Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
I was told that urusori itself had undergone a fundamental change.
Prior to contact, it was attributed to transgressing the puyaque moral pro-
hibitions of ritually powerful spirit beings, particularly Poji , or Iguana. In
the past, a person struck with urusori was thought to mimic and acquire
the traits of Poji . Like an Iguana, the afflicted ones would run to the forest,
sleep in the daytime in a hole they dug underground, and eat the raw,
uncooked foods favored by Iguana. They acquired superhuman capacities
to fly through the forest, appearing first one place then another far away.
More than anything else, they were defined by fear, their animallike com-
pulsion to run from or instinctively attack their own people, their terror
of fire, their compromised language. In other words, those afflicted by
urusori lost the defining core of their moral humanity. In the absence of
their ayipie , they became nonhuman beings.
The story of one such possession goes like this. Once, Poji took away
the ayipie of Cojnoquedi'de. He ran from a Cojñoi , then lay down on a
piece of wood to sleep and had a bad dream about Poji , and that is when
his sickness began. Poji came in his dream and took away his ayipie . He
went alone to the forest with his wife and hunted at night. He could see
at night because of his affliction. He said, “We cannot go back because
the others are going to kill me.” His wife said, “They aren't going to kill
you.” But he didn't pay attention to her. His people came looking for
them and found his wife alone. They followed his tracks. Very far. But his
tracks ended because he had flown through the air. Maybe with the help
of some little birds, some doves. Then they heard a yell very far away.
That's when they knew he was no longer human but uruso. The next
day they found him under the ground, buried in a hole, and they pulled
him out. He grabbed his spear and tried to kill his own brother. They
grabbed his spear but couldn't take it from him, even when they were all
working together. Then he fell and he died. He didn't lay like a person but
he lay bent like a Poji on the ground. They did many ujñarone but he was
no longer breathing. For hours they left him there. When they looked
again they saw one vein begin to move. Later his body began to move,
and he started to breathe. They spoke to him but he did not answer. He
was no longer a person but an animal, a Poji . His body was yellow. The
people waited. Suddenly he jumped up and took off running. They fol-
lowed him. His brother caught him and tied him to a tree and healed-
by-blowing. He used strong ujñarone and wooden crosses. And finally he
was cured. He was cured and then he became angry at the Cojñone , who
Poji had used to take away his ayipie . When he was better, he went to kill
the Cojñone . There is a place by Chaidi where he killed some of those
Cojñone later.
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