Introduction

This article presents a brief anthropological approach to the Kumuánica,² Bayaroánica,³ Yaiwánica⁴ cosmovivences of the originary peoples of the eastern Tukano linguistic family in the northwestern Amazon: Arapaso, Bará, Barasana, Desana, Karapanã, Kubeu, Makuna, Mirititapuia, Piratapauia, Siriano, Taiwano (Eduria), Tatuyo, Tariana, Tukano, Tuyuka and Wanana.

Each of these peoples has its own origin narrative. Quite simply, the Ʉtãpi- nopona-Tuyuka came from the same Ʉtãpino - Canoe Snake - and passed through the same houses of origin, known as Pamʉri wiseri and Tõkowiseri. The difference that exists, according to what I learned from my grandparents and specialists, is that we didn’t leave the Ipanoré Waterfall, on the Uaupés River, but we left the world of water at the Caju Waterfall - Sunapoea - also known as the Jurupari Waterfall, in Colombia. This is where the Tuyuka ceremonies began and continue to take place to this day. From there they went down the Uaupés River, entered the Papuri River and spread out along the headwaters of the Tiquié River; others stayed on the Colombian side. Today, the Tuyuka have spread to other cities, such as São Gabriel da Cachoeira, Santa Isabel do Rio Negro, Barcelos, Novo Airão, Manaus and even other Brazilian states.

Tõkowiseri⁵

The word tõko ⁶ literally refers to the sweet juice (buiuiu) extracted from a shrub called tõgʉ in the Tuyuka language. The word tõko is a qualifying and activating prefix of good, of what is good, sweet, tasty, uncontaminated. In Tukano the corresponding prefix is kãrako. In Tukano, kãra is a sweet fruit (buiuiu). This word assumes the same qualifying principle.

The kumua, bayaroa, yaiwa and other specialists use it continuously in ceremonies, mainly to transform matter into matter imbued with the forces of good. Let’s look at some examples: tõko kumurõ - sweet stool, stool of life, of good, of health, of joy, of knowledge, of enthusiasm etc.; tõko botari - (support maloca posts), for its good and safety, which guarantees security, inspires music, speech, guides the circularity of dance; tõko tiba - adornment box (dance costumes), box of ancestry, box that holds the music, holds the life of ancestry, the decorations, the music, melodies, rhythms; tõko yuiró - gourd holder of good, life, wisdom, ceremonies; tõko sopé - door for the entrance/exit of good, health, beauty; tõko wai - fish of life, which generates good health, good physical appearance. Therefore, you can use this qualifying prefix in powers of the good.

It is from this perspective that this article addresses the complex reality of tõkowiseri. The Kumua, Bayaroá, Yaiwa and other specialists use this concept to refer to the many meanings of ancestry (past history), its impact on present life and the guarantee of a better life in the future. In the period of ancestry, tõkowiseri are the places of origin that anthropologists in the upper Rio Negro-AM region have called houses of transformation. In the Tuyuka language they are called pamʉri wiseri. Each of these houses has a specific name: Diawi (water house), Senawi (pineapple house), Ikima wi (inajá stream) etc. Each house has a specific story, but they make up the broad trajectory of the Ʉtãpino-Water Snake’s journey. Each pamʉri wiseri (house of transformation) in the ceremony is called a tõkowiseri. This is said to indicate that in this house some knowledge and some practice that are very important for the life of the pamʉri basoka - people of transformation - originated. In the understanding of kumu, bayá and yaí, these houses must be a source of life. Let’s look at the examples: tõko wi, yukʉrika basori wi: fruit offering house; tõko wi, wai basori wi: fish offering house; tõko wi, waikʉra basori wi: game meat offering house. The kumu, when performing the ceremony in a ceremonial house (maloca), establishes a connection with the houses of origin. The use of this prefix is very profound, because when a kumu performs a ceremony to protect a residence, school, hospital or community centre, they become tõkowiseri. By taking on this name, that house enters into a connection with other tõkowiseri on the underground, water, earth, forest, wind and constellation levels. The inhabitants of these levels connect with the inhabitants of this level: humans and other people (of the forest, the waters, the mountains etc.).

