KACIKE: Journal of Caribbean Amerindian History and Anthropology
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Dreams in
Surinamese Amerindian Cosmology Elizabeth Mohkamsing-den Boer, Ph.D. Introduction ‘Dreams prepare your emotions’, is one of the main comments that I frequently heard during my research in Kari’na and Arawak villages in the coastal area of Suriname (2001, 2004). This statement reaches to the heart of the function of dreams during important changes in the lives of Kari’na and Arawak peoples in Suriname (as well as of many of these people who migrated to the Netherlands). For this genre of dreams, I have coined the term, Rêves de Passage (dreams of passage), to characterize the distinct nature of these dreams (Mohkamsing-den Boer 1998, Mohkamsing-den Boer & Zock 2004). This term is not only useful for easy reference for a specific category of dreams, but as such helpful in eventually analysing these kinds of dreams from a relational point of view. It should be clear that in coining the term, I have consciously adapted Van Gennep’s (1909) Rites de Passage and Róheim’s (1945) notion ‘Mythe de Passage’ in The Eternal Ones of the Dream. From object relations theory I have taken Winnicott’s theory on transitional phenomena into account (1971); Rêves de Passage refers not only to the individual psychological value of these dreams as events accompanying social changes, but also to their function for individuals as transitional phenomena facilitating those transitions. [2] Despite the importance of dreams, not much research has been done in this field. In this article I will get into the Amerindian notions on dreams and the relation of dreams to the cosmology and give some examples of the role the dreams play in daily life.1[3]
The Lokono or Arawak4 community is spread over the north of the country. Only a few of the elder generation speak the Lokono language.5 Along with this decline in the number of speakers, stories, traditions and rituals also disappear rapidly. Literature on this group in Suriname is scarce.6 Apart from linguistics, almost nothing is known about behavior and cosmology. For some regions and many indigenous inhabitants of Suriname it seems already too late to change this situation, especially for the Sikiiyana, Tunayana and Mawayana in Suriname who are virtually on the edge of extinction. Of the Sikkiyana and Tunanyan around 15 individuals are left, the last handful of present Mawayana are the last survivors of this group in Suriname. The southern indigenous people lived in a fairly isolated way until the 1970s when an airstrip was constructed. Until then their traditional way of living had remained almost unaffected by western lifestyle. In the past three decades about 80-90% of these southern indigenous people have converted to Christianity.7[5] The present similarities between the culture and cosmology of the different indigenous groups in the coastal area are striking and justify a general approach to their cosmology. Rivière (1987: 303) also argued “that the myths of the Amazonian Indians incorporate many identical components that have roughly similar meanings, but the way in which any particular group combines them is idiosyncratic; this idiosyncrasy being the expression of the group’s social and cultural uniqueness”.8 Similarly, there are differences and resemblances between the southern and the northern regions. [6]
Openness on personal matters does not mean that one also has immediate access to the private world of cosmology. This can be the exclusive area of the religious specialist, the piyai. More specifically, only the initiated piyai has the knowledge of and entrance to this secret and virtually mythical realm. [8] It is with reference to this world that we need to understand the socio-cultural place of dreams and the role dreams play in cosmology and social life. Depending from which perspective one approaches dreams, there are as many ideas on what a dream is and how it functions. Sociological, psychological, religious, or other approaches (in one or more combinations) offer different solutions. On the direct connection between daily life on the one hand, and cosmology and dreams on the other, the anthropologist Magana (1989: 137) writes that myths, proverbs, ordinary sayings, etc., as well as implements, farming the land and all kinds of acts in society are part of the cosmology, and are thus retraceable in daily life. [9] There exist different ideas on what a dream is and what happens when a person is dreaming, also in an Amerindian context. The earliest records suggest a relationship between dreams and important psychological and eschatological processes. The soul leaves the body during sleep and accordingly both falling asleep and awakening are dangerous transitions. De Goeje (1943: 7), for example, reports that according to the Kari’na:
Jara (1990: 314) also refers to the relationship between dreaming and death among the Akuriyo of Suriname: "Death is conceived as a journey through the world of dreams from which there is no return." Among the Kari’na and Arawak, I have found some evidence of the idea of the soul leaving the body during sleep, as people insist that a person has to be awakened very carefully or better not at all. I have also found some evidence of memories of former lives, however this is a subject that requires more research. On dreams De Goeje (1943: 7) remarks that according to the Kari’na:
