The true soul.

These beings live with body and soul; they make miracles. Also, in this world plants of all class exist; the animals, as for example boars (untsuri, uunt paki) and the sajinos (yankipik paki) for them they are pigs, they get angry when pigs arrives wounded with bullets, and they cure them. Also, they raise those animals and others for us.

Under the waters lives Tsunki that Shuar consider Etsania in our language. Also, in this world exist all kinds of plants and eatable and non-eatable animals, those we don't see them, but they exist. For Tsunki, the water we see is not water, but a kind of a firmament; as we see the part that covers us.

Formerly, our elders used to explain the life and the places of existence in different ways, according to their lived experiences. The place that we live, as we already said, is called the earth (iwiaku pujutai), the earth of the living beings. All those people that conform different human groups in this world are mortal (jaka amunain ainiawai). In this place we don't have the eternal life, because we are matter that decompose, we become earth again. Also, people are limited they need a protection and help, for this we Shuar always look for somebody (Arutam), a superior being to protect us of all danger. While we live we are afraid of death.

This search for superior being's is the purpose that provides us a long life (tarimiat pujúsun).

I will clarify it now, not all believe in that superior being (Arutam) neither look for a divine protection (Arutam Kakarmari), like we had before, we have begun to look for material thing and in a particular way we constantly look for the money and we believe that with this we can be happy. There is nothing more false. Here are the words of an elder:

"What I would advise today's young Shuar: Don't try only to look for materials things as it can take us into a wrong road, but rather look for something beyond the material thing, because we are created of body and soul. Here my question is: What it would serve us if we try to feed alone our bodies, before to feed our soul?"

I myself admire the life our elders took, they never sought the security of their lives in material thing but rather they looked for, in the first place, to acquire spiritual powers to be sure and comfortable in the daily life.

Our elders formerly used to tell that all good people that live in that place that we call heaven, live happy, while us here on the earth we live suffering many unjust circumstances and this is for moral problems, for the produced illnesses, for the slaughters between some and others. But the one that has spiritual power supports and conquers everything and he lives better life with the trust that it takes him to a good term.

Who looks for spiritual goods it is as if he passes the year of studies and then passes to another superior life that is in the world Anku, of there ascends to Nayaimp.

Those that don't approve this life, on the other hand, go down to the inferior state that would be tunkurua; those looked only for material goods and they didn't make in their life something for others.

Alive people are related with other species such as animals and plants. The relationships that we maintain with animals, like with the dog, is reciprocal because the dog hunts the preys we feed on, then we assist it with the appropriate foods, satisfying his hunger, with necessary care, bath; the same is with other animals that give us the meat, but of this I will talk later.

The relationships with the plants, like the hallucinogenic plants, the medicinal and eatable plants, we give them respect as if it were people because in fact they are another type of people and they have their spirits and by means of an anent we communicate with them. About this later I will talk more.

This way we alive people live on the earth and we are related with other beings or alive people of another species, the plants and the animals.

The true soul (nekás wakán), is born at the same time that the person and all of us possess it, as much the males as the females. Therefore when a Shuar dies, its soul becomes a true spirit and before leaving to another place it persists at our side gathering all the garments that he has obtained while its body lived on the earth. The heart of a dead Shuar becomes a bird of black colour with a red beak called Wakán, its song is pes, pes, shaa, waitia turutia that means a special greeting. And the bird arrives in sad and melancholic moments, where a live person is sad and full of anguish, with the purpose of tempting it to die.

This Wakán comes sent by the soul of a deceased relative. For that reason adults used to advise that if that bird is manifested, it is necessary to dedicate him anent so that he leaves far and that it doesn't return more to tempt.

It is certain this thing, because, I have also had experiences in this sense. After having dedicated him anent which is blown (sent with a breath) addressed to that bird and it is expressed with sentences like these:

"Damned bird Wakán, 
don't come to disturb my life,
I live better than you,
go way from here,
don't return more to tempt me"

Than you, end blowing.

Our adults are accustomed to advice us, saying to us that we also have to learn these things and to live the way off living off them, then so that we teach to our children, since if we don't know how to defend ourselves in these circumstances, we will become victims of what can happen to us and what can make the spirits of deceased.

The soul of a deceased comes out to live in a very dense bush. It is very different from the demon; because the soul doesn't cause any damage against live people, while the demon (iwianch) hates the life of people and he seeks to damage and take it away from them.

This nekás Wakán, the true soul, helps little other Shuar to survive in the insecure society. For that reason we don't give it great importance, because what it serves us to pick up the useless things before to gather things of great value.

In certain occasions the soul of the Shuar or the soul of our old adults used to be present just as it was the alive person, with their respective dress; if he is the male with itip and if she is the woman dressed with tarach; it is distinguished from people because when seeing it to open up and to close the eyes makes it usually disappear. When seeing this our adults usually say: it arrived to the soul of my such relative that had died years ego, then some are sad and cry for the pain.

During the dreams this nekás Wakán is present because it don't remember a lot and it recognizes our suffering in this life. When our soul is free of the body, it can see the other soul that has arrived when we dream living in the world of spirits.

