TUPI RELIGIOSITY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY

Sofia Paiva de Araujo

LTAM 6251 – Colonial Latin America

December 11, 2017

 Paiva de Araujo 2

Introduction
The articles and books cited in this historiography were published in English,

Spanish and Portuguese, and discuss indigenous religiosity since the initial encounters

throughout the sixteenth century. Furthermore, they also shed light on the effects of

Catholicism and colonization on indigenous identity and religiosity.

It is important to highlight that the majority of the works gathered in this

historiography are authored by Brazilianists based in Brazil, thus it might reflect more

the state-of-the-art of the studies on indigenous religiosity in Brazil, rather than the

research currently done in the United States, for instance.

This historiography is divided into two sections, according to some of the main

themes scholars have been discussing since the 1980s in regards to Tupi religiosity in

the sixteenth century. The first section presents studies about the construction and

shaping of European identity and Amerindian otherness in the early colonial encounters;

in the second section, this historiography discusses studies about Tupi prophets (also

known as caraíbas or pajés) and the search for the Land Without Evil.

Identity and otherness: religious language and the demonization of Amerindian in

the sixteenth century

The main primary sources about Tupi-Guarani religiosity in colonial times,

shared among many of the secondary literature gathered here, are writings by travelers,

missionaries (from various religious orders, especially Jesuit), and inquisitorial recordsi.

These texts have been analyzed in many ways: in terms of their importance in revealing

and shaping Amerindian identity to Europeans; in regards to the intertextuality between

the writings of various travelers and medieval literature; and finally, in relation to their

use to demonize Amerindians.

 Paiva de Araujo 3

The book O Diabo e a Terra de Santa Cruz was published in 1986 by Laura de

Mello e Souzaii. Souza (1986) argues that religion was the main code through which the

world and the other were understood, and that the conquest of America was related to

the catechization of its peoples. Souza (1986) points to the intertextuality between the

letters written by travelers, missionaries, and medieval literature. Additionally, Mello

(1986) also claims that the demonology of the Old World was transferred to the New

World, and Europeans demonized Amerindian religious practices.

In the article “Imagens de Índios do Brasil”, published in 1990, Manuela

Carneiro da Cunha analyzes how Brazilian Indians are depicted in the writings of

sixteenth century European travelers. Cunha (1990) argues that the Tupi represented the

identity of Brazilian Indians for the colonizers who disembarked there in the 1500s. As

Mello (1986), Cunha (1990) also attributes the catechization project as the cause for the

first accounts’ focus on the natives’ docility, innocence and lack of religion, as such

scenario favored the catechization project. Moreover, Cunha (1990) points to the

intertextuality between texts, and how it reinforced demonized views of Brazil and its

people.

The articles “Una mirada incierta sobre América”, by Ana C. Guilhotti, and

“Colonialismo e idolatrías”, by Ronaldo Vainfas, were published in the book Culturas y

Pueblos Indígenas (1992)iii. The main theme of Guilhotti’s (1992) article is the shaping

of European identity and the construction of Amerindian otherness in the sixteenth

century. Guilhotti (1992) aligns with Souza (1986) and Cunha (1990) who highlighted

that the representations of Amerindians in European writings showed intertextuality

with Medieval literature, of which Guilhotti explores the example of Dante’s Inferno.

Similarly to Mello (1986), Guilhotti also argues that European demonology was

transferred to the New World and guided the construction of Amerindian

 Paiva de Araujo 4

identity/otherness. Guilhotti (1992) highlights the primacy of written sources over

iconography in the sixteenth century, yet also pointing to the role of imagery in the

demonization of Amerindians.

In the article “Colonialismo e Idolatrías”, Vainfas (1992) explores how religious

language permeated the discovery of Amerindians and Europeans’ identities in two

ways: first, he problematizes the use of the word Santidade by caraíbas and Jesuits;

second, he discusses the purposeful use of the word heresy to refer to Amerindian

religiosity, as it also holds an anti-colonialist feature. These arguments are also

mantained in Vainfas’ book A Heresia dos Índios, published in 1995, which will be

further discussed ahead in this essay.

