THE TERENA AND THE CADUVEO OF SOUTHERN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL OBERG 



43 



bringing harm to the Indians. The shaman kept on singing. 

 He kept on singing for a long time until Vandnu's voice 

 became weaker and weaker and he stopped speaking alto- 

 gether. When the rain ceased the shaman stopped 

 singing. 



Another evil spirit who lives near water and 

 brings storms is Voi'Opi: 



Voropi is a water spirit. He lives in a tree near the 

 bank of a stream. He is a great serpent with a human 

 face. He does not like human smell and if some person 

 comes near his home lie becomes ver.v angry and sends 

 heavy rain, and lightning flashes from Ids sides. When 

 he is very angry he sends so much rain that people drown. 

 Voropi does not like human hair and that is why the 

 Indians in the Chaco pull out their eyebrows, their pubic 

 liair, and why men pull out the hairs on their chins. 

 Bathing in lakes and rivers makes Voropi angry. 



Hlhialunc is a female water spirit who lives 

 in the rivers of the Chaco : 



Hihiaiun^: is a large serpent. She hates menstruating 

 women and people who are mourning for the dead. A 

 menstruating woman must remain indoors and on no 

 account go to a lake or river to wash, for this would 

 anger Hihlaiunc who would send the winds saipoti and 

 saiponi which in turn would bring heavy rains and floods. 

 If a man should have contact with a menstruating woman, 

 he too must avoid water for fear that a flood would 

 destroy his house. To avoid sexual contact ment'truat- 

 ing women paint themselves black. 



The Terena believed, and still believe, that the 

 affairs of men are directly influenced by spirits, 

 not only by such as Voropi, Vanoiiu, and Hih't- 

 aiunc and the ghosts of the dead, but by the souls 

 of living men, animals, plants, and inanimate ob- 

 jects. Siclaiess, misfortune, and death are caused 

 by spirits and souls of the dead. On the other 

 hand, success in war, hunting, fishing, farming, 

 and love-making can be achieved through the as- 

 sistance of these spiritual entities. People fear 

 the ghosts of the dead, for they sometimes come 

 back to take a relative or friend to the land of 

 the dead. The ghosts of dead shamans are even 

 more powerful in their influence over human life. 

 The anger of Voropi, Vanonu, and Hihiaiune are 

 a threat to life and property. But in addition to 

 these dangers, the souls of people may leave their 

 living bodies or the souls of objects and animals 

 may cause these objects or animals to enter the 

 body, thus bringing about illness or death. 



SHAMANISM 



Terena shamanism rests on the belief that the 

 world of spirits, ghosts, and souls is open to human 



control. This control, however, cannot be exer- 

 cised by everyone. A long period of training and 

 the knowledge of secret rites is necessary before 

 a person can get into touch with the spirit world. 

 Although many Terena, in the past, practiced 

 sympathetic and contagious magic, it was, how- 

 ever, only the shamans who could operate through 

 the agency of spirits. A properly trained shaman, 

 koishihnuneti, would fall into a trance and his 

 soul would visit the ghosts of dead shamans, 

 Voropi and Vanonu, as well as be in contact with 

 the souls of the living. Every shaman had a spe- 

 cial spirit, usually the ghost of a dead shaman, 

 at his service. This ghost would tell the shaman 

 what he wanted to know and would also perform 

 tasks demanded by the shaman. These spirits 

 would appear to the shaman in the form of ani- 

 mals, snakes, or birds while the shaman was in 

 a trance. 



To call his special spirit helper a shaman painted 

 his body and face with red and black circles and 

 began to chant and dance. In one hand he held a 

 gourd rattle, itdaka, and in the other a bunch of 

 rhea feathers, kPpahe. The kPpahe looks like a 

 feather duster with the handle cut off very short. 

 When contact with the spirit is made the shaman 

 puts his question or makes his request. The rite 

 varies, of course, with the situation, a curing cere- 

 mony being different from one in which a lost 

 object is to be discovered. These performances 

 are customarily carried out at night. 



The principal function of the shaman is to cure 

 sickness. The Terena have two theories about 

 illness, one that foreign objects enter the body, and 

 second, that the soul of the sick person leaves the 

 body. Foreign objects may be forced to enter the 

 body either through witchcraft as practiced by 

 some living person or by an evil spirit or ghost. 

 Souls, too, are stolen by si^irits and can be re- 

 moved through witchcraft. The task of the sha- 

 man is to remove the injurious object or to return 

 the soul to the body. 



During a curing ceremony the patient would lie 

 on the floor of a hut and the shaman would dance 

 slowly around him chanting and shaking his gourd 

 rattle. When the shaman fell into a trance and 

 his spirit helper appeared, the spirit would ask, 

 "Why have you called me?" The shaman would 

 answer, "I have called you to tell me why this 

 person is ill and to tell me how I can cure him." 