He continues with this idea on the nature of dreams: “The Indian considers dreams as real happenings or as a prophecy or a hint as to what he is to do” (1943: 8). This comes very close to what I found: the belief in the portentous capacity of dreams.10 Many dreams are interpreted as premonitions about death, health, social relations (such as change or disruption) and availability of game, mediated by dream.11 [12] Dreams were and are highly valued, and as already Nimuendaju (1914: 46), a Brazilian of German descent, who was accepted as a member of a tribe of Guaranis, writes about this Brazilian Amazonians: “Who dreams, knows and can do much more, than who doesn’t dream, therefore the medicine men cultivate the dreams as an important source of their knowledge and power”.12 About the Sipaias he writes: “The source of the entire wisdom of the medicine men is dreams” (1919: xiv).13 [13] Since the early days of colonization the indigenous people of the coastal area have been subjected to missionary activities. As a consequence, the majority have adopted the Christian faith, i.e. Roman Catholic or EBG (Evangelische Broeder Gemeente, Evangelical Brethren Community).14 Besides the strong Christian influences, there are strong Creole and Maroon influences as well as from the beginning of slavery in Suriname there was interaction with escaped slaves. Hence, the Kari’na and Arawak conceive part of their cultural heritage as typically indigenous, but also recognize many Christian and Creole influences. In particular, the rites and ceremonies related to initiation, death and mourning rituals are conceived in essence as their own heritage however with recognition of the non-Amerindian elements, which are plenty in the Suriname's multi-ethnic society.15 This same idea of recognition of influences is found in notions of the visible and invisible world. [14] An interesting challenge that faces us now is how to understand and translate the indigenous cosmology into a comprehensible terminology. In the past the invented patterns of understanding proved to be impracticable, as the world cannot be divided simply into ‘natural’ and ‘supernatural’ categories when speaking about spiritual life. In particular, the people of the Amazon do not themselves conceive these spirits in those terms.16 [15] On the one hand, spirits form a part of daily reality, and the spirit world is an extension of the visible, social world, though ‘distinct yet not separate’.17 According to indigenous informants, both the spirit and the animal societies do not differ much from human society, and are considered equal (Vernooij 1993: 13). Or, as Boven (1998: 15) observes among the Wayana, “spirits are considered different by the Wayana, but are just as real as, for example, Americans.” Animals are called inhabitants of the forest and the indigenous people inhabitants of the villages, which have a relation of exchange. Notably, both groups, humans and animal, are structured socially in a strikingly similar way; both have village heads, called grandfather, and religious specialists (Magana 1989: 139; Jara 1990: 172). The animal piyai communicates with men mainly through dreams and the interpretation, sometimes with the help of a piyai, determines what the dream will do during the day (Magana 1989: 141).18 On the other hand, a distinction is clearly discernible in the Cariban languages. Whenever somebody or something from the spirit world is referred to, the related noun gets the suffix ‘-me’. A Trio example of this is:
Århem (1993) called this aspect in Amerindian cosmology “perspectival quality: the conception, common to many peoples of the continent, according to which the world is inhabited by different sorts of subjects or persons, human and non-human, which apprehend reality from distinct points of view”.19 Rivière (1994) speaks of ‘What You See Is Not Necessarily What You Get’ in Amazonia. Not everything is as it seems to be, the transformational nature is part of reality and appearances can be deceptive: “The body serves only as a cover or 'dress' for the free soul”.20 Malajuwara (1998: 63) claims of the Surinamese Kari’na that the soul is the energy that provides life, this energy originates from the Origin, Tamusi, and therefore equal to the Origin, thus every living being is pervaded by energy from the same source. [17]
Dreams with religious or rather cosmological and ritual elements are here the main focus. To avoid confusion I prefer the term ‘cosmology’ instead of ‘religion’ in the Amerindian case, because in these societies the sacred and profane belong to ‘distinct yet not separated’ areas.21 Nature and the mechanism of the universe are connected and interrelated in every possible way, including human beings and all other creatures, as Mathews (1994: 12)22 recognizes:
My
preference for the term cosmology instead of religion in the
Amerindian cultures is based on their cosmogonies, as the body of
the stories, myths, and theories relating to the origin of the
universe, and of human beings (Bowie 2000, p. 119).