In “Fragmentos da História e Cultura Tupinambá”, Carlos Fausto (1992)

addresses the identity of Tupinambá Indians in terms of the different nations in which

they were divided: Tupiniquim, Tupinambá, Carijó, Tamoio, Temomimo. According to

Fausto (1992), these nations shared a common language and relatively similar habits,

but would often side with different European actors in order to defend their military and

economic interests. Reinforcing Cunha’s argument that the Tupi were the “face” of

Brazilian Indians before Europeans, Carlos Fausto (1992) pointed out that the Tupi

nations occupied virtually the majority of the coast, thus being the first Indians the

Europeans met in the sixteenth century.

In the book Inferno Atlântico, published in 1993, Laura de Mello e Souza

continues the discussion about Amerindian identity though demonology and

colonization initiated in her doctoral work. Souza (1993) maintains the main arguments

presented in her earlier work.

In the book A Heresia dos Índios, Vainfas (1995) further pushed the arguments

he presented in his article “Colonialismo e Idolatrías” (1992). Vainfas (1995) argues

 Paiva de Araujo 5

that Sanctity of Jaguaripe assumed a rebellious identity and was associated with

indigenous heresy. In relation to how religious language permeated the mutual

discovery of European identity and Amerindian otherness, Vainfas (1995) provides a

detailed analysis of the multiple meanings assumed by Santidade, and suggests that the

caraíbas applied the term in their own favor. Vainfas (1995) also discusses the role

language played in the dichotomy true versus false sanctity – which could be expanded

to true versus false religion. A Heresia dos Índios (1995) is considered the most

comprehensive study carried out about the Santidade de Jaguaripe.

Two articles published in 2000 were dedicated to an examination of the writings

left by European travelers about Brazil. In “The Heathen Casted of the Sixteenth

Century”, John M. Monteiro (2000) examines the “Tratado Descritivo”, written by

Gabriel Soares de Souza and considered one of the most important documents about

Brazil in the late sixteenth century. Monteiro (2000) compares the context in which

Souza produced his writings, to its reception by Brazilian historians in the nineteenth

century. Additionally, Monteiro (2000) rejects the approach of nineteenth century

Brazilian historians adopted Souza’s writings was objective ethnographical facts.

Exploring the intertextuality mentioned by Mello (1986), Cunha (1990) and Guilhotti

(1992), in the article “De Jean de Léry a Claude Lévi-Strauss”, Frank Lestrigant (2000)

pursues an archeology of the Tristes Tópicos through an examination of how Léry’

writings influenced Lévi-Strauss.

The discussion about the materialization of identity and otherness through

language during early colonial encounters between Europeans and Amerindians in the

Brazilian coast is resumed in Maria Cristina Pompa’s article “Profetas e Santidades

Selvagens”, published in 2001. Pompa (2001) explains that indigenous otherness was

revealed through the use and translation of religious terms by both missionaries and
 Paiva de Araujo 6

caraíbas. Pompa (2001) argues that the Tupi prophets are a product of the reciprocal

translation between missionary eschatology and native cosmology. The main points she

uses to support this argument are: prophetism as a western concept, rather than an

original or pre-colonial feature of the Tupi-Guarani culture; and the role played by

religious language – which, as pointed by Souza (1986), was the main code to

understand and decipher the New World and the other – in the context of colonial

encounters.

Like other scholars, Pompa (2001) situates missionaries and caraíbas in a battle

for the souls of the Tupinambá Indians. Pompa (2001) analyzes two main dichotomies:

presence versus absence of religion; and true versus false religion. The author also

points out the paganism was understood in the dichotomy true versus false religion,

which was projected on the indigenous religiosity, ultimately demonized. The caraíbas

themselves were also demonized by the Jesuit, but they appropriated the term to refer to

white missionaries, mirroring the ambiguous word game of the Jesuits.

