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Overview
The rich storytelling traditions of the Alto Perené Arawaks of eastern Peru are showcased in this bilingual collection of traditional narratives, ethnographic accounts, women’s autobiographical stories, songs, chants, and ritual speeches. The Alto Perené speakers are located in the colonization frontier at the foot of the eastern Andes and the western fringe of the Amazonian jungle. Unfortunately, their language has a slim chance of surviving because only about three hundred fluent speakers remain. This volume collects and preserves the power and vitality of Alto Perené oral and linguistic traditions, as told by thirty members of the Native community.
Upper Perené Arawak Narratives of History, Landscape, and Ritual covers a range of themes in the Alto Perené oral tradition, through genres such as myths, folk tales, autobiographical accounts, and ethnographic texts about customs and rituals, as well as songs, chants, and oratory. Transcribed and translated by Elena Mihas, a specialist in Northern Kampa language varieties, and grounded in the actual performances of Alto Perené speakers, this collection makes these stories available in English for the first time. Each original text in Alto Perené is accompanied by an English translation, and each theme is introduced with an essay providing biographical, cultural, and linguistic information. This collection of oral literature is masterful and authoritative as well as entertaining and provocative, testifying to the power of Alto Perené storytelling.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780803265295 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Nebraska |
| Publication date: | 12/01/2014 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 416 |
| File size: | 3 MB |
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Upper Perené Arawak Narratives of History, Landscape, and Ritual
By Elena Mihas, Gregorio Pérez, Delia Rosas Rodríguez
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA PRESS
Copyright © 2014 Board of Regents of the University of NebraskaAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8032-6529-5
CHAPTER 1
Pava vitsikirori kipatsi
(Pava, Who Made the Earth)
Cristobal Jumanga Lopez
1 Ankinkitsatakoteri aparoni. 2 Ikantakota pairani acharinite ikinkitsatakotziri ikantziri pava. 3 Maatsi pava pairani ashita-riri, vitsikirori kipatsi iroñaaka. 4 Maatsi mava itomi, osheki ivari iririntzipaye paita ankantakote iyora shima, jetari, poña iyora paitari shaa. 5 Ikantzi osheki ivari ishaninkapaye. 6 Ikantavitari inavita ashitariri, "Notomi, aitaki pivakari pirintzitepaye."
7 Aikiro ijatatzi iva. 8 Poña ikantzi, "Tsika nonkanterika neentsiteve?" 9 Poña ikinkishiriaka pava, ikantzi, "Novashiñii-rita." 10 Ivitsikakiniri aparoni iviari, ipakiri, ikantziri, "Notomi, piri."
11 Iraki, ipakiri pashini, pashini ipakiri, ikaratzi mava. 12 Ari okaratzi ipakiri, shinkitaka, ikimita iroñaaka tampa-tzika. 13 Ikantziri, "Notomi, pimaye." 14 Maajeetaki.
15 Poña ikinkishiriaka pava ikantzi, "Tsika nompiirika iroñaaka yoka notomipayeka? 16 Iyoka nintavakia nompia-vakiri shaa vantana, ikanta antarite iraikipaye, oshitovapin-tsakiyetaki iraiki, okanta ivantayetaka." 17 Inoshikakiniri, itsopakiniri, iminkiakiniri aka, ishetakikika, irotaki ishetakitajari. 18 Poña itasonkakiri, ikantakiri, "Afuu, shaa pimpiya iroñaaka. 19 Samapakana pivari pirintzite, iroñaaka pivajiari mani, katsitoripaye, irotaki pinkiyantyarori pishetaki, arive."
20 Poña ivasakiriajiri. 21 Itzimpatakiniri iroñaaka ivante, itzimpatsovakitakiniri, añaajeetziri shaa iroñaaka saikatsiri kirinka, añiiriri ikantatsovakitzita. 22 Pava tzimpatakiniri pairani, okantzi ñaantsi iroñaaka, pava tzimpatakiniri, ikantzi, "Afuu, shaa pimpiya." 23 Ipiakiri pava.
