Rituals are a constant presence in the lives of the Bororo. The main rites of passage (in which individuals transition from one social category to another) include naming, initiation, and funerals. According to Novaes,
“In the naming ritual, the child is formally introduced to Bororo society by their iedaga (the mother’s brother, who serves as the nominator) and by the women of the father’s clan, who adorn the child for the ritual. These individuals clearly represent the attributes that shape the Bororo man’s personality, consistently integrating legal aspects (transmitted by the iedaga and associated with matrilineality) with mystical aspects (associated with patrilineality).”
Through their name, the child becomes associated with a social category—a clan lineage—linked to a cultural hero of Bororo society, who, in mythical times, established the foundations of social life, which must be carried forward by living individuals.
The funeral is the longest of all Bororo rituals and has also been described as follows:
“It may seem paradoxical, but it is precisely through the funeral that Bororo society reaffirms the vitality of its culture. This is a special moment for the socialization of young people, not only because many of them are formally initiated during this time, but also because, through their participation in the songs, dances, collective hunts, and fishing expeditions carried out during this occasion, they have the opportunity to learn about and experience the richness of their culture. But why make a moment of loss, like the death of an individual, a moment of cultural reaffirmation and even of life’s recreation?
For the Bororo, death results from the action of the bope, a supernatural entity involved in all processes of creation and transformation, such as birth, puberty, and death. When a person dies, their soul, called aroe by the Bororo, comes to inhabit the body of certain animals, such as jaguars, cougars, or ocelots. The deceased’s body is wrapped in mats and buried in a shallow grave in the central courtyard of the circular village. This grave is watered daily to accelerate the body’s decomposition, after which the bones will be decorated. Between an individual’s death and the decoration of their bones, which will later be permanently buried, two to three months typically pass—a long period during which major rituals are performed.
A man will be chosen to represent the deceased. Fully adorned, his body will be entirely covered in down and paint, with a large feather headdress on his head and a visor of yellow feathers covering his face. In the village courtyard, it is no longer a man who dances but the aroemaiwu—literally, the ‘new soul,’ who, with its movements, presents itself to the world of the living.
Among the many tasks assigned to the deceased’s representative, the most important is to hunt a large feline, whose skin will be presented to the deceased’s relatives in a ritual involving all members of the village. This hunt ensures the deceased’s revenge—through their representative—against the bope, the entity responsible for the death. This moment marks the end of mourning and signifies the victory of life over death. These rituals create and recreate Bororo society, revealing the mysteries of a community that turns death into a moment of life reaffirmation.”
In addition to the funeral and naming rites, Bororo ritual life also includes ear and lower lip piercing, the new corn festival, the preparation of hunts and fishing expeditions, and celebrations such as the jaguar skin festival, the harpy eagle festival, and the jaguar hunter festival, among others. In all these events, new relationships are superimposed onto old ones, resulting in a social configuration in which individuals maintain relationships stemming from various spheres, with different rights, duties, approaches, and forms of interaction. The emphasis on one type of relationship or another depends on the social context in which people find themselves.
