![]() I have certainly read a wealth of literature regarding the Yanomami in my studies and am very excited for this AMA. I am an anthropology grad student and a supporter of Survival International. Then the shaman cleans out the body with special water that he has – then the person is cured. Then the shaman takes it and throws it very far away. So ‘xawara’, the bad spirit, falls onto the ground. The shamans get them to hit the disease and get rid of the disease. The work of the spirits is to cure, to heal people. Each spirit of the forest has a name, there are lots of different spirits – they all arrive, and then the oldest shaman will show the spirits how to work. And the shamanic spirits live in a very big house – a shabono – and they bring that with them to the shaman. And then all the shamans and the shamanic spirits arrive near you. You have to prepare yourself – you have to look at all the other shamans. So you have to be in this state for weeks. The great shamans don’t allow you to eat – you have to clean out all your body because in our stomachs we have rot. ![]() ![]() He said you must not eat, you must not take a bath, you cannot eat meat, no fish, you have to remain in silence, and you have to feel hunger. So he prepared what we call ‘yakoana’, and he told me that it’s not easy to be a shaman. I asked the oldest shaman to teach me to become a shaman. What sorts of skills did you learn as a shaman? ![]()
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