In this regard it is useful to make a distinction between
cosmologies which are based on the idea of creation of the universe
ex nihilo, such as we find in the Thora, and creation of the universe
out of something (already existing), for example as found in
Australian Aboriginal and Hindu cosmogony. In the former there is no natural
bond between God and nature, for God did not share any of His
substance or body with nature; so nature is not ‘iconically’
connected with God. In the latter cosmology, however, the
pervasiveness of the spiritual or the divine is one of the features
of religion, which means that there is a natural bridge between God
and the created universe.23 I similarly perceive Descola’s
(1994: 1) attempt to deal with “the conceptions of the world
presented as mutually exclusive: the one sees nature as an animate
twin of society, the other conceives it as the set of phenomena
occurring outside the realm of human action.” In Surinamese
Amerindian thinking the former notion is dominant. The physical
environment determines and affects human life in general and
particularly in the Surinamese Amerindian culture. Reichel-Dolmatoff
(1996: 9) in studying the Tukano of Colombia observes:
This relationship is applied consciously in culture and cosmology. The relationship between the human and spirit world as created through the notion of creation out of something, at least in the Amazonian cases, leads to environmental cosmologies. These can be defined as “cosmologies in which the interdependence of human life and the ecosystems that sustain them are made conscious and are embodied at the level of myth, ritual, language, and lifestyle” (Bowie 2000: 141). The conception of the cosmos in Amazonian thinking is accordingly “non-human centred and non-hierarchical – all parts of the natural and supernatural world are equal, contain moral agency and are sentient” (cf. Strang 1997: 238). The sacredness of living things and their connections is central in (inter)action and thinking.24 Borsboom (2003: 82) attributes certain qualities to the religions of the most remote parts of Australia, which shows that the term ‘cosmology’ is indeed appropriate, as in those societies it penetrates into all realms, this can be compared to Amazonian life: it is esoteric (religious in the Western sense of the word), epistemological (it contains a theory of knowledge), and social (expressing and imposing moral codes of behavior). To which I add psychological as it forms and affects the self. [21] I take the presumed natural bond between the spiritual and physical environment as one of the starting points in the application of object relations theory. To have contact with and to relate to the environment and the spirit world (conceived as interrelated and inseparable), dreams, besides rituals, are considered to play an important regulating and transmitting role. The importance and function of dreams cannot be separated from the cosmology since much of their origin, meaning and function is rooted in the mythology, from which in earlier days many dream symbols have developed. [22]
Another approach to dreams of passage is to analyze them as having a triple layer of meaning. The first layer, which is always present, concerns the personal situation of the dreamer and the individual consequences of the dream. The second layer shows the spiritual importance of the dreams which the dreamer believes to be connected with the spirit world. The third layer, which is not always present, concerns the community; it refers to the cultural and religious background and implies social consequences of the dream for (a part of) the community. Referring to Victor Turner’s concept of ‘social drama’ (1974 [1969]: 37) it appears that in cases of social crisis, dreams can play a role in solving a crisis within a kin group or community. [24] The dream process shows similarities with initiation rites, for example, in its tripartite structure. The first phase is separation: by falling asleep the dreamer is literally separated from the active, external world into another (altered) state of consciousness, and enters into the internal, private realm of the dream-space. Next, there is the dream as the liminal phase entailing information about the transition (the new situation). In the rite this is the period in which, for instance, the initiate is placed symbolically ‘outside the society.’ During sleep and dream, the dreamer is also temporarily in a comparable situation. Finally, the dreamer awakes and re-enters society, and by remembering and eventually sharing the dream incorporates the contents or message of the dream into one’s life and into society. The sequence, entrée – victime – sortie, proposed by Hubert and Mauss for studying specific forms of sacrifice ([1898] 1954: 19-50), could well serve as an example of Van Gennep’s rites of passage. Lincoln’s shift of terminology proves useful for the diversity in transitions in the life cycle, and thus the accompanying dreams: the dream process aids in rounding off a certain period or occasion in one’s life and looking for enclosure. The actual dream (transitional period) magnifies the event and emotions, stimulating change/metamorphosis and incorporation. Mostly incorporation of changes in life are not spectacular, but sometimes they indeed manifest themselves as "emerging from the chrysalis" (Lincoln 1981). [25] The (generally metaphorical) change of status is of main importance in both models. In