24 Poña yaminaki nariatya shima, ipitariatzitaka. 25 Ivasaki-riajiri, ikantzi, "Notomi, pintzinai."
26 Yaminakiniri itsarateki, iñaakiro ivatsa atziri, yatziri-vatsate, ivakeniri jaka. 27 Añiiri shimaranki akaranki iitoki-ranki, ñaakiro yatzirivatsate. 28 Ivari atziri, ivakiniri aka. 29 Ari ikimitakiri jetari, ivakiniri aisatzi jaka. 30 Ijataki pava ikantziri, "Irotaki osheetye, notomi. 31 Pimpiirinte, tsame pijate pinkaatya, pimpishinkiriajiata, shinkitakami, pimpishinkiriajiata."
32 Iri intakaro pava, itsitziyaki nijaaki, tsapon, inoshikaki mapi okaakitapaki otsapiaki. 33 Poña ikantakiri itomini, "Notomi, pimitatyera avirokakia iroñaaka, nokimitaka naaka nomitaka." 34 Mitanaka shima, itsitonkapakaro iroñaaka mapi ivanteki. 35 Irotaki añaantariri shima ipiatonokivaita irirori ikantatonokivaita.
36 Poña ikantakiri, "Afuu, aviroka pimpiya shima, ari pisaikatye nijaaki ivajiamita pirintzitepaye, okaratzi pivakari avirori."
37 Ari ikimitari jetari. 38 Mianaka jetari, ari itsirikapaka mapiki. 39 Iro añaantariri ikantatonatzita jetari.
40 "Ari pinkimitajiari pimpiajia jetari, ari pinkiaji mapita-piki, pirintzite okaratzi pivajeetari pairani. 41 Ari yaminajimi, ivajiami avirori."
42 Ari otsonka, opiapaja iroñaaka okaratzi ivakari pairani. 43 Avajari shima iroñaaka, añaantari akovityeri avari shima, jetari. 44 Ari otsonkapakari kinkitsarentsi.
1 We will talk about somebody. 2 Long ago our elders told about him, they called him Pava. 3 There was Pava who was their lord, who made the earth. 4 Pava had three sons, and they were eating their brothers, as we shall say, chupadoras (small fish species), carachamas (fish species), and then those called anteaters. 5 They say, they ate a lot of their fellow men. 6 The father was saying to them in vain, "My sons, it is enough that you have been eating your brothers."
7 They continued to go [hunting] and eating [humans]. 8 Then Pava said, "What shall I do to my children?" 9 Then Pava gave some thought to it and said, "I will entrap them." 10 He made a drink, gave it to one son, and said to him, "Have a drink, son."
11 He drank, and Pava gave it to another, the other son drank it; he gave it to all three. 12 He gave it to all of them, and they got drunk, [when] it was around midday. 13 Pava said to his sons, "Sleep, my sons." 14 They fell asleep.
15 Then Pava gave it some thought and said, "What shall I transform these sons of mine into?16 I will begin with this one, I will transform him into an anteater, because he has big teeth, his teeth protrude forward, he eats with them." 17 He pulled his son's teeth, pulled them out with the roots, and inserted them here, into his nails, these are the nails the anteater has had since then. 18 Then he blew on him and said, "Afuu, you will turn into an anteater now. 19 I'm fed up with you eating your brothers, now you'll eat bullet ants, small ants, with these nails you will dig for them well."
20 Then Pava made his son wake up. 21 He elongated his mouth, he elongated his snout, [that's why] we see anteaters downstream, we see that they have long snouts. 22 Pava elongated them, as the Book [the Bible] says, Pava elongated the snout and said, "Afuu, you will turn into an anteater." 23 Pava converted him.
24 Then he saw that Chupadora was lying with spread-eagled legs. 25 He made his son wake up and said, "My son, get up."
26 He looked in his son's bag and saw the meat of a person, human flesh, and he placed it here [points to his forehead]. 27 [That's why] we see it on Chupadora's head here, you've seen it, human flesh. 28 His son ate people, and Pava placed the meat here. 29 He did the same to Carachama, he also placed it here [points to his forehead]. 30 He went [up to his son] and said, "It is getting dark, my son. 31 Get up, let's go and bathe, you'll sober up, you are drunk, you'll sober up."
