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Rũnũwã ñũshĩwu/Alma de boa grande/The Anaconda Spirit

  • Item identifier: 2018-33.004
  • Date: 13 Aug 2013
  • Contributors: María Ramírez Ríos (consultant); Kelsey Neely (researcher, donor)
  • Language: Yaminawa (yaa)
  • Place: Sepahua, Sepahua, Atalaya, Ucayali, Peru
  • Description: One .wav file, with accompanying .eaf annotation file. María Ramírez Ríos narrates the story of Rũnũwã ñũshĩwu, the Anaconda spirit. When a man sees a tapir have sex with a beautiful woman in a lake, he becomes determined to have sex with her, too. When he tricks her into emerging from the lake, he attempts to grab her hair, which is actually the end of the anaconda's tail. She wraps herself around him and drags him underwater to meet her father and brothers. When the man drinks ayahuasca (a hallucinogenic brew) with his new affines, he sees them for what they truly are: anacondas. An armored catfish helps him escape and return to the human world. This traditional narrative was volunteered by the speaker and performed extemporaneously.
  • Availability: Online access
  • Collection: Materials of the Yaminawa Language Documentation Project
  • Repository: Survey of California and Other Indian Languages
  • Suggested citation: Rũnũwã ñũshĩwu/Alma de boa grande/The Anaconda Spirit, 2018-33.004, in "Materials of the Yaminawa Language Documentation Project", California Language Archive, Survey of California and Other Indian Languages, University of California, Berkeley, http://cla.berkeley.edu/item/25967.

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