INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTHERN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL — OBERG 



61 



man. The imprisoned mama'e is placed next to 

 the body of the man. The shamans all smoke 

 and sing. The owner of the imprisoned mama'e 

 then sucks a part of the sick man's body to remove 

 the dangerous object. Next day the bundle is 

 thrown into the river to release the mama'e. 



One day Juriina described his sickness and a 

 cure in which a number of shamans participated. 



I went fishing one morning and while I was busy fishing 

 I suddenly felt a sting or bite in my side. When the sun 

 was in the middle of the sky I began to shiver and I sent 

 for Kantu, the Iwalapetf shaman. That night Kantu and 

 six other shamans went into the woods and brought back a 

 mama' 6. They smoked and sang and the Iwalapetf 

 shaman sucked out the moan [he later showed us the 

 object, a sliver of burnt wood about an inch in length]. 

 When I saw the moan I knew that it was the mama'i 

 called yarup which had caused it to enter my body and I 

 also knew that this mama'6 belonged to a Cuicuru. I paid 

 the Iwalapetf shaman a necklace for curing me. 



THE LIFE CYCLE 



BIRTH (IMEMURUAT) 



The Camayura' recognize that sexual intercourse 

 and the introduction of male semen into the womb 

 is necessary to bring about pregnancy (eherud). 

 The word for semen {irai) is the same word as son. 

 The word for womb is iraimd, which appears to 

 be made up of the stems irai, sperm or son, and ma, 

 place wbere anything dwells or grows; as for in- 

 stance the word for deer, capimd (capim, grass, 

 ma, lives or grows). The Camayura appear to 

 think of semen as the seed which when planted in 

 a woman grows into a child. A man is thus con- 

 sidered the effective cause of birth and the creator 

 of offspring. Men state that turtle eggs and piqui 

 fruit are conducive to increased sexual intercourse 

 and increase the chances of bringing about preg- 

 nancy. 



Pregnancy is regarded with great satisfaction 

 by both the husband and the wife and even more 

 by their respective relatives. As we have seen 

 in our discussion of the family, a marriage is not 

 fully consummated until a child is born to a young 

 couple. Although regarded with satisfaction, 

 pregnancy is also considered a period of danger, 

 for the fetus may be lost before maturity, the 

 child may be stillborn, or may be born a cripple, 

 or twins may be born. 



During pregnancy both husband and wife ob- 

 serve certain food taboos. They avoid eating 



large fish without scales and the flesh of turtles 

 and turtle eggs. This restricts their diet to 

 manioc products, small scaly fish, and piqui. 

 These three basic foods, as we have already seen, 

 are guarded by powerful mama'e that are believed 

 to influence their reproduction and growth. It 

 often happens that a young couple have to go 

 without piqui and eat scaly fish only when they 

 are caught. These food restrictions cause the 

 young couple to loose weight and to appear emaci- 

 ated and weak. 



Birth takes places in the house near the pro- 

 spective mother's fireplace. As do screens are 

 erected, the act of birth is open to the public and 

 anyone is at liberty to observe the act, including 

 children. The prospective mother sits on a stool 

 or a flat piece of wood and is assisted by an old 

 woman experienced in these matters. The mid- 

 wife squats behind the mother and presses her 

 abdomen to assist delivery. The midwife severs 

 the umbilical cord with her fingernail, ties it with 

 cotton twine, and rubs ashes over the wound. 

 The placenta is buried beneath the hammock of 

 the mother. The mother then lies down in her 

 hammock, and the child is wiped with buriti 

 fibers dipped in water and is placed in the ham- 

 mock with her. 



During this performance the father is present 

 and continues to remain in the house for a month 

 or until the wife has her first menses after birth. 

 During tbis period both continue to observe the 

 food taboos and the husband avoids economic 

 activities, the relatives supplying the needs of the 

 couple. 



After observing the birth of a boy, the writer 

 returned 6 hours later to find the father blowing 

 tobacco smoke over his son. The next morning 

 the child was completely covered with urucu 

 paint, with spots of jatobd resin over his chest 

 and abdomen, cotton strings tied above the biceps 

 and below the knees, and with a snail-shell neck- 

 lace much too large for the tiny neck. 



A few daj^s after its birth the father and mother 

 each give the child a name, each using the name 

 which he or she has given. These two names will 

 be used until a boy reaches the age of 7 or 8 when, 

 after his ears are pierced, he will be given a new 

 name by an older relative who performs the oar 

 piercing. At puberty a boy receives a permanent 

 name which has once belonged to an ancestor. 