According to Ʉremiri, my interlocutor, every ritual ceremony that takes place inside the basawi connects with all the basawiseri of the world on this horizontal level and with the basawiseri of the levels (above and underground) on the vertical level. The performance of the Yukʉrika basore ritual ceremony is a fantastic moment of interconnection with the kumua and bayaroa of other basawiseri on other levels of the cosmos.

The kumua insert and activate these powers in matter (tobacco, ipadu, ayahuasca, caxiri, pitch, snuff, instrument sounds) by blowing on the ceremonial matter. The Kumu use the prefix tõko, which should be understood as the principle of activating good effects. These powers are accessed by humans through the taste (bitter, sweet and naughty) of the caxiri and ayahuasca drink, the smell of tobacco smoke and inhaling the smell of burning breu resin; through hearing the sounds of musical instruments; inhaling snuff, eating ipadu, licking pepper and salt after ceremonies. Barreto (2018, p.64) says:

The kumua are the specialists in the basesé, but other sages who acquire the knowledge can also perform the ceremonies, as can women and young people. It is not restricted to men, but it is more common for them to perform these ceremonies.

Kumua, bayaroá and yaiwa

The people qualified to activate tõko in materials are the Kumua. They use the kumuánica practice to transform the various tastes (bitter, sharp, sour, sweet) with the activating principle of tõko. In this way, those who access matter transformed by a shaman will become beings of good, tranquillity, taste, sweetness, appetite and friendliness:

The word ahpose used in the quote above explains one of the actions of the Bahsese, known as bahse ahpose¸ which explains that there is a ceremony in which the kumu and other specialists repair, correct and tranquilize beings disturbed by humans. Such actions are justified after a mistake has been made by disrespecting the places of origin (making noise etc.) or by not complying with the required dietary restrictions. They are performed in the same ceremony when it is clear that the expected result has not been achieved.

For the people of the Eastern Tukano linguistic family, these Houses/Wiseri are present throughout the journey of the Pamʉriyukʉsʉ (in Tukano), Pamʉriyokosoro (in Tuyuka), also known as the Canoe of Transformation or Snake-Canoe. According to the origin story, this long journey began in a place called Opekõtaro (in Tuyuka), Opekõditara (in Tukano), a lake located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, at the foot of Sugar Loaf Mountain. From there, the Snake-Canoe set off along the coast of Brazil, entered the Amazon River and then continued its journey along the Negro River, the Uaupés River and other rivers.

At Kumuánico and Bayaroánico levels, this history is present in the memory of the specialists and is narrated by them during the ceremonies. Houses/Wiseri are not simple places: they are tõkowiseri and as such have their owners, who take care of them. One might ask: who are these owners? The answer is simple and relevant: the owners of the tõkowiseri are fish, snakes, birds, monkeys, in short, animal species, plants, minerals, stones and earth of various kinds (yellow, brown, clay...), water of various colours.

From this perspective, Houses/Wiseri should not be understood like the structure of a Western model house. The Kumuánica understanding is that the floor of the house is the diversity of the land in that place, types of water, types of stones; the posts, rafters, vines and roof of the house are the diversity of trees, shrubs and herbs in that place. The owners of the houses are snakes, venomous animals, spiders, maniuara ants, insects, ants, a variety of birds and aquatic beings (small and large) that take care of the House. The length and breadth of the rivers all have their owners who inhabited them before the arrival of the indigenous and non-indigenous peoples in these territories.

The ceremonial action of caring for humans and other peoples and their territories is articulated between the kumua, bayaora and yaiwa. In the region of the upper Rio Negro (AM), we have more kumua and bayaroa figures. As such, the care of humans and other peoples is not as well supported as it was in ancient times.

Pamʉrimasa

The members of the Eastern Tukano family consider themselves to be pamʉrimasa,⁷ which in the Tuyuka language means people emerging from the waters. In the broadest sense it corresponds to the term human as it is understood in Portuguese. Pamʉrimasa⁸ are beings who were led by Ʉtãpino, which in the Tuyuka language means Stone Snake. Ʉtãpino is also known as Pino yokosoro (Canoe Snake).

