Bird and turtle eggs are female elements and are
only eaten cooked. The Desana cuisine does not include frying, and
roasted foods are extremely rare, thereby reducing the culinary
processes to boiling and smoking, i.e., to liquefying and drying.
The strict division of foods into male and female categories has
an extraordinary importance in the life of the group because it de-

termines which foodstuffs can be consumed simultaneously. The
principal function of these categories is to avoid the consumption
of "mixtures." Meat cannot be cooked together with fish, nor avo-
cado with meat, nor ants with fish. The mere idea causes revulsion
and is emphatically rejected as unthought of and highly dangerous. 10
This aversion is so charged with emotion that it is evident that the
reasons go beyond mere taste predilections. The rules that govern
the composition and combination of the diet are rigorously ob-
served, and above all the old people continuaily insist on complying
with them. Such neutral foods as small wild fruit, can be eaten in
different combinations, but the differentiation between male and fe-
male, in terms of forest and aquatic game, dominates the entire
culinary process and with this the daily diet.
We must then ask ourselves: what could be the causes of these
preoccupations that obviously are profound and are verbalized with
great anxiety? When discussing the danger of food "mixtures," our
informant said: "To mix meat and fish would be like committing
adultery." The Desana believe that the mixing of two categories of
food will lead to the birth of twins. This eventuality is considered
to be a great disaster, and people proceed immediately to infanticide
because the birth of twins can only have been produced by adultery
of one of the parties. But what does this disgrace really involve that
it justifies infanticide? Why does this culture interpret a biological
phenomenon in terms of a danger so great that it forces society to
formulate the entire process of nutrition as a mechanism for avoid-
ing the eating of certain proscribed food-combinations? The idea
that the birth of twins proves adultery is obviously a secondary
elaboration of a much deeper problem. According to our informant,
the nutritional mixture refers to the "mixture" on the social leve!·
that is to say, to the violation of the rules of exogamy. To mix meat'
and fish means arbitrarily lo mix lhe male and female, and leads to
incestous endogamy. Adultery is incest. This explains the interpre-
lation of danger that is attributed lo twins, and this is the threaten-
ing message transmitted by the vibrating hum of the kettle over the
tire. The mylhs speak of a pair of divine twins, and they attribute
12. The informant expressed repeatedly his preoccupation with the indis-
~riminat~ manner in which foods are "mixed" in the culinary practices
m Bogota.
the origin of the sibs to the sons and daughters of the "first Desana";
in other words, reference is made to an original situation of incest-
ous endogamy followed by a period of chaos. Only after this was
the law of exogamy established. The birth of twins denies this law
and announces a return to chaos. In this manner the nutritional and
culinary categories, together with their prohibitions of "mixtures,"
express the exogamic imperative and the latent danger of incestous
appetite.
This line of thought is followed by the rules that govern the dis-
tribution of food whether within the sib or outside of it. In a maloca
occupied by one sib there may be sorne four to eight hearths, each
one belonging to a nuclear family, but ali of these hearths hardly
ever are in use at the same time because it generally happens that
one family is away, another is in the field or in the forest, and an-
other, very probably, does not have any food to prepare. The daily
meal for the entire group is prepared then in one or perhaps two
hearths belonging to those families that, at the moment, are present
and have sorne food. The women who cook it carry the meal to
their husbands, who invite the other men to take part. The women
in turn invite those who have not cooked, and thus the two groups
eat, apart but in full participation. The exogamic sexual division is
maintained, and the rules of reciprocity permit the cooking to be
done in turn so that no one goes without food. Of course, food is
only distributed in its cooked form, and raw food is never given
away on these occasions.
Outside of the sib the distribution of food also follows strict reci-
procity. A Pira-Tapuya, Tukano, or Uanano visitor who arrives at
a Desana maloca will bring sorne smoked fish as a gift, and he first
receives a piece of smoked meat, a symbol of the male character of
the Desana phratry. Only later do they give him cooked food. A
Desana, on the other hand, who visits a maloca of the Pira-Tapuya,
Tukano, or Uanano will carry gifts of smoked meat and will re-
ceive smoked fish. The exchange of foods is coordinated with the
rules of exchange of women; the phratries that give women must
bring fish and, in exchange, receive smoked meat, i.e., men.
There is only one occasion when one of the most essential rules
referring to the inherent qualities of food can be broken. As we have
seen in the preceding pages, the hunter should never bring a dead
animal in to the interior of the maloca. This rule, however, is not
valid on the occasion of the periodic reunions in which various

phratries are gathered to distribute ceremonially the foods the visi-
tors bring. With laughter and violent gestures the men then pene-
trate into the maloca of the hosts carrying smoked meat and pursue
the women and girls, attempting to strike them over their backs with
the meat. In this manner woman-exchange is shown in the symbolic
enactment of sexual aggression.
When analyzing the hunt and the utilization of its produce in
terms of an active participation in the circuit of sexual energy, it is
understandable that it is forbidden to a young boy to eat tapir, <leer,
peccary, or monkey meat befare reaching puberty. The young boy
<loes not forro part of the circuit because he is not married; in eating
this meat, useless energy would be accumulated, diminishing the
total potential without being able to replace it. It is obvious that
this rule is sometimes difficult to enforce, especially when there are
no other foods available or when a hungry child simply grabs a
morse); in these cases V aí-mahse is invoked and is asked pardon
while the adults exclairn "álkero" /grandfather, thus momentarily
giving to the boy the status of an adult and procreator, i.e., of an
active participant in the energy circuit.
Finally, we would like to refer to a point that seems of special
interest. The division of foods into male and female categories, in
accordance with their origin in the forest or the river and in ac-
cordance with their form of preparation, is undoubtedly a very old
culture trait and must belong to a very early hunting stage. Now,
the division into "cold" and "hot" foods that Greco-Arabic medicine
established for the Mediterranean and then for Latín America seems
to be related to the ideas of the hunters. In the last resort, the cold
and dry are the masculine and the hot and humid the feminine. The
division between "cold" and "hot" foods that the Creole peasant and
the aborigine still acknowledge might well be a last survival of exo-
gamic law.
The A nnual Cycle

The Vaupés area has not yet been the object of detailed ecolooi-
cal studies, and we know very little about such basic aspects bas
climatology, soils, fauna, and flora. Unfortunately, we also lack
data on rainfall distribution and on the seasons of the year when
certain fruits ripen or in which certain other food resources are
- - - - - - - - --------
JAN 1 FES 1 MAR APR MAY 1 JUN JUL 1 AUG SEP 1 OCT 1 NOV DEC
l ye'~ dlksiko
poer1 P""º
•
anya pu1ro
· 1 nohsikámií puiro
1 RAINS 1 RAINS
RIVER 1 RIVER RIVER 1 RIVER 1 AIVER RIVER
RIVER LOW 1 RIVER RISES HIGH FALLS RIVER LOW RISES HIGH FALLS LOW
wohsú wahsú wohsU wahsU wohsÜ
toÓ-1 toó-t semi AVOCADO

AVOCADO mt!.i( mt« nyumú-2 toÓ-2. mi•i
nyumú. / n1 umú -1 PINE APPLE PINE APPLE
BIG FISH AUN 1 MINNOWS RUN
RIVER FISHING FISHING IN BROOKS 1 MINNOW FISHING IN RIVERS RIVER FISHING FISHING IN 8ROOKS
I BARBASCO 1 FROGS BIGFISHTRAPSl8AR8ASCO BARBASCO
HUNTING 1 HUNTING HUNTING

HONEY CATERPILLARS ANTS 1 HONEY CATERPILLARS ANTS 1 HONEY CATEAPILLAAS
euRNING 1 PLANTING euRNING PLANTING! ¡euRNING

nye'orl kOo 1 nyéori k~a • . n.yéari kóa
po"ori obi kÓo bOri koo po'ori abé lr:Óa bari Ita 0 pdori ab9 -óa
DANGEROUS TIME SAFE TIME 1 DANGEROUS TIME SAFE TIME OANGEROUS TIME
AS UN DANCE SCARCITY ASUNDANCE SCARCITY ABUNDANCE
JAN 1 FES 1 MAR APR MAY 1 JUN JUL 1 AUG SEP 1 OCT 1 NOV OEC
TABLE 3 ANNUAL CYCLE IN THE VAUP~

abundant or scarce. The meteorological data published by Keses

(1956) only refer to the region of Yavareté, and the few additional
data provided by Brüzzi (1962) are deficient. Obviously, rainfall
distribution varies a great deal all over the Northwest Amazon; the
cycle of many activities change with it, as does the entire rhythm of
lite. Table 3 is based on data furnished by our informant, enlarged
and corrected somewhat by our own experiences in the Vaupés.
According to this information, there are two rainy seasons, the first
from the end of March until the middle of June and the second from
the middle of September until the middle of November. The first
rainy season is called anyá puíro, anyá being an unidentified poison-
ous snake that appears as a constellation at the end of March and
thus announces the beginning of the rains, while puíro meaos ftood;
in other words, for the Desana, the concept of winter (rain y season)
is interpreted above all with reference to the water leve] of the
rivers. The second rainy season is called nahsikáme puíro, accord-
ing to the constellation of the "crab" that then appears in the firma-
ment. Both rainy seasons are preceded by sudden, heavy showers
that coincide with a constellation called ye'e dihsiko poári/jaguar-
mouth-hair and that, according to the Indians, looks Iike the whisk-
ers of an enraged jaguar. The hairs stand up suddenly when the
jaguar is attacking, but when it traps its prey they relax again. The
Desana compare this detail with the sudden appearance of brief rain
showers that then calm down again.
The first aspect of importance related to the periodic rising and
falling of the rivers is fishing. Even with the first rains the river-
banks become ftooded, and river fishing soon becomes impossible;
only small fish can then be caught in the brooks. During the second
rainy season sporadic fishing goes on in the rivers, because this
season is somewhat less marked than the first one. In the dry seasons
of "summer" when the waters descend, there is fishing for small
river fish (July-August), and during the month of December the
tributary streams can also be fished. The best time for fishing with
barbasco is, of course, when the rivers reach their lowest water level
and the fish are reduced to deep pools and stagnant waters. In July
weirs are made, and fences and traps are put in the rivers to catch
aracú that abound during this month. The best months for fishing
are from January to March, July-August, and of lesser importance,
October.
Hunting is an activity of the dry season, January to March, July-

August, and November-December. This coincides with the period of
the gathering of honey and of various species of edible caterpillars.
1t is also the time of the burning of the fields to prepare the chagras
for planting, begun a little before the first rains fall. Also, a little
while before the rains come again, small pools are dug in the banks
of the tributaries that become breeding places for certain edible
frogs (omá) when they fill up.
The gathering of wild fruits is of great importance to the Desana
and coincides with the rainy seasons. In April the vahsú fruit begins
to ripen, and the harvest lasts until the end of August. Toá, a fruit
described as "black plums," is gathered in May and June, and a
somewhat different variety ripens in October. The fruit mee, said to
look like "a round mango," is also harvested in May and June.
Nyumú is the fruit of a palm tree ( Oenocarpus Bacaba Mart.) gath-
ered in the same months, one variety ripening in October. The fruit
of the mihí palm ( Euterpe oleracea Mart.) ripens in November, and
the fruit of semé, a mimosacea, is collected in the month of July. The
pineapples ripen only in the second rainy season, but there are al-
ways avocados during the months of the first dry season, from Dc-
cember to May.
The availability of these food resources forms two periods of rela-
tive abundance that coincide with the two dry seasons and two
periods of relative scarcity that correspond to the rainy seasons. In
the first case the combination of hunting, fishing, and avocado-
gathering makes large quantities of proteins available; in the second
instance, in the periods of scarcity, the food is rather limited to car-
bohydrates. Seen within the religious context of Desana culture, it
is natural that the periods of abundance be at the same time periods
of certain danger, and it is precisely then that attempts are made
to maintain friendly relations with the Master of Animals. Protein
cannot be consumed without diminishing the total energy of the
biosphere, and thus this becomes a latent preoccupation of the en-
tire society. The periods of scarcity, on the other hand, do not have
this dangerous character. The food that is consumed then is "in-
offensive," it is practically a ritual diet, and thus disequilibrium is
avoided.
The annual ritual cycle is adapted to this situation in the follow-
ing manner. In ritual terms, the periods of scarcity are called bári
ka' a/food-fence, an expression that refers to the invocations in

which protective "fences" are formed around the foodstuffs, whether
they be plant or animal. It is a period of social gatherings during
which chicha is drunk and there is singing and invocations to the
Sun and to Vaí-mahse to ask for game, fish, and abundant fruit in
the future. These gatherings have the character of supplications, of
requests addressed to the supernatural beings so that the animals
will multiply and the plants will grow during the rainy season. The
rites celebrated during the dry season have a very different empha-
sis. This period, a consequence of the first, is that of growth and is
called nyéari kóa/to seize-gourd container, or to receive the foods
that the Sun has procured for mankind thanks to its fertilizing
power. It is the period of festive dances when peopie come together
to drink chicha, to sing, and to dance, rejoicing in their well-being.
At the end of each period of néari kóa, the feasts of po'óri and of
abé kóa are ceiebrated, and food is ceremonially distributed (see p.
136). "It is like a thanksgiving," our informant says. The kumú
and the payés give thanks to the Sun and to the Master of Animals
for the abundance of food and for the good health society enjoys.
The rainy season is the period of fertilization and of develop-
ment, of incubation; the dry season is the period of harvest, when
that which has grown during the preceding months is gathered in,
in compensation for the privations suffered. Nature thus repeats the
same cycle of the woman who conceives and gestates in order to
give a new member to the family and to society, a new potential of
energy who comes to complement and to replenish the energies ex-
istent until then.
8
Conclusion
According to the Desana, the goal of life and of ali human activities
and attitudes is the biological and cultural continuity of their so-
ciety. This goal can only be achieved by a system of strict reci-
procity in ali relationships that man establishes in the biosphere,
be they in the framework of his own society or with the animals.
The paradigmatic model is that of the two sexes, and in their inter-
relationship sexuality is compared to nutrition: the man fertilizes
the woman who, in turn, produces the child, a cyclical phenomenon
that implies a smaller and accelerated cycle of nutrition. Man is the
producer of one category of foodstuffs, the proteins, while the woman
produces complementary foodstuffs, the carbohydrates. Its daily
culinary transformation produces new energy in which man partici-
pates, thus guaranteeing the continuity of the wider procreative
cycle. This reciprocity is based, in part, on the division of labor
according to which the men are mainly occupied in the masculine
sphere of the forest while the women are in the fields. On the social
plane this involves exogamic marriage among men identified as
hunters and women identified as horticulturists. In the technologi-
cal-artisanal sphere specialization also exists in the manufacture of
certain artifacts, canoes, basketry trays, carrying baskets, manioc
graters, pottery, and so on, each produced by a single group and
thus available for exchange and barter. A social unit that gives
women to another unit al so gives certain artifacts and is, ideally, the
producer of certain foodstutfs, ali of which are exchanged with the
group receiving the women. This system avoids ali competition;
there is always a market for the goods that a group produces, and
there is always demand for the products of the others. On the other
hand, the system leads to a strong sense of cohesion, controls ag-
gressiveness, and promotes the maximum utilization of ali available
243
resources. In this manner not only survival but the continuity of the
distinctive cultural norms of each group is guaranteed. The circuit
of energetic potential, as the Desana formulate it, remains closed;
each debit is recouped, and the current circulates without inter-
ruption.
Goal: biological and cultural continuity

