upon a war party was organized for the purpose of acquiring
a prisoner. The victim was shot with arrows and a portion
of the body was consumed by the participants in the ritual;
the remaining part was presented to Kumaphari, the jaguar
god. The ceremonies practiced in this cult apparently main-
tained ritual cannibalistic elements found among the Tupi-
namba of the sixteenth century, although at that time the of-
fering of a captured warrior to a deity was not recorded.
An active jaguar cult was also known to the Mojo, an
Arawakan tribe in eastern Bolivia. The killing of a jaguar,
which automatically bestowed great prestige on the hunter,
was accompanied by extensive rites. During the entire night,
a dance was held around the slain animal. Finally the animal
was butchered and eaten on the spot. The skull, paws, and
various other parts were then placed within a temple of the
jaguar god, and a sacrificial drink for the benefit of the hunt-
er was presented by the jaguar shaman. The shaman was re-
cruited from among those men who were distinguished for
having escaped alive after being attacked by a jaguar. They
alone could summon and console the jaguar spirit and could
allegedly turn into jaguars, a transformation known to many
other Indian tribes of the Amazon region. It is justifiable to
view the jaguar god of the Mojo as a “lord of the jaguars”
in the same sense that the concept “master of the animals”
is applied among hunting groups.
This feline predator also played a part in the religion of
ancient Peru. Either a particular god possessed attributes of
the jaguar, or the jaguar was an independent deity who
served as the lord of the earthly jaguars and who appeared
in the constellation Scorpius.
Protection from slain animals. Rituals established
around various slain animals are especially obvious in eastern
Brazil and Tierra del Fuego. Among the Boróro of eastern
Brazil, the shaman enters a state of ecstasy after big game has
been killed. In this condition he performs various activities
related to the game—for example, breathing over the meat.
He may also sample it before the rest of the members of the
tribe partake of the meal. In this way he bestows a blessing
that will protect against the revenge of the slain animal spirit
(bope). When the Kaingán-Aweicoma (Xokleng) in the state
of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil have killed a tapir,
chopped greens, which are particularly favored by this ani-
mal, are spread over its head and body, which is supported
upright. At the same time, the spirit of the animal is ad-
dressed with friendly words. It is asked to give a favorable
report to the other animals of its kind, to report how well
it was treated, and to persuade them that they too should let
themselves be killed. Similarly, when a hunter of the
Selk’nam of Tierra del Fuego removed the skin from a slain
fox, he spoke apologetic phrases, such as “Dear fox, I am not
evil-minded. I have respect and don’t wish to harm you, but
I am in need of your meat and your fur.” By this means, the
entire fox society was expected to be pacified after the loss
of one of its members. The offering of such deceptions and
fabrications to the slain animals is a typical archaic ritual that
also finds expression among hunters in the Old World.
Plant fertility rites. I now turn to those religious rites
that center around the theme of fertility, not only of planted
crops but also of wild edible plants. The most impressive reli-
gious celebrations of the tribes in the lowlands of the Ama-
zon are those held for the vegetation demons by the peoples
in the northwestern section of this region. Such demons are
usually, though incorrectly, identified with the worst of all
demons among the ancient eastern Tupi, which demons
(and their cults) are known as yurupary in the local vernacu-
lar (Métraux, 1949).Among the Tucanoan and Arawakan groups of the
upper Rio Negro and the basin of the Uaupés River, the
Yurupary rites take place at the time when certain palm fruits
particularly favored by the Indians are ripe. At the beginning
of the festival, baskets of these fruits are ceremonially escort-
ed into the village by men blowing giant trumpets. These sa-
cred instruments, which represent the voices of the vegeta-
tion demons, are hidden from the women and children, who
must therefore remain within the huts at this time. During
the first part of the ceremony, in which the men scourge one
another with long rods, the women are also obligated to re-
main within their houses. After the secret part of the ritual
has ended, however, the women may join the men in feasting
and drinking, which continues for several days. The purpose
of this feast is to thank the demons for a good harvest and
to beg them to provide a rich yield in the coming season. In
former times, the so-called Yurupary rites of the Arawakan
groups, the Tariana and their neighbors, incorporated the
use of two matted “mask suits” made from the hair of mon-
keys and women. These suits, worn by a pair of dancers, were
also not allowed to be seen by the women.
The underlying meaning of the Yurupary rites involves
the son of Koai, the tribal hero of the Arawakan groups.
Milomaki of the Yahuna (a Tucano group), on the other
hand, is a sun hero with an amazing talent for singing who
was responsible for having created all edible fruits. He gave
these gifts to mankind, although he himself was burned to
death by men for having killed members of the tribe. From
the ashes of his body sprang the palm tree that provides the
wood for making the large trumpets used at the feasts. The
trumpets allegedly have the same tones as his voice.Sacred wind instruments. The reproduction of the
voices of supernatural beings through the use of sacred wind
instruments, including wooden flutes and trumpets made
from rolled bark, is an element that is, or at least was, wide-
spread over much of tropical South America. Their use is
most often connected with the expansion of the Arawakan
peoples from the north to the south. In the area north of the
Amazon, these instruments are utilized in cultic activities de-
voted to vegetation deities, whereas south of the Amazon
they are a central aspect of autonomous cults that have an
esoteric character, but have little connection to fertility ritu-
als. They appear in the Flute Dance feast of the Arawakan
Ipurina of the Purus River as a representation of the ghostly
kamutsi, who reside under water and are related not only to8582 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIAN RELIGIONS: AN OVERVIEW