32 Pava began [bathing in the river], he dove into the water, tsapon (the splashing action produced by a heavy object), and pulled out a stone near the riverbank. 33 Then he said to his son, "My son, now you'll jump too, like I jumped." 34 Chupadora jumped and smashed his mouth against the stone. 35 That's why we see Chupadora with the transformed mouth, it has a massive mouth.
36 Then Pava said, "Afuu, you will convert into a chupadora, you will live in the water, and your brothers will eat you, exactly like you ate them before."
37 Pava did the same to Carachama. 38 Carachama jumped and stuck to the stone. 39 That's why it has a thick mouth now.
40 "You'll transform into a carachama and will stay under the stones. 41 Your brothers, whom you ate before, will be looking for you to eat you."
42 So it ended, all [the food supply] vanished, what they [the brothers] ate long ago. 43 We eat fish, but there is lack of chupa doras and carachamas. 44 This is where my story ends.
CHAPTER 2Okoñaatantakari kaniri
(How Sweet Manioc Appeared)
Alberto Pérez Espinoza
1 Nonkinkitsatakotero aparoni kooya mairentzinkaro, imai-rentaitziro ovankoshiki. 2 Pairani tekatsi kaniri. 3 Kaatsi kaniri, ijatzi iri yaminayetzi intaina, itsipatanakaro iina, ipokaji sheeteni.4 Ari ikantatya kitaiteriki, yamayetaji kapicheeni ivavaityari tsika opaityarika ivarite.
5 Aparojatzini iroñaaka ishitovashitakiro tsinaro, antarite tsinaro. 6 Yatziritzimotakiro kooyara ipankoshitzirira ovankoshiki. 7 Yatziritzimotakiro, yamaki kaniri. 8 Antaro imotyatsa-tetzi. 9 Ikantziro, "Kooya, paatzikena aka nomotyakika." 10 Aatzikakiri, shitovanaki kaniri, akishirintsipaye.
11 Arika ijate iri antamiki, ari ikantatya ipokapintzi. 12 Iroñaaka piyanaja kitaiteriki. 13 Iniro otsipatari oimi ojajeetzi amini ovarite ovajeetyari, ikantziri pairani, tekatsi kaniri. 14 Ari ikantatya ipipiyata, ipokaji pashini kitaiteri, yamaji kaniri. 15 Aisatzi ikantapaji, "Paatzikajena," shitovanaji kaniripaye, kaniri, okaratzi iroñaaka ivaitari kaniripaye.
16 Poña pashiniki kitaiteri, aisatzi ipiyaja, yamaki iroñaaka ovatzi impankiyeteri, onkantya ivajeetyari. 17 Iroñaaka jaitetzi iniro aminaji ovaritepaye antamiki. 18 Ojatzi intaina iniroraja. 19 Te ojate, osaikaki omanaka oñaantyari iroñaaka amatsiri iyaniri. 20 Omanaka. 21 Opiyaka, opiyaka. 22 Ari opianaka iyaniri, tekatsitaji kaniri iroñaaka. 23 Kantzimaitacha ipankitanaki ovato, shookamashini kaniri iroñaaka.
24 Poña okantziro ishinto, "Kooya, paitakama pokatsiri amayetzirori kaniri?" 25 Te onkinkitsate. 26 Ikantakiro, "Airo pikamantziro piniro, arika pinkamantaki, ari ompiajia kaniri, tekatsi avajia."
27 Te iroñaaka, ipankitakira, tzimaki aajatzita kaniri.
28 Ojataki iroñaaka, okantakiro ishinto, "Nojatatye antoo antamiki." 29 Amatavitakiro ishinto, manaka. 30 Poñaashitaka, opiyaja oñaapatziri shiramparira, ikinkitsatakavaitziro ishinto. 31 Ari opianaka kaniri. 32 Te impokaje shiramparira, pianaja tsitsiri, jataji yatzirivitakara ovakeraini.
33 Poña ipokaji oimi ipoñaajara antamiki. 34 Yaminavitapajari kitaiteriki, te impokaji, tekatsitaji kaniri, tekatsi ivajia. 35 Ikantziro iina, "Paita pimishiyantakariri shirampariranki amapintatsiriranki kaniri? 36 Iroñaaka kaatsi avajia." 37 Ipasavaitakiro iina. 38 Ikantziro, "Aviroka kantakashitakaro, te añaajiri shirampariranki amapintatsiri iyaniri."
