Mysteries of the Jaguar Shamans of the Northwest Amazon

Chapter 8: The Struggle for Power and Knowledge among Men and Women

276 8 The Struggle for Power and Knowledge among Men and Women final episode Nhiãperikuli initiated his son with the flutes and told him to bathe in the river at dawn and cleanse his penis with a sudsmaking vine. Before the boy arose, Kuwai’s mother, Amaru, and the women secretly stole the flutes from Nhiãperikuli. As he tried to get them back, spirit darts shot from the mouths of the flutes, turning the men back. The women gained shamanic power over the flutes and used them as weapons. They escaped and took the flutes upriver to a fenced settlement on a hill called Motípana (headwaters of the Uaraná River,off the upper Aiary). There, their youngest sister had her first menstrual period, so the women began to chant over her food.Nhiãperikuli followed them and watched in anger; he was their enemy and would make war against them. He went downriver to Tunui to get poison arrows.He called his allies,the birds,to get ready for war. Nhiãperikuli and Kathiwa, the owner of the poisoned arrows, tried out the arrows. One pierced the earth, and the other shot like a lightning bolt to the “door of the sky,” zigzagging back to earth to kill. Satisfied, Nhiãperikuli brought all the animals back with him to Motípana. When they arrived, they hid inside Struggle for Power and Knowledge 277 a fish trap at the port and sang in chorus like frogs, warning the women of their presence. When the women finished their chanting and began distributing food, Nhiãperikuli and the animals charged into the settlement and grabbed the flutes. There was much pushing and shoving. One woman put a flute into her vagina,but Nhiãperikuli caught and killed her.Another tried to run away with a flute; Nhiãperikuli pursued her and took it back. Then he threw four women in the directions of the four skies,one after another,and the war ended.A long time later, Nhiãperikuli completed the adorning of the flutes and trumpets, attaching hair, feathers, and pelts to each one. They were made into complete “people,” living replicas of Kuwai’s body, which can be played by people today.“Now people can take these ...and play them, ”Nhiãperikuli said.He then looked for the Kuwai ancestors of each phratry,and after a long time,he took his place in the Other World with the spiritual governors of the universe. So ends the story of Kuwai. interpretation Nhiãperikuli was initiating his“son”(another“son, ”not Kuwai) who was approaching the end of a period of restriction and seclusion with the sacred instruments. This episode is thus about another important phase in the rites of initiation that requires more elaboration . Narrators could, however, leave out this entire episode if they wished and stop the narrative with the conflagration that “killed”Kuwai.The more complete versions,however,include this episode,which ostensibly has to do with the struggle between men and women for power over the reproduction of new generations. Episode 2 hinges on the relations among fathers, sons, elder “grandfathers,” and initiates. In this episode, the women’s initiation rite is established as well as the relations of knowledge and 278 Transmission of Shamanic Knowledge and Power power between men and women.Once those issues are settled,the final adornments of the real flutes and trumpets can take place. Then the instruments are transmitted to all future generations. Nhiãperikuli leaves This World (according to the Hohodene version ) and ascends to the spiritual governance among the eternal masters of the Other World. During the boys’ initiation, the sudswood padzuma and one other molipi are used at the end of seclusion periods as a cleanser and purifier for those who have undergone seclusion, leaving their bodies free from sicknesses that may have entered during seclusion. In the past, boys were expected to bathe at dawn or just before dawn every morning. They arose from their hammocks to plunge into the cold river to wash.If an initiate could find a colorless , transparent stone under the water, this meant that he would find a good wife. This practice is part of the behavior expected of initiates, to learn how to withstand the cold and to be alert and wakeful, not sleepy and lazy, in order to become strong, healthy husbands and fathers...