pregnancy occurs, a woman can take me pari dja, literally the killing medicine'.
There are reports of collective abortions carried out before major festivals, purportedly because women are then better able to dance more freely. This type of medicine, although being collected and blended by men, is familiar to the
women who make use of them whenever they find it necessary.
Plants used to influence males' sexual performance are divided into two groups: the memy tyx dja, or 'medicine that hardens the penis', and those which diminish the males'
performances, memy rerek dja, or 'the medicine
that softens the penis', the latter being described by Kwyra Ka as medicines that women give to men "when a man does not allow a woman to sleep".
The birth of a child usually takes place at home
in the presence of the mother's close female relatives. Only under certain circumstances, for instance if the baby is in an abnormal position, is a shaman allowed to be present. As part of
the treatment for labour pains the mother will rub her lower abdomen with especially picked leaves and will drink an infusion of seeds and leaves from different plants. When the child is
born, natural latex is used to paint a stripe between his eyes, over the nose, and around his neck like a collar. This ritual is believed to prevent the child from contracting diseases.
Since 1936, the inhabitants of the Gorotire Kayapo reserve have had frequent contacts with missionaries, Indian agency officials, and other representatives of 'modern' society, including medical and paramedical workers. Unfortunately, the white man has introduced, among other things, a great variety of diseases unknown to the Kayapo which have caused their average health condition to deteriorate.
The Kayapos, faced with these new lethal diseases, are losing faith in their traditional potions, opening the doors to Western medicine, which today they use in conjunction with the wayang remedies.
- Reprinted with permission.
Leaving no forest, only a road.
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