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Principes,36(3), 1992, pp. 143 l4?

PATINO: ETHNOBOTANY OF BACTRIS GASIPAES r43

An Ethnobotanical Sketch of the PalmBactris (Guilielma) gasipaes

Vicron M. PerNoApartad,o a6reo 2I-54, Cali, Colombia

The pejibaye palm (Bactris gasipaesKunth) is a domesticated species and assuch is expected to have a rich ethnobo-tanic lore handed down from time imme-morial. This is indeed the case. but. unfor-tunately, the early Spanish chronicles donot convey all of the information that onewould like about this obviouslv extremelvimportant species. In many arlas the pejibaye was so important that it was consid-ered to be a sacred plant, a gift of thegods. In this short contribution, a little ofthe ethnobotanical lore about the pejibayewill be presented, enough, I hope, to stim-ulate the interested reader to delve intomuch earlier writings, both by the authorand others.

Geographic Distribution

Available historic data from the l6thcentury show that when the Europeansarrived the pejibaye was found in the Isth-mus of Panama and neighboring regions,Costa Rica and further to the northwest,the Choc6 area (north Pacific coast ofColombia), and the Cauca and MagdalenaRiver valleys, especially Muzo, and furtherto the southeast, all of the upper AmazonRiver tributaries, from the Caquet6 Riversouth through the Putumayo, Napo, Pas-taza, Santiagoo Zamora, Marafr6n andUcayali Rivers (what is today the foothillsof the Colombian, Ecuadorian and Peru-vian Andes). Somewhat later there is datafrom Nicaragua and Honduras, the Ori-noco River in Colombia and Venezuela,the main valley of the Amazon River downto its mouth at Bel6m, Pari, Brazil. the

Beni River in Bolivia and the Madeira Riverin Brazil (a southern tributary of the Ama-zon). In all of these areas the palm wasfound cultivated.

Indigenous Names

In its vast geographic distribution manymore than 100 indigenous languages werespoken at the time of Columbus' arrival.Patiffo (1960) published a list of 338Amerindian names for the palm and itsfruits, later organized into 66 divisions thatgroup the known variants (Patiffo 1963).Since then at least i00 additional nameshave been collected, frequently from smalltribes whose languages are poorly known.The names most frequently mentioned bythe Spanish chronicles and missionaries,and therefore the most widely spread ator just after the discovery of America, arethe following:

I. Pijibay, pejibaye (the current namein Costa Rica and used in much of themodern international literature) andpixbae (the current name in Panama).There are at least 40 other close var-iants in the Isthmus of Panama, CostaRica, and the Choc6 (Colombia).Strangely enough, the last remainingpopulations of the Chok6 rriln use uerreand its variants, perhaps because theyhave supplanted the previous inhabi-tants who used the pejibay variants.In Amazonian Peru, the only part ofthe country where the palm is known,the name is pifuayo or pijuayo andits variants.

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2 . Pepire or pipire are the names in theColombian Llanos (which drain east-ward into the Orinoco River), the firstof which was registered as early as1672, The Tunebo tribe uses biburaor uibura, which is an evident variationof pipire. A little further east, in theVenezuelan Orinoco, the names pirijaoand pihiguao are current. All are basedupon the pi radicle, which defines theirinter-relatedness with the first group ofnames.Cachipay, cachipae were the namesused by the Muzo tribe in the Mag-dalena River valley (Colombia) in thesixteenth centuryo and they are stillused there. This is the name that Alex-ander von Humboldt and his col-leagues, Bonpland and Kunth, foundwhen they described the species in1816, based upon material collected inIbagu6, Colombia, in i8Ol. They Lat-inized this Amerindian name to thepresent gasipaes.Pupunha is the palm's name in Brazil.According to the botanist and linguistJ. Barbosa Rodrigues, this name derivesfrom the Tupi or Lingua Geral syllablesby (skin) and, nha burning charcoal (asin red-hot), to give the name "skin thecolor of red-hot charcoal". While thepy radicle appears similar to the plmentioned above, the Tupi languageshave very little in common with theothers, so that the name appears to bea separate development. In fact, thename only appears in Brazil in the 17thcentury, when the Portuguese startedto penetrate the Amazon River. Thissuggests that the name is artificial ormade-up from other names that thePortuguese came across, as is the caseof the next name.Chontaduro. This name is surely anartificial name invented by the Spanishmissionaries and civil servants from the

