The Celestial Umbilical Cord
Wild Palm Trees, Adult Male Bodies, and Sacred Wind Instruments among the Wakuénai of Venezuela
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v3i1.99Keywords:
anthropology of religion, ethnomusicology, mythology, ethnobotanyAbstract
This article focuses on the multiple uses and meanings of wild palm species as sources of musical wind instruments and edible fruits in sacred ceremonies and rituals of the Wakuénai (or Curripaco) living in the Venezuelan Amazon. In myth, the emergence of a macanilla (púpa) tree from the ashes of the primordial human being (Kuwái) became the source of sacred flutes and trumpets, and the sounds made by these wind instruments opened up the world for a second time. In ritual and ceremonial performances, the different instruments have animal namesakes and are also said to be different parts of the body of Kuwái. This article explores these intimate relations among wild palm species, adult male bodies, sacred wind instruments, and the primordial human being of myth. The article also draws on verbal and nonverbal imagery performed in sacred singing and chanting (malikái) in which wild palm species are associated with the celestial umbilical cord that nourishes humanity with the life-giving and world-creating powers of Kuwái and other powerful mythic beings.
References
Balick, M. n.d. ‘Powerful Plants, Green Treasure—The Useful Plants of the Amazon Valley’. Online: http://www.pbs.org/jurneyintoamazonia/plants.html (accessed September 2008).
Basso, E. 1985. A Musical View of the Universe: Kalapalo Myth and Ritual Performances (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press).
Beaudet, J.-M. 1997. Souffles d’Amazonie: les Orchestres ‘tule’ des Wayãpi (Collection de la Société Française d’Ethnomusicologie, 3 ; Nanterre: Société d’Ethnologie).
Brown, M.F. 1985. Tsewa’s Gift: Magic and Meaning in an Amazonian Society (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press).
Chaumeil, J.-P. 1993. ‘Des Esprits aux ancêtres. Procédés linguistiques, conceptions du langage et de la société chez les Yagua de l’Amazonie péruvienne’, L’Homme 126-128.2-4: 409-27.
Delbrück, M. 1986. Mind from Matter: An Essay in Evolutionary Epistemology (Palo Alto, CA: Blackwell Scientific Publications).
Gebhart-Sayer, A. 1985. ‘The Geometric Designs of the Shipibo-Conibo in Ritual Context’, Journal of Latin American Lore 11.2: 143-75.
Gregor, T., and D. Tuzin (eds.). 2000. Gender in Amazonia and Melanesia: An Exploration of the Comparative Method (Berkeley: University of California Press).
Hill, J.D. 1983. ‘Wakuenai Society: A Processual-Structural Analysis of Indigenous Cultural Life in the Upper Rio Negro Region of Venezuela’ (PhD diss.; Indiana University).
———. 1985. ‘Myth, Spirit-Naming, and the Art of Microtonal Rising: Childbirth Rituals of the Arawakan Wakuenai’, Latin American Music Review 6.1: 1-30.
———. 1993. Keepers of the Sacred Chants: The Poetics of Ritual Power in an Amazonian Society (Tucson: University of Arizona Press).
———. 2000. ‘Varieties of Fertility Cultism in Amazonia: A Closer Look at Gender Symbolism in Northwestern Amazonia’, in Gregor and Tuzin 2000: 45-68.
———. 2009. Made-from-Bone: Trickster Myths, Music, and History from the Amazon (Urbana: University of Illinois Press).
———. forthcoming. ‘Materializing the Occult: An Approach to Understanding the Nature of Materiality in Wakuénai Ontology’, in Santos-Granero forthcoming.
Hill, J.D., and J.-P. Chaumeil (eds.). forthcoming. Burst of Breath: New Research on Indigenous Ritual Flutes in Lowland South America (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press).
Hugh-Jones, S. 2000. ‘The Gender of Some Amazonian Gifts: An Experiment with an Experiment’, in Gregor and Tuzin 2000: 245-78.
Journet, N. 1981. ‘Los Curripaco, economía y sociedad’, Revista Colombiana de Antropología 23: 127-81.
———. 1986. ‘Chefs et ancêtres, recherche sur la sanction chez les Curripaco’, Droit et Culture 11: 163-67.
———. 1993. ‘Hommes et femmes dans la terminologie de parenté curripaco’, Amerindia, Revue d’Ethnolinguistique Amérindienne 18: 41-74.
