Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
to one zone, such as
curude
red ocher. The possession of such items was
reportedly a source of conflict, except in the unlikely case that they re-
mained in a state of nearly continuous motion between owners.
I was told that, at Echoi, young, unmarried people started temporary
love affairs and families arranged marriages with people from other
groups. “The young men from different groups would play at night to-
gether with different girls. They were together for the nights that they
stayed at Echoi.” Young men would commonly decide to go on visits
(
daquiaque, dajetagode
, or
ugumieaque
) to the country of another group,
particularly if they were interested in a young woman. This is what hap-
pened to Jnupi:
My wife was a Guidaigoto, and her people lived over there between Tres Cruces and
pozo. The people of her mother lived there. My people are direquednejnaigosode. I
met my wife at echoi and took her back to my people. We have been together since
then.
During encounters that would last all night (
a niome yoque
), men and
women from different groups would gather to discuss the events of the
past year and exchange stories at Echoi. As one Totobiegose from Aroco-
jnadi recalled,
The people loved going to echoi because they would meet other groups and give
each other many gifts. We told our stories, of hunting or if someone killed a jaguar or
if someone killed a
Cojñoi
, during those nights at echoi. They always talked a lot, but
more than talking they would sing.
By all accounts, singing figures prominently in elders' memories of Echoi.
As I was told, singing “brings out what is inside” (
chijna bajeode a guesi
),
referring to an act of publicizing the corporeal seat of emotions. Citing an
emotional event in a song is believed to ideally provoke the circulation
of
ayipie
soul matter. It is the locus of individual personality, but it can
also be shared among two or more people, such as spouses, families, and
members of any group focused on a particular task. Those who share one
ayipie
are presumed to possess similar attitudes, particularly about proper
morality. Songs were exchanged between groups at Echoi in a highly
ordered way. Through such song exchanges, Ayoreo-speaking people es-
tablished a sentimental register for the face-to-face narration of events. A
sweet (
uneja
) song is said to cause people to share the same feeling, while
a bitter (
derocoro
) song is seen to be an inadequate vehicle for commu-
nicating either the poignancy of the lyrical situation or the potency of