Means: exogamy and reciprocity
Result: closed circuit of energetic potential
Of course, this model is an abstraction established by the inform-

ant. It is the scheme of how it ought to be; but the existence of very
complex restrictions demonstrates an awareness of faults in the sys-
tem. lt is not always possible to keep the circuit closed; sexual re-
pression leads to sudden eruptions in the form of rape and the
violation of women and girls or it leads to an increase in homo-
sexual practices, ever-latent in Desana society. In these cases energy
is "misspent" because the accumulated potential <loes not return to
the circuit. On the other hand, the animals of the forest are be-
coming scarcer and scarcer, and the dependence on horticulture is
thereby increased through an intermediary phase, fishing. The model
subsists, but the practica! difficulties in following it increase little by
little.
Let us see now in greater detail how the Desana structure the
large components of this general model. We will examine the
symbolism of the institutions that form each sector of the larger
model, beginning with the basic motivation given by the biological
and cultural continuity of tribal society. Although the Desana prac-
tice birth control by sexual abstinence and by the use of contra-
ceptives, they attempt to foment human fertility within the culturally
accepted limits. During ceremonial gatherings, when each group of
the sexes places itself "under the reftection" of the light symbolic
of the opposite sex, there is lengthy talk of the necessity for pro-
creation with much emphasis on the virility of the men and the
fecundity of the women. The recital of the Creation Myth and of
the genealogies, which precedes festive reunions, emphasizes this
continuity of the biological "current" and of the "chains of drops of
semen" that form the lines of descent. The motif of drops is graphi-
cally represented on the walls of the maloca, i. e., on the uterus from
Conclusion · 245
which the fertility of the sib or phratry is expected. On the other

hand, the adults stimulate the youths during puberty in their erotic
games and are proud of their precociousness even when this is not
expressed in heterosexual acts. On a cultural plane the emphasis is
on the continuity and "purity" of traditions as expressed in the
myths, genealogies, and councils. This preoccupation with the con-
servation of traditions finds its culminating expression in the scene
when the kumú, on the occasion of taking yajé, proclaims himself
to be the "last one," the only one who can still transmit the cultural
heritage. In the group trance that follows, the men return in their
hallucinations to the primogenic uterus to verify this cultural reality,
to see with their own eyes the beings and fundamental events of
their tradition.
The basic institutions related to this continuity are the following:
the recital of myths and genealogies, the concept of drops of semen,
the kumú as priest, and the trance produced by the hallucinogenic
drugs. We can also add here the concept of the maloca as the uterus
of the sib and the fundamental focus of sociocultural cohesion. In
all of these cases, what is evident is a concept of synthesis, of union
of opposed principies to produce a new life, a new link that, as a
biological entity, transmits a cultural charge. The sequence is linear,
in the form of a chain.
The next large component of the basic model is the law of exog-
amy. Here the model is that of two opposed but articulated poles,
but this articulation is the means to achieve the desired equilibrium.
The opposites are formulated in terms of man and woman, forest
and river, meat and fish, smoked and cooked, with all their in-
numerable associations. As institutions, we find in the first place the
message of the Sun Father himself, expressed in the yuruparí, the
bull-roarer, and the stick-rattle. Here the emphasis is on that which
is permitted and that which is forbidden, and on the danger of any
compromise in the form of "mixtures." The model is the incestuous
relationship between the Sun Father and his daughter. The division
of labor, the categories of food, and the organization of feasts in
which food is exchanged externalize this fundamental mandate, all
subordinate to the wider message of exogamy.
The result desired is equilibrium, the closed circuit. Here the
model is circular, showing a continuous current perpetually reno-
vated. The representative institutions are the payé, the ritual of the
hunt, fishing, and sexual repression. The idea according to which

human existence is a single chain of intrauterine existences-
A hpikondiá=maternal uterus=maloca= gra ve=A hpikondiá-be-
longs to the same model, as do the. rites of the life cycle that channel
individual energy into permitted paths. Artisanal specialization also
contributes to this concept of stabilizing ebb and flow.
We must now examine the manner in which each of these models
formulates and transmits its message. The religious symbolism of the
Desana expresses, in a synthesized form, the ethos of the culture.
The structure of the Universe and the personality of its Creator is
represented in it, as are re.flected the characteristics of the intermedi-
aries, and it is emphasized that all Creation is interdependent. The
symbolism is therefore language that codifies and promulgates and
continually manifests itself to the individual and society, using a
multitude of vehicles of expression and transmission of ideas. lt is a
great code of signals and signs that determines. and guides the pro-
gramming of cultural conduct within the representative institutions
of each principal model. This programming follows the pressure of
needs felt by the entire group: social equilibrium by means of exog-
amy and reciprocity, biotic equilibrium by means of the mainte-
nance of the energy circuit, psychological equilibrium by means of
ritual conversations, dances, songs, and through group trances pro-
duced by hallucinogenic drugs.
But the various symbols do not operate in isolation in transmitting
their message. They are grouped into constellations, in clusters, and
it is the specific manner in which each cluster is formed that is im-
portant. In arder to be able to appreciate this process, we must
remember what the informant called the "jumps of thought." In the
course of our research we have attempted to orient its development
in such a manner that, instead of working with a preconceived
model, the informant himself would set up the model of his culture
as he conceives it and not as an abstraction of the investigator.
When we stated this final problem to our informant, he expressed
the opinion that the main constellations of symbolic elements are
formed and transmitted by means of artistic expression; he con-
siders art, in the widest sense of the term, the highest level of com-
munication.
We return here to the basic themes of Desana culture that are
found reiterated in almost all manifestations of tribal life: the Cre-
Conclusion · 24 7
ation, exogamy, and the circuit. Following the suggestion of the

informant, it is obvious that we can find a series of artistic expres-
sions in these themes, which transmit a specific message. Referring
first to the theme of Creation and of origins, the public recitals un-
doubtedly must be considered a form of art. In the dances we also
see that the swaying of the dancers is interpreted as the movements
of the mythical Snake-Canoe, a level of symbolism openly physio-
logical; it is evident that the rhythmical movements of the dance
imitate coitus. In the dance of the aracú fish this symbolism is
especially marked, but it also appears in other dances. In music the
ftutes of yuruparí are the living remembrance of the Creator. In the
plastic arts, we find the wooden figurines of the kumú that represent
the Sun and other divine personifications, and in the graphic arts it
is the motif of the Snake-Canoe, painted on the maloca, the drum.
and on the vessel from which yajé is drunk. Even in the motifs inter-
woven in the baskets we find represented the mythical snake that
gave origin to humanity. The theme of Creation is thus abundantly
expressed in art.
The second theme, that of exogamy, also gains expression
through a series of artistic manifestations. In the ceremonial conver-
sations this norm of the culture is emphasized in a very elaborate
form. The musical instruments that produce a buzzing sound pro-
claim the same norm, and the masks, another artistic element,
exemplify the consequences of the failure to observe this law. The
principal petroglyphs, those of the Wainambí Rapids, are interpreted
as a perpetua! reminder of the act that gave rise to the law of exog-
amy.
The last principal theme, that of the maintenance of the energy
circuit, appears again in the recitations concerning the complemen-
tary lights, red and yellow, or in dance when the black male takes
as partner the red female in representation of cosmic union. In a
great number of dances we observe a representation of the fertility
of the game animals, and the sexual symbolism of the pictographs
in the hills of Vaí-mahse is the graphic expression of this great trend
to maintain an equilibrium of energies.
From the sphere of art we pass to that of nature. Each sound,
each form, each attitude an animal takes, any meteorological phe-
nomenon, any tree or rock, continually transmits the same message.
A hollow trunk, an ant hill, the fruit of a tree, or the drops that
trickle over the surface of a stone contain the same meaning. The
warbling of a bird, the color of a leaf; black clouds that gather on
the horizon, or the mosquito that buzzes monotonously before bit-
ing; all these are nothing but voices and images that insistently
propagate the cultural norms. No one can escape these voices of
nature.
We may well ask then: does the concept of the supernatural exist
for the Desana? The informant affirms that it does and explains that
it is tulári-bogá, biocosmic energy, the equivalent of our notion of
the supernatural. "lt is that which cannot be modified," the inform-
ant says. "On the contrary, man always depends on it."
But do all the members of the group understand it in this way?
This question leads us to a summary the informant formulated,
synthesizing all that had been discussed in the previous months. But
before summarizing his reply we should point out that our inform-
ant is a thinker, since childhood a person of unusual intellectual
faculties who has an exceptional knowledge of the religious struc-
ture of his tribe. Surely, an old kumú or payé would know ad-
ditional details, but he would not have verbal facilíty or the gift of
methodical expression or an interest in communicating to us the
foundations of his metaphysical thought.
lt is obvious that the informant gave us his vision of the tribal
religion, his concept as a specialist and as a man profoundly pre-
occupied with the spiritual values of his culture. He described his
religion to us as it ought to be according to the traditions and as it
ought to be practiced according to the elders. Of course, he recog-
nizes that only a few members of his tribe truly comprehend the many
details he describes, and he also admits that, as in any other culture,
there are disbelievers, people who only observe the outer forms but
who are not "religious persons" in the sense of living their creed.
But according to our informant these persons are rather few. Those
who participate in the tribal system, who live with their sibs and
who function as members of a maloca household, are believers and
practice their religion. They constitute the majority. But those who
have been marginal to tribal life due to the inftuence of missionaries
or to prolonged contact with the rubber collectors and colonists are
not concemed to the same degree with the teachings of their elders;
it is not due to a "lack of faith" but due to their isolation and to the
lack of continua! participation, having lost contact with the payé
Conclusion · 249
and thus with the interests of the community. By living in Creole

villages and working as peons they have removed themselves from
the interests and common beliefs of the Desana.
Within the "believing" majority there are, of course, diverse
levels. There is a traditional nucleus, believers who assiduously
participate in the reunions and feasts, who take yajé and submit
themselves to the rigorous norms of hunting and fishing; but there
are also those who only occasionally participate in the reunions;
there are those who do not attain such convincing hallucinations as
the rest or, due to personal inclinations, are simply less "devout."
It cannot be denied that religious experience operates not only
in the collective sphere but manifests itself on the individual leve!.
In the reaction to hallucinogenic drugs and in the conversations
with the kumú and other men of deep religious wisdom there are
personal experiences of sudden insight and lasting perception. Even
in daily life the ubiquitous presence of the divinity that is manifest
and continually commemorated produces intimate, personal im-
pressions of true transcendence. The voices of the forest and the
river, so filled with meaning, awaken profound reactions whose
impact goes far beyond the dull sense of collective security that is
produced in the large gatherings. The experiences of the informant
and the examples related by him, clearly attest to this.
The following outline, according to the informant, shows the
structure of the congregation of the faithful:
kumú
payés
heads of sibs
heads of families
initiated youths
women and children of both sexes
The kumú ( or kumús) are at the apex of the pyramid together
with the five to eight recognized payés. These form the hier~rchy.
Below them are the headmen of the sibs, approximately thirty, ali of
whom are older men. Then come sorne one hundred and fifty heads
of nuclear families, taking as an average five families per sib. The
young initiated, approximately sixty, form the base. These five cate-
gories, a total of sorne two hundred and fifty individuals, forro the
active and participating congregation. The rest of sorne seven hun-
dred and fifty individuals do not practice directly. Of course, the
women are present at the dances and gatherings, but they remain on
the margin of the ritual and play a very minor role in the transmis-
sion of the norms and religious traditions, with the exception of
sorne old women who have acquired a certain status as counselors.
Parallel to this outline, the informant traced the following scheme,
distinguishing four levels of religious comprehension and activity,
each identified with a certain state of knowledge and consciousness
(Table 4). The scale goes from mere existence, passing through re-
fiection and knowledge, to the level of wisdom.
Speaking of the lowest level ( 1 ) , the informant explains that the
word áriri conveys the idea of existence, living, but "they do not
know why." Approximately half of all the adults, including the
TABLE 4 RELIGIOUS COMPREHENSION

LE VEL CONCEPTS AND ACTIVITIES PERCENT
1. Existence Ahpikondiá as paradise 50

(áriri) Pamurí-mahse and pamurí-gahsíru
Emekori-mahse and Diroá-mahse
V aí-mahse as Master of Animals
Boráro and uáhti
Yuruparí as "devil" and "dead people"
Story of the turtle trickster
2. Reflection Invocations and cures 30

(pepíri) Dances and ceremonial conversations
Councils
Descriptive myths
3. Knowledge Sun Father, Daughter of the Sun, 17

(pesíri) Daughter of Aracú
Genealogies of sibs and phratries
Yuruparí as promulgation of exogamy
Interpretation of hallucinations
Priesthood of the kurnú
Equation: payé= jaguar= phallic intermediaries
Symbolism of manufactured objects
Culinary code
4. Wisdom Energy (tulári-bogá) 3

