Table Of ContentNATIONALMUSEETS SKRIFTER
Etnografisk Rakke, VIII
Waiwai
RELIGION AND SOCIETY OF AN
AMAZONIAN TRIBE
by
NIELS FOCK
with appendices by
FRIDOLIN WEIS BENTZON AND
ROBERT E. HAWKINS
THE NATIONAL MUSEUM
COPENHAGEN 1963
Denne afhandling er af det matematisk-naturvidenskabelige fakultet ved Keben
havns universitet antaget til offentlig at forsvares for den filosofiske doktorgrad.
Kebenhavn, den 4. maj 1962. T. W. BacHER
h. a. dec.
Printed in Denmark by Andelsbogtrykkeriet i Odense
Cover drawing by Jens Rosing, technical drawings by Henning 0rsnes
Photos by Lennart Larsen, Jens Yde and the author
Blocks by Schmidt & Johansen, Copenhagen
to my teacher
KAJ BIRKET-SMITH
in gratitude
Preface
Recalling the pleasant stay with the Waiwai Indians my mind constantly turns toward
Ewka, the young, able medicine man and village leader of Yakayaka, who became my main
informant. Besides so much valuable information he also expressed what should be the key
words for my further studies. Speaking about cosmology Ewka explained the existence of
three heavenly layers known to the Waiwai and added, that still more distant layers might
exist and contain unknown beings, he was but unaware of them.
Just like Ewka concerning cosmology, I am quite aware, that there might well exist
customs or functions of customs, which I never realized. This uncertainty is due not only
to ordinary human limitations but also to the short time available in the field. The expedi
tion remained with the Waiwai only from October 1954 to January 1955; shortly after,
missionary zeal brought about such profound acculturation that any further adequate
field studies were made impossible. The more weight then has been put on the analysis of
certain important institutions as mythology, natal customs and judicial practices.
This monograph is written on observations and information collected during the first
Danish ethnographical expedition to British Guiana and Brazil in 1954-55. Sponsored by
the Danish National Museum, the head of the expedition was lens Yde, curator at the
Ethnographical Department, to whom I feel much indebted for his brillant leadership and
friendship during the trip. Both before and after the expedition, my professor, Kaj Birket
Smith, Ph.D., D.Sc., has in every way encouraged my work by good advice and continued
interest; to him I have, as a token of my great appreciation, dedicated this work.
In British Guiana most important help was received from Robert E. Hawkins, head of
The Unevangelized Fields Mission in the northern Waiwai area. Mr. Hawkins was an
invaluable interpreter in Waiwai language and he and his wife offered the expedition great
hospitality. In Georgetown many authorities gave important assistance but I will confine,
myself to mention the Danish consul, Major C. M. Bernard for his practical advice in
organizing the expedition and Mr. Vincent Roth, O.B.E., director of the British Guiana
Museum for valuable scientific suggestions. To all these persons I want to extend my
sincerest gratitude.
For financial support I would like to thank first the Danish State Research Foundation,
which enabled not only the expedition as such but also supported me in the preparation of
my collected material; the same foundation has generously defrayed the costs of printing
the two appendices and the illustrations. At the same time I thank the Rask-Orsted Founda
tion for a grant supporting the translation from Danish of this monograph, a work done
meritoriously by Major C. L. Bayliss, and later examined terminologically by Douglas
Anderson, M.A., whose help has been greatly estimated.
Finally, I acknowledge my thanks to the Emil Schou Foundation for financial support
during the expedition, and to the East Asiatic Company, Copenhagen, for free passage to
the Caribbean and back.
The most profound gratitude, however, I want to express to my wife, Bodil Fock, for her
practical help and indefatigable moral support.
Copenhagen, April 1963 NIELS FOCK
Contents
Introduction. . 1
Geographical 1
Historical. . 5
Cultural .. 10
Religious Beliefs . 14
The Soul Concept 14
The Ordinary Soul, Ekati . 14
The Former Soul, Ekatlnho . 18
The Eye-Soul . . . . 19
Spirits, Kworokjam . . 20
Ekatmho-Kworokjam 20
Kakenau-Kworokjam 22
People, Yenna 24
Fathers, Yin . . . . 26
The Sun Cult . . . . . 33
How Yaskomo Procured Sunshine. 33
Invocation of the Sun 34
Other Divine Beings . . . . 35
The Creator, Mawari. . . 35
The Culture Hero, Yawari 36
Myths and Legends . 38
The Creation Myth, Mawari 38
Notes.and Aspects. . . . 43
The Anaconda-People, Okoimo-Yenna 48
Notes and Aspects. 51
The Moon, Nuiii .. 54
Notes and Aspects. 55
The Shodewika Myth 56
Notes and Aspects. 67
The Opossum, Yawari 74
Notes and Aspects. 75
The Forest Deer, Koso . 78
Notes and Aspects .. 78
The Harpy Eagle, Yaimo 79
Notes and Aspects. . 82
The Old Man's Trip to the Sky 82
Notes and Aspects. . . . . 84
The Buzzard-People, Kurum-Yenna 86
Notes and Aspects. 90
The Dragon, Uruperi. . . . . 91
Notes and Aspects ..... 92
General Mythological Aspects. 93
Cosmology . 101
Practice Stamped by Religious Concepts. 104
Magic Blowing . . . . . . . . .
