Siona-Secoya

ETHNONYMS: Ancutere, Angotero, Angutero, Bã Cieguaje, Encabellado, Icaguate, Macaguaje, Pã , Pioché, Piojé, Santa María, Secoya, Sekoya, Siona, Sioní, Wahoya Pã , Ycahuate

Orientation

Identification. The name "Siona" is of uncertain origin. The general term of self-reference is "Bã " (Siona) or "Pã (Secoya) and means "people." Siona in Ecuador also use the terms "Sa'niwi Bã " (Upriver people), "Eno Bã " (Eno River People), and Gãtiya Bã (Cane River people; i.e., people of the Río Putumayo). "Secoya" comes from "Sekoya," which is the name of a small tributary of the Río Santa María. The Secoya use terms such as "Sekoya Pã " (People of the Sekoya River), "Wahoya Pã " (Battle River people; i.e., people of the the Rio Santa María), and "Okana Pã " (Downriver people) for self-reference.

Location. At the time of European contact, speakers of Western Tukanoan occupied an area of 82,000 square kilometers along the Napo, Putumayo, and Aguarico rivers and their smaller tributaries and interfluvial regions. This territory extends from1o N to 3° S and from 72° to 77° W and lies entirely within zones of wet tropical rain forest. Elevations range from 300 to 100 meters west to east. In modern times this area includes portions of Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru.

Linguistic Affiliation. Siona and Secoya are closely related dialects of the Western Branch of the Tukanoan (Tucanoan) Language Family. Siona is the predominant Tukanoan dialect of the western portions of the Aguarico and Putumayo river basins in Colombia and Ecuador, and Secoya is the predominant dialect around the confluence of the Aguarico and Napo rivers and on the Santa María, Angusilla, and Yubineto rivers in Peru. Owing to migration and intermarriage, speakers of various dialects and languages are found in most settlements, including speakers of non-Tukanoan languages such as Kofán and Lowland Quichua.

Demography. In 1980 the combined Siona-Secoya population in Ecuador was estimated to be 347. The combined population of Siona and Secoya in Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru probably did not exceed 1,000 in 1980. The Western Tukanoan population is estimated to have been 16,000 at the time of European contact.

History and Cultural Relations

Linguistic analysis suggests a split of the Tukanoan Language Family into Eastern and Western Branches about 1,500 to 2,000 years ago. The Eastern Tukanoan area centers on the Río Vaupés of eastern Colombia and northwest Brazil and includes cultures such as the Cubeo, the Desana, and the Tukano. The Western Tukanoan area is located approximately 600 kilometers to the southwest in the Napo and Putumayo drainages. Witoto (Tupí Language Family) and Carijona (Carib Language Family) groups occupy the lands separating the Eastern and Western Tukonoans.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Jesuit missionaries referred to the Western Tukanoans of the Aguarico-Napo area as the "Encabellado" because of their long hair. Native groups bordering the Encabellado territory at that time included the Kofán (Cofán) to the west, the Záparo and the Awishira to the south, the Coto or Orejón (also Western Tukanoan) to the east, and the Witoto to the north. Relations among various Encabellado groups were brittle because of accusations of sorcery, which occasionally led to raiding. The principal enemies of the Encabellado, however, were the Awishira, who lived in forests south of the Río Napo. These two groups attacked each other back and forth across the Napo. The Encabellado were visited by Jesuit missionaries in 1599. In 1638—1639 the Portuguese expedition of Captain Pedro Teixeira was attacked by the Encabellado residing near the confluence of the Aguarico and Napo, and the Portuguese burned several native settlements in reprisal.

In 1683 a royal decree gave the Jesuits the authority to missionize the natives of the Napo and Aguarico rivers and the Franciscans authority over the Putumayo. The period from 1709 to 1769 saw much Jesuit activity—seventeen missions were founded in the Aguarico-Napo region. The strategy was to take the natives from their dispersed settlements in the forest and concentrate them in larger villages or "reductions" along the banks of the major rivers. The new missions proved unstable, as people left them to go foraging or abandoned them whenever illness or accusations of sorcery arose. In 1744 a native named Curazaba killed Padre Francisco Real and two assistants at San Miguel. Shortly thereafter, the Encabellado abandoned eight missions. In 1767 King Charles III ordered the Jesuits expelled from Spain's New World colonies, and their missions died out.

The records of the nineteenth century are limited to the accounts of a few travelers, who now referred to the natives as the "Santa María," "Angutera," and "Piojé." These Indians bartered with river traders, exchanging forest products and hammocks for iron tools, cloth, and manufactured items. In the early twentieth century some settlements fell under the control of White patrones who exploited native labor to collect forest products and grow crops. By this time, epidemic diseases had greatly reduced the Western Tukanoan population. In 1941 Peru invaded Ecuador along the Río Napo, and the de facto boundary established at Pantoja bisected the scattered Western Tukanoan population. In the latter part of the twentieth century, Siona in Colombia live in small settlements along the Río Putumayo and its tributary, the Rio San Miguel. In Ecuador, Siona and mixed Siona-Secoya communities are located along the Rio Aguarico and its tributaries, the Eno and Cuyabeno. In Peru, Secoya and Angotero settlements are located on the Angusilla, Santa Maria, and Yubineto rivers.