( mahsí-doári) Interpretation of the symbol (keorí)
Ahpikondiá as a uterus
Hallucinatory trance as a temporary return to
the uterus
Conclusion · 251
young initiates, fall within this category. They know the principal
characteristics and functions of the divine intermediaries and are
instructed in the rules applying to hunting, fishing, and to cere-
monial gatherings. They know the myths referring to the funda-
mental structure of the Universe, to the origin of mankind, and the
paradisical condition of Ahpikondiá. On this elemental leve] the
yuruparí is interpreted as a ritual in which "the dead" and the devil
appear to terrorize people. The story of the mischievous turtle is
known from childhood.
On the next level ( 2), reftection is in itiated. The word pe pí ri is
derived from perijto listen, and ri, an element that suggests the con-
cept of knowing. "They are those who hear and learn; but they only
feel. But then they think and reftect," the informant says. This Jevel
implies above all the learning of invocations, of songs and dances,
ceremonial conduct at gatherings, counsel, and a repertory of myths
and descriptive tales. It is rather the young meo who form this cate-
gory, of crucial importance in the acquisition of status and function.
Many individuals remain on this leve] throughout their lives.
Those few who attain the next leve] (3) have achieved profound
knowledge. "They hear and understand. They reason," the inform-
ant says. Their knowledge embraces the myths that refer to the
Creator and the Creation, the incest of the Sun Father, and the
genealogies of sibs and phratries. The yuruparí is interpreted as a
commemorative rite that promulgates the Jaw of exogamy; and the
hallucinations produced by yajé and vihó are interpreted as the
manifestations of divine and mythical personages. The function of
the kumú is known in detail, and it is known that the payé-jaguar, as
Vaí-mahse himself, are phallic intermediaries. Also, the person
knows in detail the symbolisrn of the maloca and of all manu-
factured objects, the acoustical code of the musical instrurnents, the
code of the animals, and the culinary code.
Very few, perhaps 3 percent, reach the superior level of true wis-
dom ( 4). These are the kumús, sorne payés, and sorne exceptionally
gifted individuals who develop this grade of comprehension. Only
these know the great law of the energy circuit of the biosphere and
the mechanism of the "echo" ( keorí) by which all Creation con-
tinually transmits the message of its Creator. For them the sequence
of the intrauterine stages is clear. They also understand the acceler-
ation of time and the hallucinations that permit them momentarily
to retum to the source of everything, to be reborn with the con-

viction of faith. The level of wisdom is the level of mahsí-doári
(from mahsiri/to know, doári/to sit down); it is the level where
the person is "seated on his bench."
When he finished dictating this scheme, the informant made an
important observation. He said that when our conversations began
he had believed himself to occupy the third level, that of knowledge,
but now he had been able to rise to the highest level. By speaking
about his culture, <lay after day for many months, attempting to
interpret it to a stranger, he had acquired a comprehension of values
and mechanisms that he had not achieved before.
And here our inquiry ends. In the course of it we have traveled
through the Universe; an immense world of signs and symbols, of
images and colors, has opened before us; in this world we have, at
times, recognized forms of thought that are not foreign to us, be-
cause they are universal.
That such a world could have been created in a comer of the
Amazon, that such an effort has been exerted to construct this great
scheme of being and becoming in the rain forests of the Vaupés, can-
not but arouse our admiration and confirm our conviction that the
world we label "primitive" contains values we can ill-afford to
depreca te.
Appendix 1
Myths
In the course of our research we recorded a series of myths that are pub-
lished below. This material is very fragmentary and sometimes dis-
connected, but it constitutes an interesting document, as much for its
content as for the form in which it was told. We will transcribe these
myths in their original form, exactly as they were told to us. The reader
will be able to appreciate the diction of the informant who spoke spon-
taneously and with great freedom on all occasions. Since the myths do
not have specific names, we have simply numbered them.
1
"The one who taught us to make copper earrings was a fugitive. That
was in the days of the Creation. He was a strange man; he was not a
fugitive, but he was like one. He was a master in these things, in these
matters. He had sorne molds of yellow clay. Nearby there was some
yellow water. There, without anyone being allowed to see him, he took
water and put it into the mold. In this way he madc many carrings. They
wcre of two metals, white and yellow. But the material was extracted
from a pit, Jike a mine. This pit was lost. lt was in the days of the Daugh-
ter of thc Sun. He was not of any tribe; he was callcd nyahpá mahse,
from nyahpá/gold. The yellow material is like fine grains. This man also
taught us to makc some little animals, butterfties of metal, of silver. He
taught us how to make the molds. Thcn thc Spaniards came, and there
was an end to it. But it is known where his things are hidden. They say
that in this place there is a supernatural being who appears ali of a sud-
den. He is called nyahpá mahse; he is a tal! man, red-faced. His eyes are
Jike fire. He wcars these long earrings which shine a lot. He is good; no
one is afraid of him." 1
1. It. see~ns ~hat this myth points to an Andean intluence, probably in pre-
h1stonc times. The fact that thc word for gold contains the root ahp
might suggest that this metal haú a very important symbolic value.
253
254 · APPENDIX 1
2
"Once upon a time the first Desana happened to be in the place where
the Daughter of the Sun used to take her rest. There was a very large
tree with a lot of leaves. The Desana approached and saw that sorne
fruit had dropped from it. They looked good to him. It was the fruit
kenó. Then another fruit fell from the tree; it was very tasty, and then
another fell; it was the fruit poé. Then a little fruit like a pineapple fell.
It stuck to bis skin; it was like dust, with a sweet flavor. The man con-
tinued to gather the fruits. Suddenly a large turtle fell down. It was the
morrocoy turtle. We believe that the turtle carne from this tree. The turtle
wanted to orient itself; he looked to the east, to the south, to Ahpikon-
diá, but that was not the right direction. Then he looked toward the Dark
Region, and it was not there either. Then he looked in the direction of
the Desana; it was there. Thus the turtle populated the region. Now this
turtle serves as a guide for those who are lost in the forest. It is invoked
in a prayer. One has to climb on the turtle, and then one finds the right
direction. He points to it with bis head. My mother told me this. From
this tree also fell the fruits of the palms and all the wild fruits. But of the
animals, only the turtle." 2
3
"The Daughter of the Sun left the seed of me'e to plant far us. It is
yellow and is used far making a beverage. The Pira-Tapuya did not have
it and asked the tapir to steal it from the Desana. The tapir ate the seed.
It is very fond of sweets; it did not leave any far the other animals. Then
it went to the Pira-Tapuya and defecated the seed. Then the Desana
made war on them. They were aided by the wild guinea pig. It is similar
to a rabbit; it approaches silently and watches. lt went to the Pira-
. Tapuya and stole the seed. Suddenly the seed dropped; the guinea pig
went and got it, but the tapir saw what was happening. The tapir almost
grabbed the guinea pig, and with its hoof stepped on its tail. Since then,
the guinea pig has a very short tail."
2. This fragment represents one of the many versions of the Tree of Life
motif. The turtle, as a uterine animal, symbolizes this aspect of the
"origin of all things."
Myths · 255
4
"In the days of the Creation Pamurí-mahse arrived on earth. With him
carne rnany dangerous beasts such as piruá, the large snakes of the river
that are the progenitors of fish. Also a snake arrived that had seven
heads. This snake was in love with a girl who was at puberty. In thc
maloca of the girl there was a payé and a little dog. After trying to se-
duce the girl, the snake decided to attack the people of the maloca. He
appeared with one head, ready to devour them. The payé confronted
hirn and hit hirn with a stick. The dog bit its body. Between the payé
and the dog they shattered the head. Another head carne, and they did
the sarne to it. They kept on until the seventh head; but it was one single
snake! At last it was dead. The payé went and brought firewood and
built a large bonfire. He burned the snake. When it was well burned, the
snake burst. It rnade a loud noise; it produced srnoke, a large black
cloud that rose up to the Milky Way. The wind carried it down to the
sea. Then it rained and the snake was reborn. Since then, it exists in the
sea, in a large river." 3
5
"The first Desana had a son. He was an adulterer. As a punishment the
Sun sent hirn another head; then he had two heads. When he ate, he had
to feed two. Then the father gathered all the members of the family
together; they drank cachirí and yajé and danced. They gave the boy a
medicine made from plants, and at two o'clock in the morning they took
hirn to the river to drink a lot of water and to vomit. Then the Daughter
of the Sun intervened. At the request of the boy's father she rnade a deal
with the terrnites. In front of the landing there was a termite's nest in a
tall tree. She took it down and removed the terrnites and threw them in
the water to feed the aracú fish while the boy was vomiting. Then she
tore off the second head and put it in pláce of the termite's nest in the
tree. This is why there are now two kinds of termites; they have a musky
fiavor. Thus she destroyed the termite's nest to replace them with the
head and to conceal the punishment. The boy was well. This is the origin
3. Obviously, this rnyth refers to the epoch of chaos. While the rnotif of
the Hydra seems somewhat strange here, that of burning a monster is
quite frequent in the mythology of the Vaupés area.
256 · APPENDIX 1
of the bees. Sorne termites of the first nest had stayed and now they wen
to establish themselves again. Then the Daughter of the Sun change1
them into bees. Thus, the termites and the honey were born from th1
head." 4
6
"There was a large snake, sumurí-tára, at the headwaters of the Macú
paraná. Sumurí is to grow, to foam, to ferment, and tára is a place witl
water and palm trees, but few other trees. In this place there are a lot o:
snakes. It is the maloca of Uári; they also call him Wuá or Wuawuá
There is a lagoon in this place. It is necessary to climb up into a tal
palm. The owner of the pairos is Wuá. The owner became jealous be·
cause they cut the leaves, because the man had bad an erotic dream.
Being on top of the palm, the palm uprooted itself and rose to grea1
height, carne back down and set itself in the middle of the water, witli
the man on top. Wuá had carried him off. Thus the man went to live in
the maloca of Wuá, and the palm disappeared.
"His daughters looked for him everywhere, but they did not find him.
They only found a very large hole where the palm had been. It changed
into a large hole where the people from the maloca carne out to see who
was approaching. The daughters of the man arrived. They cut thin pieces
of straw and made sorne little triangles of straw and threw them into the
hole. It was a game. The daughters of Wuá liked the game and told their
father about it. He, too, liked it. The man had been twining cumare
fibers. During the <lay he had made two halls of twine and began again
but he did not finish anything. As this moment Wuá went out to talk to
his daughters. He saw the triangles. In the maloca was the grandmother
of Wuá. She felt sorry for the man because he was unable to finish twin-
ing the fibers. She spoke to him, and the man told her what had hap-
pened. She said that W uá was her grandson. 'He is the Master of the
Leaves that he has planted. I know that you cannot twine thread. He will
return in the afternoon and if you have not finished twining it, he is
going to devour you.' Then she told him, so he would be free from this
danger, she would tell him the secret. She went to see if Wuá was nearby,
but he had gone off with his daughters. Then she told him and went back
to where the man was. She taught him the secret of twining thread
quickly. It consisted in this: the cumare fibers had to be burned com-
pletely, and the ashes had to be heaped up in the hand in a little pile,
4. Lévi-Strauss (1966, pp. 108-9) cites a Kraho myth in which we find
the motif of a human head transformed into a beehive.
Myths · 257
and then he had to snuff the powder. The man did this, and ther~ ap-
peared at the tip of his nose a little piece of thread, already_ tw_med.
Then a lot more appeared, and thus he formed seven halls of twme m no
time at all. Wuá released him. He carne and asked him for his task; he
did not devour him. The man stayed there, and his daughters saw the
girls under the water. The daughters of Wuá asked their father to bring
them to their maloca. At their request he made the waters rise until he
could bring the girls in. There they were reunited with their father. They
stayed there. The man was a Boréka-porá." 0
7
"We'á is a name, a nickname. lt comes from we'ári/to scrape. There
were many animals: tapir, deer, turtle; there were many. We'á is not
imagined as a man but as a very big snake. But he also lives in the
malocas of the rapids. He changed into human form and went up the
Papurí River. When he carne to a rapids, he did not pass through the
current but caused them to be flooded so that he could pass.
He arrived at a rapids called ehta-yabu, in the Macú-paraná. This
comes from ehtá/rapids, and yabu/long. He got there and wanted to do
the same thing but he was not able to pass. Thus he changed himself
into a man. With the first step he took on land, he met a deer; it seemed
pretty to him. As he was a snake, he killed it;" then he admired it: its
antlers, its ears, the shape of the head that was so well formed; he ad-
mired its penis. He said: 'What a shame that I should have killed such
a pretty female.' He removed the hide to see that it had a penis. Be-
coming sexually aroused, he decided to eat the deer. He licked it with his
tongue; he left ali the bones and ate the flesh, but he did not eat the head
beca use it looked too pretty. Ali of this can be seen on a rock: the he ad,
and a little beneath it, the bones.'
"After this, he wanted to go walking in the forest. When the macaw
saw him, it screeched. As it screeches uáaaaaaa, he thought that it called
his name; he became frightened and returned to the landing. There he
found a tapir. Aftcr killing it, he admired its penis, its head and snout.
He did not like it because it was very ugly. He cut off the head and ate
the rest.
5. The myth motifs of the task of spinning and of the old woman who helps
the youth be telling him the secret perhaps suggests a European origin.
6. We remember that Vaí-mahse specifically forbids the anaconda to kili
thc deer.
7. The informant refers to petroglyphs.
258 · APPENDIX 1
"At this precise moment Emekóri-mahse was watching him; he was

observing him between the cracks 8 in a tree called vahsúpe. It has tall
roots, and he was hidden there. 0 We'á had a sort of heavy bag. While he
was eating the tapir, he had put the bag aside. Emekóri-mahse ap-
proached and lifted up the bag and went back with it to the forest. There
he opened it to see what was in there. In this bag there were spare parts
of a tongue in the form of knives; they were magnetized. In the center
it had something like grooves of blood. These were the representations
of all the snakes, and had the quality of absorbing, like sandpaper, with
the tongue. Emekóri-mahse seeing this, that these things were not good
for people, threw them into the water, and they were carried down-
streams. We' á, when he carne back, saw that bis bag was gone. He threw
himself into the river again and went back in the form of a snake. This
tongue is at present the poisonous tongue of the snake; it represents the
venom. The payés invoke this tongue to cure diseases. They imagine
that they attract the diseases with it and then devour them with these
tongues."
8
"V ahsú was a person who represented vahsú, the fruit. 10 He was a living
being but did not have a phratry. He had the habit of bringing cotton.
He brought with him another person: Vaí-bogó/fish woman.
"One day Vahsú found Buhpú-mahse on the trail. Buhpú is that which
resounds in the thunder; the noise, the sound. Then Buhpú-mahse put
five fingers on the head of Vahsú. With this contact they were able to
exchange words, they could speak. Buhpú-mahse, the tbunder, asked to
bring bim a lot of starcb, and Vahsú asked Buhpú-mahse to bring bim
fisb. This made Vai-bogó furious because she was of the fisb family and
represented tbem.
"When they met again, Buhpú-mahse put his fingers on bim; Vahsú
lost consciousness and stayed unconscious. In consequence, Buhpú-
mahse did not fulfill bis promise of giving bim fisb. Buhpú-mahse re-
turned to tbe spot where Vahsú was unconscious and found bim lying
tbere. He bad murdered Vahsú. He put bis fingers on bis bead. He saw
8. The informant refers to the act of watching througb cracks or boles.