In “Antropofagia ritual e identidade cultural entre os Tupinamba”, Adone

Agnolin (2002) allies religious history and food history to discuss Tupi religiosity and

identity. Agnolin (2002) argues that anthropophagy is a cultural fact intrinsic to Tupi

identity (related to the figure of the jaguar), and a means of digesting (or

comprehending) the other.

In Religião como Traduçãoiv, Pompa (2003) details how the colonial encounters

and the language which permeated them culminated in the use of religion to translate

Amerindian otherness. In this work, Pompa (2003) discusses the depictions of savages

in travelers’ letters and the Tupinambá religiosity; language and translation in the

context of Jesuit missions; Tupi prophetism, and the migrations of the Tupinambá in

search for the Land without Evil.

 Paiva de Araujo 7

The article “From Indian Millenarianism to a Tropical Witches’ Sabbath”

(Vainfas, 2005) unveils the historic process through which indigenous religiosity and

identity were demonized and transformed into heresies, inspiring the Witches’ Sabbat.

Vainfas (2005) notes that Jesuit sources manipulated omitted and even falsified

information to render Amerindian rituals and ceremonies more heretical, thus

emphasizing the movement’s rebellious identity.

In “Se Deus Fosse Jaguar”, Carlos Fausto (2005) examines how Catholicism has

influenced the identity of Tupi-Guarani from the sixteenth to the twentieth century.

Fausto (2005) points out that the cannibalism which identified Tupi with the jaguar (as

mentioned in Agnolin, 2002) was substituted by the Christian ideal of love. According

to Fausto (2005), the development of Tupi-Guarani religiosity promoted the

“desjaguarificacao” of their identity.

Finally, in the article “Beberagens Tupinamba”, Maria Betânia Barbosa

Albuquerque (2011) resumes the discussion which related food history and Tupi

identity, focusing on the ritual uses of the cauim. Additionally, Albuquerque (2011) also

addresses the importance of producing and consuming the fermented drink as an

educative process, which reinforced and passed forward the Tupi culture and identiy.

Tupi prophetism and the Land without Evil: Santidade de Jaguaripe and heresy

A recurrent theme in the secondary literature written about indigenous religiosity

in Brazil during the sixteenth century is the Tupi’s heroic mythology of the search for

the Land Without Evil. In the twentieth century, much of the academic debate about the

Land Without Evil evolved around two main questions: firstly, about the “authenticity”

of the myth, whether or not it was influenced by Catholicism; and secondly, whether the

migrations were impacted by colonial expansion, or guided only by elements intrinsic to

the Tupi culture.

 Paiva de Araujo 8

Amongst the “classic” literature related to Tupi prophets and the search for this

sacred land, the most well-known works are the writings by Kurt Nimuendajúv, Alfred

Métraux, Egon Schaden, Maria Isaura Pereira de Queiroz, and Hélènevi and Pierre

Clastres. These authors considered the Tupi search for the land without evil as an

autochthonous element of indigenous culture, anterior to colonization and not affected

by it.

In O diabo e a Terra de Santa Cruz, Souza (1986) addresses Tupi prophetism

through the example of the Sanctity of Jaguaripe. Souza (1986) affirms that all

indigenous and African-based religious practices observed in colonial Brazil have been

influenced by Catholicism. Thus, although indirectly, Souza (1986) disagrees with the

classic literature in pointing it was influenced by colonization. Conversely, in the article

“From Tupã to the Land Without Evil”, published in 1987, Judith Shapiro aligns with

the classical literature on the indigenous mythology, which considers it an

autochthonous element of their culture, but does not deepen the discussion about the

origin of the myth.

In the article “Colonialismo e Idolatrías”, Vainfas (1992) addresses Tupi

prophetism as idolatries in the context of colonial expansion. Vainfas (1992)

distinguishes between two kinds of idolatries, according to whether they threatened

colonial order (idolatrias insurgents) or not (idolatrias ajustadas). Vainfas (1992)

discusses Tupi prophetism through the Sanctity of Jaguaripe, an example of idolatria

insurgente. Vainfas (1992) argues that the Sanctity as a movement represented a

reaction against colonialism, which suffered the influence of Catholicism, and thus

could not be understood isolated from the context of colonization.