the function of dreams in changing status and facilitating change, time plays another role, viz. that of the time span between dreaming, sharing and change which is variable, from a short period to a very long period of even years. This is one of the reasons why the aspect of dream sharing is of such importance. [26] A transitional dream contains cultural and/or religious elements. Many dream images or symbols seem ordinary, but they are part of the culture, which is inseparable from religious life. These apparently ordinary symbols (such as a brand new hut or losing teeth are Amerindian symbols for death) can be placed in the framework of the transitional dream, as they are culturally defined. Also in the case of the Arawak and Kari’na, symbolism is deeply rooted in the culture, even if the original link between the symbol and the religious meaning often seems to have been lost. These people have been converts to Christianity25 for generations. Some of the elder generation refer to those stuck to their ‘authentic’ cultural ways as pagans in fear of clerical sanction, but nevertheless follow the traditional system. [27]
As for their healing capacity, the plants should not be taken for granted; they should only be picked when needed, used in the proper way and thanked for their help, otherwise the spirits will withdraw and cease to transfer knowledge. Without exception all Amerindians in Suriname with whom I spoke and who work with medicinal plants, emphasize that they obtain their knowledge mainly through dreams. [29] The following case, underlines the link between piyai and medicinal plants. Years ago, I met a woman who struggled with the question as to whether she should allow herself to be initiated as a piyai, a religious specialist. She was born and raised in a Kari’na village, but was now living in the capital. She told me how not long after the demise of her maternal grandfather (around 1999), she visited her aunt who lives in a Kari’na village in French Guyana. At the end of this visit her aunt offered her cuttings of medicinal plants. This aunt was aware of her interest and love for her own indigenous culture, religion and practices, and thus assumed that these cuttings would be appreciated and cared for in the appropriate way. Customarily these plants should not be given away but should be ‘stolen’ by the one who intends to use them. Asking for them is therefore ‘senseless.’ So the option that remains is the culturally accepted way of obtaining the plants without explicit permission, viz. by stealing them. She however was offered them by her aunt although without asking for them. Now, she recalls the consequences:
After this disturbing dream she phoned her sister as she is used to do. Her sister told her that she should start using the plants. The dreamer asked her how, and her sister answered to start with offerings and wassie’s, the Creole term for ritual purifying baths. The spirits of the plants had come along with the cuttings and wanted to be utilized. Since they were neglected, they started visiting the receiver of the cuttings in her dreams. All this scared her so much that she finally decided to remove the plants. However the plants and dreams still returned, the plants appeared indestructible and unstoppable and the dreams kept returning. Then she spoke to the plants ‘I cannot use you yet, but I do find you beautiful!’ After she had said so the dreams stopped. She concludes her story with the words that it is therefore better to steal plants because then you may actually use them without necessarily caring for the plants and their spirits. [31] In
the other dreams this lady recognized, for example, her deceased
grandfather, who was once a powerful piyai. These dreams are
not just powerful for the one who dreams, but also important for the
community as by this the people of the community will know that
there is a direct communication between an individual and the
spiritual world. Such a dream or series of dreams involve the
individual, the society and the spiritual world (three layers as
mentioned above). The sanctity of the spirits of the plants is
obviously violated; here we recognize the notion that the reality of
the dream is not experienced very differently from the reality of
waking life. And it is this direct communication with the spiritual
world that gives dreams an authorizing character, not only in matters
of the religious specialist but also for communal affairs, for
instance in solving conflicts, in this case, the inner conflict as
well: should she be initiated as piyai or not? Becoming a
piyai is a drastic change in life. Eventually, her
transformation to piyai will become complete with the help of
her dreams. In the dreams, as in the liminal period of
initiation rites, preparations for the metamorphosis and the
transition towards the realm of the religious specialist appear to be
made. When she separates herself from the waking world, in her sleep
and dreams, she meets her spiritual mentors in the dream-space, who
have separated from the spirit world to ‘teach’ her.
Every time on awakening after such a dream her consideration of
becoming a religious specialist grows and becomes more convincing.
The dreamer feels how the dreams guide her,
and give her strength to emerge finally from her doubts into being a
traditional piyai. Hence, her dreams can be qualified as
transitional phenomena: facilitating a (major) transition in her life
and stimulating maturation.