9. The rubber tree; the large roots for.m vertical partitions that are fre-
quently mentioned as hiding places.
10. Tue vahsú fruit has a marked seminal cbaracter. Although vahsú can be
eaten, it must be cooked and squeezed much like manioc since it contains
a similar poison.
Myths · 259
that there were many fruits of vahsú that are like large beans. 11 He said:
'We have taken bis life for no reason'; then he repented. In this instant
Vaí-bogó arrived; she intervened, and now there were three. Seeing that
there were three, Buhpú-mahse left. In this case, as only two remained,
Vaí-bogó became jealous and furious because he had asked her for fish.
The Vaí-bogó, the Mother of Fish, intervened. She was the one who
saved V ahsú; Buhpú-mahse, as a revenge, met V ahsú so that he could
poison him with barbasco. He wanted to do this because Buhpú-mahse
was the one who killed him. When he revived, Buhpú-mahse said that it
had been V aí-bogó.
"In this instant they drank yajé; they tasted the fruit. Until Vaí-bogó
split bis head. She tore out bis extremities; she tore him to pieces. She
left because he had asked her for fish. The fish like it there because of
the fruit. The next day she returned and looked at him: his hands, his
feet. She blew on him to revive him. Then Vahsú saw what had hap-
pened. Although Buhpú-mahse had made him unconscious, he now re-
turned as bis protector because Vahsú had asked him to do this. He
agreed.
"This was how barbasco was invented for the first time. He told him
to look for this certain color and the seeds, and showed him. He told
him to make a basket in the river, of wood, to crush the fruit. He showed
him where Vaí-bogó was and that he should go fishing at midnight to
catch Vaí-bogó. He started at the Yuruparí Falls in the Vaupés. He
threw the barbasco in at midnight. All of the small rivers were affected.
He was pursuing her. Vaí-bogó saw that he was after him; he fied with
his women but only found dead fish along the river. There was no time
to Iook for magic help for the fish. He went as far as the Río Negro;
there he crossed over to the sea. He hid there. This is why the Vaupés
does not have many fish anymore. But along the Isana River he did not
have time to go to bring the magic objects for the fish. This is why in the
Jsana there are still many fish."
9
"Vahsúpe-mangé 12 had the first twins. This was because he ate a lot and
was very lazy. The fruit he liked to eat is like a tripod. Then he had
three sons. He killed one of them because he was born without an anus ·
he made a hole for him but he died. The other had bis mouth in hi~
11. This is an error; the large "beans" are the fruits of a mimosacea, which
have also a seminal character.
12. "Son of Vahsú."
260 · APPENDIX 1
throat. The other had a harelip 13 instead of a nose. They died. It was a
punishment from the Sun Father for his laziness and because ali he did
was to hoard these fruits. There is a sib with this name. They don't like
to be called this; it is a very big offense."
10
"There is a tradition that there was once a tribe Iike the Makú. They had
the obligation of taking care of the children of certain sibs or of the
headman. The headman was very strong and intelligent. They took good
care of his child, giving him fish and good meat of forest game. The boy
lived very well purified. These Makú took care of the child for a certain
period of time. The Makú also gave him mojojoi larvae; they took good
care of the child. At the end of three months they ate the child. This was
the general custom, but they did so to acquire thf! customs of the child
and the prestige of the headman, and also to acquire the knowledge of
this headman. They wanted to raise themselves to the leve! of the head-
man. They made a very large fire for the meal, and it was in this fire that
they burned them alive, they did not kili them with sticks. After killing
them, they cut them up and roasted them slowly over the fire. They did
this quite often. The vice of eating people also led them to eat the bones
of the headmen, removing the bones from the graves. After removing
them, they burned them and mixed the powder with their chicha. It was
to inherit the virtues of the headman. They were a part of the Desana, 1 ·1
but this led to many lights. They began to separate until they were lost.
These Makú were very big, fat and nice. They were like slaves; they
helped to raise the children, but they became cannibals. They kidnapped
the headmen to eat them.
"Once an old man went to the forest to get his headman's instruments,
and they kidnapped him there. His son lost hope, but did not have any
illusions about the situation and went to where the Makú were staying.
In the place where they were, there was no meat but one of them was
missing. He walked until he found him. They had made a large bonfire
and on top of it the meat of the old man was roasting. The son killed the
Makú who watched over the bonfire and replaced the meat. Then, in-
stead of eating the meat of the headman, they ate the meat of the Makú.
Because of this the fighting and persecutions began." 15
13. The informant describes it as a congenital defect.
14. We have already mentioned that the close relations between the Desana
and the Makú might suggest a common origin.
15. The myth undoubtedly refers to a situation of endogamy.
Myths · 261
11
"The alligator 16 was the son of a Desana. At night he dreamed of having
sexual intercourse. At dawn he awoke and told his father. The father
said: 'Don't go to the landing or to the forest.' He also said: 'You ought
to protect yourself with an invocation, with tobacco.' But the boy forgot
and took a bath at the landing. His older brother was watching him; the
younger brother began to have scales. His feet and hands were changed,
one foot turned into a tail. Then the older brother told the father. But
the younger one was changed; now his head. When the father carne with
his invocation, it was already too late. The younger brother swam around
in the water and climbed out on the branches and stayed for a long time
at the landing. His mother talked to him, but he did not speak. In this
manner the alligators carne into being; they are good food. The mother
urinated at the landing so that he would not leave, and he stayed there.
The urine is the remedy. When an alligator is seen in a place, one uri-
nates in the water, and then it stays where it is and can be caught. This
is true only for this kind of alligator." 17
12
"There was a man who had two sons; the older was married and the
younger was a bachelor. The bachelor had intercourse with his sister-in-
law. Her husband learned about it because it happened at the Ianding.
Then he used a blowgun against the younger brother. He fell down; the
girl ran to the maloca. The older brother cut off the penis of the wounded
man and threw it into the river. The fish unyú is the penis.
"The father of the two men was far away, and when he returned he
did not find his younger son. Then the bird vi'i kasenéno was singing. It
was a bad omen, and it still is. The bird sang: 'They just cut off your
son's penis-sene-sene-sene.' The father understood. He went down to
lhe landing; the younger son was dying. Praying, he brought him to the
maloca. Therc was a strong mat, and he wrapped him up in it. He prayed
and blcw on him and revived him.
"The Sun Father, when he carne to crcate this world, is said to have
maslurbated in the forest. The only witness was a mushroom that had the
16. Pa/eosuclws sp.

17. Cf. the Chimila myth of "the Man who Dreamed of an Alligator"
( Reichel-Dolmatoff, 1945, pp. l 3-14).
262 · APPENDIX 1
shape of a penis; it is called abé-yéru/Sun-penis. The father pulled up a

mushroom and planted it in the hoy. He lived a few days, and then he
died. The woman swept off this artificial penis with the manioc skins and
threw it into the river. From this another fish was born. It is also called
unyú, but it is smaller."
13
"The turtle is a trickster. He was in the farest and saw sorne monkeys
in an ehná palm. The turtle called: 'Cousin, what are you doing there?'
He asked them to throw hirn sorne fruit. The rnonkeys said: 'Cousin, are
you a woman that you can't climb up?' 'Certainly not,' said the turtle;
'I am corning up.' The rnonkeys helped her. The turtle ate, and after a
while the monkeys left. Then the turtle stayed clinging to the branches,
up there, far ayear. He was on bis last fruit. He could not get down. The
birds rnade fun of hirn, and the toucan, the paca, ,and all the birds too.
He could not get down. Then a jaguar carne by. He saw sorne turtle
excrernent below and looked up. 'What is this old girl doing up there?'
the jaguar said. The turtle answered: 'You don't know how to climb up
here.' The jaguar asked far sorne fruit, and the turtle threw it down to
him. He liked it and asked far more. Then the turtle said: 'Jaguar, man;
stand still just below me, with your eyes closed.' The turtle let herself
fall on top of the jaguar and nothing happened to her, but the jaguar
died because the turtle fell right between his eyebrows. But the turtle
was hungry; she waited until the jaguar was rotten. After three days she
called her family together, and they ate the jaguar. Then she pulled a
bone out of its leg. She made a flute out of it and played it: 'This is the
bone of my cousin the jaguar who is a big coward!' Then the other
jaguars took notice. War broke out between the jaguars and the turtles.
Quite often one finds a turtle shell in the forest, with toothmarks of sorne
jaguar. The jaguars asked: 'What is it the turtle sings?' The turtle played
and sang, and then she withdrew into her shell.
"The turtle rnet the fox. There was a hole in the ground, and the tur-
tle bid in it. The fox stayed around waiting. The turtle likes to eat pine-
apple/ peyú-sená, and the fox said: 'I bet that you can't stay in this hole
until the pineapples ripen.' They bet this, and the fox stopped up the
hole. A week went by. 'What's up?' said the fox; 'Are you still alive?'
Six months went by until the pineapple ripened. They made another bet;
'Now wait until 1 eat the pineapple,' the turtle said. Now the fox went
into the hole, and the turtle stopped it up. After three days he died of
hunger. The turtle invited her family, and they ate the fox. She removed
a bone and made a flute out of it and played it: 'This is the bone of my
Myths · 263
cousin the fox who is a big coward !' Already the turtle had two enemies:
the jaguar and the fox.
"Then the turtle met the <leer. 'Cousin, let's bet to see who can run
faster!' They went to the forest, which was very dense, sorne three or
four kilometers. They made trails, one for the turtle and another for the
<leer. But the turtle placed fifty relatives every ten or fifteen steps.
The <leer ran, and the agreement was that he who was ahead should
call from the front. The deer called: 'Cousin turtle!' The turtle would
answer from the front. This went on until the deer died. When he be-
came rotten, the turtle ate him and made a flute and sang: 'This is the
bone of my cousin the deer who is a big coward!' Now there were three
enemies.
"Then he met the tapir. When he wanted to bet with hirn, the tapir
kicked hirn and left him sprawling on his back in the rnud. Sorne years
went by. Finally a guinea pig carne. 'Please, help me!' the turtle said. The
guinea pig dug and set him free. The turtle was furious at the tapir. The
tapir, when he walks through the forest, leaves a lot of excrement. The
turtle went to find it. From the excrement, plants grow because the tapir
eats ·a lot of seeds. First the turtle went along finding dry excrement. He
followed it asking along the way. Finally, the turtle found fresh excre-
ment, about six months old. He measured the size of the plants that grew
from the seeds in the excrement. Thus, he knew how far away the tapir
was. Then he found warm excrement. He found the tapir sleeping. He
walked around it until he saw his testicles. Then he decided to bite them.
The tapir woke up, but the turtle kept hold of his testicles and killed the
tapir. 18 This is why the payés invoke the turtle, for his physical cunning
against the evil beasts. The turtle is alrnost indestructible. They invoke
him like this: 'Big turtle, little turtle; black-colored turtle, red-colored
turtle; great turtle of the river; your teeth, your shell; under your pro-
tection I defend myself.' This is how they invoke the turtle." 19
14
"A man was receiving instructions on how to be a payé. Against the rules
he had sexual intercourse. He said: 'I arn going to Jook for Ahpikondiá.'
He said good-bye and went off in a little canoe. He journeyed along the
river but a little farther on he sank in a lake. Then, after a long time, he
18. Other versions of this widely diffused myth have been analyzed by Lévi-
Strauss, 1966, pp. 248-49.
19. The tricks of the turtle are the therne of many stories told to Desana
children.
264 · APPENDIX 1
appeared again. He told all; he explained the density of the water in the
river. Below, there were malocas and fish. When he returned, many had
aiready died. He said: 'Your brother is there; he sends you greetings.'
He told them how pleasant it was there. Instead of becoming a payé, he
went directly to Ahpikondiá."
15
"A Desana wanted to travel from the Papurí to the Vaupés River. On
the way night fell. He climbed up in a tall and thick tree. When he was
ready to go to sleep a beast in the shape of a person approached and
shook the tree. It went away. Other beast-people carne by. Then they
went to knock down the tree. But they couldn't knock it down. They
brought the turtles as weapons; with their shells they began to cut down
the tree. But they couldn't. At dawn a little man carne, a toré uahtí. He
began to cut the tree with his stone ax. He had cut through more than
half when the day dawned; the stone didn't cut '¡inymore when it was
light. The man climbed down, frightened. From 'this comes the belief
that the stone ax, so it will cut, has to be washed during the night." 20
16
"Between Uacaricuara and Montfort there is a place where there lived
a family, and their landing place was near a deep pool in the river. They
were not Desana. The children who bathed there disappeared. A huge
snake, pirú, lived there, a monster of the waters. It devoured the chil-
dren. Then an old man got a clay trumpet, one of those that are played
at feasts, and prepared a vabéro, a shield. It is reinforced with fine vines
and is very strong. He got a long rope and tied himself to it. At one end
he tied a large piece of balsa wood. He threw himself into the river, and
soon he was devoured. In the belly of the snake he closed the mouth of
the stomach and shut it so that water could not enter; then he sat down.
Then the snake swallowed earth to kill the man. It was like a strong
rain. He protected himself with the shield. The piece of balsa wood
floated up and down, but no one took any notice. The old man sounded
the trumpet, but it was not heard under the water. Then the snake went
to its cave in a hole between the rocks. It got out of the water. The piece
of balsa wood remained still. The old man sounded the trumpet, but it
20. The motif of felling a tree with the help of certain animals is found
in severa} Colombian tribes.
Myths · 265
was only heard faintly. When the snake finally got to its cave, the male
was there. There was a male and a female, and it was the female that had
devoured him. Then the people heard, and they dug until they fo~n~ the
snake. They opened it and found the man and all the children. Th1s is an
often quoted tale. The old man carne out very white from the cold."
17
"Below Pira-mirí there is a large lagoon where there are many dragon-
fties. A young couple, after their first coitus, went to fish there. As soon
as they reached the center of the lagoon, they did not see the water any
more. The lagoon had become a garden; there were houses, children,
people, all of Vaí-mahse. They never returned home; they stayed there
to live. It was a punishment."
18
"The jaguar was a man; he was a payé. He changed, transformed him-
self into a jaguar and attacked men, but only men of another phratry.
He scared the girls, those who had not reached puberty; he caressed
them, rubbing therri with his tail. Once he met a man. When he was dis-
guised as a jaguar, he had told them to call him by his name so that he
would not be killed by mistake. When they called him like that, he would
then put his ears back, Jike a dog, and he would turn and leave. But
when he met this man, this one <lid not call him by his name. Then he
killed the man and dragged him for a long distance. He tore off his head
and hid it in the forest. The friends of the man tracked him down and
tied him up. Bringing him back to the maloca, they made a big tire and
burned him. But at tirst he was only roasted a bit. Then, when the tire
burned more strongly, the jaguar burst and the smoke rose up high.
Afterward the body of the jaguar burst. They took this as the abandoning
by the human man of the disguise. The man did not bum."
19
"The woodpecker, by its color and appearance, signifies the vagina and
is called by the same name: koré. 1t was a mischievous character. It did
not come in the canoe with Pamurí-mahse but had already been created
by the Sun. lt conversed and drank chicha and had many women. Once
it made a bet with the duck to see who could walk best in the forest. The
266 · APPENDIX 1
woodpecker won. Before, its red crest had belonged to the duck, but now
the woodpecker had won it. Now the woodpecker is the penis, and the
duck is the vagina. He also bet to see who could climb up in the trees
the longer. The duck lost because he couldn't get any food."
20
"In certain isolated lagoons there are many ducks. These ducks are
called the "lice" of a very large snake that lives there. If a pregnant
wornan bathes there, the ducks come singing with rage. The maloca
opens and the water rises and it rains and there is lightning. Many ducks
appear, and the huge snakes emerge to grab the woman. From the forest
other snakes come to attack her. She defends herself with invocations.
Then the ducks disappear, and a noise is heard from the bottom of the
water like the closing of a huge gate."
21
"Bisíu appears in the fields. He is like a man. He descends from the sky
and makes the whole atmosphere sound like wind and rain. There are
also sounds like strange music. When a woman sees him, she faints in
fear. Then Bisíu teaches her to plant pineapple, plantains, and manioc.
Then he disappears in ftames, burning up. The particles of the ashes are
like black beetles (ukasía). He comes at certain seasons. Bisíu teaches
by giving advice. The woman becomes a great producer. But when she
dies, she becomes a Bisíu." 21
22
"The eagle had stolen the finger of the coca plant and ate it until he was
gorged. He had to fty away then, and he carried off a louse. When they
got to the sky the louse fell off and fell on a large cloud. It is said that
the lice Jet down a huge stone that existed in the sky. No animal could
carry it, but the lice could. They moved it and rolled it and pushed it un-
til it fell on this world. The sky was populated then with animals. The
eagle helped the louse to go to the sky; this is why the eagle has now so
many lice."
21. Cf. Zerries, 1954, p. 51.