This argument about the anti-colonialist features of the Jaguaripe sect is further

pushed in A Heresia dos Índios, in which Vainfas (1995) details his main points to
 Paiva de Araujo 9

support his claim: first of all, the change in the direction of migrations, which after

colonization were predominantly from east to west, into the backlands, and away from

the coast where indigenous faced captivity, famine, diseases, forced baptism and death;

secondly, the syncretism with Christian rituals, subverting Catholicism; and finally, the

caraíbas’ message, which was growingly and clearly anti-colonialist. Additionally,

emphasizing the movement’s rebellious character and hostility to Portuguese

colonization, Vainfas (1995) claims that the sanctity emerged in the Jesuit settlements.

Tupi prophetism is also the topic of “Millenarian Slaves? The Santidade de

Jaguaripe and Slave Resistance in the Americas”, published by Alida Metcalf in 1999.

Metcalf (1999) argues that the Jaguaripe movement is an example of slave

millenarianism, for the caraíbas’ message countered slavery. Alida Metcalf’s research

is unique in her connection of slavery and the Santidade movement, whose ideal of the

Land Without Evil was echoed in the quilombos.

Pompa (2001) points out that the classical debate about the origins of the Tupi

prophetism and the search for the Land without Evil is an unfruitful discussion. Pompa

(2001) aligns with previous scholarship that discusses its anti-colonialist features, and

moves on to discuss how these characteristics were materialized in the language used by

missionaries and natives to reciprocally translate the each other: antagonists in the same

historical process.

Conclusion

In regards to the themes of identity and otherness, scholars have emphasized the

connection between the colonial conquest and the catechization project, materialized

specially through the use of religious language to codify/translate Amerindians’

identity. In doing do, scholars have noted the change in the way America and
 Paiva de Araujo 10

Amerindians were depicted by Europeans: initially savages with no faith, prone to be

Christianized, the Indians were increasingly demonized and depicted as dangerous

heretics as their religious practices incorporated anti-colonialist features. Language, or

more specifically intertextuality, also was shown to have played a role in the

demonization of Amerindian populations in the sixteenth century. Since the 1990s,

studies have also incorporated the perspective of food history to investigate the identity

of the Tupi-Guarani, focusing on the role of the anthropophagical ritual and the use of

cauim.

In regards to Tupi prophetism and the Land without Evil, scholars also have

changed the focus of their inquiries along the time. Studies have evolved from the initial

discussion about the anteriority or posteriority of the Tupi myth in relation to

colonization (approximately until the 1990s), to how its anti-colonialist features

manifested (1990s and 2000s). This change was led by Brazilian scholars, who have

worked on delineating the strategies used by the Tupi to counter colonial oppression.

Overall, the studies on Tupi religiosity have been led by Brazilian scholars based

in universities in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The Brazilian school of thought has

developed to increasingly include the indigenous peoples as active historical actors, for

instance, showing how they actively appropriated Catholic language and incorporated it

to reject colonization.

i
As pointed out by James Wadsworth in his historiography of the Portuguese Inquisition, the Portuguese
were the Iberian nation that best preserved their inquisitorial records. A massive archive is located at
Torre do Tombo, in Lisbon, and offers various possibilities of research for Brazilianists.
ii
Originally assembled as her doctoral thesis under the title Sabás e Calundus, the book has its first part
dedicated to a discussion of identity and otherness in the early colonial encounters. The English
translation of this book was published in 2003by the University of Texas Press.
iii
Edited by Jorge Nunez Sánchez and sponsored by the Secretaría Nacional de Comunicación del
Ecuador, the book compiles articles presented in the Quinto Encuentro de Historiadores Latinoamericanos
y Caribeños (1990), and similar scholarly conferences. The book is part of a 12 volume collection titled
“Nuestra Pátria és América”.
iv
Religion as Translation.
v
The German ethnologist lived among the Tupi and wrote about his experiences in the tribe in his famous
work Die Sagen von der Erschaffung und Vernichtung der Welt als Grundlagen der Religion des Apa-
pocuva-Guarani. Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie. Vol. 46. Berlin.
 Paiva de Araujo 11

