Northeast Amazon

Tribal Medicine in the Suriname Rainforest

Wayana shaman from the village of Tepu in southern Suriname.

Shamans are inheritors of a great medical tradition that has its origins in the beginnings of civilization. In the social firmament of Amazonian tribes, shamans (also known as ‘medicine men’ or ‘medicine women’) act as healer-priests, responsible not only for the health of their people but also for their spiritual welfare. In this capacity, shamans are the keepers of both tribal traditions and rites as well as the knowledge of medicinal plants.

Over the course of centuries, Amazonian tribes have accumulated a vast storehouse of knowledge of medically useful plants from the great botanical diversity of the rainforest. The Amazon region is home to more varieties of plants than any other place on earth; indeed, two acres of forest in certain parts of Amazonia may harbor more species of trees than are found throughout the entire United States. Although a large number of important pharmaceuticals have been discovered from studying the traditional medicine of indigenous people, medicinal plants are just one component of traditional health systems. Ceremonies and rituals, chants and colorful dances, and incense and invocations often accompany the use of medicinal plants in healing.

In the northeast Amazon, the advancement of acculturation has been much slower than in other areas of Amazonia due to the relative inaccessibility of some tribes that are isolated by hundreds of miles of rainforest and impassable rapids. In these villages, the practice of shamanism and knowledge of medicinal plants remains largely intact along with their tribal culture and ways of living. However, in recent years even these tribes have begun to feel the impact of acculturation. Moreover, many of the shamans are well over seventy years old; most are without apprentices to whom they might pass on their knowledge and skills. Amazonian ethnomedicine is a complex art of diagnosis, examination, communication, ritual, and treatment that can only be transmitted through active practice.