Beschreibung
KANOBO AROKOHOTU is the centerpiece of the pleading ceremony for the
children of the Waraowitu community directed to the Kanobo Araobo, the
“Supreme Spirit”, at the time of the onsetting rainy season when a high
percentage of them dies of intestinal illnesses.
This chant is also called wahi arokohotu, the “song of the howler
monkey”, as an expression of Warao gerontocracy. It is at the same time
the NAHANAMU sago ritual, the principal festivity of the Waraowitu or
“true Warao” of the Central Orinoco Delta, during which they distribute
sago starch, which is their main diet.
The narrative is the spontaneous
performance by the well-known Winikina bahanarotu-shaman Antonio Lorenzano
“Idamo Kabuka”, told in November 1977 and transcribed/translated by Heinen
together with two grandsons of the former, Tirso and Segundo Rivero. It is
the first native report by a knowledgeable Warao shaman and headman and an
authentic expression of the “Marsh People’s” aboriginal religiosity.
