Grade Level: SrH-Adult
Producer: BBC
Closed Captioned: No |
Running Time: 50 mins
Country of Origin: Great Britain
Study Guide: No |
Copyright Date: 2005
Available in French: No
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Bruce Parry learns the secrets of the spirits when he joins the Sanema, in Venezuela, to discover the strange dual-reality world in which they live. The Sanema believe spirits dwell in everything – the river, the rocks and the animals around them – in a world as real to them as the jungle they live in. And their shamen can commune with such spirits through using hallucinogenic snuff. Now Bruce faces the task of training as a shaman to get an insight into their experiences. His first foray with the snuff makes him light-headed: “It's like having ants up your nose,” he reports. And as they prepare him for his big day, the shamen tell him what to look out for in his dreams, which is when the spirits come unbidden. Turtle, armadillo and anteater spirits are all said to circulate. According to the shamen, the spirits will leave a song for Bruce to remember in the morning. When his big day dawns, Bruce is prepared by being painted with red dye and wearing what look like pom-poms on his head. And as the snuff sends him reeling, and he borrows a spirit song from someone to get him in the mood, he is soon sharing one of the strangest experiences of his travels. |
