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Ol'versigl at' [-'inskn Vrtenskaps-Sooietetens Forlit Hfl. I.VII. 1«)14—1915. Aid. U. N:o (i.

Indian dances in the Gran Chaco (South America) R.

KARSTEN.

It is a wellknown fad Ihai dances play a prominent part in the social life of the South American Indians. It has also often been recognised that certain dances have a religious or magical significance. Yet on the whole very little attention has hitherto been paid to this side of the Indian practical religion. With exception of the mask-dances in North-West Brazil, recently described by the German ethnologist Dr. Koch-Grunberg, the ceremonial dances of the South American natives have never, as far as I know, been made the object of a detailed study. The following contribution to Indian choreography may not, therefore, be without interest, especially as it will al the same lime throw light upon some of the most important native religious ceremonies. In my account I shall only deal with the customs prevailing VP the Gran Chaco, and more particularly among the tribes in the Pilcomayo region where I have myself studied them at first hand. Bui (here is no doubt that much the same principles underlie I lie Indian dances everywhere in South America. The dances in the (Iran Chaco are, as it were, international; there are certain main types of dances which occur

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among all. or at any rate, among most tribes under different names, one particular dance being the favourite of one tribe, another of another. In pointing out some general peculiarities of the Indian dances, it may be observed that in all South America dancing is above all the men's affair, women comparatively seldom taking part in these entertainments. In many parts of the continent, for instance in Brazil, the women are not at all allowed to be present at certain deathfeasts and mask-dances. In Chaco they may attend at dances and feasts, but as a rule they do not take an active part in them. Sometimes dances are performed in honour of the women, their object being then to protect these weaker members of the community against supernatural evils. This passive role of the women at most dances no doubt is due to the fact that originally the Indian dances have had a purely practical object, being magical ceremonies to conjure and expel evil spirits. Since women as a rule do not take part in religious ceremonies and conjurations, they do not either take part in the dances. There are exceptions to this rule, and just as elderly women, who have been properly initiated, may perform certain religious ceremonies of their own, so may they also occasionally take an active part in certain religious dances. This especially holds true of the dance which among most Chaco tribes is performed in honour of girls at the attainment of puberty, which is particularly a dance of women. Further we have to note that Indian dances are not generally accompanied by music, at any rate not by any music in the civilised sense of the word. The dancers themselves chant the measure of their movements, this chanting at the same time being a conjuration. In some dances, especially those which are performed to cure diseases, the chanting is also accompanied by the beating of drums r shaking of rattles, but these instruments, which produce a hollow monotonous sound, are purely magical and are not used for the sake of affording musical pleasure. Ring-dances are perhaps the most common type of dances in Chaco. The dancers are arranged in a circle holding each

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Indian dances in the Gran C.liaco (South America}.

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other by the hand or with arms interlaced round each other's waisis, and move round either walking slowly, running, or jumping, according to the particular kind of dance performed. The chant accompanying the dance is someiinies low and monotonous, sometimes extremely loud and noisy. In the second principal Chaco dance the dancers are arranged in a line or so as to form a crescent, with Minis interlaced as in the first dance. They move with running steps alternately to the right and to the left, and at the same time forwards until they arrive at the opposite side of the dancing place, where they break the chain uttering shrill cries. They return in the same way. In a third type of dance no definite order is observed; everybody dances by himself, jumping up and down and accompanying his movements with loud shouts and generally with the shaking of rattles. Dances of this type always have a religious and magical character. It is also a peculiarity of the Indian dances in Chaco that they nearly always take place at night time or after the approach of darkness. It is a rare thing to witness an Indian dance in the day-time. The reason of this is to be sought in the religious character of the dances. According to the belief of the Indians, the evil spirits do not exist during the day; they come with the approaching darkness, attacking the villages and visiting people with sickness and misfortune. This is therefore considered the proper time for performing magical conjurations and other religious ceremonies. In the following pages I shall describe in greater detail the different dances performed on different occasions by tin1 (lhaco Indians.