[32] In the Arawak village of Cassipora, one of the male elders shared a similar dream with me. "My father," he said, "worked as a watchman and died three months ago. Before his death, I first dreamt that a new small slash-and-burn garden was being prepared. Then in my dream I saw a hut around which many people were running. I woke up in shock and thought 'my father is ill, I must go to him, maybe he has died'." After a short silence he recounted a second dream: "In a dream some days later I saw a sunset and heard a bell chiming. The week after [the dream] my father died." He explained that the hut he saw in his first dream symbolizes the place where the deceased are placed on the bier and that the garden referred to the graveyard. His explanations on his second dream were similarly direct, the sunset is the end of the day and thus symbolizes the end of life. The chiming of the church bell is an omen of death as well as it literally refers to the chiming of the village church bell upon the passing away of one of the villagers. The people he saw running around were the ones who were already buried there. He finished with the remark that as a gravedigger he did not fear death. [34] Since most Amerindian people, including the Arawak and Kari’na, draw on a substantial repertoire of dream symbols, cultural expectation plays a role. In fact, people are expected to have certain dreams on important occasions, here transitions. Through the dream the ‘crisis’ is recognized, and gives immediate cause to start acting out. Thus for these dreamers it is clear what the dreams mean and to whom they refer: their own parents’ approaching death. They seem prepared to face one of the most fundamental life-crises, viz. the loss of a parent. The parents of the dreamers in the above cases were both of advanced age, in their eighties, and their health was deteriorating fast. [35] In these dreams these images are clear. In the first dream the dancing in the yard refers to traditions from the past as well as from the present. In the past indigenous people of Suriname buried their dead in their own huts or yard, followed by dancing on and near the burial place. Nowadays the burying takes place in the graveyard but the dancing is still done in the camp of the deceased. The white clothes of the dancers reveal the syncretistic element as it is reminiscent of the Catholic custom of burying people in a white shroud. [36] In the second dream the elder recognizes ‘clearing a new slash-and-burn garden’ as an omen of death. The running around of people can refer to the hectic situation that arises immediately after someone’s death when the villagers are informed and hurry to the camp of the deceased, or to the dancing at the mourning rites. His second dream was only a confirmation for him of what he already knew: the sunset as the end of the day symbolizes the end of a life. In his opinion the tolling of a (church) bell can only refer to death; as explained above, upon death the church bell is tolled to inform the villagers of someone’s death.27 [37] However, can these dreams offer any help in coping with and accepting the inevitable loss, namely that of their parents with whom they have lived their entire life? Customarily, Amerindians take care of their aging parents. In such a close relationship it is not strange to recognize the omen of death at least unconsciously. As stated above, dreams have strong authoritative features, and particularly in cases of death the communication with the spiritual world through the dream enforces this. In the dream contact with the spiritual world is experienced and the dream images of deceased relatives have been recognized as omens of death. The dreamers felt worried but they also felt that ‘these dreams prepare you emotionally for what is coming, you can prepare yourself.’ The aunt used the exact words many others had uttered in the same circumstances: "the dream prepares your emotions," and with these words demonstrates the acceptance of the inevitable. Inevitable because the spiritual world had spoken. [38] Considering the above mentioned tripartite structure, if the element of revelation is present in this dream, it may be better to speak of a prediction. In both dreams neither secrecy nor sacredness are found; the dreams belong to the personal, private realm and are therefore only shared and discussed with certain people fit for this task, and not for reasons of secrecy. [39] The presence of the tripartite structure in all the dreams for both the dreamer and the ancestral spirits are quite clear. The dreamers first separate themselves from the outer world in the dream-space of their inner world (as an altered state of consciousness). Here they encounter the spirits of deceased fellow-villagers. These ancestral spirits28 greet the relative, and the bereaved, i.e. the dreamer and others in this world, will find comfort in the reunification in the yonder world. From their dancing and jumping on a yard the dreamers recognize the omen of death. When they awake, they are able to integrate this knowledge in their lives by preparing themselves for the predicted loss. The ancestral spirits also separate themselves temporarily from their own world into the dream-space of the dreamers; here they temporarily transform to be visible for the dreamer and pass on their message and welcome a relative, after which they withdraw and re-enter their own world. Thus it is shown that the individual and spiritual structure of transition and layers of meaning are strongly connected: the spiritual and individual meanings cannot be separated; while the dreamer has to say goodbye to a relative, the ancestors welcome their relative. With this coinciding, the message proves it has come from the spirit world and should thus be accepted. The bond with the spirit world is (again) confirmed through the dream. [40] Dream
symbols in relation to death are almost innumerable. They are
connected to traditional Amerindian culture and religion and to
Christianity. For many the meaning is still known, but its
traditional roots are lost. I asked some elderly men to describe the
contemporary customs of burial and aity dey (ritual of the
eight day after death).