Myths · 267
23
"There is a certain snake that has a large scale in the shape of a gourd
cup. The exterior is like sandpaper. A Desana, taking vihó snuff, threw
himself into the river and found the scale. He was living on the head-
waters of a small stream. He kept the scale in his bag together with his
crystals and his vihó without giving it any importance. Then many snakes
of different kinds carne, snakes that he had never seen befare. Then he
spoke to another payé. This one told him that certainly he had some-
thing, something that belonged to a snake, and that he ought to get rid of
this thing. The man threw the scale into the river, but the water was very
shallow because the stream was small. At night the stream grew, and many
snakes carne, followed by fish. The place where he had thrown away the
scale became a lagoon; it became the best fishing ground."
24
"Megadiáme was an ant. He was a Desana and lived below Mitú. The
opossum/oá 22 lived on the opposite bank. Megadiáme was a very good-
looking man, very pure and courteous. At the same time he was very
amorous. He had an aptitude for attraction; he attracted just by the way
he was. His food was not contaminated, as meat and fish are, but was
ants, a very pure food. As to his habits, he rose very early. That sound
that he made in the water was very clear. Also his manner of making a
noise with his hand, of whistling with his hand. He was a man who had
ali the qualities that youth should have. At three in the morning he
played the drum, and the sound was very sonorous, very clear. His face
paintings were perfect, mixed with the grease of his skin, as a consequence
of eating chili. His body had the odor of herbs that induce respect and
!ove. He had a very clean landing place. The appearance of the landing
was attractive to young girls. But on these trips, when they passed by his
landing-Tukanos, Uananas, and Pira-Tapuyas-they ali passed by.
But the landing revealed the appearance of its owner. The maloca was
very well painted. He lived with his grandmother who was the representa-
tive of her tribe. The old woman told hirn how to do things best. He also
chewed coca. He was a great dancer, and he also sang well.
"He had a neighbor, a man who was called the opossum. But this
22. Although the informant calls it a "fox," the opossum is meant, and
this term has been substituted throughout the story.
268 · APPENDIX 1
opossum also wanted to fix his landing, but grass was coming up in it,
and it did not have a pleasing appearance. He did not follow the advice
and customs of his grandmother who lived with him in the maloca and
did not rise early; he was a lazy man and dozed off. When he wanted to
play the drum, the sound was hoarse and did not call one's attention. He
never had a covering of grease on his face, although he used a Iot of
chili. He also ate a kind of ant that is called oá-mega/opossum ant, that
has a fetid odor. His maloca did not have any attraction. There was a
lot of food but there were also lots of flies, so many that there was a
noise: mo-0-0-0-0. The girls who passed by his landing kept far away out
of disgust.
"Once, two girls passed by. They fell in love with the landing of the
ant. But their father did not Jet them go there because girls should not
look for men but man ought to look for girls. Then these two ran away
from their father. They stayed on the opposite bank from the landing
of Megadiáme. At this moment a duck went by, ~raveling. He was also
going to Megadiáme. He said, 'No, I am not going to carry these old ugly
girls on my back because they will contaminate me with their feminine
odor.' He went right on by. Afterward, the kingfisher went by. They
called to him and begged him; because he, too, was going to the maloca
of Megadiáme. But he did not want to carry them either. He said: 'I
don't want to harm you because I have a very long beak.' He went by.
The hummingbird also passed by; he hummed and stopped in the air
when he heard the voices of the girls. Then he said: 'I am not going to
carry them either because they will cause me to be blind. I have a very
keen eyesight.' And he passed on. Then a friend of Megadiáme passed
by, a small duck/diákoma. This one, on the request of the girls, at first
refused to carry them. But afterward, he offered them his neck so that
they could climb on. Thus he carried them to the landing. This is why
this Jittle duck has white spots on his neck; it is like a cloth, a scarf.
"The little duck went ahead and told his friend that he had visitors.
Megadiáme went down to the landing and brought the girls back to the
maloca. AH the others were there who had refused to bring the girls.
This day they celebrated a feast. During the feast this man had sexual
intercourse with the girls, alternating them; the older one went first and
the younger second. The grandmother took very good care of them and
gave them food. The maloca was very pretty and visitors carne often.
The opossum heard about all this. He also wanted to invite the girls
to his maloca but they refused him because of his disgusting appearance
and his odor. They did not like the food either because it smelled awful.
The opossum, as he was envious, got up early in the morning and played
his drum. But the sound was like the screeching of the name of the
Myths · 269
opossum: oáaa, and was out of tune. Megadiáme was asleep with the tw_o
girls, and one was in his left arm and the other in his right. But th1s
Megadiáme also had the appearance of a tinamou and sang like it; he
was very clean. Then he was singing, at the same time that he was play-
ing. But the girls heard the sound of the drum and did not like it. Thus
the first attempt of the opossum failed.
"In the second attempt he brought them ants, but they smelled bad,
and the girls did not want to receive them. At that time there existed
already the custom of leaving the food near the house. They went out
and saw the ants that were full of flies. The flies made a sound like
calling the opossum: oáaaaa. The girls threw the ants away. So this sec-
ond attempt failed.
"The third attempt was the theft of the drum. The opossum wanted to
change his drum for that of Megadiáme that had a very good sound. At
night he stole the drum and exchanged it for his. On the following
morning the opossum got up early and played; it gave a very good sound.
That morning Megadiáme wanted to play but knowing the trick of the
opossum he abstained. He fixed it the next day so that the drum of the
opossum sounded good. The drum of the opossum did not have a good
sound. Thus the third attempt failed.
"Afterward the conflicts arose; fights between the opossum and Mega-
diáme because the former pursued him on the trails because Megadiáme
had sorne very clean trails, and the opossum had very bad ones. As he
could not catch him in the forest, the opossum made use of the eagles
who were the representatives of the diseases. The opossum made a deal
with them. Megadiáme had sexual intercourse and sang at the request of
the girls. In spite of the danger, he sang. The eagles always pursue the
tinamou. Then the eagles carne down with their nets and tried to catch
him at the two doors of the maloca. During this attack Diroá-mahse
intervened, but the diseases penetrated invisibly and entered the cracks
of the houseposts. Instead of catching Megadiáme, the eagles did not
catch anything. But they fell into the nets of Diroá-mahse. The eagles
were very big. Their cheeks dripped with the color of coca. Diroá-mahse
killed them and threw them upon the Milky Way. Then we see that it
is the first time in history that the grandmother purified the maloca by
burning resin. Thus it ends."
Appendix 2
Lexico-Statistical Word Lists
(after M. Swadesh)
DESANA TU KA NO PIRA-TAPUYA UANANO
I ye' e ye' e ye' e ye' e

thou me' e me' e me' e me' e
this i'i ari aridó ariró
who noá noá noá noá

what dohpá deró dohsé dohsé
not beá ve' e raha raha
ali áripera nipetira ihipietyekina hipityekina
man y bahara pahará peyekina payu
one yuhúge nike ehkakiro kakira

two perá peara pe ada pearo
big vea ge pahige pahirikiro pahiriro
small amigega kageaka amerikiraga kaariraka
woman noméo numio numina numino

man eme ge eme emeno eme na
person mahse mahse mahseno mahsena
fish vai vai vai vai
bird mirimage mirike minikeh minikek
dog diaye diayi diera diera

loe se geibege · eiá keá keá
tree yuhkege yuhkee yuhkee yuhkee
seed ahteri oh tesé ahtée ohtáa
leaf puuri puri puuri puúri
root nuhgú nahkó nehkó nehkó

bark gahsiro kahséro kaseró kahseró
270
Lexico-Statistical Word Lists · 271
DESANA TU KA NO PIRA-TAPUYA ÜANANO
skin gahsíro kahséro kaseró kahseró

flesh díro di'iró diíro diíro
blood dií dií dií dií
bone goá o'á koá koá

grea se eye ühse ehsé ehsé
egg diú deé dee deé
horn sáro saáro saáro sáaro
tail poréru pihkóro pihkóro pihkoro
feather poári póari poári poari

ha ir poári póari poári poari
head dihpúra dehpóa dahpúu dahpúu
ear gamiró eméperi kamoro mamono
eye kuirú kahperi kahperi ka peri
nose igíru ahkéa ekero ekero

mouth dihsiro ehséro dese ro dese ro
tooth geikeri ihpíkari ihpiri ihpiri
tongue néduu neéro neéno neéno
claw gahsíro kahséro kasero kasero
foot gubúro dehpóka dapuka dapuka

knee nyigágekuri dehpókakuri dapukakuri dapukakuri
hand mohotóo vamuka umuka umuka
belly paaru paára paaga paaga
neck venúgu veenehko vamúa vamúa
breasts ahpíri ohpéri ohpeni ohpeni

heart simpóra eheripora eheripora eheripora
liver nyemeturí nyemeturí nyemeturí nyemeturí
drink iriri sirisé siníye sinia
eat bári b<Uise iyaye iyáa
bite kuríri bakesé bakée bakáa

see inyari inyasé inyée inyáa
he ar peri teosé teóye teoa
know mahsiri mahsisé mahsiye mahsia
sleep karirí karisé kariye karia
272 · APPENDIX 2
DESANA TUKANO PIRA-TAPUYA UANANO
die sirirí verisé yariayé yaria

kill ve herí vehesé vehée vaháa
swim baári basé báye baáa
fty verí vesé veye ve ea
walk kuríri tirisé tiniye tinía
come aríri alisé atáye atáa

líe siage yohságe yohsarikiro yohsariro
sit doage duhige duhirikiro duhíriro
stand nigige nuhkuge duhkuriro duhkuriro
give óri o'osé oóye oóa
say aríri nisé niíya nia

sun abé muhípu ahse ah.re
moon nyamí-abé nyami-muhípu nyami-ahse nyami-ahse
star néka nyohkóa nyohkóa nyapikoa
water dehkó ohkó ohkó ohkó
rain dehkonyée ohkóro ohkoro ohkoro

stone ehtayé ehtáa ehtáa ehtagá
sand imípa nuhkúpoari padero padero
earth nihke dihtá dihtá dihtá
cloud imika emeó eméo eméo
smoke imika e meó eméo eméo

