KARSTEN] BLOOD REVENGE, WAR, AND VICTORY FEASTS 39 



similar black stroke over his own mouth. The women simultaneously 

 dance around the two men, singing an incantation. The pot contain- 

 ing the genipa is now carried away and kept. 



The wKuea at last addresses the slayer with a sort of speech wherein 

 he points out that he himself has now fulfilled his mission to wash 

 off the blood from the slayer, but that the latter has now to prepare 

 himself for the celebration of the final great victory feast. He has 

 to breed swine and chickens to be slaughtered at the feast; he must 

 plant fields of manioc and plantain : he must in his life carefully ob- 

 serve certain rules of abstinence from eating certain kinds of food, etc. 



When darkness sets in, or about 6 o'clock in the evening, a general 

 dance commences, which takes place at all great feasts and is called 

 hantsemdta. This dance will be described later in connection with 

 the tsaritsa feast proper. The slayer himself takes part in the dance 

 with the trophy hanging on his back. It has to be continued during 

 the whole night until dawn. That night no one in the house is 

 allowed to sleep, and especially not the slayer himself. 



The aim of the feast oiumhuimaitinyu, as already mentioned, is 

 to purify the slayer from the blood which is attached to him after the 

 killing of the enemy, and to protect him against the spirit of the 

 latter, who is thirsting for revenge. In the blood the soul of the 

 enemy is particularly supposed to be present. Hoav this purification 

 can be brought about with the two strokes of blood applied to the 

 legs of the slayer is something the Jibaros can not explain more 

 closely. Nor can they explain why chicken's blood must necessarily 

 be used for this procedure, or why that blood must be kept in an 

 old, broken clay pot. " Our ancestors have since times immemorial 

 proceeded in this way," an old Jibaro, whom I asked about the cus- 

 tom, answered me, " and we have to keep up and follow their cus- 

 toms." That a magical poAver and supernaturally purifying effects 

 are ascribed to the chicken's blood is, however, clear. The same 

 purifjdng effects, in a magical or religious sense of the word, are 

 ascribed to the bath in the river and to the washing of the mouth 

 with (/uaiiusa, the object of the latter ceremony especially being to 

 favorably jorepare for the breaking of the fast. Again, the painting 

 with the genipa is a direct protection against the spirit of the enemy. 

 Body painting among the Indians nearly always serves magical 

 ends, being regarded as a protection against disease and witchcraft, 

 and this is especially the case with the black painting. According 

 to the ideas of the Jibaros and the Canelos Indians there is a demon 

 {woJcani^ sapai) in the black genipa paint, and when the Indian 

 paints his body or face black this is usually a sign that he either is 

 going to kill an enemy or already has killed one. As we shall see, 

 painting Avith genipa also takes place at the feast suamartinyu and 

 at the final areat victorv feast. 



