De l’os, de l’ennemi et du divin. Réflexions sur quelques pratiques funéraires tupi-guarani
Of Bones, enemies and divinities. Reflections on some Tupi-Guarani funerary practices. By underlining the importance of bone in Tupi-Guarani myth and ritual, this article seeks to demonstrate that bone is not a neutral substance, and that the different ways of treating it allow us to distinguish two...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Société des américanistes
2003-06-01
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| Series: | Journal de la Société des Américanistes |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/jsa/1543 |
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| Summary: | Of Bones, enemies and divinities. Reflections on some Tupi-Guarani funerary practices. By underlining the importance of bone in Tupi-Guarani myth and ritual, this article seeks to demonstrate that bone is not a neutral substance, and that the different ways of treating it allow us to distinguish two major axes structuring various funerary rites. These axes are defined by their aggressive or caring attitude toward the deceased, and they largely determine one’s posthumous fate. If the greatest contrast is that between vengeful exo-cannibalism and the cult of bones, there is also, within the former, a culturally determined gradation in the treatment of the bones during consumption of the corpse. |
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| ISSN: | 0037-9174 1957-7842 |