TWINS AND MUBAIS

Twin

babies

forebode

evil to parents.

The only way

to offset this is to

cause one

to die.

This

is usually

done

atbirth.

At

other times

one

is

allowed

to perish slowly.

Twins

are called

"munkin"

or

"bokolore."

By "mubai"

is

meant

"first-born."

Sukya

or a

medicine person

is

always

the first-born of his family.

He

is

allowed

to

handle

the sick

and

give medicine.

He

is

supposed

to

be endowed with

special spiritual favor

and

the

power

to heal.

THE BALSERf A

The

great tribal

game

is called "krunkite," in

Spanish

"balseria."

This

is a

game

^{of stick} dancing.

Usually

the

dry September

season

Alphonse]

GUAYMI GRAMMAR AND DICTIONARY 123

is the

time

for stick dancing. It is also the

time when food

is

most abundant and

the

"pisba"

or

"pejebaya" palm —

^the

most important food

after corn

and

rice

—

^{is ripeningitsfruit.}

When

a

man

chooses to

hold

a balseria,

he assumes

the

name

of

"kobobu." He

prepares to lead the

game by ^choosing

a site

and

getting

up

a store of provisions for the "etebali," or

man he

chooses to challenge,

and

hisgroup.

Immediately

a

band

offollowers

gather around him, and

the

date

is set.

A cord

is

knotted

to

show

the

number

of

days

before the

game

will

come

off.

His messengers go out

to

"krun

braire", or to challenge,

with

the cord

and

a

horn

or

conch

shell,

which

is

blown

in

a

peculiar

way.

Instantly

everyone who

accepts the challenge

answers

the

horn with

a similar challenging blast,

and

the

forthcoming

balseria is established.

Everybody now

begins to crush

sugarcane and put away

the juice to ferment.

The women

boil

and chew

the fruit of the pisba,

which they put

into avat,

and then

eventuallyinto

gourds

forfermentation.

Immense

quantities of

food

are secured

by hunters and

fishermen.

From

the traders

they

acquire

bread and rum

in large quantities.

(The

traders

encourage

the

games

to increase theirbusiness.)

The

site

having been

chosen, the

"kobobu" and

hishelpers clearit,

and

build small

huts around

the clearing.

To

these

they

bring their provisions, their

women, and

their children.

The women

are spec- tators;

they applaud

the

men.

On

^the

eve

of thebalseria, the

kobobu

feeds the "etebali"

and

his defenders.

During

the night, the

men

let loose all passions

—

as the horseislettogallopunreined.

Few,

including the

women, keep

^sober.

Fights

and

old

grudges

are settled then,

and never

successfully till

blood drawn by

fist

mauling

settlesit. Shirt

bosoms

are bespattered

with blood —

^that

^ends

^{a fight}

and

that only.

When

a

man through drunkenness

gets

unmanageable,

his favoritewifewill

hold on

to

him and keep wetting

his

head with

cold

water and

hitting

him on

his

head with

the

palm

of her

hand

to bring

back

his senses.

For

the balseria the

men

paint

themselves

as

fancy

dictates,

with

paint

made from

the fat of a

roach

called

"kuron." This roach

is

trainedto infestespeciallya tree called

by

the

same name, from which

it derives its fat.

The roaches

are

gathered when pink with

fat

and

are boiled to a paste,

which

hardens.

The

paste is

then mixed with anotto

(Bixa orellana) for red;

with

blue

from

the

shops and

also

from

the fruit "sule";

with

sootfor black;

and with

the rootof

a

tree for

yeUow. The

actual paintingof the face is called "ja-mike,"

The headdress

is called

"nurin" and

is

made

of feathers of wild birds.

The

feathers

form

a sort of circular

crown,

fitted to

a band

around

the head.

The headdress

is held in place

by a black band

under

the chin.

124 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY

[Bull.162

Over

their shoulders are

worn

the skin of

animals

killed in the hunt.

The braver man

will

wear

a stuffed

jaguar

skin

— he

is

a

"tiger"

man. So down

the scale, little

boys

will

wear

squirrel skin.

From

the skinof the

peccary

are

made drumheads

for the

scooped- out wooden drums. Horns

of the

long-horned

cattle are

bought

for as

much

as

$40 each

to

make

music.

When

the

horn

is

not

large

enough, two

or

more

are

put

together

and bound with wax. The blowing end

is fitted

with

a

mouthpiece

that looks like the small

end

of

a

cotton-thread spool cut in

two and

fitted to the horn.

Whistles

are

made from

the

bones

of deer.

From

the shells of tortoises a sort of cello is

made

that gives a

monotonous

screech.

What with

indiscriminate

sounds

of

drums, cow

horns,

conch

shells, whistles, tortoise shells,

and

yells

and screams

in a

dense

forest

where

1,000 or

more

are gathered, all

doing

the

same

thingat the

same

time, the picture of a balserianight is complete.

The game

consists of

dancing

while balsa

wood

sticks 5 feet in length are

thrown

at the dancer,

who performs with

his

back turned

to his

opponent. The

^sticks are cut

months ahead and put

to

dry

before a fire.

They become

light

and

hard, the

ends being

slightly

rounded

off.

On

the

morning

ofthe

ceremony, a

great ring is

formed with men and women

in their finery of paint, beads, necldaces,

and

clothes.

The kobobu

is at

one end and

etebali

and

his

group

are at the other.

The

sticks are

stacked nearby on a

specially constructed platform.

The kobobu

chooses 12,

and

the etebali a like

number.

The kobobu comes out with empty hands and

turns his

back

to the

man

challenged

and

begins his

rhythmic

dance, singing the while:

"Brani!

Brani!" meaning "Man you say you

are."

To which

the etebali

coming out with

a stick

aimed

at the other's legs

and dancing rhythmically back and

forth replies, in a challenging tone,

"Man

I

am," and he

lets drive

with both hands

as

hard

as

he

is able.

The dancing

target is

supposed

to

open

his legs

and

close

them. Often

it is a clear miss; the

dancer maneuvers

his legs gracefully,

and

awaits the next.

When, however,

the etebali

makes a

hit

and

the chal- lenger falls,

he runs back

for

another

stick crying out,

"Wau

ki sha!

Wau

ka-sha!"

—

"I struck! I

caught

a fish!"

When

these are through, the

opposing

side falls in

and

repeats the

same procedure;

thus

both teams

belabor

one another

for a

whole

day.

At

the

end

of the contest

hundreds

of bruised legs are seen.

When

the balseria is concluded, the ring is

formed

again,

but

this

time

the

women chant

a

song

of parting,

and

allleave.

At home

the bruised,

bloody and

swollen legs are cauterized

with hot

^nails.

After

these

wounds

are healed, a local stick

dance

is held to

appease

the

ghost

of thestick

dance

that

caused

the swollen legs.

Alphonse]

GUAYMI GRAMMAR AND DICTIONARY 125 FOLKLORE

THE ULIKRON