Ecology, Ritual, and Economic Organization in the

Ecology, Ritual, and Economic Organization in the Distribution of Palm Starch among the Warao of the Orinoco Delta! H. DIETER HEINEN AND KENNETH RUDDLE2 Rituals of the Warao Indians

if the

Orinoco delta

if VenezlUla that

involve the distribution if tribal or subgroup identity, but such rituals also constitute an important survival mechanism by channeling surplus food between subgroups, and by institutionalizing the storage if ba ic JOodst,gfs which are thus guarded again.st capricIOUS consumption. The nahanamuftstival, with the associated kanobo cultJ enhances the possibility if survival for the entire population. This article exammes the economic features if the nahanamu, nowara, and habi anuka rituals, and links them to the seasonality ifmoriche starch and other aspects if the Warao habItat.

if moriche

(Mauritia flexuosa) starch may contribute to the preservation

INTRODUCTION

THE RECOVERY OF PALM STARCH is one of the more ancient food-winning processes known to man. It appears to be a pan tropical phenomenon that is most highly developed on the main,land of Southeastern A ia and in the islands of the Western Pacific. In that region starch extraction involves, principally, palms of the genus Metroxylon, Sago Palms (Burkill 1935:1460-1462; and Barrau 1959:151 159). Palm of several other genera are also used to a lesser extent. These include A crocomia, CaryotaJ Coelococcus, CorphyraJ Eugeissona, Phoenix, and Pholidocarpus (Burkill 1935:39,230,233,470-471,617,668,956, 1713 1714; Corner 1966:124; Dugand 1972:53; and D. Yen, personal ommunication). In South America the recovery of palm tarch has been noted among the Tupi-Guarani tribes of Paraguay and Southern Brazil (Vellard 1939), who derived a large part of their diet from starch xtracted from the pith of the pindo palm (Arecastrum romanzqffianum)J and among the Warao of the Orinoco Delta, who exploit the "moriche" palm (Mauritia fiexuosa).3 In South America the process is best documented for the Warao Indians for whom the moriche palm constituted the "tree of life." There are remarkable parallels between the methods used by the Warao to exploit moriche starch, and those described in the South Pacific by Barrau (1959). This similarity was also I The research for tbis article was funded by the CLA VE·UCLA Venezuelan Indian Project and was conducted on several field trips during the years 1966-1973. 2 The authors are listed in alphabetical order. We wi~h to thank Drs. Denni~ Johnson, Johannes Wilbert, and Douglas Yen who read and commented upon an earlier draft of this paper. 3 Local Venezuelan tenns are put in quotation marks for the first usage nly; thereafter they appear as an integral part of the text. Warao terms and Latin binomials are italicized throughout the paper. 116

ECOLOGY, RITUAL, AND ECONOMIC ORGANIZATION

117

observed in the early nineteenth century by Humboldt (1924, vol. 8:381-382) and by Schomburgk (1848).4 This article examines some of the economic features of Warao ritual, and links them to the ecological setting of the Warao habitat, especially the seasonali ty of moriche starch ("yuruma"). We explain the peculiar distribution of the kanobo cult in relation to the micro-environments of different sections of the Orinoco Delta. Approximately 15,000 Warao Indians inhabit a region of some 40,000 km. 2 in the Orinoco Delta and adjacent parts of eastern Venezuela and the Guianas. Some 8,000-9,000 Indians are concentrated in the heartland ofWarao territory, the area of densest tribal settlement. This area comprises a coastal strip of approximately 7,000 km. 2 lying between the Cano Marosa (Mariusa) and the Amacuro area south of the Wirinoko (Rio Grande), the west-east flowing main distributary of the southern section of the Orinoco Delta (Fig. 1). All of the Warao subtribes speak mutually intelligible variants of the same language. The term vVarao is autochthonous and is an auto denomination meaning "people" or "boat people." All non-Warao are referred to as Holarao or "people of the dry land." For many centuries the \ They do, however, have important economic functions, and it is to these aspects that we wish to direct attention. We argue that rituals are significant beyond the mere fact that economizing is an aspect of all human activities and therefore, ipso facto, also of rituals (cf. Robbins 1935; Burling 1962; Cancian 1966). Rituals may serve, as is clearly shown in the case examined here, as boundary-maintaining mechanisms, which, in turn, may contribute to preserving the identity of a tribe or subgroup. They may also constitute an important survival mechanism in that they channel surplus food between subgroups of a population, and insti tutionalize the storage of basic foodstuffs by guarding them from capricious consumption, thus making them available should shortages in the supply of starchy foods develop. Practically all Warao rituals involve the sharing and distribution of food, both on an intra-group and inter-group basis. The nahanamu ritual prescribes the use of yuruma; the other festivals involve a preference for this traditional Warao staple food. The fundamental importance of the moriche starch to the Warao lies not only in its role as a dietary staple, but also in the fact that since salting was not practiced, moriche starch was the only food that could be stored for any length of time. Woolly crabs (hi) and terrestrial turtles (wuku) can be kept alive and rationed for a short time, but correctly 12 Because of the large number of sterile palms Tobchuba is a favorite location for yuruma extraction. Completely sterile, very old palms seem to have only a limited amount of starch. The best sources of starch are palms which bear small quantities of fruit which dries-up quickly. On Tobehuba the palms are associated with grassland and are, therefore, /TIore exposed to heat than are those in forested sites. This, perhaps, causes rapid dessication of the fruit and is related to the speed wilh which the high slarch content of the palm returns. 13 See footnote 8.


