‘We Yanomami learn with the great shapiri [spirits]. We learn how to know the
shapiri, how to see them and listen to them. Only those who know the shapiri
can see them, because the shapiri are very small and bright like lights. There
are many, many shapiri – not just a few, but lots, thousands like stars. They are
beautiful and decorated with parrot feathers and painted with urucum [red
berry paste]. Others have earrings and use black dye and they dance very
beautifully and sing differently. The whites think that when we Indians do
shamanism we are singing. But we are not singing, we are accompanying the
music and the songs. There are different songs: the song of the macaw, of the
parrot, of the tapir, of the tortoise, of the eagle, of all the birds which sing
differently. So that’s what the shapiri are like. They are difficult to see.’

‘Whoever is a shaman has to accept them, to know them. You have to leave
everything: you can’t eat food or drink water, you can’t be near women or the
smell of burning, or children playing or making a noise – because the shapiri
want to live in silence. They are other people and they live differently. Some
live in the sky, some underground, and others live in the mountains which are
covered with forests and flowers. Some live in the rivers, in the sea and others
in the stars, or in the moon and the sun. Omame [the creator] chose them
because they were good for working – not in the gardens, but for working in
shamanism, for curing people. They are beautiful but difficult to see. The
shapiri look after everything. The shapiri are looking after the world.’

Davi Yanomami, shaman in his village, Watoriki-Theri (‘people of the windy mountain’).