Tags: Amazon  anthropology  Brazil  documentary  healing  indigenous  jungle  ritual  video  village  vitv  Wai'á  Xavante  
Channel: Education
Uploaded: December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm
Author: docued
Length: 06:07
Rating: N/A
Views: 149
Purchase: http://www.der.org/films/darit... The Xavante people of Aldeia Nova ask Xavante videomaker Divino Tserewahú to film their Wai'á ceremony, after watching his film Wai'á rini, the Power of the Dream. Elders in Aldeia Nova want to preserve this tough but rewarding ritual. Out in the hot sun all day, for three weeks the young men of the community undergo strengthening physical suffering in order to develop their curative powers. The trial culminates with the men's fainting and being revived by their families; after their initiation the trainees replace their elders as spiritual guardians. "To be a Wa'ia, you have to suffer like this," explains one man. Everyone in the village watches and takes part in the men's ceremony, proud of their sons and brothers.a video by Divino Tserewahúdistributed Documentary Educational Resources