Settlements

Siona-Secoya settlements are semipermanent and are characterized by flexible arrangements that vary from isolated households, to clusters of households, to larger villages of a 100 or more individuals. At the time of contact, it appears that most groups were located off the major rivers and had settlements along secondary rivers and streams. Settlements are used as bases for foraging trips, so the number of persons present is variable. The average population density throughout the Encabellado homeland is estimated to have been 0.2 persons per square kilometer at the time of European contact.

Economy

Subsistence and Commercial Activities. The subsistence economy of the Siona-Secoya is based on shifting cultivation, hunting, fishing, and collecting. Gardens are usually cleared, burned, and planted during the dry season, from November to January. Plots are polycropped and often contain over fifty varieties of food, medicinal, and utilitarian plants. The staples are manioc, plantains (post-Contact), maize, and peach-palm fruit (Bactris gasipaes ). Over sixty species of animals are hunted. Among the most important are white-lipped and collared peccaries, tapir, woolly and howler monkeys, pacas, agoutis, guans, curassows, turtles, and caimans. Fishing varies in importance according to location and season. Many species of catfishes, characins, and cichlids are consumed. Wild plant foods contribute about 5 percent of the overall diet, but assume greater importance seasonally and when people travel.

Jesuit missionaries of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries introduced iron tools, but the native economy has retained its basic subsistence orientation. Shotguns were introduced in the 1950s and have now replaced blowguns and spears for most hunting. The Siona-Secoya earn petty cash by selling timber, animal skins, chickens, pigs, maize, hammocks, pottery, and other artifacts. Some men have worked for oil-exploration crews for brief periods. Since the 1970s some tourists have reached native settlements on the Rio Aguarico, but they are disruptive of native life and provide few economic benefits.

Industrial Arts. Aboriginal crafts include wood carving, pottery, featherwork, bark-cloth manufacture, and the weaving of hammocks, arm bands, netted bags, and baskets. All are still practiced, but trade goods such as aluminum pots and textiles are increasingly common.

Trade. The extent of aboriginal trade is unknown, although indigenous exchange of artifacts and raw materials probably existed to cement social relationships and alliances. By the nineteenth century the Piojé were trading hammocks and sarsaparilla to outsiders.

Division of Labor. Men hunt and clear gardens. Both men and women fish and plant, weed, and harvest gardens. The harvesting and processing of manioc tubers is women's work. Women do much of the cooking and child rearing, but men cooperate in these activities. Men make houses, canoes, and hammocks, and do most of the wood carving and featherwork. Women make clothes, netted bags, pots, and other ceramics. Men may be shamans and headmen. Women may be herbalists and midwives. Boys are not expected to do serious work until late adolescence. Girls assist their mothers in household tasks. Older men and women work as their strength permits, often cooperating as members of extended households.

Land Tenure. Aboriginally, there was no formal system of land ownership, but local groups had territorial interests in particular rivers or sections of rivers. The average territory was about 1,150 square kilometers in size. Settlements were semipermanent and shifted within the territory. Individuals still make gardens on any land that is unused. Such gardens are "abandoned" after several years, but the cultivator claims harvest rights to the palm and fruit trees he plants.

Intermarriage, visitation, migration, and war give flexibility to social and territorial relationships. Introduced diseases have greatly reduced the Western Tukanoan population, and most of their former range has been occupied by Lowland Quichua Indians, mestizos, and Whites. Colombia has established a small reserve for the Siona at Buena Vista on the Río Putumayo. The Siona-Secoya in Ecuador have officially recognized communes at San Pablo on the Río Aguarico and Puerto Bolívar on the Río Cuyabeno. In Peru the Secoya communities on the Santa María and Yubineto rivers have small reserves. Unfortunately, none of these reserves includes the full hunting and fishing territories of the native communities.

Kinship

Kin Groups and Descent. The foundation of Siona-Secoya kinship is the exogamous patrilineal sib that provides each individual with a reference group of "brothers" and "sisters." Unlike Eastern Tukanoan practice, Western Tukanoan sibs are not ranked in status, nor does each sib have a separate creation myth. In modern times the surnames used by Siona-Secoya individuals are based on sib names. For example, in the name "Elías Piaguaje," the surname is derived from P 'ã Wahi, the "living bird" sib.

Kinship Terminology. The terminology of the Siona of the Río Aguarico is of the Omaha type but has an elaboration in that certain terms in Ego's generation and the first ascending generation have age-grading prefixes. Secoya terminology is similar, but lacks age-grading prefixes in the first ascending generation.

