Language Contact and Documentation: Contacto Linguistico y Documentacion

132 Mutua Mehinaku & Bruna Franchetto
3.2 Kuigi igisü, The Manioc Song 7
Kuigi igisü is the song of a dangerous spirit, the manioc spirit, Isuhu in Kuikuro
and Kukuhü in Mehinaku and Wauja.
The masters of song say that all manioc songs are chants: as such, they
are in Arawak, although other songs from this ritual are in Carib. The song is
performed to animate the manioc spirit so that the swidden will have the vitality
to grow.
The song chosen below contain words that sound Arawak but that are impossible
to translate since there are vestiges of an ancient language:
Hééé hééé!!
Kefehiju, Kefehiju
Natu tíga, natu tíga
Junufafa uleheji, uleheji
Afukagi
Kefehijugi, kefehijugi
Natu kefeiju
Uleui kefeiju
Kefeiju kefeiju
Kefe íjugi
Kefe kefe íjugi
Kami, kami
Kaami, kaami hu
Nufetege ekuatafata
Nufetege uakanhiuaku
Uakanhiuaku nitsa
3.3 The Hagaka ritual
Each ethnic group from the Upper Xingu calls the same ritual by a different
name, depending on their language. We can see an example here: the Kuikuro
call Javari ihagaka, ‘arrow with a wax ball on the tip.’ In Yawalapiti the name
is ihralaka (an adaptation of the Carib ihagaka). The Mehinaku and Wauja borrow
the term from the Tupi Yawari.
The Hakaga originated with the journey of a boy called Kusu Gitugü (Curassow-Head),
an ancestor of the Trumai, who decided to leave the village because
his fiancée had refused to marry him. Distraught, he left his village,
heading in any direction, with the intention of marrying a girl from another
village. In the past it was common to hear accounts of these kinds of events in
7 Also known as i igisü (tree song), agü igisü (seed song), atuhi igisü (digging stick song).