Mataco

By Jan-Åke Alvarsson and John Beierle

Churumatas, Coronados, Mataco-Güisnay, Mataco- Noctenes (Oktenai, Nocten), Mataco-Véjoz (Bejoses, Wejwos, Hueshuos), Mataguayo, Wenhayek wikyi, Wichi, Wikyé.

The fact that the Mataco have been identified with a series of denominations, indicates the fragmentary knowledge that we still have of all their different dialects and subsections. The name "Mataco" seems to be derived from Spanish MONTARACES (bush people), a pejorative word for those living in the little known dry forests of the Gran Chaco.

Ever since their habitat was first established, the Mataco have lived in northern and central Gran Chaco, roughly in the area between the rivers Pilcomayo and Bermejo, from the foothills of the Andes in Bolivia, to the town of Las Lomitas in Argentina. This part of the Gran Chaco is known as the hottest region of South America, and, apart from a few chilly days in June to August, day temperatures range between 30 degrees and 40 degrees C, with the average summer temperature ascending to more than 30 degrees C. Precipitation is normally low, around 60 centimeters per year, which results in a semidesert climate with xerophytic vegetation.

The Mataco language belongs to the Mataco-Mak'á branch of the Macro-Guaicuruan Language Family. Lately, the latter has been associated with the Ge-Pano-Carib Language Group. Mataco has for centuries been divided into three dialects: Noctenes, Güisnay and Véjoz, but this partition may prove insufficient.

According to official figures, there are 12,000 Mataco in Argentina and some 2,000 in Bolivia. These numbers are most certainly too low, however. In 1988, an Argentine newspaper, El Nuevo Diario, assessed the number of Mataco in Argentina alone, to be about 60,000.

Comparative studies by Erland Nordenskiöld in the early years of this century suggest that the Macro-Guaicuruans are descendants of the first immigrants to South America. They were well established in the Gran Chaco before the Guaraní immigration in the sixteenth century and the arrival of the Spanish in the seventeenth. The first recorded contact between the Mataco and the Spaniards took place in 1628, but White penetration was slow, and the area cannot beconsidered fully "colonized" until after the Chaco War (1932-1936). Archaeological, ethnographic and linguistic evidence show that the Mataco had extensive, early contacts with the Andean peoples, chiefly with the Quechua. In historical times, the Mataco traded with, and worked for, the Chiriguano. During the late nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth, they migrated to the cane mills of northern Argentina. Nevertheless, they have exchanged fairly little by way of language and culture with other peoples. In most parts of their territory, the Mataco have resisted integration, or interacted very reluctantly with the Whites and the Mestizos. This attitude has made them the object of numerous negative evaluations by development planners, missionaries and the local population.

The Mataco live in villages of varying size, comprised of from 1 to 100 extended families. Because of lack of water and the abundance of fish, most settlements are situated along the rivers. Those who are not riverine Mataco, also prefer the vicinity of waters. The spatial layout of the village reflects the social relations, usually family ties, of the inhabitants. The traditional beehivelike grass hut disappeared as a permanent dwelling around the time of the Chaco War and is seen only occasionally at temporary fishing camps. Today the Mataco live in square wattle-and-daub houses or, if residing in urban areas, in adobe or brick houses.

The Mataco are gatherers, fishermen and hunters, but supplement these activities with a simple agriculture. Women gather tree fruits, tubers, herbs and roots, while men forage for honey. The Mataco know over twenty species of honey-producing bees. Men fish with several techniques but most often with nets. The most common, and economically important catches are SÁBALOS, DORADOS, and ZURUBÍS. Hunting decreased in importance after the Chaco War and communal hunts have disappeared. Today the customary practice is to hunt with dogs. The most frequently taken game are armadillos, rheas and iguanas. Slash-and-burn cultivation has been replaced by a more permanent cultivation. The main crops are maize, pumpkins, squashes, watermelons, and cassava.

In the 1970s the northernmost Mataco developed a fishing industry, based on seine fishing. The Mataco adopted the idea from a missionary and based the work organization on traditional collective barring-net fishing. Since then commercialized fishing has become the single largest source of income for these Mataco. In other areas, lumbering and unskilled day labor provide the Mataco with the necessary cash.

Aboriginal crafts include pottery, making of CARAGUATÁ string-bags, basketry, and the production of items from calabash and tools and ornaments from wood, bark, skin, bone and teeth. The string bags have received special attention because of their beauty and variety of design; they are now also produced for sale. In the 1950s, the Mataco started producing wickerlike furniture, and in the 1960s they started a home industry of baskets and balsa wood. In both cases, commercialization has been very successful, and these products constitute the second largest source of income for the Mataco in the northern half of their habitat.

