The Owners
Nivaclé · numen · Nivaclé traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
The Owners are tutelary spirit-masters of animals, water, and tracts of bush who control the game and plants within their domains. Success in hunting and fishing depends on respecting them, and it is chiefly the shaman who deals with these beings, seeking their permission or appeasing them when their creatures are taken.
Domains
- animal mastery
- shamanism
Powers
- controls the game within their domains
Sources
- The Nivaclé recognize tutelary owner-spirits of animals, water, and tracts of bush that control game and plants; success in hunting and fishing depends on the shaman's dealings with them.: Regehr, Walter, Die lebensräumliche Situation der Indianer im paraguayischen Chaco (Basel: Basler Beiträge zur Geographie, 1979). (secondary); Métraux, Alfred, 'Ethnography of the Chaco,' Handbook of South American Indians, vol. 1 (1946). (secondary)