I. Danciny in cure or prevent diseases. According to the Indian theory of disease, all diseases are caused by evil spirits which have penetrated into the liody of the patient and particularly into that part of it where the evil is felt. The medical art of the Indians is therefore essentially of a magical nature; the sorcerer or

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medicine-man tries to conjure the evil intruder and force him to leave the patient by different means, by'chanting, shaking rattles, sucking, blowing, spitting, and last but not least by dancing around him. Dancing is generally resorted to in serious cases where other means have proved futile, and is considered to be an extremely efficacious remedy. Of the tribes of the Pilcomayo especially the Tobas and the Matacos practise dancing in order to cure diseases; the Chorotis also know this custom, but comparatively seldom practise it. I shall first describe the customs prevailing among the Tobas. The dance by which the Bolivian T O B A S try to conjure demons of disease is called nahdt ddnnaran. Ddnnaran in the Toba, language means 'to chant', 'to sing'; nahot (nahdt). again, is the Mataco word for 'demon' or 'evil spirit' and has evidently been borrowed by the Tobas from their neighbours on the other side of the river. Nahdt ddnnaran thus simply means 'to conjure a demon'. The name still exactly answers the true nature of the dance. — When in a certain case of illness the ordinary treatment of the medicine-man has failed to effect the desired result, the Tobas sometimes proceed to special measures. From all houses in the village men and women assemble in the evening outside the house of the patient, each of the men bringing his heliyday. a sort of rattle composed of small bells attached to a circular strap of leather. The sick person is carried out of the house and laid upon the open place outside it. When night approaches the people begin to dance around him, marking time with their rattles. .lumping up and down with both feet at once and with knees bent they move forwards and backwards, to the right and to the left, yet always keeping round the sick person. They accompany their dance not only with the shaking of the rattle bells but also with chanting, or rather loud shouting: indeed, the main principle in the dance seems to be to make as much noise as possible. While the others dance, the medicine-man performs his particular office. Leaning over the patient he mutters a chant of his

HN:ofl) Imlinn (Inures in Hit1 (irnn Clmco (Soulli Ainoricn).

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own. uttering certain powerful words and shaking his rattle now and then over Hie part of his body which is the seat of the evil. The whole ceremony is continued, with short intervals, until midnight. The nahdldonnaran is not only danced in actual cases of illness, hut also with a view to preventing illnesses. The Tobas perform this dance especially in Hie month of October, ill the end of the dry season and the beginning of I he wet season, their object being to keep off an epidemic disease which is said particularly to attack the women. The dance is held during several successive nights, and especially elderly women, but also young girls take pail in it. A peculiarity of this dance, as of many other Indian conjurations, is that the performance, as it were, begins gradually: the dancing, chanting, and rattling is at first slow and discreet, increasing gradually in strength until it reaches a climax, after which it again decreases. One of the sorcerers is heard gently shaking his rattle; soon he accompanies the »musie» with a chant, uttered in a low voice; the chanl and rattling grows louder and louder and the time faster; finally he also begins to dance. Two. three, and more men join him ill Hie dance, lastly even the women lake an active part in Ihe ceremony, at first only dancing, bill soon chanting as well. The lime grows faster and faster and the whole dance more and more noisy. Suddenly one of the women falls (o Ihe ground where she remains lying motionless as il she were dead; shortly after another woman falls down in Ihe same way, then a third, and so forth. A medicine-man appears and begins to treat the women in the usual way according as they fall, leaning over them, chanting, blowing upon them, and sucking them on the head and on the breast. The woman Ihus treated appears gradually to recover and after a while again takes part in Ihe dance. In Ibis way all of them are attended in due order by Ihe medicine-man. While this particular conjuration goes on, Ihe oilier partakers in the ceremony continue dancing around Ihe »sick» women and their eurer. stamping on the ground, yelling, and violently skaking their rattles. When the excitement reaches ils

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highest point, time is no longer kept, everybody dancing as he likes, keeping liis own measure. In the chant no words are pronounced, but only sounds are emitted like: ai-ai, ai;ii. ai-ai, ai-ai, or: he-he, he-he, he-he, etc. There is, however, • me dominant melody which is again and again repeated: pp Rep. ad lib.

ai-ai ai-ai

ai-ai

ai-ai ai, ai ai-ai ai, ai ai-ai ai-ai ai-ai ai-ai.

dim.