The relationship between waimasa, yukʉmasa and bʉpoamasa is vertical and horizontal. The literal meanings in the Tukano language are: waimasa (wai: fish, masã: people): people-fish/fish-people; yukʉmasa (yukʉ: tree, masã: people): people-tree/tree-people; bʉpoamasa (bʉpoa: thunder, masã: people): people-thunder/thunder-people. In my ordering the waimasa are on the underground level, the yukʉmasa on the middle level and the bʉpoamasa on the top level. The understanding of this organizational format predates the scientific understanding of the round earth. Nowadays, the cosmos can be understood in a circular way and in continuous movement, which makes the interaction of knowledge from indigenous science and that derived from advances in scientific research feasible. Traditional indigenous understanding and Western scientific knowledge are not opposed, but complement each other.

According to the Tuyuka narratives, Ʉtãpino led the pamʉrimasa into the territories inhabited by the waimasa, yukʉmasa and bʉpoamasa, introducing them gradually, not all at once or forever. Through the ceremonies, the pamʉrimasa continue to show the waimasa, yukʉmasa and bʉpoamasa who they are, how and where they want to live in these alien territories. They want to be adopted as sons, daughters, nephews, nieces, grandsons, granddaughters, grandfathers and grandmothers of the waimasa, yukʉmasa and bʉpoamasa. Specialists are individuals who know the dynamics of the cosmos and the way of life of its inhabitants. They also know its power to care, and its power to destroy. The kumua, bayaroa and yaiwa themselves are neither superpowers nor possessors of superpowers. They run the risk of being affected by diseases that the kumua, bayaroa and yaiwa of other levels can cause them. They continually need to protect themselves. They are more exposed to acquiring diseases because they are ambassadors for other relatives and cosmic beings. These specialists take care of themselves by complying with dietary and sexual restrictions during certain periods after the ceremonies.

Ritual ceremonies

In Kumuánic and Bayaroánic ceremonies, experts often say that we are nikʉ paramerã (grandchildren of the same ancestral grandfather) and nikʉporã nisa mari (children of the same ancestral father). Through periodic ceremonies, the kumua accompany the members of their people through the various cycles of life, from conception, birth, feeding, first menstruation to departure from this level (death). The pamʉrimasa carry out the process of belonging to the lives of the waimasa, yukʉmasa and bʉpoamasa. In this way they feel that they belong to the territories of the waimasa, yukʉmasa and bʉpoamasa. Valencia (2010, p.30) refers to this reality in this way:

By practicing ancestral knowledge, they participate in their heritage. Based on this awareness, the pamʉrimasa follow rules to establish good coexistence. Before farming, fishing, hunting and gathering fruit, they ask the owners for permission and perform ceremonies, inviting them to take part in the festival. At the feast, the kumua specialists ask the owners of a certain place (where there are fruit trees, where there is game, lakes/rivers for fishing) for permission. In this way, the pamʉrimasa lead a lifestyle that demands respect for the land, forest, water etc. There is no uncontrolled and disrespectful exploitation of the regions where they live, because they know that there is a need for qualified dialogue so that everyone feels respected. If the pamʉrimasa don’t respect the different places, the waimasa, yukʉmasa and bʉpoamasa cause illnesses, diseases and disasters (major floods, droughts, landslides, overheating...). Rodríguez (2010, p.32), of the Makuna people, recalls:

During the ceremonies, the kumua and the bayaroa tell stories of people’s origins and their relationships with the beings in those places, as well as what they experienced in those spaces when they first came. From those stories and in those houses, the bayaroa sing and dance like the first cosmic beings (snakes, humans) sang and danced. In this way, these places become tõkowiseri - places, houses and cosmoses that contain in themselves the good flavours (tasty, appetizing, harmonized, tranquil, soothing, sweet), which produce well-being, good-behaviour, good-thinking and good-relationships with all cosmic beings.

The dance movement performed by the bayaroa follows the movement of a river. For members of the Eastern Tukano linguistic family, the river along which the Ʉtãpino moved is known as Opekõdia (River of Milk). The Pamʉrimasa drank water of various colours (transparent, reddish, dark, muddy, greenish) in the process of their transformation and growth. The Ʉtãpino’s journey is interspersed between its movement along the river and the various stops on the way to the land where the specific ceremony takes place.

