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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 9 



a specially adorned reed mat called pouhi heve 

 koyenoti (footrest for marriage). After getting 

 up from the hammock the boy and girl were con- 

 sidered a married couple. Feasting and dancing 

 then took place in accompaniment to the singing 

 and the playing of drums and flutes. This is a 

 description of the marriage ceremony as prac- 

 ticed by the unafi, or moiety chiefs, and their rela- 

 tives. 



In the case of a marriage involving the son of 

 a war chief the procedure was a bit difl'erent. The 

 war chief and his wife, preceded by three warriors 

 in full regalia consisting of rhea feather head- 

 dresses and skirts and armed with bows and ar- 

 rows, went to the house of the girl's father. Ar- 

 riving at the home of the future bride the war- 

 riors knelt before the girl's father and made a 

 request for his daughter in the name of the boy's 

 father. If the girl's father agreed the visitors 

 were requested to sit down, the two fathers sitting 

 on the same reed mat. In this position they dis- 

 cussed the wedding date and determined the time 

 when they would go out to gather honey for mak- 

 ing the beverage, fnopo. 



When the mopo was ready tlie ceremony took 

 place. The groom and his parents were led by 

 three warriors to the house of the bride's parents. 

 Upon entering the house the three warriors said, 

 "We have brought your son." The bride's father 

 then thanked the warriors and led the groom to 

 a hammock on which the bride was sitting. After 

 sitting together the pair were considered mar- 

 ried. The Terena say that in an older form of 

 marriage the bride and groom sat on the reed mat, 

 hituri, and held hands. The three warriors were 

 given mopo to drink until they were not able to 

 get up. Guests took part in dances and singing 

 and partook of the food and mopo that had been 

 prepared in large quantities beforehand. 



Today the young man makes his request directly 

 to the girl's father, and if the father agi'ees the 

 young couple are married as far as Terena cus- 

 tom is concerned. According to informants, the 

 majority of marriages are made in this manner. 

 If a young man and woman wish to marry accord- 

 ing to Brazilian hiw, they must register and then 

 be married in either a Catholic or Protestant 

 church. As the registration fee is 200 ci'uzeiros 

 the young people may have to be engaged for 

 some time until the groom accumulates the money. 



A church wedding is usually followed by a party 

 in which both rela ives and friends participate. 

 After being married the young couple go to live 

 with the bride's parents, although this rule is no 

 longer adhered to strictly. 



BURIAL 



\Ylien an adult person died, old people gathered 

 at the house of the dead. Young people were not 

 permitted to view or come near the corpse, as it 

 was believed this could bring death to the young. 

 Around the corpse the people placed all his belong- 

 ings, clothes, tools, weapons, and ornaments. If 

 anything were missing the ghost would return to 

 claim his property. 



After lamentations at the house, the corpse was 

 wrapped in his or her clothes and carried to the 

 cemetery some distance from the village ; the corpse 

 was i^laced in a grave on his back with the feet fac- 

 ing the west. This was done in order that the 

 ghost, when freed from the body, could go to the 

 Chaco. On the way to the graveyard a shaman 

 would walk in front of the procession and as he 

 reached the graveyard he would tell the other 

 ghosts about whom they were going to receive. 

 After the body was buried the shaman would be 

 the last to leave the cemetery, his duty being to 

 prevent the ghost from returning to the village. 



After returning to the village, the relatives often 

 burnt the house in which a deceased adult had 

 lived. Sometimes, however, they were satisfied by 

 changing the doorway of the house. The name of 

 the dead person could not be uttered for several 

 months. Members of the dead person's family 

 would change their names. All this was done in 

 order to confuse the ghost and to prevent it from 

 returning to the living relatives. It was believed 

 that if the ghost came back it would take a living 

 relative back to the land of the dead. 



The close female relatives of a dead man would 

 remove their clothing and cut their hair as a sign 

 of mourning. For a month after death they would 

 wail at sunrise and sunset, sitting naked in their 

 houses. The wife or mother of a dead man was 

 supposed to show even more explicit signs of 

 mourning. The widow, for instance, was not per- 

 mitted to work or to bathe for many days. In 

 addition, there were regulations which restricted 

 freedom of widows and widowers. A widower was 

 permitted to marry only a widow. If a man had 