The group maintained a considerable precontact trade with the Quechua and the Chiriguano; there was probably an Amazon-Pampean trade route that passed through the Gran Chaco. Today the Mataco buy kerosene, maté, macaroni, rice, sugar and clothes from the Mestizos and sell fish, handicraft, honey, some agricultural products, and labor.

Women are responsible for the gathering of most foods and light firewood, fetching water, cooking, and making handicrafts out of clay, CARAGUATÁ fibers, palm leaves, wool and cotton. Men gather honey and heavy firewood; they fish, hunt, and manufacture handicraft of wood, bark, skin, leather, bone and metal. Men also undertake most of the activities that relate to the national society: employment, work migrations, contacts with authorities, and trade. Both sexes help out in agriculture and women sometimes sell their own handicraft products.

Individuals have the right to occupy, hunt and cultivate any unoccupied land. This right of possession lasts as long as the land is cultivated or inhabited. There is no individual ownership as regards land. With the help of missions or national agencies, Mataco village communities have acquired legal rights to portions of their former territory.

Mataco society was traditionally divided into a series of WIKYI', or groups, (i.e. named, geographically localized and exogamous social units). Each group was regarded as a single entity, but each split into bands that varied in size according to the season. After the Chaco War, these groups developed into WIKYI' categories and are now spread out over large areas. Nevertheless, it is easy to find a correlation between a concentration of WIKYI' members and its traditional locality. Apart from WIKYI' membership, there is little emphasis on descent. There is no descent ideology and when a person dies, he or she is immediately cut out of the kinship system. Even his or her name is quickly ignored and sometimes tabooed.

The system of kinship terminology is based on cognatic principles and could be classified as a variant of the Hawaiian type. Almost all kinship terms are generational and can be used in several genealogical positions. No difference is made between full siblings and first cousins. However, six core terms are specific (Ego, wife, mother, father, daughter, sister). These represent key concepts in ego's family of orientation and that of procreation.

The formation of a matrimony extends over considerable time, and the couple may follow any of the following procedures. According to the Mataco codex, discussions should precede initiative to sexual liaisons, and these should be followed by a phase of trials. Only thereafter do the parents celebrate the wedding or consider the couple to be married. Another, and nowadays more common, alternative is to escape for some time after the first, passionate encounter. The period away from home is equivalent to the trial, and if the liaison proves to be durable, the couple is regarded as "married" upon returning to the original community. Marriage should be followed by bride-service until the first child is born. After the initial, uxorilocal residence, the couple may move to any place they wish. Divorce is fairly frequent, especially among those contracting marriage at an early age.

The basic socioeconomic unit is the extended family, which lives in a single, or several adjacent huts. It may be constituted by one or two pots, but is characterized by generalized reciprocity and close cooperation in all socio-economic activities.

There is no inheritance among the Mataco. When a person dies, his or her property is destroyed.

Children are supposed to learn through imitation and instruction, not by correction or punishment. An increasing percentage of them now attend primary school. Until the 1980s, however, no Mataco had ever gone beyond secondary school.

All Mataco, men and women, young and old, are supposed to be equal; all share the right of free speech and partake in all activities. Nevertheless, eloquence (only acquired with age) is crucial; therefore elders, and often old men, enjoy a special status.

Formerly, each WIKYI' was an autonomous political entity, guided by the community council and represented by the NIYAT, the spokesman. The council, which was constituted of all the adults of the group, handled all kinds of political, judicial and legal issues. Today, the village council fulfills these roles.

Within the family or the community, open face-to-face conflict, as well as gossip, slander, ostracism, and social withdrawal are, and have been, important forms of social control. Taboos and fear of supernatural powers cannot be disregarded, however. Between WIKYI' groups and extended families severe crimes, like homicide, were settled through negotiations or blood revenge.

There are no means of external intervention in internal familial controversies. Disputes between families often evolve into open clashes, necessitating the intervention of the village council. In these fights or scuffles, women, more often than men, are the protagonists. In bygone days, clashes between WIKYI' could result in armed aggression, but such tension was often prevented by recurrent games of hockey.

