Yamurikuma is a female spirit who represents the ancestral women of the indigenous Wauja people. The Wauja people are located at South America, in the Upper Xingu River, Brazil. Wauja people have celebrated Yamurikuma in rituals, ceremonies, and traditions for centuries.[1] Shamans in Xingu villages call women specifically to perform sing and song rituals for the female spirit Yamurikuma and the deceased or terminally ill Xingu people. It is one of the only exceptions made for the women in these communities to lead a ritual. Yamurikuma is also celebrated in a festival named after the spirit herself. This festival is organized by the Xingu Tribes, and throughout this specific festival, the Xingu women take on the male roles of the tribe for a week.[1][2]
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During the gender role reversal, the Xingu women wear traditional attire for men, which consists of feather headwear and anklet ornaments that rattle as they dance. Some examples of what their attire consists of is headwear made of various types of bird, Jaguar skin, and Jaguar claws as jewelry. These materials are considered distinguished and valuable, which were only worn by men of high prestige.[1]
Throughout the festival they are also expected to participate in various physical activities such as tug of war, races, swimming, archery, and carrying heavy objects like logs. Overall, the most celebrated activity performed by the Xingu women in the Yamurikuma festival is the huka-huka wrestling matches.[3]
- ^ a b c Ball, Christopher (2011). "As Spirits Speak: Interaction in Wauja Exoteric Ritual". Journal de la Société des américanistes. 97 (1): 87–117. doi:10.4000/jsa.11657. ISSN 0037-9174. JSTOR 24606458.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:2was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Costa, Carlos Eduardo (2021-05-30). "Practices of looking, transformations in cheering: alliances and rivalries in upper xinguan wrestiling". Anuário Antropológico (v.46 n.2): 254–270. doi:10.4000/aa.8343. ISSN 0102-4302.