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stored yuruma flour can be preserved for at least four months. This, together with the peculiarity of the yuruma cycle whi h combines extreme abundance of moriche flour during the last months of the dry season with a rather undependable supply at the onset of inflorescence formation, strongly suggests the need for the institutionalization of storing and rationing. The seasonality of yuruma is especially pro nounced in the Central Delta. Considerable quantities of yuruma flour may be collected and stored for the nahanamu, which may involve at any given time up to 1, 00 kg. of starch. In 1969, eleven baskets of some 75 kg. each were stored at the settlement of Hebu Wabanoko. This probably amounted to 2 kg. of starch for every man, woman, and child present at the nahanamll ritu 1. The amount collected for the celebration at that settlement in rent years has ranged from eight to twelve baskets (600 to 900 kg.). Barral (1964) reports the quantity of six to eight "quintales" (300 to 400 kg.) from the Makiri area. The nahanamll ritual of the Central Delta region is co-extensive wi th the kanobo cult that revolves around the sacred stone which represents the supreme spirit (literally "our old man," or "our ancestor"). In the Wayo-Murako-Hobure area the nowaTa is an equivalent ritual. In the Central Delta, however, the latter is only a community feast of yuruma bread and woolly crabs given by a person of importanc to enhance his prestige. Leadership and prestige in the Central Delta may be demonstrated by giving an llida ("a big basket"). This is a replica of the nahanamu festival, but without the religious aspects, since the nahanamu requires the presence of the sacred kanobo stone and can only take place under the supervision of the latter's "guardian" (kanobo aTima). . The festival of the "little rattles" (habi sanuka) probably has a different historical origin. It may be celebrated in conjunction with the nahanamll (Central Delta) or the nowaTa (Wayo-Murako-Hobure area), and involves the ritual exchange of spouses and gifts. If organized separately, it also includes the distribution of either yuruma bread, or of cassa va flat cakes (am witu or am hola aru) by the sponsor or "owner" of the festival. In the Central Delta the most important celebration in terms of the sharing and distribution of food is the nahanamu, in which the offering of yuruma starch is always linked to the presence of the kanobo stone in the temple structur . Although there are many temple hut with sacred rattles and other paraphernalia throughout the region, only a few house a kanobo, and all of these are located in the Central DeJta. The supreme spirit, hebu wilu in the Winikina area and hebll I.lTaobo on the Makiri, communicates with the group through the priest-shaman (wisiralu or