———. 1995. La Paix des jardins, structures sociales des Indiens curripaco du haut Rio Negro (Paris: Institut d'ethnologie).
———. 2000. ‘Un genre métaphorique, les chants de séduction’, in A. Monod et P. Erikson (eds.), Les Rituels du dialogue (Nanterre: Société d'ethnologie): 139-64.
———. forthcoming. ‘Hearing Without Seeing: Sacred Flutes as the Medium for an Avowed Secret in Curripaco Masculine Ritual’, in Hill and Chaumeil forthcoming.
Levi-Strauss, C. 1969. The Raw and the Cooked (New York: Harper & Row).
Maia Figueiredo, P.R. 2007. ‘Santos e Jurupari: a matéria da relação no alto rio Negro. Etnografia da festa e do ritual com os Baré’ (PhD diss.; Museu Nacional, UFRJ).
Menezes Bastos, R. 1995. ‘Esboço de uma Teoria da Música: para além de uma Antropologia sem Música e de uma Musicologia sem Homem’, Annuário Antropológico 93: 9-73.
Rivière, P. 1969. ‘Myth and Material Culture: Some Symbolic Interrelations’, in R.F. Spencer (ed.), Forms of Symbolic Action (Seattle: University of Washington Press): 151-66.
Santos-Granero, F. 1998. ‘Writing History into the Landscape: Space, Myth, and Ritual in Contemporary Amazonia’, American Ethnologist 25.2: 128-48. doi:10.1525/ae.1998.25.2.128.
———. forthcoming. ‘Introduction: Amerindian Constructional Views of the World’, in Santos-Granero forthcoming.
Santos-Granero, F. (ed.). forthcoming. The Occult Life of Things (Tucson: University of Arizona Press).
Seeger, A. 1987. Why the Suyá Sing: A Musical Anthropology of an Amazonian People (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Viveiros de Castro, E. 1998. ‘Cosmological Deixis and Amerindian Perspectivism’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Society 4.3: 469-88. doi:10.2307/3034157.
Wright, R. 1981. ‘The History and Religion of the Baniwa Peoples of the Upper Rio Negro Valley’ (PhD diss.; Stanford University).
———. 1990. ‘Guerras e Alianças nas Histórias dos Baniwa do Alto Rio Negro’, Ciências Sociais Hoje 1990: 217-36.
———. 1992. ‘Guardians of the Cosmos: Baniwa Shamans and Prophets, Part I’, History of Religions 32: 32-58. doi:10.1086/463305.
———. 1993. ‘Pursuing the Spirit: Semantic Construction in Hohodeni Kalidzamai Chants for Initiation’, Amerindia 18: 1-40.
———. 1998. For Those Unborn (Austin: University of Texas Press).
Basso, E. 1985. A Musical View of the Universe: Kalapalo Myth and Ritual Performances (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press).
Beaudet, J.-M. 1997. Souffles d’Amazonie: les Orchestres ‘tule’ des Wayãpi (Collection de la Société Française d’Ethnomusicologie, 3 ; Nanterre: Société d’Ethnologie).
Brown, M.F. 1985. Tsewa’s Gift: Magic and Meaning in an Amazonian Society (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press).
Chaumeil, J.-P. 1993. ‘Des Esprits aux ancêtres. Procédés linguistiques, conceptions du langage et de la société chez les Yagua de l’Amazonie péruvienne’, L’Homme 126-128.2-4: 409-27.
Delbrück, M. 1986. Mind from Matter: An Essay in Evolutionary Epistemology (Palo Alto, CA: Blackwell Scientific Publications).
Gebhart-Sayer, A. 1985. ‘The Geometric Designs of the Shipibo-Conibo in Ritual Context’, Journal of Latin American Lore 11.2: 143-75.
Gregor, T., and D. Tuzin (eds.). 2000. Gender in Amazonia and Melanesia: An Exploration of the Comparative Method (Berkeley: University of California Press).
Hill, J.D. 1983. ‘Wakuenai Society: A Processual-Structural Analysis of Indigenous Cultural Life in the Upper Rio Negro Region of Venezuela’ (PhD diss.; Indiana University).
———. 1985. ‘Myth, Spirit-Naming, and the Art of Microtonal Rising: Childbirth Rituals of the Arawakan Wakuenai’, Latin American Music Review 6.1: 1-30.
