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Mortuary Cannibalism Among the Wari' People
Mortuary Cannibalism- A form of endocannibalism involving the consumption of a human corpse by other humans. This was practiced among the Wari' culture, an Amazonian tribe, up until the 1960s. The Wari' consider cannibalism as the most respectful way to treat the dead. It is believed that the whole tribe absorbs the spirit of the deceased.

Population and Location
The Wari' are an indigenous tribe of about 1,500 people living in the western Brazilian rainforest, in the state of Rodonia, near the Bolivian border. Until the 1960s, when they had contact with missionaries, the Wari' disposed of all their dead by consuming substantial amounts of the human body. They are particularly unique, in the fact that they consume large amounts of flesh, including the heart, brains, liver, and sometimes the ground bones. They also practiced exocannibalism, which is the consumption of a body outside one's kin. This practice was only used on enemy’s bodies, who were treated with disrespect and were abused by being eaten off the bone.

Funeral Rituals
Unlike most cannibalistic cultures, the Wari' consider the consumption of a corpse as a benefit to the corpse rather than a benefit to the tribe. Wari' view the human body as a center of kinship, personhood, and personal relations. At a funeral, two groups called the iri’nari (true kin) and the nari paxi (those who are like kin, but are not truly related) gather for funeral proceedings. The iri’nari are the principle mourners for they share a blood kinship with the deceased. From the time of the death until the body is disposed of, they remain close to the body by touching or holding it. The second group, the nari paxi are responsible for the preparations. The women gather maize chicha (a sweet, corn drink) and maize pomonha (a dense bread) while the men (the deceased’s brother or son-in-laws) gather people to mourn. The iri’nari stay pressed close together and near the body during rituals, for the corpse is never left alone. From the moment of death to the disposal of the body, all mourners wail a high-pitched scream that becomes a mantra. Death wails can include wordless crying, the singing of kinship, and aka pajim, where mourners sing of their memories with the dead. The body is constantly cradled or touched. In a case in Santo Andre, a corpse was at risk of being pulled apart from desperate relatives seeking to touch the body. Funeral reactions express the mourner’s desire to join the deceased in death. Fainting is considered a form of death. Close relatives practice mi’pin (dying) in which they lie on top of one another with the corpse on top. Stacks of up to three or four can participate in this ritual. When someone faints from the suffocation of the bodies they are then replaced by another mourner. This is repeated until every mourner can partake in grieving.

Preparation of the Body
In traditional funerals, the males prepare the roasting rack that consists of roof beams that are decorated with feathers and painted with red annatto. These beams are retrieved from the homes of each tribal member leaving sagging roofs as a remembrance of a fallen member. When preparations are completed, a male affine member spreads clean mats and proceeds to dismember the body using a bamboo arrow tip. Internal organs including the heart and liver are removed first and placed in leaves to be roasted. Inedible body parts such as the hair, genitals, intestines, and nails are burned. Several male helpers then precede to severe the head, remove the brains, cut the limbs, and place the body parts on the roasting rack. Members recollect that the most difficult part of a funeral is not the consumption of the body but the dismemberment. As the body is cut, the wailing reaches its highest point and family members experience intense emotional dissonance. The body is not dismembered until all relatives are able to participate in the wailing eulogies. The older the deceased was, the longer delay in dismembering. In most cases, the body is left out for 2 to 3 days before all members are able to complete their grieving rituals.

Consumption of the Body
The iri’nari do not participate in the consumption of the body. For eating a blood relative’s flesh is consider eating one’s own flesh. Autocannibalism is considered fatal within the culture. Therefore, the nari paxi are left to consume the corpse in which they are referred to as ko kao (“those who ate”). This generally included the spouse of the deceased’s siblings, parents, and close friends. All ages and sexes are included in the eating and both sexes are consumed in the same manner. Adult male relatives are required to partake in the eating of the corpse. Refusal to do so is considered an insult. Females can participate to their discretion. The cooking of the meat is usually done in the late afternoon and eating begins at dusk. The dead person’s closest kin divide the brains, liver, and heart on a clean mat. The nari paxi watch the procession and express a reluctance to eat until the iri’nari ask them to eat. The closest family members then divide the meat from the bone and place them on my small splinters. The nari paxi then slowly eat, expressing their sadness by crying. The consumption of the corpse continues until dawn, where then all remaining flesh is cremated. The bodies are usually not consumed whole, for decay makes consumption difficult. However, children or infants are usually roasted within a day, and are consumed whole due to their few social ties. Bones were then ground into a soft meal and mixed into a paste with honey, and consumed. In the Rio Dois Irmãos area, the bones were cremated and buried. All objects used in the funeral are also cremated and buried and the area is cleaned and swept.

Reasons for Cannibalism
The belief of cannibalism as a hostile activity is a common Western misconception. Wari' persons on their deathbed usually summon their closest relatives to express their wishes in how to be consumed or at least cremated. Eating is seen as an act of sympathy and respect. The thought of burial in the ground is seen as a disgusting, disrespectful act. The earth is seen as a cold, dirty, disrespectful place for a body to decay. The Wari' culture has a stigmatism against the ground, for they never sit in the dirt or allow ritual objects or food to touch the ground. In consuming the body, the Wari' allow the spirit to take another form. The belief is that consumption prevents the body’s substances from being lost to the earth. When corpses are dismembered, men will lie below the body so that fluids will spill onto them rather than the ground. Even during roasting, children are delegated to the task of catching body fat and distributing it to members of the family to smear on themselves. Also, the Wari' consider the spirit to have little importance to the personality of the deceased. Bodies are seen as the tie between families, for they share blood and appearance. In contrast to Western belief, Wari corpses are the embodiment of identity and relationships, rather than the spirit. Consumption of the body is also seen as a way to help grief. They refer to grief as koromikat, or missing and remembering a distant object. Since there is a significant attachment placed on the body, the Wari' believe it is best to disintegrate all physical reminders of the body. They even destroy the deceased person’s possessions in a final act to rid the village of any tangible reminder of the person. This is also believed to lessen the appearance of jima (ghosts). The Wari' have a fear of ghosts, for they are believed to carry the living away for companionship. By consuming the body, they liberate the spirit and prevent it from being able to return back home.

Contact with Missionaries
The Brazilian government established relations with the Wari' tribe in 1956, when the S.P.I. (Servico de Protecao aos Indios) and the New Tribes missionaries sponsored an expedition to the Rio Dois Irmãos region. Both of these organizations witnessed funerary cannibalism in 1961. This soon became public knowledge when a S.P.I. agent sold his account of Wari' cannibalism to a newspaper. A competing newspaper sent journalists who photographed a child’s dismemberment. Both agencies were able to convince the newspaper to not print the story. Contact with the outsiders introduced an epidemic of measles, influenza, tuberculosis, and other diseases. Within two years, 60 percent of the pre-contact Wari' population was dead. They became dependent on outsiders for food and medical care for the population was chronically ill and unable to hunt or plant crops. Missionaries withheld food and medicine to those who continued to practice mortuary cannibalism. Furthermore, they convinced the tribes that they were catching these diseases from consuming infected corpses. The Wari’ began burying infected corpses but continued to eat tribal members whose deaths were not a result of illness. Some continued the rituals deep in the forest, away from the missionaries. However, their efforts were thwarted and by the end of 1963, the Wari’ stopped practicing cannibalism. Today, all Wari’ bury their dead in cemeteries. No anthropologist has witnessed the cannibalistic practices of the Wari’. Most accounts have been from the testimonies of elders in the community who were witnesses in the 1950s.