104 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 15 



baked manioc and other food which they have 

 been preparing. When the messenger leaves 

 with the food it is a sign that the men will return 

 to camp after sunset. 



Before the men arrive the women wash the girl 

 and paint her with a mixture which includes latex 

 from the rubber tree. A series of dots are painted 

 on her face, breasts, abdomen, and thighs (pi. 6, c 

 and d). When the men come in they dance in front 

 of the girl's hut. She then comes out and is given 

 a name and everyone tries to give her a necklace 

 or some other object. During the night men and 

 women join in the dance, holding hands and 

 dancing in a circle, the dance steps being stamped 

 out with the right foot in the direction in which 

 the circle is moving. A special puberty song is 

 also sung. 



The Nambicuara tell of a strange medicine 

 known only to the shamans which is given to girls 

 during the puberty ceremony. It is a blue liquid 

 which, when taken internally, stops menstrual 

 bleeding for the remainder of the girl's life. The 

 Waklitisu claim that they do not use it but that 

 the other Eastern Nambicuara band do. The 

 missionaries informed me that the Kitanrhu use 

 this medicine, and the missionaries seemed to 

 think that it was effective. 



MARRIAGE 



There is no special marriage ceremony, for 

 when young people go through the puberty rites 

 they are ready for marriage and a mate is selected 

 for them by their parents. The young man, who 

 is to become the husband of a girl just out of 

 seclusion, goes to her parents and helps his future 

 father-in-law build a small hut, and when it is 

 finished the young man tells the girl to come out 

 hunting with him. She takes a burden basket 

 and they go off into the woods. In the afternoon 

 the man builds a fire and tells the girl to prepare 

 some food and honey. After the food has been 

 eaten he tells the girl to come and lie beside him 

 near the fire. She is supposed to resist and he 

 takes a stick and threatens her. He then has 

 sexual intercourse with her, and when they come 

 back to camp that night they are accepted as a 

 married couple. When wives are acquired by 

 inheriting the widow of a brother or by abduction 

 from other bands, no ceremony is held. 



BURIAL 



When it is seen that a person is about to die 

 the women wail for a while and then they all 

 turn their backs to the dying person and begin 

 to divide up his belongings. The corpse is buried 

 in a grave dug in the village or camp site. The 

 men loosen the soil with sticks and scoop out 

 the soil with gourds until a roughly rectangular 

 grave about 5 feet deep is dug. The men who 

 lower the body into the grave take three balls 

 of soil from the bottom of the grave with which 

 they rub their legs and backs. A man's decora- 

 tions are placed in the grave with him. In the 

 case of a woman, two or three gourds are placed 

 at her feet. The grave is then covered. A man's 

 bow and arrows are broken and left on the grave. 

 The rest of his belongings are burnt nearby and 

 the people go on a hunt for a few days. A bit 

 of buriti fiber is left to mark the grave of a boy, 

 although nothing appears to be left over the 

 grave of a woman or a girl. 



The ghost remains around the grave for several 

 days and then goes to the sacred mountain where 

 all the ghosts live. In the land of the dead the 

 ghosts have fine necklaces, and nose feathers, and 

 are always painted with urucii. But they do not 

 wish to be forgotten and want the living to give 

 them food. The Nambicuara do not fear ghosts, 

 and like to have them participate in their 

 ceremonies. 



Two days before we left Utiarity, Marciano 

 died. He was one of our best informants, the 

 least morose and most helpful. A week earlier 

 he caught cold which turned into pneumonia. 

 It was pitiful to watch this naked man lying in 

 the dirt beside a fire slowly gasping out his life. 

 Once in a while he became conscious and tried 

 to sing, calling the spirits to help him. About 

 9:30 that night he died. As there is something 

 symbolic in his death and burial I would like to 

 end this account of the Nambicuara with an entry 

 from my diary dated July 30, 1949. 



This morning we all went to the burial, the Jesuit 

 priests, the Protestant missionaries, some of the Brazilians, 

 and Kaoro and I. We dug a grave at an old Nambicuara 

 camp site about a half a mile from Utiarity. As we 

 walked along the telegraph line bearing Marciano's body 

 the sabia were singing and the air was full of the sweet 

 odor of the timb6 vine. Wrapped in a ragged blanket 

 Marciano was lowered into his grave along with his 



