DEATH RITUALS IN COLOMBIA

In Colombia, a multicultural country, is common to find beliefs and traditions that make it
unique. Among rituals that involves death, we can find the Huitotos and Yaguas ones:
HUITOTOS:
When someone dies they practice the UFNOCO, this is a dance exclusive of the
indigenous Murui-muinane (huitoto). After a difficult hunt of several animals (as snakes
and toads) from the surrounding area of the maloca of the deceased, they take the meat
as a gift to the relatives of the deceased. In the dance, people dress like corn monkeys and
the closer relatives wear feather crowns.
During the burial they sing the singing 29, which is about the souls. The objective of this is
moving away the soul during the burial. The singing must be repeated during 2 nights next
to the burial. When a leader dies, in the next 5 to 14 days next to the burial, the
community celebrate funerals during which they intone singings that should not be
repeated later, not even a word of it, to avoid that the deceased gets mad.
YAGUAS:
They were known for eating the brain of their enemies deceased, so they were
stigmatized as cannibals but now they dont practice this anymore.
Los yaguas distinguish 2 types of deceased:
- The deceased in his own house NDEU
- And the deceased outside WACI
In the ritual of the deceased in his own house, the corpse is wrapped in fetal position in
his hammock and he is buried in the middle of the room, once personal objects of the
deceased have been destroyed. Then, the grave is covered with palm leafs and the house
is burned; later this place of residence is abandoned for several years.
The death is conceived as a brutal phenomenon (a precipitated leaving of souls), followed
for a decomposition body process, that carries to a naturalization. The cooked meats of
the corpse are submitted to the necrophagy of the forest spirits who wander around. Just
bones remain. It was an obligation to make a double funeral for the chamn.
With the ritual of the deceased outside or WACI that includes who died in wars. With
the exception of the enemies died whose heads cut off to extract them their teeth- people
in charge of make the ritual, tried to find their bodies in the hill according to the usual. The
WACI buried had, then, a half-glorious death and they became in ndahamwo half-
world people or half-immortal. Today the WACI are associated to who were murdered
(because they dont have wars anymore, and who according to them, become in rainbow)
and they are not buried in home. By contrast, the WACI not-buried (those that their
bodies never were found), putrefy and are consumed to be become in vultures. The
vultures are the experts in putrid things and in dead without funeral, which is (e.i.), who
are killed outside.
The last category, is the big warriors WARI (or who have the warriors force) one. To these
big men who killed a lot of enemies, there was no buried. Their mortal remains were left
as they are inside the COCAMERA (grave) without a ritual. It is said that the WARI,
without buried or cooking reached the big ancestors world directly, besides which had
an eternal life.