YURUPARY is the lingua franca name for an Amazonian culture hero who established order in nature and society and taught men rules of ritual conduct. The term refers also to sacred flutes and bark trumpets, taboo to women and children, played in a secret men's cult into which boys are periodically initiated, and to the celebrations held by the cult. These instruments, kept hidden under water, represent Yurupary in spirit form, and their sound is his voice. By extension the term is used throughout Amazonia to refer to cannibal forest spirits. Christian missionaries have also erroneously identified Yurupary with the devil and attempted to eradicate his cult.

The Yurupary cult is found among nearly all the Indians of northwest Amazonia living in the area of the Japurá, Negro, and middle Orinoco rivers. In particular, it is characteristic of the Arawakan groups (Baníwa, Baré, etc.) of the upper...