128

JOURNAL OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESEARCH

wisatu) in his capacity as kanobo arima. This religious practitioner is not only a key figure in ritual activities, but also in the socio-economic organization of the group. By preference he belongs to the same band as powerful political office holders such as the kabitana, fisikali, and kobenahoro, who are often hoarotu shamans. Fish and yuruma flour are among the most important food items of the traditional Warao economy, and the priest-shaman commands both. The nahanamu ritual is ostensibly called by the priest-shaman to placate the hebu spirits so that they would protect the young of the group and assure the group's continuance. 14 Yet the collection of the yuruma flour and the maintenance of a stable, year-round supply, requires special organization, which is facilitated and enforced by the ceremonial activities of the priest-shaman for the benefit of the entire group, including himself. The exact date of distribution of the yuruma depends on the dream inspiration of the nahanamu arotu, the "owner of the nahanamu," who is generally the "guardian" of the sacred kanobo stone. Older Warao, reflecting upon the time before the introduction of ocumo chino, recall that during times of scarcity considerable pressure cou[d be brought to bear on the priest-shaman to release the stored food. Without assuming complete arbitrariness, he must have had considerable leeway in his interpretation of the dreams. The nahanamu process has mostly become known through the festival at the point of ritual culmination, but the whole complex spans a considerable period of time, roughly from the dry months of February and March through the early rainy season, into August or even September. Nowadays, the Winikina-Warao are often to be found collecting yuruma in the morichales during June and July, after the rainy season is well under way. This yuruma now is reserved exclusively for the ritual and individuals sneak out to their ocumo fields for their daily food supply. They then celebrate the nahanamu with woolly crabs at the time of the crab runs. That, however, is a very recent development, brought on by the cultivation of rice during the dry season. During June and July conditions are at their worst for the extraction of yuruma flour, and the custom is maintained in function of the surviving ritual, not vice versa. Mature Winikina, who also recall the pre-ocumo era, all agree that formerly the nahanamu did not await the crab season, but took place earlier when hoku fish and moriche grubs were available in the morichales, and when the canos teemed wi th morocot (osibu: Calossoma 14 Wisi is a type of poison said to be contained in certain species of fishes. It is thought to enter the milk of a lactating female and to harm young children.


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macropomus). Honey is another traditional offering which in more recent times has ceased to be included. These same informants also assure us that the nahanamu was rarely eaten while the forest was still dry, but rather in late June or early July after the rainy season had set in. It was, in other words, held at the time when bottlenecks in the supply of food usually occurred. This is mentioned, too, by Suarez (t968: 173), who noted that the end of yuruma collection for the nahanamu coincided wi th the end of the dry season. Barral (1964) and del Blanco (personal communication), however, report from the Makiri area that the festival takes place near Easter. This discrepancy might be based on actual regional or year-to-year variations. It is also possible, however, that Barral is describing the ritual of the "foundation" of the offering, nahanamu aTlamUnaya, which contains many of the elements of the nahanamu ritual proper. 15 The nahanamu anamunaya and the nahanamu ritual proper, although quite similar in many outward features of dancing and even the use of paraphernalia, serve completely different purposes. The "foundation" is the occasion when the young men (nebu) of the community appear solemnly before the hebu spirit and formally promise to collect yuruma starch for storage in the temple structure (Wilbert, personal communi cation). The nahanamu ritual proper, on the other hand, is the high point of the cycle, when the priest-shaman finally consents to the demands of the people and the yuruma starch is distributed. THE NAHANAMU RITUAL COMPLEX

The cycle of the nahanamu ri tuaP6 begins wi th the priest-shaman's dream, in which the kanobo appears to him during the night and tells him: "I am coming amongst you all. Now prepare yourself and make an ISlmol trumpet 17 to get a nahanamu out. If you pay no attention, fevers (hebu) and other illnesses will come over the people and you will be eaten by the vultures." The kanobo tells the priest-shaman tha t he is hungry and longs for yuruma bread and tobacco. As soon as the priest-shaman awakens he starts singing. A few men from his immediate household then set out for the morichales to collect some small baskets of yuruma. The evening after their return to the settlement a small 15 Wilbert and Heinen witnessed such a preparatory ritual in March, 1970, in the Winikina settlement of Hebu Wabanoko. 16 Several descriptions of the nahanamu exist already (Barral 1964; Suarez 1968). Since they differ in a few details from the (our rituals witnessed by Heinen among the Winikina-Warao, an outline is presented here to complete the picture. 17 Although technically a clarinet, this instrument is the local representative of the so-called "sacred trumpet" which is characteristic of many of the tropical forest tribes of South America ('Nilbert, pel~onal communication).