In the history of the pamʉrimasa, these stops have become narrative traditions within the Basawi (ceremonial house). The dance movement expresses the movement of the Ʉtãpino carrying the pamʉrimasa. The bayaroa move around the dance floor singing and dancing: in this way they realize the movement of the Ʉtãpino upriver. The dancers move like a big snake, dancing on the left, passing the door of the setting sun and then dancing on the right to reach the door of the rising sun. The greater the number of male and female dancers, the more the snake-like movement increases. They go around three times and then stop. Stephen Hugh-Jones (2013, p.70) writes in his work:

The stopping time recalls Ʉtãpino’s stop during his journey bringing the pamʉrimasa. The stops are for the women and men to drink peyuru (caxiri) and kapi (ayahuasca) to the bayaroa. The kumua circulate mʉnoro (tobacco) and patuwa (ipadu gourd) to the bayaroa. They take the opportunity to rest and tell funny stories to get a good laugh. At some stops, they tell stories about some of the Houses of origin. They recount what happened in that House and what was said. These are specific moments for passing on ancestral knowledge. Each people has its own Basawi ceremonies. Luis Cayón (2013, p.33), one of the experts on the peoples of the northwest Amazon, says:

The Kumua, Bayaroa and Yaiwa of the northwest Amazon understand that the world is organized into three levels, as I mentioned above. According to this understanding, similar to what exists on this level, on the other levels there are various tõkowiseri with kumua, bayaroa and yaiwa specialists. They take care of the cosmos through their basese (“blessing”) ceremonies. The pamʉrimasa specialists believe that the specialists of all levels take care of the lives of their beings and their territories throughout the life cycles:

The kumua are agents who, being human (tuyuka, tukano...) through their epistemological status (thinking, reasoning...) move through all the levels (middle, subterranean, high...) to dialog, negotiate, convince, consult, create alliances, lend benefits to the kumua of these levels. In turn, they also want the human-beings to grant what the cosmic-beings want. It’s a relationship of exchanging benefits, of participating in struggles for and against other beings, in situations that are harmful to the lives of cosmic beings. From this perspective, cosmic beings, including human beings, are co-responsible for cosmic health and complicit in its destruction. In this movement of cosmic displacements, there are various images of movement: rolling, dressing, lowering, falling, flying, cooling, heating, transforming into a smell, an odour. These are language categories that express what is done on the metaphysical level by a kumu or other specialists who use basese.

The pamʉrimasa try to carry out their ceremonies each in their own place. The tõkowiseri (ceremonial houses, malocas) are connected to each other. It’s very important that those who own their tõkowiseri perform the ceremonies continuously. My Tuyuka relatives say that there are many Tõkowiseri on the three levels. On the level where we stand, some peoples no longer build Tõkowiseri. Some people have their tõkowiseri, but they don’t perform their ceremonies. When ceremonies are only held in some Tõkowiseri, the power to connect the elements that ensure the proper functioning of the cosmic and its inhabitants is lost. The number of kumua, bayaroa and yaiwa specialists has also decreased.

With the decrease in the number of tõkowiseri (ceremonial houses, “Malocas”) and kumua, bayaroa, yaiwa and other specialists from the middle tier (earth), the cosmos and the lives of all beings are left without the necessary care. The territories of all the levels are threatened and others are destroyed. Their existence is similar to the existence of satellites that send information to specialized centres at all times. With this analogy, I’m saying that the kumua, bayaroa and yaiwa of all the peoples were interconnected: people-humans, people-trees, people-constellations, people-troves, people-fish, people-water, people-birds etc. In Tuyuka understanding, everyone has their tõkowiseri, that is, their malocas where they perform ceremonies to take care of the cosmos. In my analogy, I mean that the tõkowiseri and their specialists are like satellites guided and/or teleguided by beings who capture images of cosmic vulnerabilities. The human specialists made these interconnections with other peoples. Through their keen senses, meditations and dreams, they received information about what was happening at each level. They were able to know who were the specialists promoting good ceremonies in favour of cosmic life, and who were the specialists threatening the well-being of the tõkowiseri of the levels and their inhabitants.

