Satere Mawe Ceremony
The Satare-Mawe are an indigenous tribe in the Amazon Rainforest. The tribe is isolated from the rest of the world, although they do occasionally allow in outsiders to observe their practices. Most notably, the Satere-Mawe have an initiation rite for boys that tests their resolve and their ability to deal with pain. The Tucandeira Dance of the Sateré-Mawé tribe is an initiation rite in which boys must complete many times to be considered an adult in the tribe. It exposes boys to "the worst pain the jungle has to offer: the sting of Paraponera clavata, the bullet ant" (https://allthatsinteresting.com/bullet-ant-glove). The ritual requires boys to wear a glove filled with bullet ants, known as tucandeira ants, to test how much pain they can withstand before being accepted as a warrior and hunter for the tribe.
To harvest ants for the ritual, elders use smoke to drive the ants out of their colony. After that, they submerge the ant in an herbal sedative so they can safe transport and load the ants in the glove for the tucandeira dance. Next, palm fronds are collected and the sedated ants are woven with the fronds to create a type of glove with the stingers of the ant pointed inward (https://sites.psu.edu/mgeitnerrcl/2013/11/16/satere-mawe-initiation/). Initiates then have their arm from the elbows down dyed in genipapo, supposed to protect them from the venom's dangerous aspects (Tuso and Flaherty,2019). Once they return to the village, the tribe's medicine men will drug the ants with a special herbal solution. This keeps the ants docile enough to where they can be woven into the ceremonial gloves. Shortly after, the ants will awaken, often angry and desperate to get out of the glove. One by one, the boys place the gloves on their hands; they must be kept on for around ten minutes, during which time the boys are led in a dance to help distract them from the pain(https://sites.psu.edu/mgeitnerrcl/2013/11/16/satere-mawe-initiation/). Once time is up, the gloves are removed, although the pain of the ant's venom remains for the next twenty-four hours. With the first placement of their hands into the gloves complete, those undergoing the ritual must repeat it an additional nineteen times(https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/brazilian-tribe-becoming-man-requires-sticking-your-hand-glove-full-angry-ants-180953156/). The danger of these rituals is very real, and the pain even more so. A single bullet ant sting can take over a week to recover from and initiates sometimes spasm uncontrollably for a few days (Bosmia, 2015).
The Satare-Mawe are a people who are not very concerned with agriculture, despite their ability to cultivate a crop known as guarana. Rather, they focus much more on the traits of strength and courage. In the Amazon, the tribe needs to be able to protect itself, not only from predators but from hostile neighboring tribes as well. Additionally, in an environment as dangerous as the Amazon, the tribe needs to be able to hunt as fiercely as it can fight. As a result of this, warriors and hunters are highly revered by this society, and the boys are taught from a very young age to strive to be a warrior. To this end, the symbolism of the ritual becomes clear. The young men seeking to be considered a warrior need to prove to the elders that they can take the worst the jungle has to offer. The rite also allows the boys to be married and take on leadership roles(Bosmia, 2015). Additionally, succeeding in this ritual shows that the boys recognize that the adult world is full of pain. They must prove that they will face this pain while staying calm and collected, and that they will be ready to face the struggles and trials that will face them in the future. If the members of the tribe cannot handle their own, the whole tribe will suffer or fall. While not a direct test of a boys strength, the ability to deal with pain and keep going is valuable to the Mawé. By denying those who cannot handle the pain of the tucandeira sting the right to marry, reproduce and hunt, it allows for stronger genes to be more prevalent in future generations, ensuring the survival of the tribe.
Benefits of Practice
Although a seemingly dangerous, the Tucandeira Dance, specifically the ant-stinging practice, has biological and economic benefits to the Sateré-Mawé tribe and the boys who partake in it. Biologically, the ant stings inject chemicals, such as formic acid, which increases one's immunity to diseases. Some diseases the formic acid can cure or build an immunity to is malaria, the flu, joint pain, and menstrual cramps. This explains why these stinging-ants and other formic acid-producing organisms are used for various health reasons. In addition to health benefits, the Sateré-Mawé tribe see the Tucandeira Dance and ant-stinging practice as an economic advantage. Occasionally, the tribe would host specially prepared sessions of the practice for tourists to see, which would generate money for the tribe to buy essentials like food. (http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0104-59702011000300007&script=sci_arttext)
Learn More
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150312-the-worlds-most-painful-insect-sting
https://pib.socioambiental.org/en/Povo:Sater%C3%A9_Maw%C3%A9
"The Sateré-Mawé Tribe Subject Themselves To Over 120 Bullet Ant Stings" https://youtu.be/Cb5BK2NMAwU
Works Cited
Paoletti, Gabe. “The Excruciating Bullet Ant Initiation Ritual Of The Mawé People VIDEO?.” All That's Interesting, All That's Interesting, 19 Dec. 2017, https://allthatsinteresting.com/bullet-ant-glove.
“Cultures and Customs A Look at Traditions around the Globe.” Cultures and Customs RSS, 16 Feb. 2013, https://sites.psu.edu/mgeitnerrcl/2013/11/16/satere-mawe-initiation/.
Bosmia, Anand N., et al. “Ritualistic Envenomation by Bullet Ants Among the Sateré-Mawé Indians in the Brazilian Amazon.” Wilderness & Environmental Medicine, vol. 26, no. 2, June 2015, pp. 271–273., doi:10.1016/j.wem.2014.09.003.
Tuso, Hamdesa, and Maureen P Flaherty. CREATING THE THIRD FORCE: Indigenous Processes of Peacemaking. LEXINGTON Books, 2019.
Nuwer, Rachel. “When Becoming a Man Means Sticking Your Hand Into a Glove of Ants.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 27 Oct. 2014, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/brazilian-tribe-becoming-man-requires-sticking-your-hand-glove-full-angry-ants-180953156/.