Marriage and Family

Marriage. The ideal practice is to seek a mate beyond one's patrilineal sib, and also beyond one's mother's immediate lineage, although individuals who carry their mother's sib name may be considered marriageable if they are not closely related to her. Both cross- and parallel-cousin marriages are prohibited. Depopulation has made it difficult to follow the rules in all cases. Marriages are arranged by parents. The ceremony is concluded when the bride sits with the groom in a hammock. Ideally, the husband provides a period of bride-service to his wife's household before establishing patrilocal residence. Marriages are monogamous, but polygyny is occasionally practiced. Either party can initiate divorce by stating a desire to separate or by moving out of the household.

Domestic Unit. The traditional household consisted of an extended family living in a large oval house set on the ground. Modern houses are often smaller and elevated and shelter a single nuclear family. Such houses may form clusters that reflect an extended-family pattern.

Inheritance. The Siona-Secoya have no clear inheritance rules. There is no private ownership of land, and those personal belongings that are not buried with the dead are typically smashed, burned, or thrown into the river as a sign of mourning.

Socialization. Children are raised permissively. Corporal punishment is rare, but a parent may threaten to brush the child with stinging nettles. Children's tantrums are sometimes ignored or ridiculed. Children are taught to fear forest demons known as watí, and this may serve as a sanction against undesirable behavior. Both sexes play together until age 9 or 10, when girls are instructed to spend their time assisting their mothers. Girls undergo a lengthy puberty ceremony at first menses. Schools were established in some communities in the 1950s.

Sociopolitical Organization

Social Organization. Siona-Secoya society is fundamentally egalitarian. The basic social unit is the patrilineal, patrilocal, extended household, headed by the eldest male. In larger settlements the most respected elder shaman serves as the headman for the community. Headmen exercise influence rather than authority. Relations between the sexes are complementary and cooperative. Although women do not become shamans, individual women are respected for their intelligence and wisdom. Since the 1950s missionaries have promoted native schoolteachers as the new leaders of some communities.

Political Organization. There is little political cohesion among the scattered settlements. Each group has its own headman-shaman who looks after his community, diagnoses and treats the illnesses of its members, and performs rituals to protect against the sorcery of enemies.

Social Control. Face-to-face confrontations are avoided. Backbiting is used as an informal sanction against inappropriate behavior. Drinking parties are occasionally held and may lead to the statement of resentments and scuffles. The fear of sorcery serves as a supernatural sanction on social behavior.

Conflict. Accusations of witchcraft contribute to the brittle relations between settlements. Suspected sorcerers are sometime killed. Settlements may fission when internal relationships deteriorate. Conflicts with non-Indian settlers are increasing as traditional native territories are invaded.

Religion and Expressive Culture

Religious Beliefs. Siona-Secoya religion is animistic; the natural order is explained without recourse to concepts of good and evil. The Siona-Secoya believe in a multitude of spirits that inhabit natural phenomena such as animals, trees, rivers, and stars. The culture hero Baina ("With the People") is the main protagonist of the origin story, and his deeds of transformation in mythic times account for the known earth. The Siona-Secoya believe in a tiered universe, with an underworld, the earth, and multiple celestial realms.

Ceremonies. The fundamental ritual of the Siona-Secoya is the yahé ceremony presided over by the shaman. These ceremonies do not follow a regular schedule but are held at varying intervals depending on the needs and desires of the community. The ceremony serves multiple purposes, including the diagnosis and treatment of illness, the identification and punishment of enemy sorcerers, the calling of game animals, appeals concerning the weather, communication with supernatural spirits and the dead, and the naming of individuals with special spirit names. The ceremony is a communal one, with the shaman acting as leader and guide. The hallucinogenic ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis caapi ) potion is the medium through which contact with the spirit world is made.

Arts. Musical instruments include the one-stringed bow and vertical flutes of bamboo. Small drums are played—possibly a European introduction. Large ceramic trumpets are used for signaling. Men's songs are of the shamanic genre, whereas women sing of domestic life and its problems. Face and body painting are important modes of individual artistic expression.

Medicine. Most disease is thought to be caused by the magical darts of sorcerers. Some illnesses and birth defects are explained as the result of violating dietary or other taboos. Shamans diagnose and treat illness with rituals and plant medicines. Sucking and massage are employed to extract sorcerers' darts. Since the 1950s some modern medicines and clinical care have become available, but on an inconsistent basis.

Death and Afterlife. Most deaths are ascribed to sorcery. The dead person is wrapped in a hammock and buried under the house, which is then abandoned. The soul (hoyo ) of the deceased travels to the sky world and lives among the "heavenly people" by a great celestial river. Such souls occasionally return to earth and cause mischief.

Bibliography

Steward, Julian H. (1948). "Western Tucanoan Tribes." In Handbook of South American Indians, edited by Julian H. Steward. Vol. 3, The Tropical Forest Tribes, 737-748. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 143. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Tessmann, Günter (1930). Die Indianer Nordost-Perus. Hamburg: Cram, de Gruyter & Co.

Vickers, William T. (1989). Los sionas y secoyas: Adaptación al ambiente amazónico. Quito: Ediciones ABYA-YALA.

WILLIAM T. VICKERS