Quechua words rura (eggs) and chunta(palm), to give the name "palm thatproduces eggs" (referring to the ovoid

[Vor. 36

shape of the fruit). Since the Spanishused Quechua as the Lingua Geral ofthe Andes and the missionaries distrib-uted it beyond the Inca areas, chon-taduro displaced indigenous names inEcuador and south-western Colombia,where it is dominant today.

P R I N C I P E S

3 .

Archeological Data

Few archeological data exist in whichthis palm is positively identified. In theregion of San Agustin, upper MagdalenaRiver valley, Colombia, scorched or car-bonized seed have been found and datedto 770 + 200 years before present, per-haps as early as the 9th century AD. Thepalm remains were found with those of theAndean nut (luglans neotropica Diels), acultivated pea nut (Ar achi s hy p o gae a) anda cultivated, primitive variety of maize (Zeatnays), of the Reventador type (DuqueG6mez 1964, pp. 388-390, 457).

Recently, well preserved seeds have beenfound in several archeological sites on theCaribbean and Pacific coast of Costa Ricathat are dated between 300 BC and 300AD (Mora-Urpi, personal communication).

Although the archeological record isscant, the palm's enormous genetic vari-ability indicates that it must have enteredthe domestication process very early (seealso Clement 1988).

Reasons for lts lmportance

The pejibaye was not simply anotherfruit species domesticated by the Amer-indians, rather it was something special.The stem wood was preferred by all thetribes where the species occurred for mak-ing arms (lances, bows and arrows, awls);its fruit were not only eaten directly, butalso (perhaps most importantly) used toprepare a widely consumed, very popularfermented drink, frequently called "Chi-

cha" (possibly because of the 7O-807ostarch levels in highly selected pejibayes).AII parts of the palm were used.

4 .

5 .

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Harvest and FertilityFestivities

The pejibaye harvest varies during theyear in different parts of its geographicaldistribution. Generally, however, the har-vest occurs during the two or three monthsthat coincide with the spring (February-April) and fall (August-October) equi-noxes. The Amerindians celebrated theabundance of the harvest season with greatfestivities. which also had many charac-teristics of fertility rites. For example, theGuaymie, of Panama-Costa Rica, cele-brate the 'obalseadao'o generally in Novem-ber, in which sporting events betweenneighboring groups were amply suppliedwith chicha of pixbae.

In Amazonia the harvest coincides withthe spring equinox and even today manyof the remaining Amerindian tribes cele-brate the pejibaye han'et. eren the moreprimitive, proto-agricultural tribes like theYanomamos and Guaikas in Venezuela andBrazil. Usually ihe celebrations includeconsiderable dancing and singing and con-sumption of chicha. The arrival of guestsconverts the celebration into a socialexchange as well.

The Pejibaye Calendar

As a natural corollary of the precedingsection, the pejibaye harvest is used as abasis for calculating time, because this har-vest is frequently the most important agri-cultural event of the year. The Yuracar6,of Bolivia, are an example of this: anyhappening is three months before thlbeginning or two months after the end orin the second month of the harvest.

Myths

Anthropologists have collected mythsand other legends that show the greatimportance of the pejibaye to the Amer-indians in the equatorial regions. The mythsand legends contain pejibaye in one of twoways: explaining how humans obtained such

PATIfrO: ETHNOBOTANY OF BACTRIS GASIPAES t c J

a valuable plant or showing its importanceto the tribes.

Among the Catio of Urab5, Colombia,a myth refers to the origin of maize andpejibaye, both obtained from heaven (Bajia)(Chaves 1945): two women were permittedtwo days in heaven. Upon returning to theworld they brought seed of the Chococitomaize and pejibaye hidden in their mouths.They told the other indians that one diesand will meet again in Bajia, and that theyhad brought seeds from these two plantsfrom there. They then planted the seed,grew the plants and ate the fruit. All whotried the fruit thought that they were goodand proceeded to plant more.

