Itseke_tukuti1

Tapualu, a kalapalo woman, and Samuagü, her husband, a kuikuro man, tell the events that caused the sickness of Tapualu: she had contact with the powerful supernatural being (itseke) called the Hyper-Hummingbird, the owner of the pequi. Pequi is a tree whose fruits fall between the months of October and November, at the end of the dry season. Its fruits are an important source of food for all the upper Xingu groups and a whole ritual cycle marks the 'pequi time'. Tapualu tells how she was "beaten' by the Hyper-Hummingbird while she was collecting pequi fruits near the viillage with another woman. She tells about her painful sickness. After Tapualu, Samuagü tells about the actions, diagnoses and cure done by the shamans of the kuikuro village, remembering also the myth of the origin of the pequi. This appeared on the grave of the Hyper-Cayman, killed by the jealous husband of his human lovers. Other plants appeared near the pequi tree, all important for the upper Xingu people. Then, Tapualu continues the story explaining how she was cured by the shamans and how her husband became, for this reason, the "owner of the hugagü festival", realized the first time in order to make the Hyper-Hummingbird harmless with songs, dances, music and offerts. Samuagü explains how the ritual is organized and enacted and the roles of its participants (askers, helpers, dancers and singers). He explains also the work of the owner of a ritual and his family