Translated by Heath Mayhew & Ximena Cordova
II ACANTHACEAE
Justicia sp.
Det: D. Wasshausen, 1990.
Chimane: Viyucure. Español:
San Antonio: A cotton grass up to a meter tall. Lance-shaped leaves and small purple flowers. Of pleasant, almond-like, smell. Uncertain crop; may be cultivated or sporadic in family gardens.
G.O. - 34 / LPB. (Flowers: August).
USES
Firstly, it is used as a common remedy known throughout the Chimane: The leaves are prepared by grinding and then boiling; the decoction is drunk to fight infections of the respiratory system (1)(ejevadye: whooping cough (lit. cough from choking)).
The second use has two methods. The first follows the same procedure as before, except the water is not drunk. The leaves are left to marinate the water throughout the night to be used for a morning bath. This bath must be performed at dawn for two consecutive days. The third day one mustn’t take a bath; and after the third day has passed, the treatment should abate “laziness”. It is important to remember, “not to touch water” during the three days, that is to say, you must abstain from taking a bath with regular water. This first method is suggestive when we consider the informant and his religious affiliation from which this use is derived — a young man educated in the bilingual school of the Evangelical New Tribes Mission (M.N.T.). This contrasts with the second method, collected and corroborated in different circumstances.
In the second method, baths are also the central element and are noteworthy as one of the primary passages required for the shamanic initiation (2). In contrast to the first method, the baths must be taken for two weeks and only at night, starting on a night of full moon. The baths mark the initiation of apprenticeship, which also requires the student to observe, in addition to complete isolation, a strict diet (nuts, fruits, certain vegetables; no meats) and abstinence throughout his apprenticeship. With the completion of this process, an important quality arises, which is dutifully recognized by the Viyucure: your smell (3). The smell rises like an invitation for the appearance of a woman called Ocajsi. Based on these conditions, Ocajsi makes her appearance and becomes the principle helper or mediator; she accompanies the aspirant during the entire process of his apprenticeship, whose first stage culminates (after a year or two) with the return to his family or village, finally converted to cocojsi, a shaman. The bond created between Ocajsi and the cocojsi is still maintained after the initiation is finished and is strengthened by a constant and dynamic process of teaching-learning that never seems to fully culminate or stop. In this sense, Ocajsi accompanies the cocojsi permanently, developing a series of contacts with special beings that instruct the cocojsi of a specific therapeutic technique. Ocajsi, belonging to and inhabiting many mythical world religions, is similar in appearance to women in general. The link that is established with cocojsi is like a solid pact (or bond) that eventually crosses over to matrimony, which is to say, she becomes his wife and may later bear his children. The children, apparently, develop a life in the world of the mother.
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Footnotes:
(1) Grenand et.al.(1987: 89-90), in reference to family and gender says: “..the use of this species, or more precisely of the those varieties, as a hallucinogen has recently prompted a thorough chemical study of her properties. This drug doesn’t contain the active antimicrobial that could be used to treat infections in the respiratory system.”
(2) In the Descripción del Territorio, etc.(1905: 138), the initiation rites are described by the following way: “To obtain the title of Cucucsi they must go through a test… The candidate is presented to the Cucucsi, who would wash their body with the juice of the herbs, called Moseteno Zaraca…”.
(3) Schultes, R.E.(1990), “we present an important compilation of studies with Justicia and its utilization as a hallucinogen for various ethnic groups in the Amazon. The anthropological issues regarding use, even aspects of botanical interest, and phytochemical, has similarities in the analysis of active principles in Justicia pectoralis. Additional studies of other ethnic groups from the Amazon helped complete the study, and where the reported uses, similar to the results from the different chemical analyses, validate that the plants, J.pectoralis y J. pectoralis var.stenophylla, are more important in South America.”
Justicia sp.
Det: D. Wasshausen, 1990.
Chimane: Viyucure. Español:
San Antonio: A cotton grass up to a meter tall. Lance-shaped leaves and small purple flowers. Of pleasant, almond-like, smell. Uncertain crop; may be cultivated or sporadic in family gardens.
G.O. - 34 / LPB. (Flowers: August).
USES
Firstly, it is used as a common remedy known throughout the Chimane: The leaves are prepared by grinding and then boiling; the decoction is drunk to fight infections of the respiratory system (1)(ejevadye: whooping cough (lit. cough from choking)).
The second use has two methods. The first follows the same procedure as before, except the water is not drunk. The leaves are left to marinate the water throughout the night to be used for a morning bath. This bath must be performed at dawn for two consecutive days. The third day one mustn’t take a bath; and after the third day has passed, the treatment should abate “laziness”. It is important to remember, “not to touch water” during the three days, that is to say, you must abstain from taking a bath with regular water. This first method is suggestive when we consider the informant and his religious affiliation from which this use is derived — a young man educated in the bilingual school of the Evangelical New Tribes Mission (M.N.T.). This contrasts with the second method, collected and corroborated in different circumstances.
In the second method, baths are also the central element and are noteworthy as one of the primary passages required for the shamanic initiation (2). In contrast to the first method, the baths must be taken for two weeks and only at night, starting on a night of full moon. The baths mark the initiation of apprenticeship, which also requires the student to observe, in addition to complete isolation, a strict diet (nuts, fruits, certain vegetables; no meats) and abstinence throughout his apprenticeship. With the completion of this process, an important quality arises, which is dutifully recognized by the Viyucure: your smell (3). The smell rises like an invitation for the appearance of a woman called Ocajsi. Based on these conditions, Ocajsi makes her appearance and becomes the principle helper or mediator; she accompanies the aspirant during the entire process of his apprenticeship, whose first stage culminates (after a year or two) with the return to his family or village, finally converted to cocojsi, a shaman. The bond created between Ocajsi and the cocojsi is still maintained after the initiation is finished and is strengthened by a constant and dynamic process of teaching-learning that never seems to fully culminate or stop. In this sense, Ocajsi accompanies the cocojsi permanently, developing a series of contacts with special beings that instruct the cocojsi of a specific therapeutic technique. Ocajsi, belonging to and inhabiting many mythical world religions, is similar in appearance to women in general. The link that is established with cocojsi is like a solid pact (or bond) that eventually crosses over to matrimony, which is to say, she becomes his wife and may later bear his children. The children, apparently, develop a life in the world of the mother.
_______________________________________________
Footnotes:
(1) Grenand et.al.(1987: 89-90), in reference to family and gender says: “..the use of this species, or more precisely of the those varieties, as a hallucinogen has recently prompted a thorough chemical study of her properties. This drug doesn’t contain the active antimicrobial that could be used to treat infections in the respiratory system.”
(2) In the Descripción del Territorio, etc.(1905: 138), the initiation rites are described by the following way: “To obtain the title of Cucucsi they must go through a test… The candidate is presented to the Cucucsi, who would wash their body with the juice of the herbs, called Moseteno Zaraca…”.
(3) Schultes, R.E.(1990), “we present an important compilation of studies with Justicia and its utilization as a hallucinogen for various ethnic groups in the Amazon. The anthropological issues regarding use, even aspects of botanical interest, and phytochemical, has similarities in the analysis of active principles in Justicia pectoralis. Additional studies of other ethnic groups from the Amazon helped complete the study, and where the reported uses, similar to the results from the different chemical analyses, validate that the plants, J.pectoralis y J. pectoralis var.stenophylla, are more important in South America.”
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