vi
Author of La Terre sans Mal, le prophetisme Tupi-Guarani. Editions du Seuil. Paris. 1975 (Portuguese
translation: Terra sem Mal. Editora Brasiliense. Sao Paolo, 1978)
WORKS CITED

Agnolin, Adone. “Antropofagia ritual e identidade cultural entre os Tupinambá”.

Revista de Antropologia, Vol. 45, No. 1 (2002), pp. 131-185.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/41616332

Albuquerque, Maria Betânia Barbosa. “Beberagens Tupinambá e processos educativos

no Brasil colonial”. Educação em Revista | Belo Horizonte | v.27 | n.01 | p.19-

44 | abr. 2011

Cunha, Manuela Carneiro da. “Imagens de Indios do Brasil: o Século XVI”. Estudos

Avançados, 4 (10): 91-110. 1990

Fausto, Carlos. “Fragmentos de História e Cultura Tupinambá”. In: Histótia dos Indios

no Brasil. Manuela Carneiro da Cunha (org,). São Paulo: Companhia das

Letras, 1992.p. 381-396

-----. Se Deus Fosse Jaguar. MANA 11(2):385-418, 2005.

Guilhotti, Ana C. “Uma mirada incierta sobre América. Um mundo paradisíaco o um

domínio infernal?” In: Sánchez, Jorge Nunez (ed). Culturas y Pueblos

Indigenas. Quito: Editora Nacional, 1992. p.13-24

Lestrigant, Frank. “De Jean de Léry a Claude Lévi-Strauss: por uma arqueologia de

"Tristes trópicos". Revista de Antropologia, Vol. 43, No. 2 (2000), pp. 81-103

Souza, Laura. de Mello e. O diabo e a terra de Santa Cruz. feitiçaria e religiosidade

popular no Brasil Colonial. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 1986.

-----. Inferno Atlântico: demonologia e colonização, séculos XVI-XVIII. São Paulo:

Companhia das Letras, 1993.

Metcalf, Alida. “Millenarian slaves? The Santidade de Jaguaripe and Slave Resistance

in the Americas.” American Historical Review Forum. 1999.

Monteiro, John M. The Heathen Castes of the Sixteenth Century Portuguese America.

Unity, Diversity, and the Invention of the Brazilian Indians. Hispanic

American Historical Review, 80:4, November 2000, pp. 697-719 (Article)

Pompa, Cristina. “Profetas e caraíbas: Revista Brasileira de História. São Paulo, v. 21,

nº 40, p. 177-195. 2001

-----. Religião como tradução: Missionários, Tupis e Tapuia no Brasil Colonial.

Doctoral Dissesrtation. 2003.

Shapiro, Judith. From Tupã to the Land Without Evil: The Christianization of Tupi-

Guarani Cosmology. American Ethnologist, Vol. 14, No. 1, Frontiers of

Christian Evangelism (Feb.,1987), pp. 126-139

Vainfas, Ronaldo. “Colonialismo e idolatrias”. In: Sánchez, Jorge Nunez (ed). Culturas

y Pueblos Indigenas. Quito: Editora Nacional, 1992. p.25-56

-----. A Heresia dos Indios: Catolicismo e rebeldia no Brasil Colonial. São Paulo:

Companhia das Letras, 1995.

-----. From Milleniarism to a tropical Witches’ Sabbath:

Brazilian Sanctities in Jesuit Writings and Inquisitorial Sources¹". Bulletin of Latin

American Research. 24 (2): 215-231. 2005