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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 15 



start they are left to grow without further weeding. 

 But the Camayura does not forget his field. He 

 watches it closely for signs of disease and blight. 

 If the field becomes "sick" he will practice garden 

 magic to cure it. Even during planting, offerings 

 are made to the spirits of the manioc plant. 



During the month of December when the garden 

 plants are in full growth, the Camayura leave the 

 village of Tuatuari and go to the old village of 

 Ipavu for the piqui harvest. Here they settle for 

 a month or two, repairing their houses, fishing in 

 the lake nearby, eating fresh piqui, and preparing 

 piqui pulp and oil for storage. At the end of the 

 piqui season they perform the piqui ceremony 

 after which they return to Tuatuari for the garden 

 harvest. 



Like the planting season, harvest time is not 

 an exact period but begins when some of the crops 

 are ready for use. Maize comes in early, followed 

 by sweetpotatoes. Manioc is ready for use after 

 7 months, but is left in the ground until needed. 

 Even during planting time in August people were 

 seen pulling up last year's manioc plants. As a 

 rule, new crops come in during March. In April 

 and May large quantities of manioc roots are 

 grated and pressed into balls ready to be ground 

 into meal. The rains end in April and, with the 

 coming of clear skies and with an abundance of 

 food, begin the ceremonial season, visiting, trad- 

 ing, and — until the coming of the Roncador- 

 Xingii Expedition — warfare. 



This, in brief, is the annual cycle of agricultural 

 activities. Although the dry and rainy seasons 

 are clearly marked, moisture conditions in the 

 low-lying lands are such as to permit planting 

 long before the rains come. The seasonal varia- 

 tions in temperature are small. These physical 

 conditions, therefore, do not demand exact timing 

 in the annual cycle of work, for planting can be 

 carried on for 3 months and harvesting even longer. 

 In fact, there is manioc in the ground ready for 

 use throughout the year just as there is a con- 

 tinual supply of fish in the river. Storage activi- 

 ties thus are of minor importance and food is 

 prepared in large quantities only for ceremonials 

 and long voyages. Let us now examine more 

 closely the even rhythm of agricultural activities 

 in order to see how, in detail, they clear the fields, 

 plant the crops, and harvest the produce. 



MANIOC (TEMITJ) 



A statement to the effect that manioc is the 

 principal food crop of the Camayura indicates only 

 in a minor way the role which this food plant plays 

 in the lives of the people. It is only after one has 

 observed the activities involved in its cultivation, 

 the methods of preparation for consumption, its 

 use as food, the ritual surrounding its cultivation, 

 and has heard the myth celebrating its origin, that 

 one begins to understand the Indian's attitude 

 toward manioc, to grasp its real value and mean- 

 ing as a culture trait. 



When a visitor comes to Tuatuari and after the 

 chief has shown him the place where he can pitch 

 his tent or hang his hammock, the chief's wife will 

 pay a formal visit, presenting him. with a thin 

 circular manioc cake called menyu. Later, other 

 important women of the village will approach, 

 giving the same present. In all their nakedness 

 the women will squat in front of the visitor as he 

 eats some of the menyu, eagerly watching for some 

 sign of appreciation in his face. At first the white 

 visitor does not realize that this is a ceremonial 

 act, that the people are offering him the very best 

 they have in the form of food, for this baked cake 

 is not the ordinary kind but is made from a mixture 

 of meal and the fine starch flour which is obtained 

 only after long, arduous labor. Once the white 

 visitor realizes the significance of this act he will 

 show his appreciation by eating the soft, sweet 

 cake, still warm from the baking plate. 



After several visits the white man will observe 

 that all important guests are offered this special 

 menyu and that considerable skill is required in 

 getting the right texture and in baking it so that 

 it is slightly browned on one side and left white 

 on the other. He will also hear native comments 

 about the women who are considered to be the 

 best bakers, that women take great pride in this 

 task, and that, usually, the chief's wife is accorded 

 the honor of being the most skillful baker in the 

 village. As he watches the women at work, he 

 will notice that it is manioc which they are peeling, 

 grating, pressing to remove the juice, rolling into 

 balls, drying, grinding in graters, sifting, and 

 baking into menyu, and that these tasks keep them 

 occupied most of the day. He will observe that 

 the central part of the house is always reserved 

 for this work or special sheds are attached to ac- 



