trance among Krahó shamans, which might suggest that they
are not true shamans. But each shaman explains how, like
the man who went up to the sky in a myth, he was initiated
through a sort of spontaneous rite of passage. He became sick
and was abandoned, he was rescued by an animal (or other
being) that cured him and gave him magical powers, which
he tested, and then he was sent home with his new powers.
In some cases there seems to occur a transformation of the
shaman into the being that gives him powers, for example,
the animal puts parts of his own organism into the body of
the shaman, makes him eat the same food, and so on.
Kayapó. As among the Timbira, the village is the center
of the Kayapó universe and the most socialized space. The
surrounding forest is considered an antisocial space, where
humans can transform into animals or spirits, sicken without
reason, or even kill their relatives. Beings who are half-
animal, half-people dwell there. The farther one goes from
the village, the more antisocial the forest becomes, and its as-
sociated dangers increase. As there is always the danger that
the “social” may be appropriated by the natural domain, es-
caping human control, the Kayapó engage in a symbolic ap-
propriation of the natural, transforming it into the social
through curing chants and ceremonies that establish a cons-
tant exchange between humans and the world of nature.
The section of forest in which the village population
hunts, fishes, and cultivates land is first socialized by the at-
tribution of place names. Thereafter human modifications
of the natural world are accompanied by rituals. The opening
of new gardens is preceded by a dance presenting many struc-
tural similarities to the war ritual. Opening up new gardens
can be interpreted as a symbolic war against a natural rather
than human enemy. Returning from the hunt, men must
sing to the spirits of the game they themselves have killed in
order for the spirits to remain in the forest. Each animal spe-
cies designates a song that always begins with the cry of the
dead animal.
Kayapó rites express basic values of their society, reflect-
ing the image the group has of itself, the society, and the uni-
verse. Each rite translates a part of this cosmological vision
and establishes a link between humans and nature, in which
above all the human-animal relationship is reinforced.
Kayapó rituals are many and diverse, but their importance
and duration varies greatly. They are divided into three main
categories: the large ceremonies for confirming personal
names; certain agricultural, hunting, fishing, and occasional
rites, for example, performed during solar or lunar eclipses;
and rites of passage. The last are frequently solemn affairs,
though short and only rarely accompanied by dances or
songs. Examples of rites of passage include all ceremonies
qualified by the term merêrêmex (people who extend their
beauty), a reference to the highly elaborate way in which peo-
ple decorate themselves on such occasions. Such ceremonies
are group-based activities whose goal is to socialize “wild” or
antisocial values. This applies to the attribution of names, a
central theme of most Kayapó ceremonies; in fact personal
names are borrowed from nature. Shamans enter into con-
tact with the natural spirits and learn new songs and names
from them, introducing them into culture through the large
naming ceremonies.On these occasions most of the ritual sequences take
place in the village’s central plaza, where an inversion of ordi-
nary social space may be noted. The center of the village,
normally organized on the basis of friendship and nonkin-
ship, is converted into the domain of activities in which both
personal family bonds and natural—and therefore “wild” el-
ements, such as the personal names or those of killed prey—
are central. The true nature of “beauty” is not only visual but
also refers to an inner beauty that results from the group’s
activity, from the common effort required to “socialize” the
names of people or of other precious objects.
Xikrin. For the Xikrin, the center of the world is like-
wise represented by the center of the circular village plaza,
where rituals and public life in general unfold. The symbol
of the center of the world and the universe is the rattle, a
round, head-shaped musical instrument, played as the Indi-
ans sing and dance following a circular path that accompa-
nies the solar trajectory. The Indians say that, when dancing,
they return in time to their mythic origins, thereby re-
creating the energy required for the continuity and stability
of the environment and the resources needed for survival, the
continual reproduction of life, and the different social insti-
tutions that ensure the equilibrium indispensable to life in
the community.
The Xikrin define distinct natural spaces of their uni-
verse: the earth, divided into open tracts and forest, the sky,
the aquatic world, and the subterranean world. These are
thought to possess distinct attributes and inhabitants,
though related among themselves in different ways. The for-
est is home to different ethnic sets of enemies, terrestrial ani-
mals, and plants. Disrespectful appropriation of the animal
world causes the fury of the spirit owner-controller of the an-
imals who, through sorcery, regulates the predatory activities
of humans. On the other hand, the forest is also the source
of important attributes of Xikrin sociability, for there, in
mythical times, the Indians acquired fire and ceremonial lan-
guage. Clearings—places formed by the village or the swid-
dens—are the site for kinship and alliance relations and for
the individual’s socialization, in other words, for the defini-
tion of Xikrin humanity. The aquatic domain provides the
possibility for strengthening physical and psychological as-
pects of the individual, because water causes rapid matura-
tion through ritual immersions yet without altering the
being’s substance. Water is a creative element in contrast to
fire, which is a transformative element. An owner-controller
also exists in the aquatic domain whose relationship with hu-
mans is one of solidarity. It was the owner-controller of the
waters who taught humans to cure sicknesses. Medicinal
plants come from the terrestrial domain, but their knowledge
and the rules for manipulating them were acquired in the
aquatic world through the mediation of a shaman. The sub-8630 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS: INDIANS OF THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN AMAZON