{"id":"VIERTLER1991-001","label":"Meruri Aije-doge, jaguar-faced","people_or_site":"Bororo (Boe), Meruri","country_current":"Brazil","historic_region":"Meruri, General Carneiro / Barra do Garças, Mato Grosso","macroregion":"South America / Brazil","local_name":"aíje","source_term":"zunidor","source_language":"Portuguese","object_description":"Wooden aíje blades, carried with a pole by the Aije-doge actors.","function_summary":"Funeral representation of the Aije-doge Aroe, the spirits of swamps and river bottoms: jaguar-painted actors crawl or ride on men's backs into the village, honour the dead person's representative, then whirl the blades while women and children hide; afterwards the blades are hidden in a swamp. Newly initiated boys undergo a test of courage.","attestation_type":"ethnographic_attestation","source_key":"viertler1991_refeicao_almas","source_type":"ethnographic_monograph","source_url":"https://acervo.socioambiental.org/sites/default/files/documents/bol00003.pdf","page_or_plate":"Viertler pp. 98–99; Enciclopédia Bororo I p. 661","map_confidence":"high","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"Aldeia Merure / Meruri, General Carneiro, Mato Grosso (Nominatim: Aldeia Indígena Merure).","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"At Meruri the spirits of the swamps came painted as jaguars. The Aije-doge actors, whitened with clay, with charcoal jaguar markings across their faces, stood and sat, stood and sat, crying “U, U, U,” and then set off for the village: some crawled on all fours with a roarer in one hand, others rode on the backs of the Tugarege, the ceremony's owners, while another man carried the blade. In the plaza they circled the dead person's ritual stand-in ever closer, crawling, and rubbed against him in homage. Then they spread out and whirled the roarers, a wail like sirens, as women and children wept hidden in their houses. When the spirits had gone the men ran to gather the blades and hid them in a swamp.","pull_quote":"ao rumor como que de sereias, acrescentam-se os gritos dos próprios operadores","pull_quote_translation":"to the noise, like that of sirens, are added the cries of the operators themselves","pull_quote_cite":"César Albisetti and Ângelo Jayme Venturelli, Enciclopédia Bororo I (1962), p. 661","term_gloss":"aíje: the Bororo bullroarer and the water-being it embodies. Aije-doge Aroe: the aije spirits, played by men at funerals. Tugarege: one of the two Bororo moieties, owners of the ceremony.","cls":"restricted","class_label":"Restricted","color":"#A43C2F","is_candidate":false,"flags":["spirit_voice","snake","initiation","death_rebirth","women_taboo"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":true,"f_women_special":false,"f_snake":true,"sources":[{"citation":"Renate Brigitte Viertler, A refeição das almas: uma interpretação etnológica do funeral dos índios Bororo (São Paulo: Hucitec/Edusp, 1991), pp. 98–99","url":"https://acervo.socioambiental.org/sites/default/files/documents/bol00003.pdf"},{"citation":"César Albisetti and Ângelo Jayme Venturelli, Enciclopédia Bororo, vol. I (Campo Grande: Museu Regional Dom Bosco, 1962), p. 661","url":"https://etnolinguistica.wdfiles.com/local--files/biblio:albisetti-1962-enciclopedia/Albisetti%26Venturelli_1962_EnciclopediaBororo1_p0483-0770_Boeiga%20a%20K.pdf"}],"source_citations":"Renate Brigitte Viertler, A refeição das almas: uma interpretação etnológica do funeral dos índios Bororo (São Paulo: Hucitec/Edusp, 1991), pp. 98–99; César Albisetti and Ângelo Jayme Venturelli, Enciclopédia Bororo, vol. I (Campo Grande: Museu Regional Dom Bosco, 1962), p. 661","source_display":"Renate Brigitte Viertler, A refeição das almas: uma interpretação etnológica do funeral dos índios Bororo (São Paulo: Hucitec/Edusp, 1991), pp. 98–99; César Albisetti and Ângelo Jayme Venturelli, Enciclopédia Bororo, vol. I (Campo Grande: Museu Regional Dom Bosco, 1962), p. 661","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Wooden aíje blades, carried with a pole by the Aije-doge actors.","function_display":"Funeral representation of the Aije-doge Aroe, the spirits of swamps and river bottoms: jaguar-painted actors crawl or ride on men's backs into the village, honour the dead person's representative, then whirl the blades while women and children hide; afterwards the blades are hidden in a swamp. Newly initiated boys undergo a test of courage.","confidence_display":"high","attestation_label":"ethnographic attestation","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"bororo","display_name":"Meruri Aije-doge, jaguar-faced","image":{"full":"assets/objects/SA-Z1953-026_em_1913_15_0024.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/SA-Z1953-026_em_1913_15_0024_thumb.jpg","alt":"Guarayu bullroarer from Bolivia: a pale flat wooden slat with a long cord tied at both ends.","credit":"Etnografiska museet, Stockholm (1913.15.0024)","license":"CC BY 4.0","source_page":"https://collections.smvk.se/carlotta-em/web/object/1913.15.0024","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"Guarayu bullroarer from Bolivia, collected by Erland Nordenskiöld","pool_id":"auto-SA-Z1953-026_em_1913_15_0024","auto_assigned":true,"last_modified":"2026-10-19"},"slug":"viertler1991-001-bororo-boe-meruri"}