Amazonian Narratives: “Anchasipage Agabisaikotiro Iratagaengakainika Kamagari”: Plants That Cure the Evil Wind among the Nomatsigenga

Abstract

This article examines narratives about medicinal plants among the Nomatsigenga people, focusing on the owners of the plants used for healing and on how one should speak to the plants. Medicinal plants have an owner, Agantanerigegira, who is considered responsible for causing illness or harm. When a person becomes ill, they exhibit symptoms recognized by grandparents and mothers, who identify the cause of the illness (Iratagaengakainika Kamagari / “The evil wind strikes us”). To cure it, they seek plants such as Tsiritosi, Tsitiniripini, kamatsirinitongisi, imagatsarasi kamagari, among others. These plants are usually prepared as a medicinal brew to treat the illness. When it is administered, the elders speak to the plant or deliver a brief speech asking it to heal the patient, since the healing plant has its own owner. The study will draw on narratives collected in the Mazaronquiari Native Community, Chiquiriari sector, specifically stories about the evil wind.