[41]
In this account we can
recognize many of the metaphoric links as described in the list of
dream symbols below. Particularly images in dreams that are connected
with old collapsing huts or newly built camps, anything that could be
similar to a coffin such as a car, boat or even airplane. These
dreams have a very strong impact and these abodes of death even cross
the Atlantic Ocean. Many Surinamese Amerindians live in the
Netherlands, through these dreams they know when family members are
ill or have died. It is not unusual that after such an arousing dream
they will phone to Suriname to have the contents of their dreams
confirmed. [48] Currently there is a notable interest in and research into religious specialists and medical plants from the tropical rainforests.31 Presently, the piyai and plants are almost inextricably linked, for instance, the International Day of Indigenous People opens in Suriname with piyai prayers and a ritual bath.32 [50] It is strongly believed that the plants reveal their curing powers through dreams. More research in the field of the piyai and his/her practice in relations with dreams is needed for more insight into these matters. Certain dreams influence waking reality in the same way as experiences and activities of waking reality, not only in the religious domain, but dreams also have strong authoritative feature in the personal and social domain. And it are these characteristics that make that people can accept the comforting elements from dreams (and of the socio-cultural and cosmological environment) in case of major changes in life or loss of relatives or friends. [51] Dreams play an important
role in the preservation of culture and traditions, particularly in
the field of the religious specialist. Through dream telling
knowledge in all kind of fields is passed on to new generations.
Hence, as long people tell their dreams and listen to their spiritual
world, the culture will stay alive and practiced. [52] Table: Examples
of Dream Symbols
Notations: 1. The research was funded by the Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research (WOTRO). 2. Also known as the Guyana shield, part of five nations: Suriname, French Guyana, Guyana, Venezuela and Brazil, i.e. the area bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the north, the Orinico river in the east, and the Amazon river in the west. 3. Census 2004, ABS 2005. 4. Until recently it was assumed that the Arawak became established around 500 AD in the coastal areas of Surinam as the first peoples to live sedentarily in Suriname. However recent archaeological research places this under scrutiny and this new research may lead to the conclusion that Suriname may be inhabited for 10.000 years. The Arawak were a semi-nomadic people who lived in small groups of around 20 people. The Arawak not only differ in language, but were known as a peaceful people, contrary to the Kari’na who were seen upon as fierce warriors, and believed to be cannibals up to a century ago. The Arawak themselves find evidence of this in their own culture, such as their songs and dances which are peaceful, expressing the beauty of their surroundings, while the songs and dances are said to be much more directed towards war and hunting. However, Penard and Penard (1907-1908) also include more peaceful songs and dances in their studies of the Kari’na. 5. The decrease of the number of people speaking Lokono was accelerated during the recent domestic war (1986-1992), as most felt it was more convenient to adapt to the Surinamese lingua franca Sranan as the government at the time discouraged the use of their own language. There are a number of Arawak people who refer to themselves as Lokono. 6. For the other Guyanas there is more literature on the Arawak, for instance Hill and Santos-Granero (eds., 2002). 7. Census 2004, ABS 2005. 8. The dynamics in cosmology are obviously related to the individualism and independence of the people. Kloos mentions that individuals change and embellish ideas; he cites Chagnon (1969, p.4) ‘In Yanomamö society is place for thinkers’. According to Kloos (1974, p. 26), this statement refers probably to many indigenous societies. 9. For an overview on oral literature of the indigenous people of Suriname, see Van Kempen 2002, pp.133-187. 10. Cf. Ahlbrinck 1931, p.339; Penard & Penard 1907, p. 229 11. Cf. Kracke on the Kagwahiv: ‘dreams would be interpreted in terms of predictions about game or health, mediated by traditional dream symbols, 1981, p. 261; cf. Gregor on the Mehinaku, an Arawak-speaking people of Central Brazil, 1981, p. 354 12. Cited in De Goeje 1943, p. 2. 13. Cited in De Goeje 1943, p. 2. 14. For an overview of Christian missionary activities among the Amerindians in Suriname, see Jabini 2004, p. 38-54. 