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



45 



of meat from his mouth, blow on it until it took 

 the form of a snake, later making it disappear 

 into his mouth; or he would take a small plant 

 from his mouth and by blowing on it make it 

 grow into a large flowering plant, later making it 

 diminish and disappear. 



This performance of miracles would continue 

 before the house of each shaman. Wlien this part 

 of the oheo'koti was completed the shamans with- 

 drew to appear again dressed in red mantles called 

 hardraviototi. Again they marched before each 

 house stopping at the houses of the shamans where 

 each shaman would give his colleagues the mead 

 which he had prepared. After all the mead had 

 been consumed the shamans retired and the 

 oheo'koti was finished for the season. 



Among the Terena, shamans had, in the past, a 

 position of extraordinary prestige. This high 

 status was due, no doubt, in part to their alleged 

 power to cure, to discover lost objects, to assist in 

 hunting, and to discover the location of enemy 

 war parties, and, in part, to their alleged power 

 to perform miracles. Besides participating inti- 

 mately in the fundamental activities of social life, 

 the shamans were the repositories and the trans- 

 mitters of tribal lore and of origin myths and were 

 the connecting link between the Terena and the 

 supernatural world in which everyone believed. 

 Above all, they were instrumental in bringing the 

 people together at the time of the annual 

 oheo^koti during which both the living and the 

 ghosts of the dead participated in observing the 

 power of the shamans to control the world. 



PRESENT-DAY RELIGION 



Although the Terena have been in contact with 

 a Christian community for over a century and 

 Protestant missionaries have been active in Ba- 

 nanal for about 35 years, shamanism is by no means 

 dead. At Bananal there are, today, six shamans — 

 four men and two women. The four men (Eperii, 

 Jose, Sabino, and Brigido) were consulted. Eperii 

 for instance, explained that he learned his shaman- 

 ism from his father who was also a shaman. He 

 said that although he does not have the power to 

 perform miracles, such as making a "bicho" (a 

 little animal) come out of his mouth, he has spirits 

 with whom he can get into contact. These spirits 

 are the ghosts of dead shamans. He calls the 

 sjDirits at night when he wants them to heli) him. 



He calls them by name, shaking his itdaka and 

 holding his ki'pahe. If people are present he 

 makes them close their eyes while he is calling the 

 spirits. ^''Giaki kapane neishu vomori''' (Come to 

 me, look at me), he says. This request, twice re- 

 peated, is enough to make the spirits come to him. 

 He then makes his wishes known to the spii'its. 

 When he is in contact with the spirits he claims 

 he is in a trance. During trances Eperii says he 

 sometimes visits the Chaco, the place where Voropi 

 lives. He says that shamans who get in contact 

 with Voropi are able to control rain. On commg 

 out of the trance he tells j)eople where he has been 

 and with whom he has spoken. 



When he is curing, the spirits tells him what to 

 do, how to suck the objects out of the patient's 

 body, or what I'oots and herbs to use. If a snake 

 has bitten a person, he sucks the wound. He says 

 that when a shaman learns how to cure certain 

 diseases, he does not always have to consult the 

 spirits. 



Another shaman, Sabino, is said to be able to 

 perform miracles just like the old Terena shamans. 

 People claim that they have seen Sabino make 

 "bichos" come out of his mouth. One of the fe- 

 male shamans is said to be visited by a jaguar 

 spirit. No one has seen the jaguar spirit but they 

 have heard it speaking with the shaman at night. 



In addition to the six shamans just mentioned, 

 there are two Indians, Feliciano and Japao, who 

 are said to cure people by blessing them in the 

 Christian fashion. They learned to ask help from 

 the saints when they worked on Brazilian 

 fazendas. These two men, although considered 

 shamans, use Christian saints instead of the 

 ghosts of shamans. 



It appears, therefore, that the Terena have 

 adopted Christian beliefs and fitted them into their 

 own pattern of religion. On the other hand, the 

 Brazilians use Terena shamans. Colonel Horta 

 Barbosa, who is in charge of the Indian reserva- 

 tions in this part of Brazil, stated that there are 

 still many active Terena shamans and that one of 

 the female shamans has many Brazilian clients. 

 These "customers" would come long distances to 

 consult her about sickness, lost objects, and mat- 

 ters concerning their personal life. The colonel 

 said that he has no objection to shamanism, but he 

 did object to the Brazilians bringing cane rum 

 to the reservations. 