Cosmovision and cosmovivence

From this cosmovision and cosmovivence, the native peoples of the northwest Amazon understand the importance of interconnecting the ceremonies of the tõkowiseri by means of tõkodari¸ in other words, the threads of good energy that leave and arrive at the tõkowi- seri. Tõkodari are veins that facilitate the good circulation of blood at all levels and guarantee the well-being of the inhabitants of a tõkowi. For each tõkowi, tõkokumupirĩ (banks of life), tõkoyuiro (support of good), tõkomʉno (tobacco of life), tõkopatu (ipadu of life), tõkokapi (ayahuasca of life) must be offered. Cayón (2012, p.169) observes the following:

The Tuyuka epistemology under the responsibility of the specialists never stops deepening its knowledge, advancing and perfecting itself. They are aware of the durability of the tõkowiseri (“Malocas”) and, before the end of their lives, they are already preparing to renovate or build a new tõkowi. Nobre observes the following about the importance of indigenous knowledge:

Nowadays, among the pamʉrimasa the concern to keep a tõkowi standing has diminished. When ritual ceremonies don’t take place, it makes it difficult to pass on knowledge and more and more new generations are moving away from this knowledge.

“The fruit festival” is the title of my doctoral thesis in anthropology. In it, I organized the knowledge needed to hold a fruit festival, in every old tõkowi and in new spaces. Anyone who is a member of the Eastern Tukano linguistic family knows that they follow various events in the cosmos: the birth of a newborn child, naming and initiation into youth, a girl’s first menstruation; the cycles of fruit; the time when rivers flood, the time of drought, the beginning of summer, the time of caterpillars, hunting, fish spawning (piracema); the ceremony before starting the swidden in virgin forest and capoeiras; building and inaugurating a new maloca; preparing for the gathering and offering of fruit etc. These are times and spaces that emerge to have a party in which all cosmic beings participate. These times and spaces are important for the specialist agents of each Tõkowi to hold ceremonies to interconnect the Kumuánic, Bayaroánic and Yaiwánic cosmovivences. According to Cayón (2012, p.177),

When the sons and daughters of the pamʉrimasa are born, they are given names related to their places of origin, the names of fish, birds and fruit. Based on these names, the kumu activates the effects of tõko (good) to guarantee the pamʉrimasa’s health, wellbeing, good speech and good behavior: tõkowʉabe (beiju of life), tõkowai (fish of life) etc. When a member of the pamʉrimasa becomes ill, the kumu returns there to diagnose the cause and type of illness. The kumu selects a formula to cure the illness. Cosmic beings live in the midst of various dangers. The Ʉtãpino knew of the existence of waimasa, yukʉmasa and bʉpoamasa in the territories of the northwest Amazon. Entering the rivers that run through other people’s territories meant running the risk of being attacked and killed by the waimasa, yukʉmasa and bʉpoamasa. When you listen to the narratives about Ʉtãpino’s journey to emerge from the water at the Ipanoré Waterfall, at the Caju Waterfall for the Tuyuka and other places for other peoples, you realize that Ʉtãpino faced many cosmic beings (snakes, piranhas...) who wanted to exterminate him, but with his strategies he escaped and continued his journey up the rivers. When a person becomes ill, the kumu uses this analogy at the time of his ceremony, because human life is like the path of Ʉtãpino, there are many beings who want to attack and kill. That’s why the kumu or other specialists need to make a person capable of facing problems in order to achieve their goals.

The Ʉtãpino used his strategic intelligence to escape and divert through other river channels (paranás), holes and paths. He doesn’t face them head-on, but performs various ceremonies to calm the fury of the waimasa, yukʉmasa and bʉpoamasa. So he led the pamʉrimasa with care. Whenever he sensed that a certain region posed a risk to his life and that of his children, he would stop, go ashore and perform ceremonies to protect his journey, himself and his children. He would reassure the waimasa, yukʉmasa and bʉpo- amasa, talk to them and ask for permission to continue his journey.