tire pe amé e pehkamée pehká pehká
ash nuhá nuhá nuhá nuhá
burn eheri ehsé ehenye eh ea
path maá maá maá maá
mountain ehtege ehtee kene kene

red di aro soaró soano soano
green yahsaro yahsaro yahsaro yahsaro
yellow diari diari diari di ano
white boréro buhtiró buhtíro buhtiro
black nyiró nyiró nyíno nyíno

night nyamí nyamí nyamí nyamí
hot ahsiró ahsiró ahsiró ahsíro
cold guhsaró nyuhsaró yuhsaró yuhsaro
full ohoteriro mumuró vahpára vahpáro
Lexico-Statistical Word Lisis · 273
DESANA TU KA NO PIRA-TAPUYA ÜANANO
new mamanyée mamaró vamanó vamáno

good váro anyoró kenóano nyóano
round beró betó betó betó
dry dehkó mariró ohkó mariró ohkó mariró ohkó mariró
na me vaí vame vamé vamá
Appendix 3
N ames of Animals
DE SANA LATIN
PRIMATES
Howler monkey urá A louatta seniculus
"Churruco" monkey gahkí Lagothrix lagotricha, ssp.
Nocturnal monkey ukuámee Aotus trivirgatus, ssp.
CARNIVORA
Jaguar ye' e Panthera onca
Ocelot ye'e-gá Felis parda/is
Coa ti mihpí Nasua nasua
ÜNGULATA
Tapir vehke Tapirus terrestris
Deer nyamá Mazama gouazoubira murelia
Peccary yehsé Tayassu tajacu; Tayassu pe-
cari
RODENTIA
Guinea pig bohsó Cavia aperea
Cu tia mihpínga Dasyprocta agouti, ssp.
Paca semé Cuniculus paca virgata
Ca pi vara diá-yoáme Hidrochoerus hydrochaeris
MARSUPALIA
Opossum oá Didelphys marsupialis virgi-
niana, ssp.
EDENTATA
Anteater bugú Mirmecophaga tridactyla
Sloth urábege Bradypus tridactylus
Armadillo pamó Dasypus novemcinctus
274
Names of Animals · 275
0ESANA LATIN
SCIUROMORPHA
Squirrel mihsóka Sciurus sp.
CETACEA
Dolphin pira-yauára lnia geofjrensis
AVES
Curassow koramahánge Pipile p. cajubí
Tinamou angá Crypturellus
Gull ( "tijereto") pingusée Colymbus ludovicianus (?)
Eagle ( "churruquera") gá'a Harpía harpia
Cock-of-the-rock goro-póra Rupicola rupicola
Buzzard ehta-teoro Hipomorphnus urubutinga,
ssp.
Trumpeter moá-borébu Psophia crepitans
Oropendola umú lcteridae
Cacique bird erimíri lcteridae
Hummingbird mimí Trochilidae
Woodpecker koré Picidae
Toucan nahsí R)famphastidae
Nightjar tu'ío Caprimulgidae
PISCES
Aracú boréka Leporinus copelandi Steind.
Piran ha unyú Serrasalmo
Catfish vaí-pe Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum
"Tucunaré" bu'ú Chichla ocellaris
"Mojarra" uarí Cichlidae
Electric eel sa'a Electrophorus e/ectricus
REPTILIA
Anaconda diá oléro Eunectes murinus gigas
Boa mahka-píru Constrictor constrictor con-
strictor
Fer-de-lance sunguséro Lachesis muta muta
"jacaré coróa" dia-ke Pa/eosuchus palpebrosus
"jacaré tinga" diaken-diage Caiman sclerops
"morrocoy" turtle peyú búru Geochelone denticulata
"charapa" turtle peyú diáge Phrynops geoflroana ssp.
"tatacoa" ehse Amphisbaena fuliginosa
Lizard V aí-mahse vaí-mahse ye'e Plica plica L.
Lizard kumú kumú ye'e Urocentron werneri
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lndex
abé goró (mythical place), 35, 74- Antcater, 1O1, 198

75, 79; see a/so Cemetery Ants, 26, 31. 53, 62, 73, 90, 99,
abé mangó. See Daughter of the Sun 115, 129, 146, 182, 183, 200
abé yéru (Penis of the Sun), 118, Aphrodisiacs, 99, 198, 206, 218
129,263 Aracú fish, JO, 30, 31, 73, 99, 154,
Abiyú River, 5, 6 164, 182, 189, 195-96, 205, 215,
Acculturation, 13-14, 248-49; see 147, 255; see a/so Daughter of
a/so Missionaries, Missions Aracú
Acoustical code, 52, 58-59, 96-97, Arawak (tribes. dialects), 4, 10, 15,
102, 11 Jff., 142, 170, 209, 210, 17, 24n., 131
233, 247, 251 Archeology, 33n., 48n., 83n., 111 n.,
Adolescence. See Puberty 121; see a/so Petroglyphs,
Adultery, 71n., 72, 235, 255, 261 Pictographs
A frica (place na me), 6 Armadillo, 13, 34, 62, 93, 101, 111.
Aggressiveness: in interpersonal 154, 200
relations, 149ff., 156ff. Arrow, 27, 90
ahpí. See Coca Art, 246-47; see a/so Dccorative
ahpikondiá (Paradise, River of designs
Milk), 25ff., 36, 42, 45, 46, 49, Artifacts, symbolism of, 11 Off.
54, 55, 57, 63, 64, 66, 75, 99, Arum, 12
107' 109, 11 o, 113' 118, 122, Ashes, 100, 143, 152
123, 135, 138, 150, 151, 173, Astrocaryum. See Cumare fibers
192-93, 246, 250, 251, 254, 263- Avocado pear, 13, 239
64 Axis mundi, concept of, 49, 94,
Alcohol. See Drinking patterns 106, 111, 113, 121, 152
Amulets, 220, 222 Ayarí River, 6
Anaconda, 57, 63, 72, 74, 102, 107,
109, 122, 132, 133, 147, 177, Banana, 11
182, 183, 208, 209, 215, 216, Ba11isteriopsis caapi. See Yajé
224, 229, 230, 233, 257n. Barasana ( phratry), 4, 5
Anatta ( Bixa orl'lfana), 226
Ancestors, 4, 165, 166; mythical, Barbasco (fish poison), 13, 88, 259;
10, 67, 75, 141, 148, 1891f. see a/so Fish poison
"Ancient eagles," 29, 32, 43, 75, Barbecue, 233-34
106-7, 173; see a/so Harpy Barkcloth, 27
Animals, characteristics of, 21 Off.; Basket, 27
see a/so Game animals Basketry, mythical origin of, 119
Annual cycle, 237ff. Bat, 30, 62, 89, 90, 10 l, 179
281
282 · INDEX
Bathing, ritual, 31, 35, 128, 141-42, Cassava, 12, 13, 14; see also
143, 144, 149, 176, 220, 221 Maní oc
Bee, 98, 99, 115, 195, 256 Castelivi, M., 9
Being of Day, 76; see also Caterpillars, 239
Emekóri-mahse Cecropia. See Guarumo tree
Being of Blood, 76, 108; see a/so Celestial bodies, 71 ff.; see a/so
Diroá-mahse Constellations, Moon, Stars, Sun
Being of Vihó. See Vihó-mahse Cemetery, 36, 52, 72, 75, 79, 102,
Bench, 36, 108, 110-11, 119, 122, 148, 184, 209, 214; see a/so
127, 136, 141, 200 Burial
Biocca, E., 9 Census data, 5, 6
Biotic equilibrium, 18, 67, 68, 96, Centipede, 31, 33, 99, 177
97, 147, 185, 219, 246 Chagra (field), 11, 12, 14
Biosphere, 42, 43, 47, 50, 55, 88, Chaos, mythícal, 57, 58, 71, 72, 86,
95, 96, 126, 132, 133, 203ff., 89, 91, 161, 255n.
214, 218, 232, 239, 251 Chicha (maize beer), 14, 23, 36,
Birds, 13, 32, 33, 34, 203ff. 76, 127, 139, 142, 143, 144, 148,
Birth control, 68, 219, 244; see also 160, 162, 167, 169, 174, 189,
Herbs, contraceptive 191, 198, 200, 240, 260
bisíu (spirit), 266 Chiefs, headmen, 4, 15
Bixa ore/lana. See Anatta Childbírth, 76, '139-40, 146, 147,
Blood, 24, 31,60,65,99, 101, 147, 176
227, 230, 233 Chili peppers, 12, 32, 119, 128,
Blowgun, 27, 36, 90 141, 186, 221, 223, 227
Boa. 102-3, 107, 108, 164, 216 Cigar, 118, 140, 143, 150, 152, 153,
Bodiger. Ute, 10 155, 181, 223; see a/so Cigar
bogá, 152, 219, 248; see also Energy holder, Tobacco
Bone. symbolism of, 49, 98 Cigar holder, 118, 122, 149, 152
boráro (spirit), 34, 58, 86ff., 117, Climate, 4
221, 223, 226, 23~ 250 Club, 117-18
boréka (aracúfish,sib), 10, 11, 14, Coatí, 101, 199
17, 30, 161, 164, 195-96, 257; Coca (Erithroxylon coca), 29, 46,
see a/so Daughter of Aracú 47, 64, 107, 123, 151; origin of,
Bow, 27, 90, 119, 226-27 37
Brazil, 3, 6, 9, 12, 207 Cock-of-the-rock, 81, 98, 173
Brüzzi da Silva, A., 9-10 Cockroach, 99, 218
buhpú-mahse, 258-59 Colonization, 6, 83
Bull-roarer, 59, 113, 116, 245 Color symbolism, 47ff., 122-23,
Burial, 15, 135, 138-39, 147; 144, 160, 161, 163, 172, 179,
burial rites, origin of, 36; urn 185, 187, 247
burial, 139 Communication, supernatural,
Butterfiy, 89, 218 150ff.; see a/so Intermediaries
Constellations, 73-74, 74n., 117,
Cachoeira Rapids, 3 199, 224, 238
Cachirí, 159, 255 Cooking, symbolism of, 109, 194,
Cacique bird, 197 233ff.
Calandra palmarum. See Mojojoi Cooking vessel, symbolism of, 62,
Cannibalism, 18, 260 85, 108, 146n.
Caquetá River, 4 Cotton, 13, 258; symbolism of, 48,
Caribs, 4 95, 134, 185, 195, 199
Carrion. See Decay Coudreau, H., 7
Index · 283
Couvade, 146-47 Decorative designs, 107, 110-11,

