Desana's narrative
The text of Luiz Gomes Lana was collected in Portuguese by anthropologist Dominique Buchillet (anthropologist, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - IRD) in Brasília, in June, 1992, and published in French in the periodical Ethnies. Droits de l'Homme et Peuples autochtones (Paris: Survival International France, n° spécial “Chroniques d’une conquête”, 1993 n° 14, pages 19-21).Between the Bible and the shotgun: the Desana image of White man, by Dominique Buchillet
The Desana, whose self-denomination is Imiko-masã (“People of the Universe”), are one of the 15 Indigenous groups of the Oriental Tukanoan linguistic family that live, along with other peoples of the Arawak and Maku linguistic families, in the region of the River Negro along the border with Colombia, in the Northwest part of the Amazon Region. With around 1,500 individuals in Brazil, the Desana are scattered among some 60 communities and sites along the margins of the river Tiquié and its tributaries, such as, for example, the igarapés (small Amazon waterways) Umari, Cucura and Castanha. There are also a few Desana communities in tributaries of the river Papuri, like the igarapés Turi, Ingá and Urucu, on the Brazilian side, and of the river Uaupés, such as the igarapé Japurá. The Desana are tied to the other peoples of the region by a tight system of matrimonial relations and/or of economic and ceremonial exchanges.
The author of this account, Torami-kehíri, whose Portuguese name is Luiz Gomes Lana, belongs to the Kehíripõra clan, the “Children of Dream”, which live in the community of São João Batista, on the river Tiquié. Born in 1947, Luiz is the eldest son of Firmiano Arantes Lana and Emília Gomes (a Tukano woman), and is married to Catarina Castro (a tukano woman), with whom he has five children. Torami-kehíri and his deceased father Umusi Pãrõkumu (Firmiano Arantes Lana) are authors of the collection of mythical narratives “Antes o Mundo não existia. Mitologia dos antigos Desana-Kehíripõra” – Before the World did not exist. Mythology of the old Desana-Kehípõra – (UNIRT/FOIRN, 1995, 2nd. edition; 1st. Edition by Livraria Cultura Editora, 1980). After several years as captain of São João Batista, he founded in 1990 the UNIRT (União das Nações Indígenas do Rio Tiquié – Union of the Indigenous Nations of the river Tiquié), an Indigenous organization affiliated to the FOIRN (Federação das Organizações Indígenas do Rio Negro – Federation of Indigenous Organizations of the River Negro), of which he was president until 1994. The main objectives of the organization were the demarcation of the Indigenous territories and the revival of the region’s culture. In 1992 he built, on a hill near São João, a maloca (communal house) in the traditional style, which was conceived to be a space for exhibitions and for the cultural formation of young people.
According to the oral tradition of the Desana, which is common to other Eastern Tukanoan peoples, the ancestors of Humanity followed the course of the rivers Amazon, Negro, Uaupés and their tributaries, leaving from the Atlantic Ocean on a ship – the “Canoe-of-Transformation”. Along the trip they stopped in numerous “houses of transformation”, where they performed celebrations. The sub-aquatic trip in the Canoe-of-Transformation is assimilated to the humanization and progressive maturation of Humanity’s ancestors. They went aground among the Ipanoré rapids, on the mid river Uaupés. It was in this place that the differentiation between Whites and Indians took place. The ancestor of the Whites then went South, while the Indians went up the course of the river and its tributaries looking for a good place to live..
“Our knowledge is not in the books!”
By Luiz Gomes Lana, Tiquié River, State of Amazonas, 1992
For us, the Imiko-masã, “The People of the Universe”, that is, the Desana, the whole humanity, that is, both Indians and Whites, have the same origin. When Pamiri-gasiru, the “Canoe-of-Transformation” arrived in Diá-peragobe wi'í [the Ipanoré Falls, on the mid river Uaupés, region of the Upper River Negro], humanity's ancestors, who already had human form, began to leave through the hole. The ancestor of those who would be the Whites was also in that canoe. He was the last one to leave it. Yebá-gõãmi, our demiurge, sent him South, saying that there he could make war, he could steal and attack people in order to survive. For us, who are the Whites' older brothers, he gave the order to stay calm, to live together and peacefully. But for the White man he gave the order of earning his life through violence, to make war, to kill.
So when the first Whites arrived in the region our grandfathers already knew that they were coming to make war, because Yebá-gõãmi had told their ancestor to earn his living through violence. We, we are calm, we don't make war! We live in a peaceful way. But the White man likes violence. He likes to make war, he likes to fight, he likes to kill, he likes to take things away from others through violence. We know very well how violent he is! Yebá-gõãmi gave him a shotgun as a weapon. The shotgun is the White man's power. Yebá-gõãmi told him he could get everything he wanted with that shotgun.
Together with the White man the missionary came out of the Canoe-of-Transformation. Both got out of it together! That's why, when our grandfathers saw the White man come with a shotgun, they already knew that he would be with the missionary. And, indeed, when the White man appeared here, in our land [the region of the Upper River Negro], he was with the missionary. We already knew that the missionary would come with the White man because Yebá-gõãmi had said so! To the missionary he gave a book [the Bible] so he would be able to live. For that reason, when our ancestors first saw the missionary with his book, they already knew that this book was his power, his gun.
We know very well that the book [the Bible] is the missionary's gun. The other White man had a shotgun. With that shotgun he does all kinds of violence. We can very well see that Yebá-gõãmi told the truth! He had said that the White man would live by stealing, killing, making war... That's what we see nowadays. We see the White man enter our land in search of gold, cassiterite (tin). He enters our territory with violence. He wants to be the owner of all those things!
For us, who are the White man's older brothers, Yebá-gõãmi gave the power of memory, the ability of keeping everything in the memory, the chants, the dances, the ceremonies, the prayers to cure diseases... We keep all this in our memory! Our knowledge is not in books! But to the White man, who was the last one to leave the Canoe-of-Transformation, he gave the power of writing. With the books, he could get everything he would need, he had said. That's why the White man arrived in our land with writing, with books. So Yebá-gõãmi had said!
Yebá-gõãmi also wanted humans to be immortal. He wanted humans to be like the spiders, the snakes, centipedes and shrimps are today. These, when they get old, change their skin and become young again. Yebá-gõãmi wanted humans to change skins too, but didn't manage to. He had given to humanity's ancestors a bowl of ipadu [Erythroxylum coca var. ipadu] to lick. When they saw spiders, scorpions and other poisonous insects on the bowl's edge, human’s ancestors were afraid to come close to it. But the spiders, the centipedes, the scorpions didn't hesitate and ate the ipadu. That's why they change skins when they get old. It is the ipadu that gave them the power of changing the skin!
There was also a great wash bowl. Yebá-gõãmi ordered human's ancestors to bathe in it. The White man's ancestor went ahead and bathed. If the Indians, who are their older brothers, had been the first to bathe, their skin would have turned white, like the White man's. But when the Indians decided to bathe the wash bowl turned upside down and all they were able to do was to wet the bottom of their feet and the palms of their hands. That's why we, the Indians, have the bottom of our feet and the palms of our hands white! The White man, our younger brother, has white skin because he was the first one to bathe in the wash bowl. That's what our grandfathers told!
