You can mark you interesting snippets of text that will be available through a unique link in your browser.


Wai-Wai people

Wai-Wai people

The Wai-wai (or Waiwai) are an ethnic group of Guyana and northern Brazil.

The Wai-wai in Guyana live in the far south of the country, near the headwaters of the Essequibo River.

The Umana Yana in Georgetown, Guyana, takes its name from the Wai-Wai for "meeting place".

There are approximately 200 Wai-wai in Guyana and 2000 in Brazil. In Brazil, they mostly reside in Terra Indígena Wai-wai, Terra Indígena Trombetas-Mapuera and Terra Indígena Nhamundá-Mapuera.

Shamanism

The "yaskomo" of the Waiwai (called also medicine man or shaman in the literature) is believed to be able to perform a soul flight. The soul flight can serve several functions:
* healing
* flying to the sky to consult cosmological beings (the moon or the brother of the moon) to get a name for a new-born baby
* flying to the cave of "peccaries' mountains" to ask the "father of peccaries" for abundance of game
* flying deep down in a river, to achieve the help of other beings.Thus, a yaskomo is believed to be able to reach sky, erth, water, in short, every element.Fock 1963: 16]

Notes

References

*

External links

*
*
*


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

  
Share  

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Wai-Wai — may refer to:*Wai Wai (people) Ethnic group in Brazil and Guyana. *Wai Wai (language) Carib language spoken by Wai Wai people. *Wai Wai (food) Noodle dish. * WaiWai, a discontinued column published in the Mainichi Daily News …   Wikipedia

  • Wai-Con — Infobox Anime convention name = Wai Con caption = status = Active venue = location = Perth, Western Australia country = Australia years = Since 2004 organizer = attendance = approx. 1600 in 2007 events = Anime Music Videos, Cosplay, Quickdraw art …   Wikipedia

  • People's Liberation Army —   中国人民解放军   Emblem of the People s Liberation Army Founded August 1, 1927 Service branches …   Wikipedia

  • Wai'anae, Hawai'i — Infobox Settlement official name = Waianae, Hawaii other name = native name = nickname = settlement type = CDP motto = imagesize = image caption = flag size = image seal size = image shield = shield size = image blank emblem = blank emblem type …   Wikipedia

  • Lau Wai Shing — Wai Shing Lau (simplified Chinese name: 刘偉成, born July 29, 1955 in Hong Kong) is also known as Lau Wai Shing. The family name of Lau is sometimes spelled as Liu like Liu Bang (founder of the Han dynasty) or Liu Shaoqi or Liu Bocheng. This is… …   Wikipedia

  • Chan Wai Ho — Personal information Full name …   Wikipedia

  • Tony Leung Chiu-Wai — Infobox Chinese language singer and actor name = Tony Leung Chiu Wai tradchinesename = 梁朝偉 simpchinesename = 梁朝伟 pinyinchinesename = Liáng Cháowěi jyutpingchinesename = Loeng4 Ciu4wai5 imagesize = 200px caption = birthdate = birth date and… …   Wikipedia

  • Wong Kar-wai — Infobox Chinese language singer and actor name = Wong Kar wai imagesize = 250px tradchinesename = 王家衛 simpchinesename = 王家卫 pinyinchinesename = Wáng Jiāwèi jyutpingchinesename = Wong4 Gaa1wai6 birthdate = birth date and age|1958|7|17 birthplace …   Wikipedia

  • Ng Wai Chiu — Personal information Full name Ng Wai Chiu Date of birth 22 October 1981 (1981 …   Wikipedia

  • Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China — 中華人民共和國香港特別行政區 Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People s Republic of China Sonderverwaltungszone Hongkong der Volksrepublik China …   Deutsch Wikipedia