essay
Training for the priesthood among the Kogi of Colombia
enculturation in latin america : an anthology • Los Angeles • Published In 1976 • Pages: 265-288
By: Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo.
Abstract
This article is a description of the engrossing and rigorous training of Kogi native priests, an eighteen year trial in which a child of two or three years of age is taken from his home to live with a priest (mama) and his family in an isolated upland ceremonial center. For the first nine years the novitiate lives a nocturnal existence, not allowed to see daylight or even the light of a full moon. He learns by rote the priestly language, songs and dances. At puberty he returns to his natal home, but after a short stay returns for another nine-year period of instruction, which includes learning moral precepts through the exposition of tales and myths. The object of the early period of training is to alter the normal perception of time and space, thus enabling priests to manipulate the cycles of nature for society's benefit. The asceticism also serves to induce altered states of consciousness which is a necessary part of priestly divinatory practice. Socially, the training makes the priest an aloof and cold individual whose object is self-purification and the quest for more intimacy with the supernatural.
- HRAF PubDate
- 1997
- Region
- South America
- Sub Region
- Northwestern South America
- Document Type
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- Ian Skoggard ; 1996
- Field Date
- not specified
- Coverage Date
- not specified
- Coverage Place
- Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia
- Notes
- Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 288)
- LCCN
- 76620078
- LCSH
- Kagaba Indians