ta'o we
Araweté · numen · Araweté traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
The ta'o we is the earthbound remainder of the dead, the specter that stays with the corpse and the world of the forest while the celestial soul rises to the gods. Associated with the decaying body and drawn toward the Añĩ, it lingers to trouble the living during the period of decomposition, then withdraws to the natal village of the deceased, where at last it dissolves. It is the shadow-half of the Araweté afterlife, the portion of the person that does not become divine but simply fades from the earth, the necessary counterweight to the ĩ's ascent into immortality.
Domains
- death
- haunting
Powers
- haunts the living
Relations
- companion: AñĩThe specter is associated with the body and with the Añĩ spirits of the forest.Viveiros de Castro, From the Enemy's Point of View, 1992. (secondary)
- companion: ĩThe two aspects into which death splits the person.Viveiros de Castro, From the Enemy's Point of View, 1992. (secondary)
Sources
- The terrestrial aspect of the dead is a specter associated with the body and the Añĩ; it haunts the living while the corpse decomposes, then goes back to the natal village of the deceased, where it disappears.: Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, From the Enemy's Point of View, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. (secondary)