The first notes in this melody are always sung in a loud voice; then the voice gradually diminishes and the last notes which are repeated ad libitum are only heard as a low distant murmur. Thereafter the chant again commences from the beginning and so forth. While the main body of the dancers goes on repeating tliis chant, one of the sorcerers, who seems to be the leader of the ceremony and moves about more than the rest, occasionally seconds them with a somewhat different melody, his voice being heard louder than those of the. rest. The dance, which generally goes on at a very quick tempo, is of course extremely trying in the heat of the tropical night. It is probably for this reason that the dancers appear almost naked, the men wearing only the usual small waistbelt, and the women a short petticoat round the loins. Still the sweat can be seen flowing down the naked bodies in streams. This sweating, however, seems to be desired and to form a part of the »cure»; it aids in the purification from the evil spirits. The dance, which is performed by moon-light or in the light of a big fire of pampas grass, sometimes goes on without interruption for nearly an hour. Then a pause is made, after which the noisy ceremony is again continued. Like most Indian conjurations, this dance goes on from the close of (he day till about midnight. It may be added that most of the persons who take part in this magical ceremony have their faces painted in one way or another, generally with the red dye obtained from

HN:o) Indian tinners in tlic (trail C.IKHO (Smith Anu'rieii).

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the uri/n/-planl (Iii.ro orellana). Some girls may bo seen with real ornamental patterns on their cheeks, representing, for instance, heads of arrows. It-elli of animals, etc. These facial paintings, like all Indian body-paintings, have a purely magical significance: they serve to keep off the demons with which the dancers come into contact during the ceremony, and help to conjure them. As to the significance of this dance, il is interesting especially from the point of view that il is prophylactic in character: The women are not really ill; they only pretend to be ill and are treated accordingly. The Indians gave me the following explanation: A l the end of (he dry season their people are usually visited by an epidemic disease, which is attended with pains in the head and in the chest, and which especially al tacks the women. This illness, according to the belief of the Indians, is caused by a great number of peyak (evil spirits) who visit the village at night, and the dance is intended to conjure them and keep them oil. Evidently it is thought that when the women are heated in advance for the illness, (his is an efficacious means of preventing them from really tailing i l l . The Tobas have another similar prophylactic dance which is called nnhore, »the tiger-dance», (naliorc tiger). which is danced about the same lime as the nalinl ddnnaran. The persons taking part in this dance are young men and women. They are arranged in a circle, hoys and girls alternately. In the middle of the circle some elderly women arc sitting. Each of the boys has a big cloth in his hand. Like the nahot ddnnaran and oilier Indian conjurations, this dance begins slowly, the tempo gradually growing faster. At first the dancers only walk one behind the other in a circle, each boy now and then lashing (lie girl in front of him on the loins with his cloth. Soon they begin lo leap, faster and faster, and the lashes on Ihe loins of the girls likewise follow ((nicker and quicker.

Suddenly one of them falls lo

the

ground, where she remains lying motionless as it she were dead, then a second falls, thereafter a third, and so forth in the same wav as in the former dance. A medicine-man.

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who represents the tiger, appears and begins to treat the girls in turn according as they fall. He puts his mouth to the girl's breast, sucks it on two spots and blows on it, alter which he spits out what he pretends to extract. Then he treats the head in the same way, sucking it and blowing on it. The girl thus »cured» appears to recover, rests for a while, and again takes part in the dance. This procedure is repeated with all girls successively. The dance is continued with short pauses for several hours. Like most Indian dances it always takes place in the evening. The nahure, as we find, bears a great resemblance to the nahot ddnnaran. It differs however from the latter dance in certain points. In the nahoie no rattles are used, nor do the partakers in this ceremony chant. They simply go on jumping, the boys lashing the girls, only now and then encouraging one another with exclamations and accompanying each lash of the cloth with an emphatic schl Similarly the medicine-man who acts as tiger (nahore), departs from his usual method of curing sick people in so far that he neither chants nor uses his rattle, contenting himself with sucking the patient on the supposed seat of the evil. When he wanders among the women curing them he now and then gives a sound resembling the grunting of the tiger when it roams about in the night searching for prey: yanii, ydnu, yanu. This pantomimic dance has much the same serious magical significance as the niilwt donnaran: its object is to protect the women against the tiger or to save them from falling victims to it. This is effected by representing an encounter between them in a euphemistic way. The woman who lias met the animal in the woods tries to escape it by Ilight, but soon exhausted falls to the ground and seems helplessly lost. Hut in I he dance the tiger is a benevolent being. II docs not harm the woman; on the contrary it cures her. The idea, in fact, seems to be that by the tiger itself remedying the evils which it inflicts, this will in real life be a sale-guard against the feared beast. To understand the ceremony fully we must know the superstitions the Indians have about the tiger. The Tobas, like most South