15. Suriname (a former Dutch colony) is a multi-ethnic society where the descendants of the British Indian laborers (known as Hindustani’s) constitute the largest ethnic community, followed by the Creoles and the Maroons. The other communities are Jews, boeroes (‘farmers’, descendants from Dutch colonists and farmers), Javanese, Chinese, Lebanese. Nowadays the Brazilian community is increasing very fast, whereas a new wave of Chinese migration is also noticeable. 16. For continuation on this subject I refer to Platvoet’s (2004) discussion ‘Does God have a Body? On the Materiality of Akan Spirituality’. 17. With this I refer to Ter Haar & Ellis’ notion (2004, p. 14) ‘that religion refers to a belief in the existence of an invisible world, distinct but not separate from the visible one, that is home to spiritual beings with effective powers over the material world’. 18. These kinds of dreams should not be discussed openly which constitutes the only restriction on the communication of dreams. 19. Cited from Viveiros de Castro 1998, p. 469. 20. Several authors on the Amazon Amerindians give these or similar descriptions about the soul and the transformational body, for example, Rivière 1994, p. 256; Baer & Langdon 1992, p. 81; Frikel 1971, p. 139, n.16. Descola (1994, p. 93) explains this as follows: ‘In mythical times, nature’s being had a human appearance too, and only their name contained the idea of what they would later become’. 21. I use the singular ‘cosmology’ as a collective name, acknowledging that a general statement on Surinamese Amerindian belief systems cannot be made as they are too various and subtle, and professional insight is not complete. However, with regard to style I use the word religious(ly) in terms of adverb/adjective. 22. Cited in Bowie 2000, p. 119. 23. Cf. Tambiah 1990, p.6. 24. In this regard the discussion on the similarity with other religions and philosophies of life such as Hinduism, Buddhism, neo-Paganism, New-Age, etc. would be interesting, leading Rappaport (1979), for instance, to the notion of adaptive and maladaptive or dysfunctional cosmologies. 25. Mainly Roman Catholic and the Protestant Evangelical Brethren Community Evangelische Broeder Gemeenschap, and nowadays a lot of small evangelical and charismatic congregations try to increase their numbers in Suriname and in particular in the indigenous villages. 26. The idea of becoming ill when the messages of spirits in dreams are neglected is quite common. A lady from the Arawak village Powakka, converted to Christianity, is known as being regularly visited by the spirits of a healing stone, which she inherited from her father. However, she threw the stone in the Suriname river as she did not want to use the stone. Now it is believed by some of her relatives that the stone wants to be put into practice and speaks through her dreams. She does not want to know about these practices but every time after the dreams she gets high fever and feels severely ill for a few days. 27. During the domestic war the bell of the church of Cassipora was brought down and not replaced. Hence presently when someone dies, people inform each other. The tolling of a church bell is not a typical Amerindian symbol of death, but in, for instance, Europe as well. 28. By ancestral spirits is meant all (family members) who have died, not only the direct lineage ancestors. 29. Disposable white cups irrespective of the language used, Sranang, Dutch or Lokono. 30. Dutch is the official language of Suriname, Sranang the lingua franca. 31. For example, Plotkin’s research institution The Shaman's Apprentice program, the ACT (Amazon Conservation Team) and CI (Conservation International) in this field in Suriname. Besides research Plotkin has started a so-called ‘shaman’s school’ where indigenous youngsters can again obtain knowledge in the field of the traditional medicinal plants. 32. In 1993 the United Nations have declared August 9 as the International Day of Indigenous People, resolution no. 49/214. Since 2001 this day is celebrated in Suriname as the National Day of Indigenous People and from 2003 as a holiday, in 2006 the Surinamese government has decided to declare August 9 a permanent National Holiday.
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Article submitted: June 25 2006 Author Citation Please cite this article as follows: den Boer, Elizabeth Mohkamsing. (2007).
Dreams in Surinamese Amerindian Cosmology. KACIKE: The Journal of Caribbean
Amerindian History and Anthropology [On-line Journal]. Available at:
http://www.kacike.org/SurinameDreams.html
[Date of access: Day, Month, Year]. [61 par.] © 2007.
Elizabeth Mohkamsing-den Boer. All rights reserved.
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