Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
this apparently self-conscious collective decision to let Echoi vanish with
the nostalgia that tinged elders' stories about their experiences in this
place.
39
As I continued my pursuit of Echoi, this mystery deepened. It seemed
somehow related to the common sense that Echoi was not only impos-
sible to reach in the present, but that any attempt to do so was full of real
dangers. Although many elders shared their memories of Echoi, others
refused to speak about it. None dared to visit, and many whispered about
the vengeful spirits that inhabited it. I was told several times that Echoi
is now
Dajegeo
, a place to be avoided.
Dajegeo
is an old phrase, used to describe places where one could
not stay. The word is applied to sites of murder, shame, or burials. The
past lingers in such places. There, the past is contagious, capable of ris-
ing up within and overwhelming bodies and minds. I was told by the
Totobiegosode elders in Arocojnadi that
Dajegeo
is “a place where hu-
mans hunted other humans,” and if one were to visit, “there is a danger
that someone else will be killed.” If someone goes back to a
Dajegeo
place,
“they will die quickly, very quickly. Breaking a bone, maybe.”
More than anything, a
Dajegeo
place is a site contaminated by spilled
human blood. Ayoreo-speaking people reportedly never considered
blood to be a biological substance that simply disintegrated or rotted
away. Rather, it was capable of moving through time to replicate or copy
the events of its production. That is, blood was the supreme substance of
sympathetic magic for Ayoreo-speaking people.
Dajegeo
or Blood as Witness
The power of blood figured prominently in Ayoreo life. In the past, all
Ayoreo men who were not proven warriors or
dacasute
were known as
ayore poitade
, or worthless ones. To become a
dacasute
warrior—at least
within living memory—it was necessary to kill an enemy and survive
exposure to its ritually polluting blood,
iyojna.
The blood of
Cojñone
was
considered the most potent and thus the highest prestige was associated
with its shedding, whether the enemy was a man, woman or child. Sec-
ond in potency was the blood of an Ayoreo-speaking person, followed
by the blood of a jaguar. Much less powerful but still significant was the
blood of cattle and horses.
When a man vanquished an enemy, he was expected to touch the
corpse and the blood that welled from the wounds he had caused. Upon
doing so, he and his blood-spattered weapon entered into another state