Crab, constellation of, 238, 26n., 114, 119-20, 137, 172, 228, 247;
103, 184-85, 216 see a/so Art
Creation Myth, 23ff., 73, 74, 143, Deer, 13, 32, 87, 100, 115, 179,
161, 203, 244 203ff.
Crystal, 48, 49-50, 78, 89, 267; Demography, 6, 14; see a/so Census
see a/so Quartz data
eubeo (tribe), 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 27, 114, Demons. See Spirits
131, 165, 223n. Dew, 72, 73, 179
Dietary restrictions, 61-62, 119,
Cucura Creek, 5
128, 143, 146, 147, 183, 186,
Cuduyarí River, 3, 7
220, 221, 237
Culture hero, 31 n., 35, 74, 166 Diroá-mahse (Being of Blood), 27,
Cumare fibers (Astrocaryum), 43, 28, 37, 43, 65, 76-77, 108, 109,
48, 51, 53, 98, 100, 117, 143, 110, 118, 122, 128, 130, 135,
176, 177, 181, 183, 256 140, 141, 161 ' 164, 173. 181 '
Cuna (tribe), 55n. 182, 250, 269
Curare poison, mythical origin of, Disease, 47, 53, 107, 108, 121;
37 categories of, 181 ff.; cure of, 16,
Curassow bird, 30, 102, 201 51, 65, 76, 85, 101, 102, 129,
Custard apple, 12, 13 154ff., 175ff., 197, 214, 250, 258;
Cuyucú Creek, 5 mythical-magical origin of, 29,
43, 45,46,49-50, 51, 65, 73, 75,
Dabucurí, 16, 159 79, 81, 98, 99, 134, 152; see a/so
Dances, 16, 114, 116, 11 7, 13 7, Splinters, pathogenic
143, 149, 153, 159ff., 247, 250; Dreams, interpretation of, 122,
mythical origin of, 36 133-34, 214n., 219-20, 225
Dark Region (mythical), 25, 28, Drinking patterns, l 62n.
46, 66, 254 Drum, 32, 89, 93, 113-14, 116, 247
Daughter of Aracú (boréka-man- Duck, 102, 180-81, 191
gó), 30, 31, 32, 37, 52, 73 •.
74, 99, 101, 102, 103, 161, 164, Earthworm, 103, 209, 217
173, 189, 215, 250 Earrings, 24, 35, 72, 253
Eclipse, lunar, 73; solar, 72
Daughter of the Sun (abé-mangó), Echo, concept of, 94, 127, 251
28, 29, 3ln., 35, 37, 57, 64, 71,
Ecological adaptation, 9, 14, 18
72, 73, 74ff., 79, 86, 98, 113,
Eel, 178
115, 121, 122, 137, 161, 169,
Emasculation, 261
173, 174, 205, 217-18, 223, 250,
Embryo, 51, 58, 61, 62, 101
254, 255, 256
Emekóri-mahse (Being of Day),
Daughter of Sweet Potato, 12 27, 28, 29, 37, 43, 76ff., 110, 117,
Daughter of the Water, 12 118, 128, 130, 135, 137, 141,
Dawn, magical importance of, 13 7, 154, 173, 226, 250, 258
141, 143, 190, 221, 255 Emetics, 35, 128, 142, 182, 140,
Death, 46, 53, 65, 88, 102, 147ff.; 220
mythical origin of, 35, 74-75, Endocannibalism, 138-39, 260
165-66 Energy, concept of cosmic, 42ff.,
Decay (rotten matter, carrion), 43, 54ff., 66, 94ff., 218ff., 231, 237,
45, 46, 53, 75, 100, 102, 107, 243ff., 247, 250; see also bogá,
123, 152, 176, 178, 182, 209, tulári
217 Exogamy, 10, 15, 17, 18, 29, 41,
284 · INDEX
59, 67, 90-91, 96, 102, 112, 118, Game animals, 13, 15, 66, 74, 8lff.,
143, 147, 164, 166, 167, 170, 130, 132, 176, 218ff.; fertility of,
206, 216, 235-36, 237, 243, 245, 15, 50, 51, 112, 132, 247
247, 251 Geertz, C., 93
Genealogies, recital of, 128, 141,
Family, 10, 140 143, 144, 149, 160, 189, 244,
Fauna, general characteristics, 13; 245, 250, 251
see also Animals, Game animals go'á mee ( divinity). See Bone
Feather crown, 16, 24, 72, 98, 116, Goldman, Irving, 7, 9
136, 143, 159, 162, 163, 177, Grater, 12, 13, 27, 217
199, 217 Great World Fire (myth), 34, 79,
Fecundity. See Fertility 100, 143, 214
Fence, symbolism of, 98, 107, 109, Guainía, Comisaría del, 4, 5, 6;
140, 141, 147, 150, 152, 153, river, 7
154, 161-62, 176, 177, 179, 183, Guama fruit, 13
222, 226, 240 Guarumo tree (Cecropia), 32, 114
Fertility, of nature, 27, 28, 42, 43, Guaviare River, 7
47, 48, 67, 73, 78, 82, 98ff., 120, Guinea pig, 13, 1 101, 165, 186, 254
122, 129, 141, 152, 161 Gull (tijereto bird), 33, 102
Fields. See Chagra
Figurines, 137, 139, 247 Hallucinations, 27, 45, 51, 64, 66,
Fire, mythical origin of, 35, 74; 77, 79, 82, 98, 107, 123, 126,
symbolism of, 53, 54, 100, 108, 127, 129-30, 132, 133, 151, 152,
109, 126; see also Hearth 155, 172ff., 190, 219, 245, 249,
Fire-drill, 35, 109 250, 251
Firewood, symbolism of, 100, 115 Hallucinogenic drugs, 16, 27, 43,
First Night (myth), 26 77, 82, 128, 129-30, 131, 133,
Fish, 30, 52, 103, 146, 178; 150-51, 152, 17lff., 184, 190,
mythical origin of, 25, 30, 33, 207, 245, 246, 249, 251;
206-8, 262-63 mythical origin of, 36, 37
Fishing, 11, 17, 18, 73, 228if., 238 Harpy, 98, 100, 101, 178; see also
Fish poison, 13, 198, 203ff., 229, Ancient eagles
238; see also Barbasco Hearth, symbolism of, 53, 54, 62,
Flood Myth, 34 108-9; see also Fire
Flutes, 112. 115, 120, 166, 167-68, Herbs, aromatic, 120, 134, 142,
169-70, 222 207, 220, 221; contraceptive,
Food, 13: categories of, 53, 62, 145; magical, 66, 73, 74, 80, 82,
230ff.; exchange, 16, 136-37, 85, 90, 98, l 19, 157, 221, 222,
159, 162, 171, 201, 236, 245; 224, 228; medica!, 31, 68, 98,
"hot" and "cold," 237; prepara- 182, 186
tion of, 12, 233ff.; production of, Hoe, 36, 87, 88, 117, 129
11 ; see a/so Dietary restrictions, Homosexuality, 19, 68, 244
Reciprocity Honey, 30, 34, 173, 239, 256;
Food plants, mythical origin of, symbolism of, 48, 60, 61, 62, 73,
11-13 99, 102, 146, 152, 194, 218
Frog, 239 Horticulture, 11, 17, 18
Fruits, 13, 35, 239 Horsefly, 34, 58-59, 60, 96, 97,
Fulop, M., 9 112, 115, 157
Household unit, 14, 104-5
gahpí ( Banisteriopsis caapi). See House. See Maloca
Yajé Houses of the Bilis; of the Waters
Jndex · 285
(mythical), 28, 30, 31, 62, 65- Kogi (tribe), 48n., 55n., 64n., 7ln.,
66, 76, 77, 8lff., 86, 99, 100, 75n., 126n.
121, 122, 130, 131, 132, 134, kumú, 16, 64, 103, 106, 108, J 16,
135, 173, 189, 206-7, 211, 223, 135ff., 148, 154, 161, 172, 173,
227, 257 184,240, 245,247, 249, 251
Hummingbird, 62, 64, 102, 115, Kuripáko (tribe), 4, 5, 131
130, 154, 173, 179, 192tf. Kurupíra. See boráro
Hunting, 13, 14, 74, 78, 80ff., 130, kusíro, 34, 58
218ff.; attitudes toward, 11, 17,
18, 67-68, 97; ritual of, 74, 85, Labor, division of, 11
120, 207, 220ff.; symbolism of, La Estrella (place na me), 5
55, 145 Landing, landing place, 11, 31, 32,
Hunting dogs, 224 84, 104, 109-10, 128, 134, 140,
141, 143, 144, 146, 153, 159,
Illness. See Disease 167, 168, 169, 170, 177, 180,
Jnambú River, 6 189, 257, 261
Incense, 150, 226, 269 Languages ( families, dialects), 4,
lncest, 20, 23, 24, 28-29, 35, 41, 9, 10
57, 60, 67, 68, 71, 72, 75, 98, Lévi-Strauss, C., 26n., 33n.
116, 166, 169, 170, 171, 230, Lice, 31, 80, 86, 88, 266
235-36, 245 Life cycle, rituals of, 15, 16, 136,
Infanticide, 235 l 39ff., 246
Inírida River, 6, 7 Lightning, 49, 52, 78, 93, 126, 129,
Initiation, ritual, 15, 14lff., 143-44 134, 138, 177, 227
Intermediaries, supernatural, 18, Lizard, 80, 81, 89, 103, 116, 134
27, 28,43,45,47,51, 52, 59, 64, Love magic, 221
76ff., 79, 98, 99, 130, 132, 135, Love talk, 74n., 78, 209
177, 223, 251
lnstitutions, mythical origins of, Macana palm, 128
29-30, 31, 35, 74-75 Macaw, 48, 98, 102, 165, 187, 199
Invocations, 26, 29, 31, 35, 36, 46, Macú-paraná River, 5, 6, 29, 205,
50, 76, 78n., 79, 82, 99, 102, 256, 257
107, 108, 109, 117, 128, 129, Madremonte, 80n.
137, 140, 141, 144, 148, 153tf., Makú (tri be). 4, 5, 6, 10, 18-20,
161-62, 164-65, 175ff., 197, 27, 119, 121, 131, 162, 189,
208, 216, 220, 222-23, 226, 21 ln., 260
228, 229, 240, 250 Maloca, 10, 14; construction of,
Jpanoré (place name), 27, 33 10-1 l. 16, 104ff.; myth regard-
1peka (tri be), 10 ing. 29, 30; symbolism of, 106ff.,
Isana River, 24n., 259 135-36, 140, 141, 149-50, 154,
159-60, 161-62, 232, 245, 251
Jaguar, 28, 52, 77-79, 86, 98, 100, Mankind, creation of, 55-56; see
106-7, 108, 129, 132, 133, 141, a/so Creation Myth
147, 150, 175, 176n., 180, 200, Manioc, 11, 12, 13, 14
211, 212, 220, 222-23, 226,250, Marriage, 15, 17, 144
251,262-63,265 Masks, 27, 165, 166, 167, 171, 247
Master of Fish, 30, 80, 215, 218,
ka'í (mind), 65, 94, 126, 184 228; see a/so Vaí-mahse
Karapana ( phratry), 4, 6, 17 Master of Game Animals, 15, 28,
Karihóna (tri be), 4, 11 55, 80ff.; see a/so Vaí-mahse
Koch-Grünberg, Theodor, 7, 9, 10 Matafrío. See Tipití
286 · INDEX
Meals. See Food, preparation of Night, mythical origin of, 26, 57

