Living Treasure Kapi Waurá
After her initial experience, Kapi was able to use tobacco, as is the custom of Wauja shamans, to go into trance to encounter spirits and help heal members of her community. Kapi's family called on Kapi's brother, a renowned shaman who lives in a neighboring Wauja village, to come and examine his sister to determine whether she really had become a shaman trained by the spirits themselves. He found that she was on the right path and already was a shamanic healer. He advised her husband to teach her all that he himself had been taught during his apprenticeship, which he did.
Wauja tradition includes distinct healing specialties that address various conditions of mind, body and spirit. In addition to being a yakapá (seer of spirits), Kapi is also an ajatapá wekeho (master herbalist). Her husband Elewoka is, like Kapi, a yakapá (seer of spirits), as well as a pukai yekeho (master of the rattle), a specialist in incantations and rituals to protect and guide the spirit of a person who has just died.
Kapi is unusual among shamanic healers in that she will treat elders who are ill but cannot afford to pay anything. She is often seen around the village, visiting patients after treating them to find out how they are doing and to hear their problems and concerns.
Thanks to Emi Ireland, Research Collaborator, NMNH Dept. of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, for recommending Kapi Waurá as a Living Treasure. Our appreciation for facilitating Kapi's appointment to FSS Board of Trustees member Jeffrey David Ehrenreich, Ph.D., Professor of Anthropology and Doris Zemarry-Stone Chair of Latin American Studies, University of New Orleans.