Kynyxiwe jua-wana

Kynyxiwe jua-wana

Object Details

Subject LanguageKarajá
Language PID(s)ailla:119561
Title [Indigenous]Kynyxiwe jua-wana
Language of Indigenous Titlekpj
TitleKynyxiwe jua-wana
Language Community
Country(ies)Brazil
Place CreatedItxala (near Santa Terezinha do Araguaia) State of
Date Created1993-05-24
Description [Indigenous]
Language of Indigenous Description
DescriptionThis story narrates one of the several adventures of the ‘trickster’ Kynyxiwe, in which he conquers fire for mankind, stealing it from the animals (who, in mythical times, were the sole possessors of fire and, therefore, of cooked food). Kynyxiwe, through the power of his actions (or mischiefs) and of his magical words, reverts that situation in favor of mankind: by stealing the animals’ fire, he condemns them to eating only raw food. The narrator, a Northern Karajá man now deceased, was recognized for his skills as a story teller. He chose to tell this story, in particular, because, according to him, very few people still remembered it. Indeed, this is not among the most popular, oft-told stories of the Karajá repertoire, although it is promptly recognized as being part of the ‘canons’ of the Karajá mythological corpus explaining the origin of elements of nature, topography, subsistence activities, and cultural artifacts.


The story was recorded at the request of the narrator, and was told to an audience constituted mainly of teenage boys—therefore, a traditional setting for story-telling among the Karajá. It is this audience that the narrator addresses as [xxx both in the beginning and in the end of the narrative (xxx is the age category of boys who had just been admited to the service of the ceremonial mask house; xxx is a pluralizer).
GenresNarrative
Myth
Source Note
References
Contributor(s) Individual / RoleRivail Ribeiro, Eduardo (Researcher)
Anonymous (Speaker)
Anonymous (Consultant)
Anonymous (Transcriber)
Contributor(s) Corporate / Role

Media Files

There are 4 objects in this resource
ObjectFile TypesAccess Level
KPJ001R001I001.wav1
KPJ001R001I001.mp3audio/mp31
KPJ001R001I002.wav1
KPJ001R001I002.mp3audio/mp31

Details