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number of initiated persons dance in preparation of the "foundation" and the following day, the yuruma is eaten by them privately in their houses. Then the nahanamu anamunaya takes its course with a ritual similar to that of the nahanamu proper, including the use of the sacred rattle (hebu malaro) and the daunona staffs, which represent the hebu wilu. The following week or so is spent making basket strainers (bihi), wooden adzes (nahuru) for chopping the moriche pith, trumpets, and other devices. Then the islmol arolu or "owner of the sacred trumpet," together with four or five important household heads and th ir families, are the first to move into the new moriche grove, which has been chosen by previous probing. During their stay, the people also extract yuruma for their daily food supply. During each of ~ ur days they set aside one large basket, uhu aru anamu, (cf. Wilbert 1971), holding some 75 kg. of yuruma. This is reserved for the nahanamu under general rejoicing accompanied by the playing of the Islmoi trumpet. After one day of rest they begin to fill nother basket. Other families from the settlement join the group in the morichales and gradually some ten large baskets are filled for the nahanamu. At the end, the is/mol amlu thanks all the ","orkers. Wh n the baskets are taken to the temple hut (kuaiharwko), the kanobo is very pleased. The "guardian" of the kanobo requests that the building of the dancing floor (hohonoko) be ordered. When the platform is ready, the people dance all night, but without the daunona, the male and female ceremonial staffs, which are imitated by a stick placed in the middle of the floor. At dawn, the men and children go to the temple hut to make a ceremonial container (nahanamu or nahakara), a cylindrical basket fabricated from moriche stalks. It has a capacity of about one cubic meter, and is later positioned in the shady ground floor of the temple structure, where the yuruma destined for the final ritual will be stored. 18 For proper storage it is important that the yuruma should not have been dried between fires as is the usual procedure, but be kept mist and be stored in the shade. In this form it remain fresh for several months. After perhaps one or two months, the priesHhaman, who in this context is also the "owner of the yuruma container" (nahanamu arolu), hea again in his sleep the voice of the kanobo. This time the kanobo says: "I have eaten already; now you may eat. I have taken a bath [in the yuruma starch] already. I need tobacco." The priest-shaman answers: "V ry good [thank you]. I am going to eat." Then he asks for health for his people,. which the kanobo promises, reiterating his demand for 18 For a diagram of the temple hut with the naharwmu container, see Wilbert (1972:79).


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tobacco. At dawn, the priest-shaman announces to the people: "Now we may eat." Everyone is glad and asks when the feast will be. The dates for the feast are usually arranged in such a way that the culmination of the nahanamu coincides with the lunar phase shortly after full moon (wamkll honi nakae). Partici pan ts from other villages arrive a few days before full moon. The chief priest-shaman and his assistants spend several nights singing and smoking tobacco in the temple hut. On the long anticipated night the people dance until dawn. Meanwhile, the religious office holders (wisimo) sing the whole night in the temple hut giving tobacco to the kanobo. The dance is led by some of the lesser religious office holders who play the sacred rattle (hebu malaro) and the isimoi trumpet. Shortly thereafter the moon is greeted by the celebrants. At dawn the yuruma flour is distributed among the households and the invi ted guests. First, the aidamoluma are given a regular uhll basket of some 25-30 kg. The other families receive somewhat less. Gross irregularities are evened out through the usual channels of reciprocity and distribution. In contrast to the nowara, where yuruma is handed out in the form of flat tortillas (aru hisaba), on the occasion of the nahanamu yuruma is distributed as unprocessed moriche flour (am aloma). Now start the dances of the nahanamu proper. The sequence in which the dancers perform is of great political importance, be ause it establishes the power ranking and prestige of office holders for the remainder of the year. After the dances of the elders, the workers involved in the extraction of yuruma dance. This is an important confirmation of their standing in the community, which is partially based on their work capacity (Wilbert, personal communication). First is the "dance of the akabalu," the household heads, who acted as "moriche fellers." The "dance of the anahurumu" follows. This is the dance of the nebu who chopped the pith of the palm with the wooden adze and extracted the pulp (deho). Finally comes the "dance of the anamumo," the women who sifted and processed the pUlp. After a series of games, in which various animals are imitated, comes the wayabalu. In this dance the women jokingly attack whichever male is ca'rrying the rattle, pretending to hit him hard with their fists and to tear out his penis. This is the last part of the nahanamll dances proper, and it finishes the cycle. After this dance follows another animal game, this time not confined to the dancing platform but ranging over the whole settlement: the "representation of the wild pig" (ebure silahlane). By now it is late afternoon and the wisz'ralu formally closes the festivities by loosing two arrows in to the sky (hatabu kuai eburukilane). These arrows are the two

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daunona staffs. The young men sCram ble to catch the falling arrows, and carry them off to the temple. Most of the guests now leave and the place gives the impression of "people going home." The festivities are over. But the initiated know better. The core of religious practitioners and elders wait for nightfall to stage the "play of the blind woman who lost her way in the woods" (rna emu), and, finally, the "play of the howler monkey" (wahi silakilane). This is, in reality, the "Chant of the Supreme Spirit" (kanobo arokoholu), in which the organization of the howler monkey band represents that of Warao society.19 At the conclusion the headman plays the isimoi trumpet and then breaks it. OTHER RITUALS INVOLVING FOOD SHARING

