KAKSTEN] BLOOD REVENGE, WAR, AND VICTORY FEASTS 81 



pose of the whole slaughtering ceremony, the plentiful increase of 

 the swine for the future, be attained. When the flesh of the animals 

 killed is cooked early in the morning, at the first beginning of the 

 new day, this will have as its consequence that henceforward there 

 will be plenty of swine's flesh in the house of the slayer. The same 

 holds good of the chickens which are likewise slaughtered and 

 cooked during the first hours of the new day; but they naturally 

 are of less importance than the swine. 



As has been mentioned before, the swine to be slaughtered at a 

 feast have been procured long before, when the first preparations 

 for the feast began; and they are bred and fed with special care. 

 The victor himself has supervised the rearing of these animals, giv- 

 ing the attending women instructions which he himself has received 

 directly from the wakcmi^ the spirit of the killed enemy materialized 

 in the tsantsa, over whom he has acquired complete domination. 

 The number of the swine to be slaughtered at a feast is not exactly 

 fixed in the beginning. Generally a few more are procured and 

 bred than are supposed to be needed for the purpose. Moreover, for 

 the propagation of the race it is necessary that at least a couple 

 should be left alive. When the time for the great feast is approach- 

 ing, the victor himself decides which of the swine are to be slaugh- 

 tered and in what order it should be done. Even with regard to 

 these details he receives advice directly from the wakdni, when, with 

 the tsantsa hanging around his neck, he goes out into the swine 

 yard and "points out" the animals {kuchi aneikavia). These 

 swine having been slaughtered in due order and their flesh consumed 

 at the feast, the few remaining ones will increase in number all the 

 more. This is the main idea which the Jibaros connect with the 

 ceremonial slaughter of domestic animals at their feasts. 



For a feast at which I was present 11 or 12 swine had been bred, 

 of which 9 were slaughtered, 2 during the first day of the feast and 

 7 on the day of the proper ceremonial slaughter. 



According to the ritual, the slaughtering should be done by some 

 of the invited guests specially selected for this purpose. The host 

 or his household must not touch them on any account, for then the 

 object of the whole ceremony would be missed, inasmuch as the re- 

 maining swine would not increase. The slaughter takes place out- 

 side the house, but the animals are not all killed on the same spot, 

 but one here and another there, close to the different walls of the 

 house. In this way the impression is produced that the swine killed 

 and eaten at the feast are very numerous, and the effect of this will 

 be that they will really be numerous in future. 



The animals, according to an old Jibaro custom, are killed by 

 strangulation, without the effusion of blood. A rope twisted of 

 lianas is tied around the neck of the swine, and a strong stick is 