mii'ii (fruit), 13, 35, 167, 239 Night of the Ant (myth), 26
Menstrual blood, 73 Night People, 28, 46, 79
Menstruation, 28, 29, 34, 60, 62, nyamíri-porá (Sons of Night), 66
73, 80, 84, 101, 143, 147, 221 nyumú (fruit), 13, 35, 74, 90, 167,
Metallurgy, 24n. 239
mihí palm, 13, 32, 84, 167, 239
mihí-mahsii, 84, 106 Omens, 34, 35-36, 52-53, 73, 89,
Mihpínya River, 137 101, 102, 118, 165-66, 170, 177,
Milk, River of, 46, 64; see also 180, 210, 213,214, 224, 228
Ahpikondiá Opossum, 1Ol
Milky Way, 25, 28, 29, 35, 37, 42, Oropendola bird, 101, 154, 179,
45, 46, 47, 50, 51, 77, 100, 101, 186, 196-97
107, 113, 123, 130, 133, 152, Otore, Cerro de, 3
173, 176, 179, 190, 255, 269 Owl, 52, 53, 102, 209
Mimí-porá (Sons of the Humming-
bird), 10 Paca (rodent), 32, 101, 186, 200
Mimosacea, 63, 141, 196, 232, 239, Paca River, 5, 6, 9
259n. Pacu River, 6
Mingao, 12 Paint, body and ·facial, 80, 120,
Minnow, 103 136, 142, 143, 144, 163, 183,
Mirití Creek, 6 220, 221-22, 228, 229
Mirití-Tapuya (phratry), 4, 5, 17 Pamurí-gahsíru (Snake Canoe), 26
Mission centers, 6, 7, 9 55, 57, 82-83, 108, lll, 173,
Missionaries, 6, 7, 135, 166, 167 250; see a/so Fish, origin of;
Missions, activities of, 248 Snake Canoe
Mitú, 3, 5, 7, 165, 267 Pamurí-mahsii, 25ff., 30, 33, 36,
Mohán, 80n. 110, 215, 250, 255,265
Mojarra fish, 103 Panpipe, 111, 112, 142, 143, 162
Mojojoi (Calandra palmarum), 62, Papaya fruit, 12, 13
62n., 147, 218, 260 Papunaua River, 6
Monkey, 13, 101, 165, 186, 203ff. Papurí River, 3, 5, 6, 9, 17, 25n.,
Monsters, 33, 34, 58, 72, 86ff., 122; 33, 55n., 131, 134n., 257, 264
see also boráro, Spirits, uahtí Parakeets, 62, 187
Montfort (mission), 7, 264 Paradise. See Ahpikondiá
Montfortian Congregation, 7 Payé (shaman), 15, 16, 35, 36, 43,
Moon, 24, 45, 60, 71ff., 116 49,51, 52,53, 54, 64, 65, 66, 76,
Mother of Fish. See Vaí-bogó 77, 78, 82, 86, 93, 98, 100, 106,
Mourning, ritual, 147ff. 107, 108, 111, 113, 114, 117,
Murutinga Creek, 5 118, 122, 125ff., 140, 141, 143,
Mushroom, 261 144, 147, 148, 154, 172, 190,
Musical instruments, 16, 167-68; 194, 203, 207, 208, 219, 226,
symbolism of, 96-97, 11 lff., 120, 240, 245, 251; apprenticeship of,
247 263-64
Myths, 253ff.; see a/so Creation Peach palm, 13, 197
Myth Peccary, 13, 32, 82, 87-88, 200,
203ff.
Names, personal, 140, 141 "Penetrating glance," concept of, 71
Nest, symbolism of, 61, 62, 95, 126, 137-38, 183, 226
101-2, 179, 193-94, 196-97 Penis. See Phallic symbolism
New Tribes Mission, 7 Penis of the Sun. See abé yéru
Index · 287
People of the Wind, 10 52, 100, 118, 134, 155, 176, 177,
Petroglyphs, 29, 30, 32, 33, 36, 75, 181
83n., 121, 169, 189, 257 Querarí River, 3, 6
Pets, 186-87
Phallic symbolism, 30, 37, 46, 49, Rain, 78
51, 55, 58, 78, 82, 85, 88, 90, Rainbow, 79
98ff., 102, 103, 106, 109, 113, Rainfall, 4, 237-38
114, 115, 117, 118, 119, 120, Rape, 20, 34, 58, 72, 84, 89, 133,
122, 126, 129, 133, 134, 149-50, 147, 149, 196, 197, 244
152, 165, 172, 180, 182, 183, Rapids, 3, 10, 26, 28, 100, 137,
185, 190, 191, 192, 195, 197, 147, 257
198, 200, 201, 209, 214, 217, Rattle, gourd, 16, 36, 49, 114. 1 16,
219, 229,234,250, 251, 261-62, 119, 129, 185; seed, 114, 116,
266 143, 162, 163; stick, 16, l 16,
Phenotype, 1O 117, 121-22, 128, 129, 163. 173,
Phratries, 4, 5, 16, 17, 19, 75, 96, 245
133, 144, 159, 208, 236-37 Reciprocity, 18, 42, 68, 86, 96,
Pictographs, 82-83, 85n., 121, 247 136-37, 139-40, 144, 159. 167,
Pindahiba Creek, 6 200-1, 219, 232, 236, 243
Piptadenia, 16; see a/so vihó Reptiles, 203ff.
Piramirí (place name), 6, 7, 33, Reunions, 14, 16, 23, 76, 159ff.,
134n., 265 240, 244
Revenge, 130, 149, 150, 156-57,
Piranha fish, 189
177
Pira-paraná River, 5, 6 Right-left symbolism, 121, 129, 181
Pira-Tapuya (phratry), 4, 5, 9, 15, Río Negro, 3, 7, 207, 259
17, 25, 27, 96, 135, 167, 170, Ritual, 137; see a/so Disease, Payé,
208, 236, 254 Reunions
Placenta, 31, 46, 57, 62-63, 99, 103, Rodents, 13, 203ff.
107, 140, 151, 177-78, 215 Rodríguez, J., 5
Plantain, 11 Rodríguez Lamus, L. R., 9
Poira, 80n. Rubber: collectors, 6, 12, 13, 83,
po'ori (ritual), 240 89, 155, 248; tree, 13, 232, 258
Pottery, mythical origin of, 35
Pregnancy, 30, 31-32, 53, 62, 72, Saint Xavier, Order of, 7
80, 85, 119, 146, 147, 155, 176, Salesian Fathers, 9
177, 183, 195, 227, 229 Saliva, 48, 72, 73, 98, 179, 195
Prestige, 14, 52, 156, 228, 230 San José de Guaviare, 3
Preventive medicine, 186-87 Santa Cruz. See Uaracapurí
Protestantism, 7 Sao Gabricl-do-Cachoeira, 3
Puberty, 84, 111, 115, 142, 220 Scorpion, 31, 147, 177
Pupúnya fruit, 13 Seasons, 4, 11, 42, 74, 137, 237-40
Purity, ritual, 35, 82, 106-7, 141, siimé fruit, 35, 63, 74, 167, 196,
143, 148, 151, 152, 154, 190, 239
204, 205, 206, 214, 215, 220, Seminal symbolism, 43, 47, 49, 50,
221, 223, 228, 229 51, 52, 61, 63, 72, 75, 78n., 88,
95, 98, 103, 107, 110, 117, 118,
Quail, 170, 196, 224 120, 129, 133, 134, 141, 146,
Quartz cylinder, 16, 98, 118, 128, 151, 152, 176, 179, 180, 182,
129, 134, 136; symbolism of, 48, 183, 185, 194, 195, 196, 198-99,
288 · lNDEX
212, 222, 227, 232, 234, 244, Starch, 12, 48, 61, 152, 215
245, 258n. Stars, 42, 71, 73, 74; see a/so
Sex, physiology of, 46, 60ff., 95 Constellations
Sexual repression, 19, 50, 67-68, Status, 16, 17, 19, 114, 116, 118,
127, 128, 145, 185, 219, 220, 135, 194, 199, 251
221, 224, 225, 244 Sterility, 145, 229
Shield, 116-17, 163 Stick rattle, 36, 113; see also Rattle
Shaman. See Payé Stingray, 31, 103
Shamanism, mythical origin of, 36 Stomping tubes, 114, 137
Shrimp, 74 Stone ax, mythical origin of, 35, 74,
Sibs, 4, 5, 10, 14, 15, 16, 23, 105, 264
113, 140, 161, 189ff. Stradelli, E., 7
Sickness. See Disease Subservience, concept of, 18-20,
Siriano (phratry), 5, 17 86, 88, 189, 205, 211, 260
Sloth, 30, 101 Summer Institute of Linguistics, 7
Smoking. See Cigar, Cigar holder, Sun, 23, 24ff., 42, 45, 47, 59, 61,
Tobacco 7lff., 102, 108, 116, 121, 122,
Snake Canoe ( mythical), 26-27, 126, 128, 137, 141, 154, 161,
30, 32, 55, 57, 63, 107, 114, 137, 164, 173, 240
141, 146, 151, 161, 172, 174, Sun Father, 24ff., 32, 33, 36-37,
189, 203, 247 41ff., 47, 48, 57, 63, 64, 67, 68,
Snakes. 32, 147; mythical origin of, 71, 76, 86, 96, 98, 109, 110, 117,
25, 32-33, symbolism of, 102-3 126, 129, 135, 169, 176, 194,
Snail, 62, 179 195, 203, 204, 214, 220, 227,
Snuff, narcotic. See vihó 228, 245, 250, 251, 260, 261
Social cohesion, 16; see also Surplus, 13
Reciprocity, Reunions Sweet potato, 11, 46
Solar animals, 48, 50, 61 n., 78, 98, Symbol, definition of, 93ff.
101, 102, 103, 197
Solar energy, 48, 50; see a/so Tapioca, 12
Energy Tapir, 13, 101, 203, 254
Sons of the Hummingbird, 10, 192ff. Tariana (tribe), 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 15,
Sons of the Oropendola, 136 19
Songs, l 63ff. Temperature, 4
Soul, concept of, 25, 64-65, 79, 82, Teresita (place name), 5, 6, 7,
126-27, 130, 131, 135, 138, 147, 134n., 135
153, 176, 177, 181, 219, 225, Termites, 99, 182, 183, 255-56
227, 229 Thunder, 28, 52, 78, 100
Soul theft. 65, 197 Tí River, 6
Spells. See Invocations Timbó Creek, 5
Sperm. See Seminal symbolism Tinamou bird, 34, 48, 98, 102, 146,
Spider. 31, 62-63, 99, 147 187
Spider web, 63 Tipití, 12, 32
Spirits, forest, 18, 25, 52, 86ff., 101,
213, 221, 223; see a/so boráro, Tiquié River, 3, 5, 7, 25n.
uahtí toá fruit, 74, 167, 200, 239
Splinters, pathogenic, 16, 65, 80- Toad, 90
81, 114, 128, 129, 134, 176, Tobacco, 13, 16, 29, 32; ritual use
177, 181, 204n. of, 31, 34, 59, 79, 81, 100, 111,
Squirrel, 48, 84, 98, 101, 173, 179, 115, 118, 123, 128, 134, 140,
185, 197 143, 144, 148, 150, 152, 153,
Index · 289
154, 155, 156, 172, 181, 182, 133, 134, 135, 138, 139, 140,
220, 224, 225, 233 147, 154, 155, 157, 165, 173,
Toucan bird, 88, 234 174, 176, 177, 182-83, 184, 185,
Trade, 13, 14 187, 203ff., 219, 223ff., 233, 237,
Transformation, concept of, 62, 100, 240, 247, 250, 251, 257n., 265
151, 175, 194, 195, 208, 212n., Vaí-mangó (Daughter of Fish), 30
231 ff. Vaí-nomé (Fish Women), 30
Traps, 223 Vagina, symbolism of, 30, 31, 53,
Tree trunks, hollow, symbolism of, 62, 75, 79, 85, 90, 98, 101, 102,
62, 100, 102, 199 103, 113, 114, 1 J5, 165, 170,
Tri bes: distribution of, 3ff.; na mes 184, 191, 192, 194, 213, 217,
of, 5, 10, 19 265-66
Trickster, 101, 103, 250, 262-63 vahsú (fruit. tree), 13, 167, 196,
Trumpeter bird, 102, 146, 186-87 198, 232, 239. 258
Tukano (phratry), 4, 5, 6, 9, 17, vahsú1?ii, 13
19, 27, 135, 167, 171, 236 Vaupés, Comisaría del, 3ff.
tulári, 54ff., 219, 248; see a/so Vaupés River, 3, 4, 5, 6, 27, 33, 264
Energy vearí-mahsá ( "ransackers, kid-
Tunda, 80n. nappers ""). 34, 58, 72, 133
Turtle, 30, 62, 103, 155, 178, 254, Venus, 71
263, 264 víhó ( Piptadenia, Virola). 16, 27-
Tuyuka (phratry), 4, 6, 17, 25 28, 36, 43, 77, 82, 126, 128, 130,
Twins, 24, 71, 235, 259-60 152, 184. 190, 223, 251. 267
Víhó-mahsii, 27, 28, 29, 34. 35, 43,
Uacaricuara (place.name), 5, 6, 45, 51, 77, 79, 82, 117, 130,
264 134, 135, 157, 173, 176, 190,
uahtí, 12, 34, 58, 891f., 264 223, 226
Uanano (phratry), 4, 5, 6, 9, 12, Virarí River, 5
13, 17, 25, 96, 167, 171, 236 Virola. See vihó
Uaracapurí, 6 Vomiting, 45
Umbilical cord, symbolism of, 31,
51, 57, 63, 76, 99, 139, 140, 157 Wainambí ( rapids, petroglyphs),
Universe, structure of the, 24-25, 5, 28, 30, 32, 36, 60, 74, 169,
41, 55, 246 189, 247
Urine, 33, 35, 51, 52n., 85, 87, 88, Wallace, A. R., 7, 9
109, 130, 169, 189, 211, 261 Water, symbolism of. 100, 128-29,
Uterine symbolism, 46, 47, 49, 53, 180
54,61,62, 63, 65,75, 82, 83, 85,
Wcaver bird, 179, 180
95,99, 100, 101, 102, 113, 114,
117, 119, 120, 121, 133, 138, Winds, 25, 43, 50, 5 l, 64, 99, 130,
179, 190
140, 141, 151, 152, 155, 172,
174, 175, 179, 184, 192, 196, Wirá, 10
197, 199, 217, 232, 233, 244-45, Witchcraft, 28, 53, 153, 156ff.
246, 250, 254n. Womb. See Uterine symbolism
Woodpccker, 102, 116, 185, 265-66
Vaí-bo!fÓ (Mothcr of Fish), 28, W11á (Owncr of Thatch), 28,
228, 258, 259 256-57
Vai-mahse (Master of Game An-
imals), 15, 28, 29, 30, 36-37, 43, Yajé (Banisteriopsis caapi), 16, 29,
51, 80ff., 86, 87, 103, 109, 112, 107, 120, 128, 131, 133, 245,
J 16, 117, 122, 128, 131' 132, 247, 251, 255, 259; mythical
290 · lNDEX
origin of, 36-37, 150, 151, 152, Yí Creek, 6

l 72ff. Yuruparí Rapids, 5, 33, 259; ritual,
Yams, 11 112, 116, 166ff., 245, 247, 250
Yavareté (mission center), 3, 4, 6, Yurutí-Tapuya (phratry), 4, 5, 6,
9, 238 15

Anthropology
AMAZONIAN
COSMOS Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff
•
The Sexual and Religious Symbolism
of the Tukano lndians
P574 S7 <JS
In Amazonian Cosmos, a unique and fascinating contribution to South American

ethnography, Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff investigates the world view of an
isolated lndian tribe, the Desana, of the Northwest Amazon. The author worked
with a single informant over a prolonged period, and later checked his findings
extensively in the field. The acculturated native informant expressed his ideas
of Man and the Universe in terms that go beyond the narrow limits of a
specialized ethnological work and that revea! an interrelated system of signs and
symbols of much wider interest. By using mythology and native languages
as keys to an understanding of social behavior, the author has reached a level
of inquiry and a depth of perception rarely achieved in a study of primitive
rain forest lndians, those remnants of once powerful tribes that now are
rapidly disappearing.
Claude Levi-Strauss writes of Amazonian Cosmos: "1 have examined your
book with passionate interest and I am amazed at the riches of that universe
which you revea! to us in it. South American ethnography will never be the
same again, for you have brought it into a new era ... it is impossible to
express adequate appreciation for the brilliant demonstration you have given us of
hitherto unsuspected possibilities for investigation in depth."
Amazonian Cosmos is the author's own translation of Desana, published
in Spanish in 1969.
GERARDO REICHEL-DOLMATOFF is research fellow at the Universidad
de los Andes, and member of the Instituto Colombiano de Antropología in
Bogotá. He is the author of eight books, including "Colombia": Ancient Peoples
and Places and The People of A ritama, and has also published numerous
articles on Colombian ethnology and archaeology.
Paper ISBN: 0-226-70732-6
A Pboenix Book publisbed by tbe Unh·ersity of Chicago Press

ReichelD 1971 AmazonianCosmos Tukano

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AMAZONIAN

COSMOS Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff

The University of Chicago Press

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS, CHICAGO 60637

International Standard Book N umber: 0-226-70731-8 (clothbound)

PART l THE DESANA: TRIBE ANO LAND 3

PART II THE CREATION MYTH 21

PAR T 111 RELIGIOUS SYMBOLISM 39

1. The Creator and His Creation 41

4. Man and the Supernatural 125

Plates following page 168

The present volume is the result of an ethnographic study carried out

Faculty of Arts and Sciences; 1 also give my tbanks to Professor

Early in 1966 1 met casually a native Desana lndian of the Vaupés

the Summer Institute of Linguistics, trying to find a balance, a way of

whose aboriginal inhabitants are rapidly losing their cultural identity,

the problem from the point of view we have termed intelligence du

only depends upon available resources, upon the environmental po-

relationships on the level of ethnographic inquiry, the informant

course, much new information appeared that, at times, was not

distinguished in great detail when he recognized cultural differences.

union during which chicha beer is consumed; dabucurí, a cere-

The Desana: Tribe and Land

The Desana are a small subgroup of sorne thousand Tukano Indi-

Tukano Indians, except in the most general sense of a people shar-

TABLE 1 DESANA PO PULATION

Tukano Nahséa 1,250 upper Papurí

We shall now attempt to locate these groups as exactly as possi-

more to the lower Papurí River and in the villages of Teresita,

,. ¡ 1 '-N ~~ I ~ 1 (fl'rlPIACA . '-" ' ¡,.

12• 71• 10•

Sketch Map of the Vaupés Territory, Northwest Amazon

Marcos Fulop (1954; 1955; 1956) worked among the Tukano of

tbem witbin bis global concept of an "indigenous civilization of tbe

located in the front of the house, is oriented toward ihe landing

chagra and being completed at the other end over a six-month.

ascertain the relationship between this distribution and the eco-

groups. But these somewhat superficial similarities end there, and

sidered female elements. In other words, the Desana phratry has a

entary Tukano groups. Nevertheless, only the Desana, Tukano, and

quite high, as well as the incidence of sexual assaults, frequently of

The Creation Myth

THE CREATION MYTH

the "lower level" / dohkámaha turí. This world below is called

of people, whom the Sun sent to people the earth. Pamurí-mahse

at lpanoré, on the Vaupés River, they struck against a large rock

15. Colymbus sp.

17. Dermatobia hominis.

THE CREATOR ANO THE STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE

Ahpikondiá, the region of Paradise, not to remain there as a deus

. :-· :..·· .. ·.·-. •·. :...

The Structure of the Desana Cosmos

sociated with putrefaction and sickness. At times, these birds offer

plane in which only the western sector is distinguished as a sub-

sociated with certain colors that have symbolic value and, as we

THE CONCEPT OF ENERGY

the invocations do not make direct reference to the concepts of

they are introduced into the organism of a person, the destined

qualities that, by their special development, fall outside the or-

ftow of the liquid. 8 An example referring to contact and relation-

energy, and bogáis feminine energy. The two together-tulári bogá

THE CREA TION OF MANKIND

which means "to ferment-placenta." According to the description