Among the Ahuaruno of the MaraionRiver, Peru, a myth mentions the impor-tance of pejibaye and how the sun, whichwas previously human, left the earth forthe skies, because of a lazy woman (Wav-rin 1937): . . . On another occasion hewent to hunt. He had instructed his wifeto clean the fields and prepare pifuayos.Upon his return he found his wife stillcleaning the fields. Irritated by such lazi-ness, he put a cassava grinding board ona pifuayo leaf of a young plant. On thishe put a basket and then climbed in. Thetree grew rapidly and the sun climbed tothe skies. Those who attempted to followafter could not get so high and all fell.They attempted, in vain, to cut the tree.

Among the Catio, from the Choc6 regionof Colombia, the pejibaye is also mentionedin another myth (Rochereau 1929): . . .Ceru-pot6-uarr" *", searching for the kill-ers of his mother. He arrived in the domainof Tutriac6, one of the divine creators,situated in the antipodes. The land thereis perfectly flat and sown completely withpejibaye, there being no other vegetation,and the stones are blue for sharpeningknives. . . . Many strange things wereobserved by the traveller, among which,the people there did not die, nor did theyeat. They lived on the vapor given-off bycooking pejibayes and did not have organsto defecate. The traveller was soon offered

r46 P R I N C I P E S [Vor. 36

some cooked pejibayes and proceeded toeat them, much to the astonishment of thenatives. The traveller asked "Why don't'you eat them also, since you have mouths?If the smell is good enough to live on,imagine the actual fruit". Three of thenatives proceeded to experiment with thefruit and in due course needed to defecate.Because they were unable to, not havingthe correct organs, they implored the trav-eller to break them open, which resultedin their deaths. Seeing this the other nativesurged the traveller to leave, before anycould experiment again and need to def-ecate.

Beliefs

A plant that lvas so important in thediet and the culture of the indigenous peo-ple took on a sacred character. For exam-ple, among the Jivaro of Ecuador, thepunches or needles used to sew the lips ofshrunken heads, or tzantzas, are alwaysmade from the wood of pejibaye. Amongthe Ticuna of the upper Amazon River,the fences that ritually encircle youthscoming into puberty were made from stripsof this wood.

Among the Huitoto of southern Colom-bia-, who divide themselves in clans withtheir respective totems, one of the clansis called the Jimene, that means people ofthe pejibaye, from the name that they applyto the palm.

Post-Columbian Folklore

In many areas the pejibaye continuedto be important after contact. For exam-ple, in the Colombian and EcuadorianPacific coast its wood was used to makeo'marimbas", a wooden percussion instru-ment of African origin. Strips of pejibayewood are used to cover the open end of abamboo tube and are then beaten with amallet; the instrument will produce a loweror higher tone depending upon the lengthof the bamboo tube. This instrument wasfirst recorded in the lSth century.

Several couplets are known from thefolk music of Colombia, one of whichincludes the following verse:

"De la palma de chontadura la raiz tambi6n se pudre;con una mujer celosa, el hombre tambi6n se aburreoo."Of the Chontaduro palm even the root rots; so with

a jealous woman, a man also becomes bored"'

t u"""

The roots are occasionally used as avermifuge.

The entire stem, generally armed withstout spines, was used to make blockadesin Central (Corotapa, Costa Rica) and SouthAmerica (Choc6, Magdalena, Llanos,Amazonas). When the stem dies and rotsit becomes infested with Coleoptera larvae,which are greatly appreciated by theAmerindians. The split stem was workedand polished to make lances, clubs, bows,arrows, punches, stabbers, games for chil-dren, etc.

The heart of palm is one of the mostdelicious among the Palmae. It has lesstannin than other palms and remains whitemuch longer in storage. There is currentlya strong export industry in Costa Rica, andColombia (Urab6) and Brazil (56o Paulo,Bahia) are developing theirs.

The inflorescence, freshly opened, isboiled and served as a vegetable by manytribes, according to numerous reports bythe Spanish in colonial Amazonia and Pan-ama.

