INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTHERN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL — OBERG 



59 



in pairs, the two players moving side by side. 

 The flute has a deep resonant tone with a high 

 and a low note. 



The two players begin playing inside of a house, 

 come out, face one another moving back and 

 forth, swinging the flutes to right and left, then 

 side by side they move rapidly until they come 

 before the doorway of the next house, repeat the 

 swaying movements, enter, come out, and repeat 

 again before moving to the next house. They 

 move from house to house, going around the plaza 

 in a counterclockwise circle. The rhythm of the 

 dance is stamped out by the right foot. Begin- 

 ning usually at about 4 o'clock, the dance con- 

 tinues until dark. As they proceed two women 

 painted with urucu and with the uluri string 

 sticking out behind join them. Each follows the 

 man in front of her with one hand on the man's 

 shoulder. 



Besides the two sacred flutes, the jakui and the 

 kurutai, and the secular flute (urud) the Camayura 

 have the pan pipe, avirare. The five slender 

 bamboo tubes, graduated in length, are held in 

 the left hand without being bound together. 

 Almost every young man has a set of these pipes 

 which he plays whenever he is in the mood. 

 They appear to have no ritual significance and are 

 not played in any group performance. These 

 four flutes and the rattle appear to be the only 

 musical instruments of the Camayura. No drums 

 were observed. 



It must be mentioned that the public cere- 

 monies like the kwarup and the yawari, in which 

 the neighboring tribes participate, are not re- 

 stricted to dances alone. These public gatherings 

 afford opportunity for trading (moiterd) for wres- 

 tling contests and feasting. Wrestling (oyctuk) 

 is an important form of entertainment throughout 

 the Upper Xingu area. For weeks prior to the 

 public ceremonies young men train for the wres- 

 tling contest and each tribe selects a number of 

 champions, weight being taken into consideration. 

 Just before the contests the champion wrestlers 

 avoid sexual intercourse, live on a restricted diet, 

 and sleep in the woods. The wrestlers meet in 

 the center of the plaza, each man being painted 

 with urucu and wearing the usual arm and leg 

 bands. The two contestants face each other in a 

 crouching position and for a moment go around 

 in a circle facing each other and pawing the 



ground with one hand uttering huca, huca, huca, 

 in a loud challenging voice. They then face each 

 other on hands and knees, each trying to get 

 hold of his opponent. The favorite hold seems to 

 be to grasp the opponent by the wrist with one 

 hand and to get a head lock with the other arm. 

 In the tussle the contestants rise to their feet in 

 an effort to throw each other. If one contestant 

 breaks the other's hold they part and repeat the 

 performance until one is thrown on his back. 

 This ends the contest. Throughout the match 

 each side cheers its champion, and the winner is 

 cheered by all. Brazilians who have wrestled with 

 the Camayura say that they are very strong and 

 follow strict rules and never lose their tempers or 

 take unfair advantage of their opponents. Young 

 men gain prestige through wrestling just as older 

 men gain prestige through shamanism and the 

 performance of rituals. 



An integral part of every public ceremonial is 

 the feast. Large quantities of manioc flour is 

 prepared, packed in leaf -lined burden baskets, and 

 stored in an upright silolike structure on one side 

 of the village plaza. This structure may be as 

 high as 12 or 15 feet. Large quantities of fish are 

 broiled on long babracots and left on the babracots 

 to be shared later among the people. The prestige 

 of the village is enhanced when there is an over- 

 abundance of food. There is certainly an element 

 of conspicuous display and even waste in the way 

 that the food is handled. Although the visiting 

 tribesmen eat apart, the chief of the village dis- 

 tributes the food among them in a ceremonial 

 manner. All visitors leave with gifts of food. 



SHAMANISM 



The art of sorcery and healing, the Camayura 

 say, was taught to the ancestors by the bemtevi, 

 a yellow-breasted flycatcher. He taught them how 

 to grow tobacco and how to use it in shamanistic 

 performances. Other birds, such as the jacobemba 

 and the yapuri, are also shamans and, like the 

 bemtevi, are feared by the Camayura, for they are 

 believed to cause illness when angry. None of 

 these birds are killed by them. 



Illness, the Camayura believe, is caused by the 

 injection of foreign objects into the body by an 

 enemy, and the art of healing consists in removing 

 these objects known as moan, which may be small 



