A’uwẽ (Xavante) Sacred Food Plants: Maize and Wild Root Vegetables
In lowland South America, sacred food plants have taken an ethnographic back seat to psychotropic plants. Yet, such foods are often central to local understandings of mythology, healing, ceremony, and spiritual well-being. In this article, I elucidate the sacred nature of two kinds of food plants th...
| Published in: | Anthropology of consciousness |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
American Anthropological Association
2022
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| In: |
Anthropology of consciousness
Year: 2022, Volume: 33, Issue: 2, Pages: 202-228 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Amazonastiefland
/ Xavante Indians
/ Nahrungspflanzen
/ Sacralization
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| IxTheo Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AG Religious life; material religion KBR Latin America ZA Social sciences |
| Further subjects: | B
secret societies
B Ethnobotany B Indigenous Peoples B food gardens B food collecting |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In lowland South America, sacred food plants have taken an ethnographic back seat to psychotropic plants. Yet, such foods are often central to local understandings of mythology, healing, ceremony, and spiritual well-being. In this article, I elucidate the sacred nature of two kinds of food plants that occupy special sociocultural spaces among the A’uwẽ (Xavante) in Central Brazil: cultivated maize and collected root vegetables. Although these are not the only sacred food plants in A’uwẽ society, they are iconic because they are considered uniquely appropriate gifts during certain ceremonial and ritual events. I also explore how I conducted research about ceremonial ethnobotanical topics in a society that considers most sacred and spiritual knowledge privileged. Both sacred plant foods highlighted here continue to be commonly given as presents expressing gratitude to others during popular ceremonial occasions, thereby maintaining them in the collective consciousness as integral components of contemporary social life. |
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| ISSN: | 1556-3537 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Anthropology of consciousness
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1111/anoc.12152 |