pdf: 6.426kb - University of South Africa

neously, usually letting the owner of the house take
the lead by allowing his voice to be heard over the
others. It is not unusual that rivalries will occur at
this point, when somebody tries to show more
power than others through the icaros. When a
vegetalista has disciples, it may happen that they
will follow the icaro of the teacher. It is believed
that an icaro sung by several people will have a
stronger effect.
Many people report hearing marvellous music.
The spirits come singing, and in fact the singing of
the vegetalista is orchestrated by the music and
chorus of the spirits. From time to time there are
breaks in the singing, and the vegetalista and other
people are in deep concentration contemplating
their visions. People often have periods of heavy
vomiting and diarrhoea. When the vegetalista is
`bien mareado' [very dizzy] he will call the patients
one by one and cure them, usually by blowing
smoke on their bodies to restore their lost spirits, by
rubbing them with special stones called encantos
[enchanted objects], or by sucking the inflicted
part. If the matter in question is love magic, a
photograph of the person is brought so that the
vegetalista will act on it. Sometimes only the name
and address will suffice for the vegetalista to
perform some action over the distant person.
Shamanic fights are not infrequent. The vegetalista
may realize that he is under attack by the witch
or the forces that caused illness. He will then sing
special songs which will bring his arcanas (defences)
and tingunas to his defence. It may happen
that a person is frightened by the visions, and the
vegetalista has to `take out his visions' with an
icaro, or by blowing smoke on the top of the
person's head, rubbing his body, and such. When
everything seems to be at peace, and there are
beautiful visions, it may happen that the persons
taking part in the session will dance. Musical
instruments are sometimes used in sessions.
After several hours the vegetalista finally keeps
silent, and people may sleep on the spot or tell
stories in the dark. Patients may stay there until the
morning, or leave the place after they have been
healed.
Vegetalismo and Healing
We have already seen that vegetalismo is still a very
active practice in the Peruvian Amazon. Wils
(1967:131) found that over 25 per cent of the people
he questioned in Bele n, Iquitos, preferred empõÂricos
(folk healers) to Western doctors. Dobkin de Rios
(1984:67) sees this as a conservative figure. I went to
several healing sessions with my informants in various
parts of Iquitos and the RõÂ o Napo area, and found
many people attending these ceremonies. In one
ceremony with Don Herman, on the outskirts of
Iquitos, there were twenty-two people in attendance.
Most of my informants in the RõÂo Napo area, as
previously stated, had an average of ten patients per
week, and in Iquitos, up to ten patients per day.
Dobkin de Rios (1984:82) found that the destitute
who live in Bele n, find the ayahuasca healer far more
effective than the indifferent medical services available
to them. Vegetalistas, due to their possession of an
intimate understanding of the social community in
which they are immersed, and their proficiency in the
use of medicinal plants and healing metaphors,
contribute significantly to the physical and mental
health of the people of rural areas and the urban poor
(Luna 1991:13). While the ayahuasquero gears his
prices to the ability of his patient to pay, the large city
hospital's public wards provide no medical service
inexpensive enough for the empty pockets of the
poor. Formal medical consultations are generally far
too costly for poor people, and the city hospital has
the reputation of being a place that the poor go to in
order to die (Dobkin de Rios 1984:78±82).
The medical clinics and offices are totally foreign
and even sometimes terrifyingly alien, especially to the
rural mestizos. The Western doctors usually have very
little time and charge too much. The vegetalista often
opens his home to the patients, even for long periods
of time, provides counselling, shows interest in the
financial and emotional problems of his patients,
amuses them with his stories, even offers them what
we would call forms of family therapy (Luna
1986:161).
Don Fernando, one of my informants, went for a
week to a village close to Iquitos, where he treated
two of his patients. He stayed there all the time giving
plant remedies, emotional and spiritual support, only
in exchange for the cost of his transport by colectivo
(river boat) and free accommodation and food. In
other healing ceremonies, I have noticed that some
patients will give the vegetalista fish, yucca, mapachos
(native cigarettes) or other kind of produce, in
exchange for their consultation. In most cases the
patients were too poor to offer any payment, which
the vegetalista accepted without any complaints. I
have found that vegetalistas very seldom expect any
kind of payment, but will always welcome any gifts.
The vegetalistas prepare special tonics, herb baths,
and diets for their patients. As well as employing an
immense number of plants and vegetable substances
in their treatments, they will also make use of
proprietary medicines (Dobkin de Rios 1984:82).
The system of ethno medicine practised by the
mestizo healer can in some sense be regarded as an
alternative health care system. The urban mestizo who
is poor, barred by economic factors from all but the
barest access to health care based on Western
medicine, looks to the ayahuasquero and his magical
and botanical remedies for medical, psychiatric, and
56 ISSN 0256±6060±Unisa Lat. Am. Rep. 16(2) 2000