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II. Dancing to promote fertility. In tin* (irnn Chaco, as in many parts of Soutli America, Ihe Indians often practise dancing with I lie object of promoting the fertility of certain useful plants. There is a definite religious idea underlying this custom. According to a common Indian belief useful trees and plants are animated by a spirit which causes their growth and brings them to maturity. On closer examination it is found that at least in most cases this spirit is nothing bill a departed human soul which is supposed to have transmigrated into such natural objects. In Brazil and other parts of tropical South America this belief especially refers to Ihe two most important cultivated plants, the maize and Ihe manioc. In Chaco again the same idea is especially held with regard to certain wild trees, the fruits of which form the staple vegetable food of the natives: the algaroba (l)rnso[>is alba), the lusca (Acacia aroma), and the chafiar (Gourliea decorlitans). From all these fruits the Indians also brew fermented beers which arc considered sacred by virtue of the indwelling good spirit. Especially Ihe algaroba is important, and as a matter of fact its sweet pod-like fruit feeds thousands of Indians in Chaco (hiring two or three months of the year. The algarobaseason which begins at the end of November and lasts until the end of January is therefore impatiently awaited by the natives and they try to »hurry on» its coming by various magical means which arc thought to influence the plantspirit. The M A C A C O S , for instance, beat Ihe drum every night for about one month previous to the commencement of the algaroba-season proper in order, as they say, to expel the evil demons, the ailtalu who prevent the fruit from reaching maturity, but probably also with a view to directly influencing Ihe spirit which is supposed to animate the plant. The T O B A S again perform a special dance with the same object, namely to »hurry on* the algaroba (niapilak map), beginning some time before the fruit ripens and continuing during the whole algaroba-season. This dance is called iwmi, and is the great festival dance of the Tobas. The dancers ar-

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range themselves in a long line, or so as to f o r m a crescent; w i t h arms interlaced round each other's waists they move, running alternately to the right and to the left and at the same time forwards to the other end of the dancing place, as I mentioned before. The dancers themselves chant the measure of their steps in a loud voice. — No women take part in this dance, but they are allowed to be present as on-lookers. Those Tobas who have seen the festivals with which the whites in Argentine and Bolivia celebrate their great carnival in February, say that the algaroba-season is their own carnival time and the noml their carnival dance. During the algaroba-season . the noml goes on daily, the younger men generally taking part in the dance, whereas the old men occupy themselves with drinking the beer made of the sacred fruit, the aloja, called maplyl in the Toba language. A peculiarity of the nomi is that it is the only Indian dance which takes place in the day-time; in fact, it is always performed during the day, just as other dances are always performed at night. The reason of this I am not quite sure about, but it is probably to be sought in the particular character of this dance. The dances which I have mentioned hitherto are performed in individual cases of possession, in order to conjure demons actually present. Hence they take place in the night, the proper time for the evil spirits. Nomi on the other hand has a more general character, its object apparently being to influence the invisible enemies while they are still far away in the woods, and to prevent them from coming in the evening. This intention seems to appear even from the movements of the dance, in which the Indians, as it were, oppose themselves to the evil spirits. — The nomi is performed with a similar view on several other occasions, as I shall show Inter on. The CHOROTIS likewise celebrate the algaroba-season with a festival (lukinene) in which dancing plays a prominent part. Besides the marriage dance avusye, the Chorotis have two *carnival» dances which are performed at that time: one is called johtoki, the other ahlenla. Johloki is the Chorotis'

H N:oli)

Indian