INDIAN TRIBES OF NORTHERN MATO GROSSO, BRAZIL OBERG 



77 



dance was given at night accompanied by flute 

 playing. 



When a woman came out of seclusion after the 

 birth of a child the women of the village danced 

 to the tunes of the taddnwa and nokigora flutes. 



ORIGIN MYTHS 



Although the Bacairi have many myths, only 

 two were obtained. One of these is the yamadilli, 

 or the origin of day: In the beginning it was so 

 dark and cold in the world that the people had 

 to cover their bodies with grease to keep warm. 

 The people wanted the sun to come out, so they 

 put on their ornaments and painted their bodies 

 and began to pray to orimoto, the great spirit who 

 lived in the north. The Bacairi believed that 

 orimoto was not an Indian but just a man who 

 lived in a stone house with some of the animals 

 which he had created. The people continued 

 praying to orimoto and when light finally came the 

 people were old and the children had grown up. 



Yawetihaduho, or "those who died in the fire," 

 is a story which tells about the origin of cultivated 

 plants and the yawaisdri, or corn dance: Once 

 long ago there were a number of boys who were in 

 puberty seclusion. At that time there were no 

 cultivated plants, the people living by hunting 

 and collecting wild plant foods. The boys were 

 kept in seclusion so long and had so little to eat 

 that they became very tired. One day when the 

 relatives of the boys went out to collect food the 

 boys all committed suicide. When the relatives 

 returned and found the boys dead they were sorry 

 and angry with themselves for neglecting them. 

 They built a large fire and after dancing around 

 the fire naked they jumped into the flames and 

 were burned to death. The leader of this act 

 was yawiti. Later the soul of yawiti returned 

 and spoke through one of the living Indians. He 

 explained to the Indians how to grow corn and 

 other food crops and how to perform the corn 

 dance. After that the corn dance (yawaisdri) has 

 always been performed. 



As the Bacairi formerly lived in association 

 with the other Upper Xingu tribes, it is perhaps 

 useful to compare their following origin myths as 

 gathered by Von den Steinen with those of the 

 Camayura. There appears to be a close resem- 

 blance between Kamuschini of the Bacairi and 



Mavutsine - of the Camayura. Both are original 

 personages. It is also interesting to note that 

 the Bacairi myth speaks of a time when there was 

 maize but no manioc. Camayura legends speak 

 of the origin of manioc only. All the tribes are 

 made from uba cane. The Camayura, as we 

 noted, were made by Mavutsine" from camiuva 

 wood. 



The Parents of Keri and Kame. The first part of this 

 legend takes place in heaven. At that time there was 

 almost everything that there is on earth today. They 

 tell nothing of their own creation, they narrate only how 

 it is that the heroes Keri and Kame obtain of other per- 

 sonages a part of the useful and important things. The 

 Bakairf always existed, even if "in the beginning there 

 were only a few." There were also other people that 

 were not Bakairf, chiefly the different jaguar tribes and 

 their relatives, who killed and ate many Bakairi. Kamu- 

 schini, with whom the story begins, also was "of another 

 people." 



Kamuschini went into the forest in search of tucum 

 palm leaves to make bowstrings, where he met the jaguar 

 Oka, whom he feared very much, and promised to get him 

 some women if he were spared. First he felled red wood 

 trees (sewUi), took the logs home, put them in a maize 

 mortar, blew on them, and went away for a little while. 

 But when he returned all the logs had turned into men 

 who were busy making arrows. He killed them and went 

 to fell five or six trees of another species which he handled 

 as he had the other ones. 



Returning, after a short absence, he saw that this time 

 the trees had turned into women. They all called him 

 "papa" and — with the exception of the last two, who, 

 remaining seated without moving, infuriated him and he 

 killed them immediately i3 — were busily grinding maize — ■ 

 "they say that at that time there was no manioc" — to 

 make beijiis and drinks. Kamuschini gave the two eldest 

 ones, Nimagakaniro and Ichoge, to the jaguar Oka, who 

 took them home. On the way, however, Ichoge, climbing 

 a burity palm for nuts, fell to the ground and died. 



Nimagakaniro swallowed two Bakairf finger bones, 

 which were spread around the house in great numbers as 

 Oka used them to make arrowheads with which he killed 

 many Bakairf, whose flesh he ate. It was due to these 

 bones, only these, not Oka, which made her pregnant. 

 Now, however, destiny threatened her in the person of 

 hei mother-in-law, Mero. Her husband is not known 

 and besides Oka she had two other jaguar sons, Kuara 



« I obtained the names of five women: Nimagakaniro, Atanumagale, 

 Ichoge, Koyaka, and Tawaguri. In my Bakalrl grammar, p. 22t>, I errone- 

 ously wrote that Kamuschini foiled five piqui trees and committed the 

 injustice of attributing to him a mistake. The name Ichoge contains ip6 

 piqui (Ltd - qc, with pique). Tawaguri also is the name of a tree, of which 

 the two lazy ones were made, in Portuguese it is culled "olho do Doi" (bull's 

 eye). Koyaka (koya-ke, with koya?) grew out of a tree with rough bark 

 and yellow fruit. About Atanumagale's tree origin Antonio could givo no 

 further information. Both she and Koyaka were also wives and mothers of 

 jaguars, although this information Is given as uncertain. Later on Atnnu- 

 rnagale is designated as the wifo of Kuara, Mero's son. 



