Jnani Bajade Anguretigade
What Ayoreos of past generations believed:
‘I am Sopa’s father.’ I am commenting about what he is saying. He says, ‘Sopa, don’t say anything bad about yourself,’ he says. ‘Dupade is everywhere around us,’ he says. ‘He is our words,’ he says. ‘What you say has the power to make bad things happen to you,’ he says. ‘It will make bad things happen if you say something bad might happen,’ he says. ‘So only mention the good things that will happen,’ he says, ‘when you go hunting for honey.’
‘Don’t say anything negative,’ he says. ‘Don’t mention death in connection with yourself. Only say good words concerning yourself,’ he says. ‘Dupade is in our words,’ he says. ‘He is all around us; our forefathers told us this.’
My father told me that in the past the Ayoreos believed that Dupade was the Sun:
‘He is Dupade,’ our ancestors said, referring to the sun. It is believed that Dupade is the sun according to our forefathers. They claimed he is the sun,’ my father told me.
He said, ‘Don’t be thinking that bad things will happen to you or that some harmful animal will kill you. Only think and say positive things and then nothing will happen to you,’ he said. ‘Don’t say that bad things are going to happen, or that evil will be coming. Only mention good things and then you will be safe,’ he said. ‘Only mention survival and the life ahead of you. Mention honey being obtainable, dripping out of the hive, and keep those thoughts about what will happen, and then Dupade will put them before you; this is what our forefathers said.’
They didn’t know anything about the things of Dupade long ago. But then they really hadn’t heard about them. They chanted and likened Dupade to the things around them. Even our clan possessions, they would chant the names of our clan possessions and liken them to Dupade. Dupade was the clan possession of us Étacorone clan members. An Étacori would liken Dupade to the things they chanted about. That is how they called them into being long ago – yes.
My father told about how they communicated with Dupade:
They would call upon Dupade to give them things and he would put the things in front of them that they asked for. Yes. He would listen as they would think of things being before them. They would call out to him – Yes. They would really call out. They would call loudly.
They wouldn’t just talk calmly to him, they shouted for him to place before them what they asked him for, such as paoi (the tapir’s hide). The paoi were what we wore for shoes in the jungle. Dupade would put huge tapirs in front of us to kill. And they would cut shoes from their hides. And it was Dupade that provided hides for them. When they were in great need of shoes, they would call out to Dupade to place hides in front of them. And they went into the jungle with shoes on their feet.
He’d call out also for pools of water. And instead of rain, without knowing why, Dupade would place a jaguar in their path. They would kill the jaguar, for that is what Dupade provided, so that is what they killed. For Dupade was always placing things in front of them because they called upon him long ago.
Íquede theorized about the spiritual state of their ancestors:
But we didn’t know when Dupade was nearby us. Our forefathers would really have believed if they had heard the things you [missionaries] teach. For they didn’t believe then. Yes. They did believe some things, and they prayed to Dupade about their sickness that he would take it away. Yes. They prayed for that. They didn’t believe in Jesus in the jungle, but had they heard about him, they would have believed the good news about him.
Íquede shares the beliefs his people had about their origins:
Timi, (his name for Tim Wyma) they say that the Ayoreos originated from the jungle animals long ago, according to the first men. Yes. From all kinds of animals. We were originally animals according to those who lived long ago. But they didn’t know all about it. They claimed we came from all kinds of animals, though, those first men. Yes. All of the different animals.
Íquede tells a story that credits the role of creator to the tapir:
They told about the tapir taking an Ayoré man away with him, one of the first men told about this. The Ayoré crawled upon him one day. And the tapir provided all the different kinds of food for him. He carried the Ayoré. And he gave the Ayoré food things. The Ayoré got hungry and that is when he gave him honey to eat. And told him how to get honey. And how to chop for it. And how to suck it. The tapir said, “Why, honey is really delicious.’ And the honey gourd was filled with honey. He said he took it out of the honeycomb.
The tapir, said: ‘Here’s the honey called ajidábia. Take it, and suck it,’ they say the tapir said. ‘It’s true that other kinds of honey are vengeful.’ And he gave this kind to him, he got the kind called vengeful honey. It’s said he gave it to the Ayoré that he carried on his back. And then he took off with the Ayoré again. He took him far away, and the Ayoré kept sucking honey.
After a long time the Ayoré got hungry again. He said: ‘Why, there’s some more honey. The honey is coming out. I’d like to suck some,’ this is what they say he said. ‘There’s some honey here,’ they say he said. He took the honey out. The kind called ducúpie is there. And so he placed some in the container and sucked it. For they had gone far away, the tapir and the Ayoré.
He got hungry and the tapir gave him things from the jungle to eat. And honey also came from the tapir according to the first men of long ago. The tapir brought out all the food things. But he kept coming up with more things. For they were a long time in the jungles. And it’s like what you tell about Dupade creating things. They believed that the tapir kept bringing forth more and more. Yes, from everywhere. They say that they stopped listening for the return of the Ayoré that the tapir had carried off, but then he brought their countryman back to them.
And this was how honey came to be, according to the young men of old who hunted and lived many years ago. And this is how the men of old that you missionaries tell about came to be, those who went to war with our forefathers of long ago.
Iquede – Puesto Paz, Bolivia – April, 1976.
Transcribed by: Tim Wyma.
Translated to English by: Maxine Morarie.