Without a kanobo there is no nahanamu ritual, for without the pressure of the religious obligation it is difficult to motivate the people to collect the necessary starch. The head of a well-organized extended household, on the other hand, might command enough nebu to have the necessary foodstuffs collected by his own group. In the absence of a kanobo he might give a uida, a "big basket," which is the nahanamu minus the kanobo ritual and without any prolonged storage of the yuruma. This is similar to the nowara of the Wayo-Murako-Hobure area. The habi sanuka, or festival of the "small rattles," is a ritual in its own right. It is described by Barral (1957:104) as a theurgic dance, which, celebrated separately, involves a communal meal and the distribution of food. The ceremony involves the eating of tortillas of moriche starch or, significantly, bitter manioc. Like the uida, the habi sanuka generally has a sponsor, a lesser shaman, but nevertheless a man of considerable political standing, who presides over the distribution of the food. At least two large basketfuls (approximately 150 kg.) of flour are required. The flour for the habi sanuka is sometimes stored for up to a month, but only in the original baskets, and not in a nahanamu container, where it could be preserved longer. The meal given on the occasion of the habi sanuka is often called nowara) the same term that is applied to the ritual which takes the place of the nahanamu in the Wayo-Murako-Hobure area. In that area the nowara is generally, but not necessarily, held in Mayor June, when the people return with their accumulated yuruma starch from the forest to their riverine village. New kitchen huts are constructed for the occasion, but there are no temple structures involved and the all important storage function is missing. The yuruma stays in the baskets 19 An interpretation of this important ritual in the context of its cosmological representation will be given in a forthcoming work by Wllberl.


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for only a few days, or, at longest, perhaps a week. Some prestige is connected with the quantity contributed, for, on the day of the ceremony, each man brings his basket of yuruma to the hut where the cooks, the old women, are waiting. In Winikina and other areas of the Central Delta, the nowara is altogether different. There it is a large banquet of woolly crabs and yuruma tortillas, sponsored by a powerful household head who com mands enough manpower to collect the necessary food.:w At least 100 kg. of yuruma and five large baskets of crabs are needed.:n To be the sponsor (nowara arotu) of such a communal banquet lends great prestige to the organizer. One informant, the man who gave these feasts most frequently during the last five yea"s, admitted openly that prestige was his main motive. He was an outsider who had come to the Winikina from the Marosa group of Sohoburoho, and this was one way in which he could demonstrate the power and economic organization of his household compound. The quantity of food offered, as well as the proper and elegant execution of the communal meal with a strict observation of formality and etiquette, are cri teria for gauging a "successful banquet." As in the habi sanuka, the nowara food is prepared before being offered to the guests. At the nahanamu, however, the yuruma is distributed as unprepared flour to be processed by each household. A recur,ren t theme in the remarks of men giving a nowara is "so people would not say I am stingy" (tai seke hiwarao waranaka takitane, hi akara warakitane). The aim, then, is to give a plen tiful and well organized nowara in order to prove that the host is generous and that he has command over enough manpower to ensure the collection of the necessary food. ANALYSIS OF THE DATA

All of the traditional Warao rituals have economic implications, since they always involve the sharing of large quantities of food. In the nahanamu (Central Delta) or nowara (Southeastern Delta), and the habi sanuka, food is distributed to the members of the community and guests from friendly groups. In the uida, and in the Cen tral Delta version of the nowara, food is accumulated by a particular household unit and a feast is given for the other members of the community. At the group level, the economic aspects of ritual constitute an important mechanism for spreading risks. Food sharing has generally 20 The root of nOlvara means to "enumerate," to licxtend," and alIso, by implication, "abundance." (See also Barral 1964:139). 21 The "blue crab" (rno/ana) is not used in the nowaTa in Winikina.

