INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTHERN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL OBERG 



67 



contests a group of outstanding wrestlers are 

 selected who are to uphold the honor of the tribe 

 during the intertribal ceremonies. To be an inter- 

 tribal champion is the ambition of every young 

 man, and to have once been an intertribal cham- 

 pion is a mark of distinction that lasts throughout 

 a man's lifetime. Of importance, too, is the skill 

 which a man displays in throwing spears with the 

 spear thrower during the yawari or in dodging the 

 spears thrown by others. In gaining renown 

 through feats of strength and skill a man is careful 

 to observe the rules of continence, dietary regu- 

 lations, and to inure himself to pain by scarifica- 

 tion, all of which are believed to increase his 

 strength. 



A woman, too, gains respect by bringing up a 

 number of healthy children, by being industrious, 

 and by not having sexual relations with her 

 husband's brothers. Quarrels and disagreements 

 between husband and wife are usually blamed on 

 the wife. Young women paint themselves and 

 behave in a manner to be attractive to the men. 

 It was amusing to observe how a naked woman 

 after painting herself moved about with grace. 

 She would sit down slowly on one leg, moving the 

 other thigh over to cover her pubis, and place one 

 hand on the ground to support herself while the 

 other rested on her thigh; then she would 

 straighten her back and look over herself, just as 

 one of our women do after putting on a new dress. 

 She would then glance around to see if people were 

 looking at her, just as if to appraise their attitude 

 toward her. 



Every man as he grows older is expected to 

 become a paye, shaman. Although every young 

 man learns about the existence of the spirit world 

 during puberty seclusion, he is not expected to 

 have an experience in which he gets into contact 

 with the mama'e until he becomes seriously ill. 

 During his first illness his father or other older 

 man who has already had experiences initiates 

 him. They smoke together and when the father 

 has drawn out the object which caused the illness, 

 he can determine by this object just which mama'e 

 will become the younger man's protecting spirit. 

 They then continue smoking until the young man 

 is able to see the mama'e and to hear its song. The 

 smoking ceremony may have to be repeated many 

 times before the young man succeeds in seeing and 

 hearing his mama'e. Once he has had this experi- 



ence and can chant the song, he is considered a 

 shaman and thereafter can smoke in public. 



The earlier a man gets into contact with the 

 spirits, the better shaman he is expected to become. 

 Some young men are said to have seen the mama'e 

 without being ill or before they have smoked. 

 This experience usually takes place during burial, 

 and the young man sees and hears the spirits 

 around the corpse of the dead. Such a man is 

 highly respected and usually becomes an outstand- 

 ing shaman. On the other hand, some men reach 

 old age before they have this experience. The 

 general attitude appeared to be one of waiting. 

 When one began to have spells of illness, then one 

 would sooner or later have a shamanistic experience. 



A famous shaman is a man who gets into contact 

 with many spirits, is able to call them at will by 

 smoking, and can cure others with the help of his 

 spirits. Only men who have come into contact 

 with the mama'e that guard the important food 

 plants and fish can dance and sing the songs of 

 these mama'e during rituals. The perpetuation of 

 the tribe, the growth of food plants and fish, and 

 curing of the sick thus depend upon men who get 

 into contact with the mama'e and can solicit their 

 help in maintaining the life of the tribe. Great 

 shamans are the protectors of the tribe and are 

 accorded great respect. When asked about the 

 outstanding men in the tribe, the Camayura would 

 point to men who had been great wrestlers in their 

 youth, who had distinguished themselves in raids, 

 and who now had become great shamans and 

 ritual performers. These men always had a 

 greater number of mama'e than the others. 



BURIAL (OMONO) 



Although the Camayura recognize that men 

 may die at the hands of human enemies from other 

 tribes, and other accidents, as well as from the 

 effects of sorcery, they still believe that death is 

 always due to the anger of the mama'e who have 

 forsaken them or who have neglected to help them. 

 Death, mano, is thus a condition of evil from which 

 the immediate relatives must bo saved. 



After a maturo person has died, the body is 

 washed, and painted with urucii and gonipapo, the 

 ornaments are put on, and then the corpse is sewn 

 up in a hammock and buried in the plaza of the 

 village. The form of burial depends upon the 