They took care of the pamʉrimasa to prevent them from falling victim to disease and dying before they reached their place of origin. From the outset, the Ʉtãpino used ceremonial materials for their sustainability, self-protection and to tranquilize the wai- masa, yukʉmasa and bʉpoamasa: mʉno (tobacco), patu (ipadu), kapi (ayahuasca), upé (rosin/beeswax). Through the ceremonies, Ʉtãpino managed to establish understanding and respect between the pamʉrimasa, waimasa, yukʉmasa and bʉpoamasa. He convinced them of this, arguing that we are all brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, in-laws, sons-in-law, cousins and brothers-in-law. This kinship is not physical-material: it takes place on an epistemological, metaphysical, “spiritual”, immaterial level. Those who are indigenous will understand this cosmic kinship more easily, as many indigenous personal names are for birds, fish, fruit, colors etc. The mʉno (tobacco) smoked by all cosmic beings made them grandchildren of the same ancestral father. The same happened when they ate patu (ipadu) and drank kapi (ayahuasca). By inhaling the smell of rosin/beeswax smoke, all cosmic beings became members of the same cosmic family. Nowadays, the ceremonies have the same original meaning, and it is important that ceremonies are held in many tõkowiseri. It can’t be the ceremonies of one Tõkowi, but of many Tõkowiseri. Cayón (2012, p.170) also presents this understanding:

The ceremony performed in a people’s tõkowi is not only aimed at achieving their individual/localized good, but also at achieving the sustainability of the balance, harmony and tranquillity of the tõkowiseri and the cosmic inhabitants of the three levels. Tõkowiseri are the ceremonial centres par excellence of the kumua, bayaroa and yaiwa. Tõkowiseri have a meaning related to the “sacred places” that spread along the rivers where the Ʉtãpino followed, places that are significant to this day for those who know them. Those who know them best are the experts. That’s why their dialogues are well-founded. This is how they are able to argue adequately when petitioning the Waimasa and Yukʉmasa about the use of portions of their territories and patrimonies to make a swidden. They are not asking for an entire territory in order to deforest and disrespect it. The territories of the upper level, the land and the underground have their ancestry and their histories, in other words, they have their owners who look after them, look after the fruit trees, the existing fish, the diversity of birds. They can’t be thought of as spaces without owners, as spaces belonging to nobody: they have their original owners. Each type of water, lake, riverbend, riverbank, mountain range, mountain, beach, quarry, black earth forest, sandy earth forest, clay earth forest, with its variety of vegetation, has its owners. There are all kinds of birds, monkeys, bush pigs, macaws, toucans, parrots, turtles, agoutis, pacas, tapirs etc. They all walk in their territories, from time to time going to other territories to return at a time that is suitable for the sustainability of their lives. To master this knowledge, the kumua, bayaroa, yaiwa and other specialists know the flowering cycles of the trees, when the fruit grows and ripens. The life cycles of insects, ants, birds and other animals also depend on these cycles, as do fish and other aquatic beings. They also know the cycle of the constellations. This is not compartmentalized knowledge, there is an interconnection between various areas of knowledge. They learn this knowledge by observing the cycles of life, by participating in cosmic life itself, by celebrating, making narratives, performing ceremonies, meditating and exchanging knowledge between the different knowers.

With this in mind, the native peoples of the northwestern Amazon hold ceremonies to negotiate how the fields will be planted, asking permission from the forest because their sons and daughters (trees) will be cut down. In exchange, they will yield other granddaughters (manioc, yams...). They negotiate feasts to offer fruit, fish and game; they will sit down with the kumua, bayaroa and yaiwa to talk, negotiate and establish agreements for good coexistence.

The languages used in these moments are sensitive, tasty, audible languages: smelling the smoke of pitch/beeswax, smoking/feeling the taste of smoke, eating the sweetish/bitter taste of ipadu, drinking sweetened caxiri, drinking ayahuasca with a bitter/sharp taste, feeling the sting of snuff in the nose, blowing the dance instruments, dancing, running, sweating; hearing and seeing the dances of the bayaroa; listening to narratives of the origin stories of each people and hearing them interpreted for the demands of current times and spaces. Understanding a spoken language is not the only way to access indigenous knowledge, but also through attention to what is happening, to feel the atmosphere of laughter, to be funny, to be silent, to dance to the rhythms, to listen to the sounds of musical instruments, to sweat, to drink, to feel drunk, to smoke tobacco, to inhale snuff, to follow the established diets. In short, there are many different paths that lead an individual to access different types of knowledge.

