Wayãpi - Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs. Wayãpi beliefs are basically TupíGuaraní ones, with the slightest touch of Christian influence dating from an earlier brief stay in Catholic missions and from the incorporation of poor fragments of Christianized Indian tribes after the Wayãpi penetration into French Guiana at the beginning of the nineteenth century. A high God, Yaneya ("our master"), created the universe with the help of one or two teams of architects. A set of four worlds, circular and flat, are surimposed one on another like cassava griddles. The middle one is inhabited by humans; below that is the world of the wo'o , gigantic sloths that think they are the true humanity. Above the humans' disk are two skies: that of the vulture, master of decomposition and rot, and above it, the Creator's residence. For the Wayãpi, there is a fundamental lack of understanding and also of sympathy between the Creator and his human creatures, who blame him for the loss of eternal life, the symbol of divinity. After the failure of his terrestrial stay and his destruction of "first humanity," he was killed by his own son. He now lives on high, disinterested in human destiny.

The world is in a precarious equilibrium. Humans must therefore respect the harmony of nature and never kill too much game or fish, or pick too many fruits or forest produce. Without these precautions, the game masters, or any one of the other forest masters ( ya ), take revenge on the village, especially on the weakest, the children, by sending illness and calamities.

Religious Practitioners. It is precisely one of the shaman's tasks to identify the cause of the illnesses and cure them. The shaman ( paye ) is also able to travel through the different floors of the universe, helped by tobacco juice ( makule ); a hallucinogenic plant, takweni ( Brosimum acutifolium ); and the "voice" of his rattle ( malaka ). He is the sole human being able to domesticate forest spirits, which become his pets ( leima ) and work for him to restore the lost harmony. To those guilty of disrupting world equilibriums, he prescribes taboos affecting the sick person and his family. Such taboos, which can last from several months to a whole lifetime, consist of food prescriptions and hunting and fishing restrictions.

Ceremonies. Wayãpi life is not regulated by a fixed ceremonial calendar. For example, the community decides to celebrate the principal gathering product, a palm fruit, wasey ( Euterpe oleracea ), only in those years when it is exceptionally abundant, with the intention of boosting the next year's crop. This means that feasts are basically propitiatory. They are held for a variety of products, such as maize, or before fish-drugging parties ( paku and kumalu dances).

Ants are applied to the bodies of girls and boys to help them to "change skin" (i.e., make the transition from adolescence to adulthood), thus promoting the children's future lives. This is, however, more a family ritual than a communal ceremony.

Christian rites were unknown until the late 1980s, when a Catholic priest decided to baptize all the babies of the northernmost village. It was a poor and ridiculous masquerade bereft of any religious sense for the villagers.

Arts. As among so many Indians tribes, Wayãpi arts and crafts are finely manufactured and beautifully decorated. Basketry, its weaving patterns symbolizing the world of animals, holds a prominent place. A great variety of specialized arrows with specific decoration has made the Wayãpi renowned in French Guiana. In the sphere of music, on the other hand, the main body of songs and rhythms are giving way to imported ones.

Medicine. Shamans may prescribe some medicinal plants to patients but, for the most part, plant medicine is a secular matter. Today, traditional herbal remedies are being replaced by Western drugs, for French medical assistance is well organized and efficient. The increase in the Wayãpi population may be attributed to vaccinations, the treatment of intestinal parasites, and the possibility of rapid evacuation of the most serious cases to urban hospitals.

Death and Afterlife. Death is the moment when a human being meets Yaneya in the uppermost level of the sky. The deceased are wrapped in their hammocks, a man with his cutlass and his bow, a woman with her spindle and some meters of cloth, both men and women with their knives, combs, and numerous necklaces of glass beads. He or she is then placed in a grave. The corpse, teänge, will thereafter decompose, whereas the shadow, also named "teänge," will wander around the village on the lookout for people to carry off in sickness and death, to share its misfortune. The only fortunate part of the deceased is the soul, taiwe, which will journey upward to join those of his or her family and ancestors. The soul, however, must provide proof of having lived a virtuous life. If it can't, God will burn it, then recreate it, allowing it to exist thereafter in eternal bliss, drinking cassava beer, dining on the souls of game and fish, those very animals and fish once killed by the living here below. It is in this final state of afterlife that the Wayãpi are at last reconciled with Yaneya.