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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 15 



Around the waist both men and women wear 

 a buriti cord; if possible, this string is strung with 

 glass store beads. In addition, men sometimes sus- 

 pend a lenth of buriti fiber from the front of the belt. 



Men paint their faces with urucu, drawing a 

 band from each side of the forehead down to the 

 chin, another band across the eyes and bridge of 

 the nose, and then a band from under each eye 

 across the cheeks. On the body they draw two 

 stripes, starting from the abdomen up to the 

 nipples and then over to each shoulder. The 

 arms and legs are dotted with red or black spots. 

 The hair is seldom smeared with urucii. 



SOCIAL ORGANIZATION 



(See chart 13) 



The names of the Eastern Nambicuara bands 

 appear to be derived from characteristics peculiar 

 to the band territory. The Waklitisu are cayman 

 people for there are many caymans (waklisu) in 

 their territory. The Elotasu are open plains 

 people, for they live on the open plain (toku) of 

 the upper Camarare River. The Kitanhlu get 

 their name from a small fruit called tantu. The 

 Chiwaisu are bee people from the word waisu, bee. 

 The Hegndisu are buriti fruit (heeru) people. 

 Although these bands are not politically united 

 under a single chief, and sometimes even resort to 

 open conflict, they consider themselves a single 

 people, or as Julio phrased it, "We can speak with 

 one another and we came from the same hole in 

 the stone mountain." 



The origin myth of the Eastern Nambicuara, as 

 it is told among the Waklitisu band, can be sum- 

 marized as follows: 



Before the Nambicuara came there were only animals, 

 birds, plants, and beings who could change from animal 

 and bird to human form. At that time the Nambicuara 

 were inside a stone mountain called yahaindurukatsu, 

 which is situated north of the telegraph line near Campos 

 Novos (roughly in the center of the territory now occupied 

 by the Eastern Nambicuara). One day the monkeys 

 heard people speaking inside the mountain and went to 

 tell oklihditlisu who changed himself into a black and white 

 woodpecker and flew with all his strength against the 

 mountain. When the mountain broke some were killed 

 and some injured but many came out alive. The ghosts 

 of the dead people remained around the mountain where 

 they still are and where all Nambicuara go after they die. 

 The injured people oklihditlisu sent into the bush, but the 

 people who were sound of body he put into good clean 

 places and gave them the piuva bow and taught them how 



to grow manioc and sweetpotatoes. He also gave them 

 the flute (wdinrhu), and taught them how to sing and 

 dance. Oklihditlisu is thus the culture hero of the Nambi- 

 cuara. In human form he looks like a Nambicuara 

 Indian, wears ornaments in his ears, nose, and upper lip 

 and paints himself with urucii. Yet today people no 

 longer see oklihditlisu, for he has gone away. They do not 

 have rituals connected with him, nor do the shamans 

 solicit his aid. But the stone mountain from which the 

 Nambicuara came is still recognized as the place of the 

 dead. On ceremonial occasions the ghosts of the ancestors 

 come to the encampments and villages from the mountain, 

 returning after they have been given food. 



Although every band has a leader or chief it is 

 not quite certain whether these leaders get their 

 positions through succession or by personal 

 strength and prestige. Julio claimed that he is 

 headman because his father was a headman, but 

 the other members of the Waklitisu band claim 

 that the strongest man is always the leader by 

 common agreement. The Nambicuara appear to 

 value two qualities in a man — "a strong body" 

 and "a strong mouth." The chief is like a tapir 

 (alunsu) which is the strongest of the animals; 

 thus, a chief is called alunsdidnara. A shaman 

 gains power by talking or by having "a strong 

 mouth," as the Nambicuara say. The strongest 

 man is one who combines these qualities and is at 

 once a strong man and shaman- — he becomes an 

 important chief. 



The survival of the band, the Nambicuara 

 believe, depends upon the alunsdidnara. He is the 

 hunt leader, the head farmer, the one who organizes 

 trade between the bands, the ceremonial head, the 

 war leader, and the settler of disputes. Every 

 successful chief is supposed to have four wives but 

 otberwise has nothing to distinguish him from the 

 rest of the tribesmen. 



Relationships between the bands of the Eastern 

 Nambicuara are characterized by intermarriage, 

 trade, occasional joint ceremonies, and wife steal- 

 ing and consequent armed conflicts. Inter- 

 marriage occurs when cross cousins are not avail- 

 able for marriage w T ithin the band. The Chiwaisu 

 and Hegndisu obtain pots from tbe Western 

 Nambicuara in exchange for wax, feather orna- 

 ments, beads, and bows and arrows. These pots 

 they in turn exchange with the Eastern Nambicu- 

 ara bands for knives, axes, and tin cans. 



When one band wants to meet another in order 

 to exchange goods the approach is made in a very 

 formal manner. The approaching band stops 



