Abstract

BELAUNDE, Luisa Elvira  and  ECHEVERRI, Juan Alvaro. El yoco del cielo es cultivado: perspectivas sobre Paullinia yoco en el chamanismo airo-pai (secoya-tucano occidental). Anthropologica [online]. 2008, vol.26, n.26, pp.87-112. ISSN 0254-9212.

This article associates Airo-pai shamanistic vision and interpreta-tion of dreams with their silvicultural management of yoco (Pau¬llinia yoco), a wild vine rich in caffeine, endemic to the pleistocene refuge of Napo. According to Airo-pai ethnobotanic notions, yoco is a plant that «gives advice» to those who intake it. From the analysis of a shamanic chant of yajé (Banisteriopsis caapi), myths and interpretation of dreams, we show how the management of this species is conceived from contrasting perspectives: for celestial beings, yoco is a domesticated plant that grows in the celestial gardens; for cuacuiyó (yoco’s «Master»), a seed-dispersing bird, yoco is its own plantation; and for terrestrial human beings, the collec-tion of wild yoco is like hunting, associated in dreams with the nocturnal curassow (Nothocrax urumutum). This study thus illustrates the relevance of a perspectivist approach to understand the ethno-botanic lore underlying the management and extraction of a wild species of ritual and practical importance.

Keywords : Airo-pai; Secoya; Paullinia yoco; Amazonian chamanism; silviculture and extraction of medicinal plants.

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