The Kaleidoscopic Monkey

Long before the dawn of our dear and darling friend Darwin, monkeys have been symbolically potent creatures in native cultures. They don a brilliant array of folkloric faces; supernatural power, divinity, enlightenment, menace, mischief. In the review of Neotropical Primates in the Subsistence and Symbolism of Indigenous Lowland South American Peoples (Loretta Cormier, 2006), seventy native groups were considered for their distinct relationships with monkeys. Numerous connections are identified uniting indigenous culture to ethnoprimatological biodiversity.

In terms of aboriginal subsistence, monkeys are an incredibly practical source of food for Amazonian inhabitants. An enormous variety is hunted. Larger-bodied primates are usually favored, and some cultures hunt seasonally. For example, during the wet season, as fruit ripens on the trees, monkeys become delightfully fattened and equally ripened for the slaughter. As deforestation and development extends ever further, the density and distribution of primates is inevitably affected. Even so, monkeys remain a prevalent dietary feature in native Amazonian cultures.

Despite the abundance of monkeys, the availability of a species does not necessarily correlate positively with the degree to which they are hunted. Of the seventy groups recorded, nineteen of them adhere to a monkey taboo/avoidance. There are a series of age related, gender related, and specie related taboos. Among the Siriono, only seniors may eat howler and owl monkeys, while the Kayapo prohibit all women from eating monkeys entirely. As mentioned, larger monkeys are more frequently used for food, but they are also more often avoided due to cultural taboo. Howler monkeys (Alouatta) hold a particularly notorious place in many indigenous Amazonian cultures. A common mythological theme centers on the foolish and mischievous nature of the howler. They are believed to be unintelligent and lazy; the Bari won’t even use their teeth for necklaces. Tales are told of naughty humans suffering the punishment of transformation into a howler, a shamed and cursed fate. Clearly, indigenous Amazonian cultures developed beyond a purely subsistence based structure. But from where do these myths derive? Are there possibe environmental factors lying at the root of howler aversion? WELL…Consider: The howler monkey happens to be the most densely populated mammal living among the Matisgenka of Peru, yet is rarely exploited for food. Instead, primarily spider and woolly monkeys (of similar size) are snatched for feasting. The reason? As the Matisgenka report quite straightforwardly: howlers simply aren’t as delicious! Apparently their rather folivorous diet (chiefly leaf comprised) does not lend itself to the tastiness of their flesh. Interesting. I sense great potential in the knowledge or practical "sense" that could be enveloped in the ethnopoetics of monkey avoidances. (Not that any justification is required).

Uniquely, the Parakana (Pará, Brazil) and Parintintin (Amazonas, Brazil) oppose the consumption of all species of monkey. These are the only two groups of the seventy that contain this cultural trait. The Parintintin explain that although they do not observe a taboo against monkeys, they avoid eating them due to their extreme physical likeness to humans. I find this fascinating. Yet I am even further absorbed by the case of the Kalapalo (Mato Grosso, Brazil). They are repulsed by the eating of all land animals except monkeys, because they appear so humanlike. It is the resemblance to humans actually qualifies the species as an acceptable or “clean” source of food. There is surely great complexity deeply embedded in both cases…or in all cases of taboo and avoidance, where an outsider can never be entirely certain of how closely connected survival and symbolism may be.

Beyond the material purpose of monkeys in indigenous tradition, there exists a profound cultural bond. Several cultures associate monkeys with supernatural and shamanic forces, regarding them with fearful respect for the power of their spiritual abilities. Some believe in the anthromorphism of animality, while many believe in the zoomorphism of humanity. Throughout the vast region, a myriad of native myths encompass the neotropical primates. Yet most notably, in the elaborate realm of nearly all Amazonian folklore and animism, monkeys play a major role in defining humanity….representing the divine bridge between humans and animals, or the living schism between nature and culture.


Marguerite