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been recognized as a pre-condition for the successful functioning of small scale societies. 22 At the individual level, rituals involve "conspic uous giving," reinforced in Warao society by the opprobrium attached to the attitude called kohl ("stingy, not generous").2:1 This gives rise to prestige ranking and the divers,ification of individual economic choices. Prestige ranking on the basis of differential contributions to the common food storage strongly pervades the nahanamu ritual, and appears to be a powerful reinforcement for the required behavior. Variations in the nahanamu ritual enable us to recognize important adaptive devices in relation to micro-environments. As we have seen, the outstanding characteristic of the moriche palm starch is the seasonality of its supply. The most favored areas were those located in the Southeastern Delta, where extensive palm stands were located close to the open distributaries with their abundant supply of fish. In this region, no mechanisms beyond simple sharing were developed. How ever, it is impossible to make any reliable inference regarding tradi tional conditions since this area consti tu ted the thoroughfare of foreign exploration and invasion. Moreover, for the last century or so, remaining rubber gatherers instituted a form of "encomienda" system in the area with personal ownership of individual Warao settlements. The Ataisiwari-Warao and other groups in the Wayo-Murako Hobure area also faced the problem of surviving a period of yuruma scarcity each year during the early rainy season. This becomes clear from the reports of older informants on the pre-ocumo era. But here, storage was handled individually by each household. Most groups in this area consist of refugees from territory further south which was under crioHo domination. These migrations occurred during the lifetime of older informants. Possibly the timespan was too short to permit the development of elaborate mechanisms to cope with scarcity situations. Their immediate response was to form large household units, which are still found in the settlements of Osibu Kahunoko, Murako, and Dauida Hana. These people also had large, well-constructed dugouts, and were geographically quite mobile. (There are indications that some Warao contingents of the Central Delta had only rudimen tary dugouts until they moved out of the morichales.) 22 This deferred "exchange" as a risk-spreading mechanism has to be sharply set off from barter or any other exchange based on the division of labor, a conceptual distinction which is not elucidated in the literat ure. Cf. P iddocke (1965:244-264); for the specificity of adaptive behavior patterns, cf. Alland (1967:212-214). Fora general survey sec the works of Mauss (1925); Thurnwald (1932); Polanyi (1944); Gouldna (1960); Pospisil (1963); Sahlins (1965, 1972). 23 For a characterization of societies which practice "conspicuous giving" and those, such as ours, that emphasize "conspicuous possession" or consumption, see Erasmus (1961, Part II). For a specific aspect of "conspicuous giving," see Dowling (1968:502-507).


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The adjacent Sakobana area also had intensive contact with the Rio Grande zone. The Sakobana groups lived partially on non-moriche staples, cultivating manioc and sweet potatoes on the offshore islands which contained the few ecological niches in the region suitable for those cultigens., Migrant wage labor in the Guianas was a solution in times of difficulty and acted as a population safety valve. It was this group which, in the 1920's, brought to the Delta from the Guianas the ocumo tuber. 24 Formerly unknown among the Warao, ocumo has become the dominant staple of all Warao groups. It was, however, in the swampy Central Delta between the rivers Makiri and the Arawao, where moriche groves were located deep in the interior of the forested areas, that additional mechanisms were devel oped for the storage of the traditional staple food. Here the rituals for sharing food were connected with the storage of that food in the nahanamu. The religious underpinning for the storage was provided by the powerful kanobo cult, the offerings to the supreme spirit and a host of supernatural entities. As pointed out previously, the kanobo cult is coextensive with the nahanamu ritual. CONCLUSION

For those bands grouped around a kanobo cult, the nahanamu ritual functions to tie together their survival efforts during the most critical period of the year. Invitations to participate in these rituals are extended to friendly neighboring bands and serve to channel resources in case of need. In this way the risk is spread over a greater number of bands. The availability of yuruma and the resulting possible bottleneck in its supply is such that it has an effectively random distribution. In all but exceptional years, a total minimum supply of starch for the population of a given area must be forthcoming. From one poin t of view, the nahanamu ri tual represen ts the insti tu tionalization of strategies directed toward the establishment of a stable supply of goods and the accumulation of prestige in such a way as to enhance the possibility of survival for the entire population. The sacred ritual protected the store of essential staple foods from capricious consumption, and thus made it available should a shortage of starch food develop during the critical months of the early rainy season. The nahanamu enables a wise elder to guide his people through periods of scarcity. At the same time, the display of the economic power needed to organize the yuruma quest, and the just redistribution of the 24 See footnote 6. Blood group studies have also shown that the majority of atypical antigens found among the Warao occur in this group (Layrisse, personal communication).

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product serve to confirm the authority of the elders, as well as to assure their own access to the necessary food supply at an age when their work capacity is declining.

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