The fruit, however, is by far the mostimportant product, and can be used innumerous ways. Some tribes only use thefruit to make o'chicha" (the Guaikas, forexample), which is prepared not only forharvest festivities but during the entireharvest period. The indians of the Vaup6sRiver prepare the mashed moist fruit readyfor fermentation, then bury it until theywant some chicha, at which moment theyuncover it and add water; this mass canbe stored in underground holes coveredwith leaves of a Marantaceae without decayfor very long periods.

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Nevertheless, the major use is as acooked fruit, generally without salt,although this is frequently added now-a-days, especially by acculturated indians.The fresh or cooked fruit does not keepwell in the tropical climate and must beconsumed quickly. Some tribes are knownto preserve the fruit by smoking or dehy-dration, which allows preservation for sev-eral months.

Most tribes do not use the seed, althougha few consume the endosperm which hasthe flavor of coconut (Cocos nucifera)bttwith more fiber.

Harvest Methods

Although spineless types exist, mostpejibaye are densely armed with thin orstout spines on the internodes. Some lookEke Astrocaryum because they are sodensely spiny. Because of this most tribeshave developed methods that do not involveclimbing the stem unassisted.

Along the Orinoco River, the Amerin-dians tie cross-bars between adjacent palmsor a palm and another species. Others erecta separate post beside the palm and fromits top pull down the bunches with a hook.The Huitoto and other Amazonian tribesgenerally plant another kind of spinelessfruii tree beside the palm and climb thisto pull down bunches with a hook. Manyothers just use a long pole with a hook.

An ingenious apparatus found in Pan-ama and along the Orinoco is used to climbthe spiny stem itself, while keeping thebody away from the spines. A pair ofcrossesin the form of an X or a pair of triangleswith an open V at one extreme are tied tothe stem with vines or stout cords. Theharvester will step on the lower cross, whichbecomes immobile on the trunk becauseof this weight, and will raise the uppercross. He then sits on the upper cross,which becomes immobile, and pulls thelower cross upward with his feet. He then

PATINO: ETHNOBOTANY OF BACTRIS GASIPAES r47

steps on the lower cross and repeats theprocess until arriving at the top of the treewhere he will collect the ripe bunches,without ever coming into contact with thespines. A skilled harvester can climb a 15m palm, collect the bunches, and returnto the ground in I0 minutes. A good pho-tograph of this apparatus is presented byChagnon (1968).

Acknowledgments

The author thanks Charles Clement,INPA, for his suggestions and translationof the Spanish manuscript and J. Mora-Urpi for reviewing it.

Lrrennrune Crreo

(This paper is a very condensed versionof previous articles by the author. Theinterested reader should consult these majorworks, which also contain abundant biblio-graphical references.)

Cnacnox, N. A. 1968. Yanomamo. the fierce peo-ple. Holt. Rinehart & Winston, New York.

Cuevns Cu., M. 1945. Mitos, tradiciones y cuenrosde los indios Chami. Bol. Arqueologia l: I33-I57. (Bogot6.)

Cttrurxr, C. R. 1988. Domestication of the peii-baye palm (Bacrris gasipaes): past urd p.".ent.Advances in Economic Botany 6: 155 174.

DUQUE GoMEz, L. 1964. Exploraciones arqueo-l6gicas en San Agustin, Revista Colombiana deAntropol6gica, supplement no. I. (Bogot6.)

PerIfio, V. M. 1960. Historia colonial y nombresindigenas de la palma pijibay (Guilielma ga-srpaes H.B.K.) Bailey. Revista ColombianaAntropol6gica 9: 23-72. (Bogot6.)

PATIfto, V. M. I963. Plantas cultivadas y animalesdom6sticos en Am6rica equinoccial. Tomo I.Frutales. Imprenta Departamental, Cali, Colom.bia, pp. 99-176.

RocHrnneu, H. P. 1929. Nociones sobre creen"cias, usos y costumbres de los catios del occidente de Antioquia. Jour. Soc. Americanistes deParis, nouvelle serie. 2l: 7I-105.

WevntN, M. DE. 1937. Moeurs et coutumes desIndiens Sauvages de l'Amerique du Sud. Payot,Paris.