56 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 15 



RITUAL DANCES 



The beginning of the rainy season is signalized 

 by the sounds of numerous insects and the roll of 

 distant thunder to the northeast. Late in August 

 when we heard a certain large cicada in the 

 woods, the Camayura would say that the rain is 

 coming soon. These sounds are a signal not only 

 for planting but for a cycle of ritual dances, which 

 the Camayura call kwarup. 



In addition to being the general name for the 

 ritual period lasting several days, the kwarup is 

 A special dance in commemoration of the dead. 

 All those who have died during the year are rep- 

 resented by wooden posts cut from the camiuva 

 tree. These posts are about 3 feet long and 10 

 inches in diameter with vertical lines of triangles 

 painted on them in black and white. The posts 

 representing men have faces carved on them and 

 are decorated with cotton belts, feather head- 

 dresses, and designs painted with genipapo and 

 urucu. 



These posts, called kwarup, are prepared in the 

 woods and are brought into the village just before 

 dawn on the shoulders of the men. While the 

 posts are underway all the women and children 

 must remain hidden in the houses behind closed 

 doors, and visitors from neighboring villages must 

 remain outside the village. As the men enter the 

 village they walk slowly and stiffly singing a song 

 while the leader shakes the sacred rattle (yokakd) . 

 The posts are then set into the ground in a row 

 in the center of the plaza. 



A special messenger, called parid, then goes out 

 and brings in the visitors, leading them with a 

 burning brand. The women and children come 

 out of the houses and everyone gathers around the 

 posts and begins to sing. Customarily there are 

 four leading male singers. In the origin myth 

 these four singers were two cotias and two frogs. 

 This is also the occasion during which all the boys 

 and girls who have been in puberty seclusion come 

 out and dance around the posts, the girls with their 

 long hair pulled down over their faces. One of 

 these girls offers the village chief and the visiting 

 chiefs a little of last year's piqui from a gourd ves- 

 sel. Later these girls have their hair cut, put on 

 their uluri, and are considered mature marriage- 

 able women. In fact, as the marriages are already 

 arranged, the grooms cut their bride's hair and 



the brides tonsure their husbands. When the 

 kwarup is finished the posts are thrown into 

 the river. 



On analysis the kwarup appears to be something 

 more than just a dance for those who have died 

 during the year. In the 1947 kwarup the Villas 

 Boas stated that nine posts were brought into the 

 village although nine people had not died that 

 year. One day I drew a number of posts on a piece 

 of paper and asked one of the Camayura whom 

 they represented. Without hesitation he named 

 the first four as Kanaravari, Kanarati, Yanamd, 

 and Vanivani, in other words, the four original 

 ancestors. He then mentioned two names which 

 I took to be the names of important men who had 

 died in the past and three posts he called simply 

 kwarup. As the Camayura do not use the names 

 of people for some time after death I concluded 

 that these three represented members of the tribe 

 who had died during the year. Furthermore, the 

 posts are cut from the sacred camiuva tree from 

 which the ancestors were first made, a rattle is 

 used, and the song sung around the posts is the 

 same as that sung by Mavutsine when he created 

 the Camayura. These facts seem to indicate that 

 not only do the ancestors come back to join the 

 tribe for the kwarup and to receive the dead but 

 that the whole ritual strangely suggests a reenact- 

 ment of the creation myth. The word kwarup 

 itself has a resemblance to the stems of the two 

 words kuat (sun) and yerup (my ancestor) and 

 also to iru (husband) which with apitahok are 

 the terms used for marriage. The joining of the 

 young people in marriage in the presence of the 

 ancestors and the living appears to be a symbolic 

 act the purpose of which is to perpetuate and in- 

 crease the tribe. The Camayura say that if they 

 do not perform the kwarup the tribe would die 

 out. As their origin was due to a creative act of 

 Mavutsine, so their perpetuation depends upon 

 the annual reenactment of the myth in which a 

 tribal marriage ceremony is performed in the 

 presence of the ancestors. 



The tavurawd follows the kwarup. In this 

 dance a number of men dressed in buritl fiber 

 skirts, with feather headdresses and with leafy 

 boughs fastened to their arms and shoulders 

 dance around two men stationed in the center of 

 the plaza. One of these men is seated on a stool 

 beating the ground with a large gourd "which 



