Diróa-mahsë

The Diróa-mahsë, or 'Blood People', are among the divine personifications that Reichel-Dolmatoff records the Sun-Father as having established. Named from diró, 'blood', they are linked with the life-giving blood-energy that the Desana associate with health and, together with the Day People (Emëkóri-mahsë), they consistently represent the principle of good, standing in contrast to the sorcerous Night People. In shamanic practice the paye reaches them, like the other beneficent supernaturals, through the mediation of Vihó-mahsë in the Milky Way, calling upon them in the healing and protective dimension of Desana cosmology.

Domains

• benevolence
• health vitality

Powers

• to uphold the principle of good in the cosmos
• to answer the shaman as a benevolent supernatural intermediary

Relations

• subordinate to: Sun-FatherOne of the divine personifications ordained by the Sun-Father, representing the principle of good.Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff, Amazonian Cosmos: The Sexual and Religious Symbolism of the Tukano Indians (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971). (secondary)

Sources

• Diróa-mahsë, the 'Blood People', are Desana divine personifications associated with blood and vital energy who, alongside the Day People, embody the principle of good and are approached by shamans as benevolent intermediaries.: Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff, Amazonian Cosmos: The Sexual and Religious Symbolism of the Tukano Indians (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971). (secondary); Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff, The Shaman and the Jaguar: A Study of Narcotic Drugs Among the Indians of Colombia (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1975). (secondary)