ANCESTRAL VESTIGES OF THE NGO’OGÜ AND Ü’ÜNEGÜ IN THE NATURE OF EWARE

Abstract

This study presents the results of the research carried out in the Ticuna community of Vendaval, in the indigenous lands of Eware, a place belonging to the municipality of São Paulo de Olivença and situated on the left bank of the Upper Solimões, Amazonas, where the Magüta people still constitute, to this day, the largest ethnic group in terms of population in the Brazilian Amazon. In the perception of the original people of this region, Eware is the sanctuary of the cultural immortals, which establishes a very strong cosmic energy between humans and non-humans (beings of supernaturality). In this immemorial territory, under the Magüta worldview, there are several deities, demons, and spirits of the occult universe and of a sacred nature, each of which has a social function among the Ticuna. Such is the case of the Ngo’ogü and Ü’ünegü, who are constituted as ancestral beings of living, spiritual, and immortal permanence, representing traits and identity values for the original culture. The objective of the study is to investigate the ancestral vestiges left by the Ngo’ogü (demons, deities, and spirits) and Ü’ünegü (immortal beings) in the sacred nature of the Eware, in order to identify how they influence and present themselves in the discourses and in the daily life of the Magüta Indigenous community of Vendaval. The research was qualitative in nature, with an ethnographic focus and focused on field research. It used field observation and interviews with ten social subjects of the ethnic group, selected according to their ages and social functions in the community. It was found that spirituality plays a fundamental role, serving as the organizing principle of community life and the relationship with nature; the Magüta have their own ways of understanding and engage with the world.