During the feast, the waimasa, yukʉmasa and bʉpoamasa beings participate as special guests for the kumua of a tõkowi. Women’s specialties are important for a tõkowi party to take place. Women are specialists in preparing drinks, food, paintings, songs and dances at tõkowi ceremonies. Caring for the wholeness of cosmic life is based on cosmovivence, as it leads us to understand that not only those who consider themselves human inhabit and care for the cosmos. Earth-humans, water-humans, forest-humans, waterfall-humans, air-humans, bird-humans, fish-humans, snake-humans, lake-humans, sun-humans, moon-humans, star-humans, rain-humans, thunder-humans etc. also take care of the cosmos. They, more than the pamʉrimasa humans, know the cosmic dynamics.

Conclusion

In the context of major global changes, climate change, severe floods and droughts, extensive deforestation for monocultures, large plantations, heavy pesticide usage, mining and associated deforestation, large excavations and the pollution of water with mercury that kills fish and other animals, Amazonian peoples become victims of these climate changes that affect human traditions. Life cycles no longer follow the same pattern as they did in the past, they are disorganized: what used to be flood season is now drought season; the fish don’t know when to spawn nor the spawning season; the life of the fruit trees and the animals that feed on the fruit is out of control.

From the pamʉrimasa’s perspective, this destruction happens because of a lack of respect for the life of the territories and their inhabitants. The ceremonial practice of protection, appeasement and reassurance becomes fragile in the face of the use of supermodern machinery to destroy territories. Our kumuánica and bayaroánica formulas are unable to neutralize the destructive force of mercury, agrochemicals etc. Some Amazonian territories continue to exist because of the existence of the original peoples, who resist and fight so that ambitious men don’t wipe out what for them is like a house that they own.

It’s very worthwhile for native peoples to have other types of tõkowiseri. The traditional tõkowiseri (malocas) alone are not enough these days. Nor are the kumua, bayaroa and yaiwa, traditional specialists in ritual ceremonies, enough. Nowadays, indigenous peoples have to travel to the embassies of countries that want to defend the cultures of peoples all over the world, defend their territories and fight deforestation. New tõkowiseri are the new headquarters of indigenous organizations spread across the Amazon territories that connect with the headquarters of international indigenous parliaments. Indigenous peoples alone will not be able to defend their territories either. Today, defending the various territories scattered across the earth produces sustainability for global life. While traditionally the Pamʉrimasa peoples travelled on three levels, today they need to travel across six continents in order to gain local, regional, national and international strength. They need to connect and interconnect with institutions that defend the same interests as the small people, the forests and the rivers. When I say this, I’m not saying that traditional ceremonial practices should be left out: on the contrary, they should be the main forces for us indigenous people. The kumua, bayaroa and yaiwa are the guardians of the philosophies, anthropologies, theologies and spiritualities that ensured our emergence as pamʉrimasa. Ortiz (2010|, p.223-34), speaking of the importance of the Environmental Management Plan (PMA), says:

The research has also helped to revitalize the collective memory of the origin stories of the different human groups that inhabit this river, strengthening cultural identity by involving a process of reconstructing their own knowledge, which has been taking shape in the reactivation of traditional knowledge transmission circuits. In this way, mechanisms have been created for new generations to acquire the knowledge to live well and look after the land, providing social, spiritual and economic opportunities for young people in the area.

To help in the fight for our rights and those of humanity, we need specialists who can engage in equal dialog with other specialists. We need indigenous people who can articulate their ancestral knowledge, who know their originary cultures well and who, at the same time, are trained as lawyers, philosophers, anthropologists, archaeologists, ecologists, social scientists, specialists in international law, specialists in other languages.

References

Notes

Publication Dates

History