104
Fatal Blowing, Tono and Parawa
104
Other Blowing, Eremu .
109
of Laymen .....
110
of the Medicine Man.
113
Analysis .....
116
Various Lay Practices
118
Magic
118
Tabus .
121
Omens .
122
The Medicine Man, Yaskomo .
123
Technique
125
Function
129
Tabus .
131
Payment
132
Life Cycle 133
Marriage. 133
Birth 139
Comparative Aspects of the Natal Custom 145
Childhood .... 151
Initiation. . . . . 154
Adolescence, Emasl 158
Menstruation . . 158
Male Adolescence 159
Age Groups of Adults 160
Death . 161
Aspects 168
Dance Festivals . . . . 169
The Yamo Dance . . 170
The Shodewika Dance 172
Animal Imitations 179
Annual Cycle . . . . . 182
Social Organization . . 185
Kinship Terminology 185
Kinship System . . 189
Forms of Address .. 193
Kinship Groupings. . 194
The Village of Yakayaka 195
The Family .... 200
Forms of Marriage. . . 202
Descent . 203
The Head of the Village, Yayalitomo . 203
Rights of Property. . . . . . . . 205
Distribution of Work and Position. 206
The Daily Round 211
The Oho Chant . . . . 216
Comparative Aspects 219
Political Organization 231
The Village . . . . 231
Legal Conceptions . 232
The Tribe 233
Communication 238
Acculturation . 241
Phonetic Key . . 243
Glossary of Waiwai Words. 244
Bibliography . . . . . . 246
Dansk Resume . . . . . 249
Appendix I: Music of the Waiwai Indians, by Fridolin Weis Bentzon 262
Appendix II: Translation of two Waiwai Oho Chants, by Robert E. Hawkins. 303
Fig. 1. Into Waiwai-land, upper Essequibo River
Introduction
GEOGRAPHICAL
The Waiwai Indians live within an area that roughly can be stated as lying between 0° and 2° northern
altitude and 58°_59° western longitude, that is to say the frontier tracts between British Guiana and
Brazil. This area is stamped by the east-west running Serra Acarai, a geologically-ancient plateau
that at some places reaches a height of about 1000 metres, but otherwise lies on average at an altitude
of 3-600 metres above sea level. Its surface, greatly eroded, is mainly covered by a red clay resulting
from the laterization of granites. The Acarai mountains which at a good 1° northern latitude divide
the Waiwai area into a northern and a southern part, form the watershed between the north-running
Essequibo River and the south-running Rio Mapuera, a tributary of the Rio Trombetas and the
Amazon. (see Fig 1).
Of the Essequibo's two affluents, the Sipu and the Chodikar, the latter is the more important. It
is more navigable, its banks have earlier been areas of Waiwai habitations, and it leads to the shortest
trail southwards over the Acarai mountains. Among the left bank tributaries of the Essequibo mention
must be made of the Kamo and Kassikaityu, between the mouths of which dwell all the northern
Waiwai. Of the right bank tributaries it is enough to mention the Onoro where there is a clearing
without a village. In former times a track ran from here over the Acarai to neighbours in the south
east, the Mouyenna. The upper Essequibo and the Chodikar have strong currents on account of the
fall of the ground, but most of the rapids and falls can be passed with a loaded canoe.
The geography ofthe Rio Mapuera is made more difficult by the lack of accurate maps. The affluents
of the Mapuera coming from the north-west are joined by the Tarwini from the north. Among the
left bank tributaries of the Mapuera mention must also be made of the Tutum, whose banks earlier
were inhabited by the Waiwai and from the upper reaches of which a track runs eastwards to the
Mouyenna's villages, and the Urucurin, at whose upper reaches the Mouyenna live. Only one of the
right bank affluents of the Mapuera is of any importance to the Waiwai. This is the Kikwo on which
(in 1955) lay their two southernmost villages. Navigational conditions on the Mapuera differ greatly
from those of the Essequibo. The upper Mapuera is like an immense stone staircase where calm basins
are succeeded by frequent rapids and falls, the size of which necessitates frequent re-loading and
arduous canoe transport over land. The biggest of these is Omana Kashin, where the vertical drop
alone is more than 10 metres.
The greater part of the banks of the Essequibo and the Mapuera are so low that they are exposed
to annual flooding. These alluvial stretches are characterized by high palm vegetation, and they are
never used for husbandry, for one thing because manioc's long period of growth. The river banks
1 Waiwai