———. 1993. Keepers of the Sacred Chants: The Poetics of Ritual Power in an Amazonian Society (Tucson: University of Arizona Press).
———. 2000. ‘Varieties of Fertility Cultism in Amazonia: A Closer Look at Gender Symbolism in Northwestern Amazonia’, in Gregor and Tuzin 2000: 45-68.
———. 2009. Made-from-Bone: Trickster Myths, Music, and History from the Amazon (Urbana: University of Illinois Press).
———. forthcoming. ‘Materializing the Occult: An Approach to Understanding the Nature of Materiality in Wakuénai Ontology’, in Santos-Granero forthcoming.
Hill, J.D., and J.-P. Chaumeil (eds.). forthcoming. Burst of Breath: New Research on Indigenous Ritual Flutes in Lowland South America (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press).
Hugh-Jones, S. 2000. ‘The Gender of Some Amazonian Gifts: An Experiment with an Experiment’, in Gregor and Tuzin 2000: 245-78.
Journet, N. 1981. ‘Los Curripaco, economía y sociedad’, Revista Colombiana de Antropología 23: 127-81.
———. 1986. ‘Chefs et ancêtres, recherche sur la sanction chez les Curripaco’, Droit et Culture 11: 163-67.
———. 1993. ‘Hommes et femmes dans la terminologie de parenté curripaco’, Amerindia, Revue d’Ethnolinguistique Amérindienne 18: 41-74.
———. 1995. La Paix des jardins, structures sociales des Indiens curripaco du haut Rio Negro (Paris: Institut d'ethnologie).
———. 2000. ‘Un genre métaphorique, les chants de séduction’, in A. Monod et P. Erikson (eds.), Les Rituels du dialogue (Nanterre: Société d'ethnologie): 139-64.
———. forthcoming. ‘Hearing Without Seeing: Sacred Flutes as the Medium for an Avowed Secret in Curripaco Masculine Ritual’, in Hill and Chaumeil forthcoming.
Levi-Strauss, C. 1969. The Raw and the Cooked (New York: Harper & Row).
Maia Figueiredo, P.R. 2007. ‘Santos e Jurupari: a matéria da relação no alto rio Negro. Etnografia da festa e do ritual com os Baré’ (PhD diss.; Museu Nacional, UFRJ).
Menezes Bastos, R. 1995. ‘Esboço de uma Teoria da Música: para além de uma Antropologia sem Música e de uma Musicologia sem Homem’, Annuário Antropológico 93: 9-73.
Rivière, P. 1969. ‘Myth and Material Culture: Some Symbolic Interrelations’, in R.F. Spencer (ed.), Forms of Symbolic Action (Seattle: University of Washington Press): 151-66.
Santos-Granero, F. 1998. ‘Writing History into the Landscape: Space, Myth, and Ritual in Contemporary Amazonia’, American Ethnologist 25.2: 128-48. doi:10.1525/ae.1998.25.2.128.
———. forthcoming. ‘Introduction: Amerindian Constructional Views of the World’, in Santos-Granero forthcoming.
Santos-Granero, F. (ed.). forthcoming. The Occult Life of Things (Tucson: University of Arizona Press).
Seeger, A. 1987. Why the Suyá Sing: A Musical Anthropology of an Amazonian People (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
Viveiros de Castro, E. 1998. ‘Cosmological Deixis and Amerindian Perspectivism’, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Society 4.3: 469-88. doi:10.2307/3034157.
Wright, R. 1981. ‘The History and Religion of the Baniwa Peoples of the Upper Rio Negro Valley’ (PhD diss.; Stanford University).
———. 1990. ‘Guerras e Alianças nas Histórias dos Baniwa do Alto Rio Negro’, Ciências Sociais Hoje 1990: 217-36.
———. 1992. ‘Guardians of the Cosmos: Baniwa Shamans and Prophets, Part I’, History of Religions 32: 32-58. doi:10.1086/463305.
———. 1993. ‘Pursuing the Spirit: Semantic Construction in Hohodeni Kalidzamai Chants for Initiation’, Amerindia 18: 1-40.
———. 1998. For Those Unborn (Austin: University of Texas Press).
Published
2009-07-20
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Hill, J. D. (2009). The Celestial Umbilical Cord: Wild Palm Trees, Adult Male Bodies, and Sacred Wind Instruments among the Wakuénai of Venezuela. Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, 3(1), 99-125. https://doi.org/10.1558/jsrnc.v3i1.99