39 Ari okaratzi nokinkitsatakaimiri, pasonki. 1
I will tell about a young woman in seclusion who was placed in a menarche hut. 2 In the old times, there was no sweet manioc. 3 There was no sweet manioc, and the father would go out to look for food in a distant area, together with his wife, and both would come back home in the darkness. 4 So it was every day that they would bring a little bit of something to eat.
5 One day a grasshopper, a big grasshopper appeared. 6 He turned into a human being in front of the girl, in the secluded area of her menarche hut. 7 He turned into a human being and brought her sweet manioc. 8 He had a big rounded stomach. 9 The Grasshopper man said to her, "Woman, step on my stomach, here." 10 She did, and sweet manioc, lots of grilled sweet manioc came out.
11 When her father would go to the forest, the Grasshopper man would always come. 12 The Grasshopper man would return during the day. 13 The mother together with the father would go to the forest to look for food so that they all could eat, as it was said, there was no sweet manioc [in the old times]. 14 So it was, the Grasshopper man would always come back and bring sweet manioc. 15 He would say, "Step on me," and sweet manioc would come out, which has been eaten since then.
16 Then, one day he [the Grasshopper man] came back and brought seedlings of sweet manioc, so that they could plant them and eat the crop. 17 Now, the girl's father went to the forest to look for food. 18 The mother went far away. 19 But she didn't go: she stayed and hid to find out who brings sweet manioc [to them]. 20 She hid. 21 She would come back repeatedly [to the menarche hut]. 22 Sweet manioc disappeared, there was no manioc. 23 Nonetheless, they planted it, and it sprouted.
24 She asked her daughter, "Woman, who comes to bring sweet manioc?" 25 The daughter didn't tell her. 26 The Grasshopper man had told her, "Don't advise your mother; if you advise her, sweet manioc will disappear, there will be nothing to eat."
27 Nowadays, it doesn't [matter because] when they planted it, sweet manioc came into existence.
28 The mother went up to the daughter and said to her, "I will go far away to the forest." 29 She deceived her daughter and hid. 30 Afterward, she returned [to the menarche hut] and saw a man who was conversing with her daughter. 31 This is how sweet manioc disappeared. 32 He didn't return, that man, because he turned into a grasshopper and went away, [but] he had been a person before.
33 Then the woman's husband came back from the forest. 34 They looked for the Grasshopper man, but he didn't come, and there was no manioc, and nothing to eat. 35 He said to his wife, "Why did you drive away the man who was always bringing sweet manioc? 36 Now there is nothing to eat." 37 He beat up his wife. 38 He said to her, "You are guilty, because now we don't see the man who was always bringing sweet manioc."
39 This is all that I have told you, thanks.
CHAPTER 3Okoñaatantari paamari
(How Fire Came into Existence)
Ruth Quillatupa Lopez
1 Iroñaaka nokinkitsatakotavakero okanta pairani otzi-mantakari avaamaritepaye. 2 Iroñaaka aparoni ashaninka ikamaki oime, pairani te añeero posporopaye. 3 Iroñaaka osaikavaitzi ashinonkavaita apaniroini. 4 Oñaatziro aparoni chorito opokaki, osatevoinataro omantsaki. 5 Iroñaakakia opokapaji, okantziro, "Otyankatyana isha, okantzi, 'Paanakiniro paamari, antaroite ashinonkaka.'" 6 Iroñaaka okantziro, "Niroka, otyankakemi posporo poisantajiarori paamari. 7 Airo pitsivakero, ari pikantaitatyeyani poishero, otsivakapitsatzimikari."
8 Irotaki iroñaakaja oisakiniro paamari. 9 Ari okasavaiveta oyaniri, antzi oviari, atzirintakarira ivaitzirira, iroñaaka oviari, eh, kirankaitaitaki, okasavaitakirira kirapetokirini oyaniri.
