5 - The life-cycle

Summary

Introduction

Basically, the events and ideology associated with life-cycle change among Pirá-paraná Indians show a double theme which I suppose to be universal. They are concerned with (a) the difference between life and death and (b) the difference between the sexes. In this chapter, I regard the life-cycle as a dual process concerned, on the one hand, with the physiological and spiritual reproduction of the individual and, on the other, with the reproduction of the social structure. Of course, the two processes are related by metonymy, since the social structure is built up by the biological reproduction of individuals. I have already discussed many aspects of the reproduction of the social structure by means of exogamous marriage; here I turn to the ideology and ritual which accompany those changes that are concerned with the creation and development of the body and soul of the individual. In this chapter, the principal changes in this individual life-cycle process are related to the social structure, showing that ideology and ritual bring the biological facts of life, such as birth, growth, menstruation, sexual reproduction and death, into line with the existence of localised exogamous patrilineal descent groups.

The end of life

Life and death

Life and death are alternate phases of a grand cycle. The dead are always calling to the living to join them and the living are always calling on the dead to succour them on ritual occasions. The living also install the souls of the dead in new-born children.