The soul of a dead is related with the alive person by means of the dream, this is presented to the alive one according to him with the purpose of satisfying its necessities; for that reason many times during the dream we are presented with the necessary foods and they make us eat, then the person that dreamt wakes up satiate and doesn't participate in the breakfast. This way, it usually happened to my grandfather that wakes up a little sad, saying: "My mom (deceased) came and she gave me food". He didn't have appetite and he will go to work.

This nekás Wakán cannot establish physical contact, therefore it cannot take people, while the demon can have physical contact at any moment with live people and take them. To the soul of a deceased relative you can see and dialogues with it by means of a dream. Also, in the reality, the soul is present at any moment, but these are usually short moments. The soul of an live person it can also be seen on some occasion in any moment, such is the case when a person comes close to death, at any moment it is seen to the soul just as is that person; then it disappears at once and in the little while the person arrives of whose soul was seen or you also known that the person was not in that place but in another place when it was seen. You sometimes discusses because one such a person says he was here or he went by such a part", and the other one says: "No, that person was with me in such another part". That frequently happens now also. That is because the soul is already separating a little from the body and it no longer wants to be there, their body is as a suit that is no longer worth, and it is necessary to leave it; the soul looks for another to share more needs.

Once that person's soul has been seen he is not told so that he doesn't feel bad, he is only advised to takes care and not carry out some activities that can cause the death.

Our soul is more powerful than the souls of the animals, except that of Uyush. Uyush is powerful, it is inoffensive and calm because it is powerful, he doesn't harm anybody; but if he is attacked its spirit, it is powerful to retaliate.

We realize the force of Uyush because he lives many years, or their feeding is even from week to week, and its own behaviour is excessively patient and calm.

All powerful being is calm, watchman; Eisa didn't cause, not toward damage to anybody but it was valiant and powerful. We already know everything that he made fighting with Iwia defending the Shuar.

Likewise Uyush, for that reason the Shuar respects him, he is seen in the forest and he is left alone; he is only killed to celebrate the party of Tsantsa.

When the spirit of Uyush is bothered it can destroy in little time the person that killed him. An example is what happened to my friend. Being in third course, one day found Uyush in a tree, he knocked him down to kill it but Uyush went to another tree; he knocked to the other tree down and the branch where Uyush was fell to the river, there he hit him with a stick to kill him but he was not able to because it is not easy to kill Uyush.

My friend didn't say anything in the house, on the following day the dad asked him:

- What did you make yesterday in the river? Because last night I dreamt that some people attacked me, especially one that wanted to kill me with a knife.

My friend then told his dad what he had done and his dad got his attention and he gave him advice to never mistreated Uyush, because his spirit is strong and he wants to retaliate. That person that he dreamt was then the spirit of Uyush.

Another thing that should be explained it is that the spirit of Uyush when wanting to harm to my friend have collided with the obstacle that put him the dad's soul, because it happens this way, the dad's soul takes care of the souls of its children, in this case it is seen that the dad's soul was powerful, he had Arutam. Anyway this gentleman advised his son saying:

For another time you won't do that, or you kill him or you leave him in peace.

It is said this way because, our soul, when we die we can take other souls of animals without they want; but, the soul of a person cannot be taken if she doesn't want. For that reason it usually happens after someone died, the person that wants him a lot suffers too much and feels desires to leave without knowing to where and he says: "my mom calls me"; this happens with more frequently with the children, I have seen a boy that showed the hand in the air saying "Mammy take me", and when I caught him he rejected me, until he wanted to bite. These scenes make one suffer a lot, one can cry seeing them.

It seems like the children "see" those souls while the adults can't see them, but they feel them and for that reason they have that desire to leave without knowing where, their soul listing the call of its relative's soul and he wants to leave.

We know that when a person is dying, generally leaving to the place that he has deserved or has been dedicated to him, he takes the soul of a dog to live there, together with him and with his dog to hunt animals for their feeding.

We know very well that when a Shuar dies, his soul still persists there, in the same place that he lived; for such a reason, formerly our adults prepared the food, the chicha and they kept it on the tomb for a dead Shuar, so that his soul eats and it doesn't suffer for hunger.

We know that the true soul (nekás Wakán), is passive during the life of a person. Also, we know that this it is present in the individual with life mainly in the form of blood. For this reason, the spill of blood is considered like a loss of the soul. When a person dies, the true soul leaves the body and in invisible form he returns to the place of the house where the missing Shuar was born, and he lives in a house spirit that we know as " jeakar ", but it is necessary to know the fact that the house spirit is invisible to live people. We believe that the true souls take the ordinary activities of their home and they visit one another the one with the other one, the same thing that they did when they were with life. With passing years, these souls pass from a house place to another with the same order, and in the same space of time like they were when they had been live in individuals' body. The true souls (nekás wakán), always have hunger, although they are in charge of activities of subsistence and they eat what they find to be eaten, but they are never satisfied, because in fact it is simply the air that they feed.