10 Okanta, okanta iroñaaka ipokashitakiro antarite pakitsa. 11 Okantziri otomira, "Ñaakero, chapinki nokantzimi, ari asaikaki kameetsa. 12 Iroñaaka tsika okanta avavaitaja?" 13 Iroñaakaja otsivakajero ovaamaritera.
14 Poñaashitaka ipokashitakero patyankori. 15 Pokake iroñaaka inijakero, yamakiniro inchakii. 16 Oñaakiri ikinapaki kityonkari iitsari, te oñaapinterita. 17 Iroñaaka ipokakera, ikantzirokia, "Airo pimasontotzi ashaninka, pichenkite mapi, ari omorikaki. 18 Pintye ampee, aririka pinteyake ampee, paroviro, poñaashitaka paake inchakiira potsotzi."19Irotaki inijairi. 20 Ikantzi, 21 "Incharanki, pamini, ari piyoteri." 22 Yaake, yaavitatakiro, ikantziro, shoki, shoki, shoki, shoki, shoki !23 Paamaritanaki iroñaaka irora ampeera, irotaki ovaamaritetajari.
24 Iroñaaka irora ovakirora chapinkiranki choritora ovaamarite, irotaki añaantarori choritoranki aka, omorikiranki itapinomaki, irotaki ovaamarite. 25 Iroñaaka patyankori, "Tsame amirokavaki." 26 Ikantakiro ampeeki, iñaatziro omorikanaki.
27 Irotaki oyotantayetarori aparopaye ashaninkapayera iroñaaka.
1 I will tell you how fire appeared in the old times. 2 There was one fellow woman, her husband died, and they didn't have matches in the old times. 3 Someone saw her suffering. 4 The widow saw the Blue-headed parrot woman come, with her head being covered with her cushma (traditional robe). 5 The Blue-headed parrot woman came and said, "I was sent by your grandmother, and she said, 'Take this match to her because she is suffering a lot.'" 6 So the Blue-headed parrot woman said to the widow, "Here it is, she sent you matches to make a fire. 7 Don't put it out, you should keep it burning, so that no one extinguishes it."
8 She lit a fire for her. 9 So the widow boiled her manioc and made manioc beer, and because the fire was from someone who used to be a person, who was killed, the food was reddish, and the pieces of cooked manioc were red.
10 Some time passed, and the Big-hawk man came. [When the Bighawk man came, the Blue-headed parrot woman put out the fire because she didn't want other people to use it.] 11 The widow said to her son, "You've seen it, recently I told you that we were fine. 12 How are we going to eat now?" 13 Her fire was extinguished.
14 Then the Squirrel man came. 15 He came to teach the widow and brought wood sticks. 16 The widow saw the Squirrel man walk, dressed in a red cushma; she had never seen him before. 17 When he came, he said to her, "Don't be dumb, our fellow woman, you have to strike the stone [with another stone], and it [the cotton] will burn. 18 You will spread a thick piece of cotton fabric, dry it in the sun, and then take an annatto stick." 19 This is what he taught her. 20 He said, 21 "Well, look, this is how you will learn." 22 He took a stick, put it between his feet, and rubbed the stick with his hands, shoki, shoki, shoki, shoki (rubbing action). 23 The cotton [which was positioned below the stick] caught fire [from the hot stick]; it was what lit the fire.
24 That's why we can now see a red area here that the blue-headed parrot species has [under its tail feathers]—it was the flame of the fire that burned it. 25 The Squirrel man said, "Let's rub it [again]." 26 He did it with cotton, and the wood went aflame.
27 That's why some of our fellow men know it [how to make fire].
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Upper Perené Arawak Narratives of History, Landscape, and Ritual by Elena Mihas, Gregorio Pérez, Delia Rosas Rodríguez. Copyright © 2014 Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska. Excerpted by permission of UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA PRESS.
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Table of Contents
Contents
List of Illustrations,Acknowledgments,
Introduction: Objective, Method, Data, and Structure,
Orthography,
Abbreviations,
Synopsis of Texts,
PART ONE. HISTORY,
PART TWO. LANDSCAPE,
PART THREE. RITUAL,
Concluding Remarks,
Appendix: Ideophones Used by the Narrators,
Notes,
Glossary,
References,
Index,