Table Of Content

JAGUA A Journey into Body Art from the Amazon By Carine Fabius Photographs by Pascal Giacomini and Cristina Mittermeier Jagua, A Journey into Body Art from the Amazon By Carine Fabius Kouraj Press 6025 Santa Monica Bouleard, #202 Los Angeles, CA 90038 323-460-7333 www.kourajpress.com Copyright © 2009 by Carine Fabius Cover and Book Design: Rodney Bowes Design Notice of Rights All rights reserved under international and pan-American Copyright conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other, without written permission from the publisher. Fabius, Carine Jagua, A Journey into Body Art from the Amazon ISBN 9780978 500313 Printed in the United States of America Also by Carine Fabius Mehndi: The Art of Henna Body Painting Ceremonies for Real Life Sex, Cheese and French Fries—Women are Perfect, Men are from France Acknowledgments I want to thank my husband Pascal Giacomini for his hard work and for all his help in the making of this book. You’re a great partner! My gratitude goes out to Frank Weaver for his editorial expertise, attention to detail, and generosity with his time. Thanks and appreciation to Henrietta Cosentino for the freshness and largesse that she brings to any project she touches. A big thank you to Rodney Bowes for his special brand of creativity and flair, as well as for his constant ability to make me laugh. A special thank you to David Fleck, Peter Gorman, and Cristina Mittermeier for their generous and priceless contributions to the book. Thank you, thank you, thank you Steve Coombs for the generous use of your time, for your support, and for your friendship; and to Morena Santos for her magnificent talent as a jagua artist, and the gracious gift of her time. Gracias a los Matsés por su hospitalidad. And a huge shout out to all the people I know who continue to give me their love and support in my work as a writer. You know who you are! A Note from the Author No trees in the Amazon rainforest are cut down to generate the skin-staining ink used for temporary jagua tattoos. Happily, harvesting of the jagua fruit does provide desperately needed income to the Indian group with whom we work. Like many others who, by chance or fate, become involved with un- derserved peoples, we feel compelled to assist the Indians with the pressing issues they face (i.e., stemming the spread of malaria or flu in their village). In that respect, you may be interested to know that your purchase of this book and/or jagua tattoo kits from our company directly contributes to helping the Matsés Indians achieve economic sustainability. Table of Contents Chapter One: Jagua—The Prequel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 The Henna Back Story .......................................16 Walking into Body Art.......................................20 Chapter Two: Jagua, the Movie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Meeting Jagua..............................................29 Chapter Three: Pascal’s Journal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 A Brief History of the Matsés ..................................54 Essays ........ ............................................59 “Ahhh, Frog Sweat by Peter Gorman”.........................60 “My Life Among the Humans: A Concise Autobiography” by David W. Fleck ..................... ...............69 Chapter Four: Bringing Jagua Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Chapter Five: The Jagua Fruit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 Just the Facts...............................................85 Medicinal Properties of the Jagua Fruit...........................88 The Vampire Catfish of the Amazon ............................90 Chapter Six: Jagua Magic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Mystical Jagua Beliefs ..... ...................................94 A Brief History of the Kayapo...............................97 Essay: Indian Ink by Cristina Mittermeier.....................100 VII JAGUA: A Journey into Body Art from the Amazon Jagua People I.............................................107 The Zapara (or Sapara)...................................108 The Shuar (a.k.a. Jivaro)..................................110 The Tsachila...........................................112 The Embera-Waounan (formerly the Chocos) .................114 The Yucuna (or Yukuna) .................................116 The Kuna ..................... ........................118 Traditional JaguaTales ......................................120 Jagua People II ................ ............................134 The Yuqui.............................................135 The Tikuna (or Ticuna) ..................................137 The Yagua.............................................139 The Arakmbut ................ .........................141 The Ka’apor (a.k.a. Urubu)................................143 The Canelos-Quichua (a.k.a. Quichua of Pastaza) ..............145 The Shipibo-Conibo.....................................147 Chapter Seven: Jagua Tattoos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Henna vs. Jagua ...........................................150 Still, It’s Body Art..........................................151 A Short History of Tattoos...................................156 The Rise of Tattoo Nation ..................... ..............162 The Ink Factor ............................................166 Chapter Eight: Frequently Asked Questions About Jagua . . . . . . . . . . . 171 VIII Table of Contents Appendix I Amazonia—Land of Jagua ...................................177 Amazon 101 ..................... ......................178 The Indians............................................181 Appendix II Tales From the Amazon ..................................184 The Legend of the Pink Dolphin ...........................185 Tales of the Anaconda....................................188 Bibliography Books ................................ .......... .........193 Studies, Essays and Articles...................................198 Websites .... .............................................202 Photography and Graphics Photography/B&W......................................208 Graphics ..............................................210 Color Photography First Section—Follows page 53 Second Section—Follows page 96 Third Section—Follows page 144 Fourth Section—Follows page 192 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [Not included] IX Amazon River Basin with Amazon River highlighted