The Mataco believe in an interrelationship between humans and animals, the sky and the earth, and the natural and supernatural. A distant and vague Creator is complemented by a rich pantheon of zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figures who intervene very little in a person's life if he or she adheres to the Mataco codex or keeps to the human zones. Breaking of taboos, or any other type of border crossing, brings a person in direct contact, or even conflict, with the supernatural. A characteristic feature of Mataco religion is the existence of "lords" over different phenomena central to the Mataco, like honey, CARAGUATÁ or peccaries. The Mataco worldview is expressed, outlined and explained in their rich mythology and in their oral tradition. There are numerous supernatural individuals and categories in the Mataco cosmos. Some of the most important: Lawo', the rainbow or giant serpent, who controls tempests, storms and cyclones and is easily irritated; Ahââtaj, the head of all evil; Ijwala, the sun and the evil master; and Thokwjwaj, the feared but cherished trickster who represents "Mataconess". Most Mataco adhere to a type of parallelism, a combination of traditional beliefs and Christian faith, spread through Anglican and Pentecostal missions.

The only religious specialists are the shamans, who have advisory as well as curative functions. Through shamanic trips, they have knowledge of the supernatural and the unknown, and pass this information on to the people. Whenever a person fears supernatural intervention, he or she goes to a shaman for advice or curative rituals. Shamans have no direct political authority, but may, through their extensive knowledge, influence decisions. Missionary teachings have diminished the number of shamans and their caseloads.

Traditional rituals included a rite of passage for girls, a wedding ceremony and a funeral. Beside these, there were several types of shamanistic rites. Most of these have disappeared as a result of the influence of Christianity.

Mataco artistry reaches its supreme height in the string-bag designs, based on natural or symbolical patterns and closely related to their mythology. Several natural dyes are used and some fifteen basic patterns, with hundreds of variants. Aesthetic expression is also found in carvings, pottery and, in bygone days, in facial paintings.

The Mataco are familiar with a large number of herbs that are used for most somatic aliments. Aside from these, there are natural and supernatural forces that are accessible only to the shaman.

When a Mataco dies, he or she is buried with a jug of water, an important item for a trip in the barren Chaco. The deceased is supposed to initiate a long journey, and must do so to avoid disturbing or molesting the living. The deceased will continue his or her afterlife in the underworld, much as he or she lived on earth. Some Mataco philosophers believe in metempsychosis, however (i.e., in successive transformation of humans into ghosts, bats and spiders before they vanish totally).

Documents referred to in this section are included in this eHRAF collection and are referenced by author, date of publication, and eHRAF document number.

The Mataco file consists of eight documents, two of which are translations from Spanish (Pelleschi 1897, no. 1), and Métraux 1944, no. 4), one from French (Dijour 1933, no. 7), and the remaining five in English. The works of Pelleschi, Métraux, and to some extent Karsten (Karsten 1932, no. 2) complement one another and provide an excellent background for a study of the traditional Mataco culture (relevant to the periods of the authors' fieldwork ranging from approximately 1875 to the late 1930s). In 1995 a new monograph was added to the file by the ethnologist Jan-Ake Alvarsson (see Alvarsson 1988, no. 9), reviewing previous literature on the area, and providing additional reconstructive information on the Mataco before the colonization of the area as well as updating the existing ethnographic data. This document, used in conjunction with the works of Pelleschi, Métraux, and Karsten, should provide the reader with a relatively complete overview of Mataco culture and society. Other works in the file provide information on Mataco folktales, marriage customs, suicide, and curing ceremonies.

For more detailed information on the content of the individual works in this file, see the abstracts in the citations preceding each document.

This culture summary is from the article "Mataco" by Jan-Åke Alvarsson in the Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Vol.7. 1994. Johannes Wilbert, ed. Boston, Mass.: G. K. Hall & Co. The synopsis and indexing notes were prepared by John Beierle, August 1996.

• clusters -- groups of NOWETLHELEY or households -- categories 592, 621

• HIYAWU' -- the shaman -- category 756

• LHAMETWO -- "word keeper"; an "Indian Pastor" whose primary task is to read the Bible to the villagers at the recurrent meetings -- category 794

• NIYAT -- the village spokesman -- category 622

• NOWET LHAMHIYA -- the household head -- categories 592, 554

• NOWETLHELEY -- the family group or household -- category 592

Alvarsson, Jan-ke (1988). The Mataco of the Gran Chaco. An Ethnographic Account of Change and Continuity in Mataco Socio- Economic Organization. Uppsala Studies in Cultural Anthropology, No. 11. Uppsala and Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International.

Fock, Niels (1982). "History of Mataco Folk Literature and Research." In Folk Literature of the Mataco Indians, edited by Johannes Wilbert and Karin Simanou, 1-33. Los Angeles: University of California, Latin American Studies Center.

Métraux, Alfred (1946). "Ethnography of the Chaco." In Handbook of South American Indians, edited by Julian Steward, Vol. 1, The Marginal Tribes, 197-370. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution.

Ortíz Lema, Edgar (1986). Los mataco noctenes de Bolivia. La Paz and Cochabamba: Editorial Los Amigos del Libro.