Spiritual and Social Strategies of the Matsés Ethnic Group: Application of the Poisonous Secretion Kambo (Acaté), Diet, the Snuff Mixture në-në, and Gender Flexibility as Natural Adaptations
Online First
The negative impacts of environmental changes, the introduction of new diseases, and
disputes over land and resources require natural adaptations that enable optimal survival
and reproductive success in an ever-changing environment. This article focuses on the
social and spiritual strategies developed by the indigenous people of the Peruvian Amazon,
the Matsés, to adapt to the challenging conditions of the rainforest. The methodology is
based on ethnographic research conducted in the Matsés Reservation in 2018, 2023, and
2024. Participant observation and semi-structured interviews were conducted among the
residents of the town of Angamos and the community of San Roque. Key strategies identified
with spiritual elements include the application of Kambo (in the Matsés language
“Acaté”), the poisonous secretion from the frog species Phyllomedusa bicolor; the practice
of a diet involving the snuffing of the psychotropic mixture në-në; and gender flexibility
that supports adaptation. These strategies have helped increase the socio-ecological resilience
of the Matsés people at various levels and, along with an enhanced spiritual relationship
with nature, have increased their adaptability and the psychological support available
to them.
Matsés; Kambo; frog; spirituality; Phyllomedusa bicolor; Amazon
Amiche, Mohamed, Aurélia A. Seon, Henri Wroblewski and Pierre Nicolas. “Isolation of Dermatoxin from Frog Skin, an Antibacterial Peptide Encoded by a Novel Member of the Dermaseptin Genes Family.“ European Journal of Biochemistry 267, no. 14 (2000): 4583–4592. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1432-1327.2000.01514.x.
Berlowitz, Ilana, David M. O’Shaughnessy, Michael Heinrich, Ursula Wolf, Caroline Maake and Chantal Martin-Soelch. “Teacher Plants — Indigenous Peruvian-Amazonian Dietary Practices as a Method for Using Psychoactives“ Journal of Ethnopharmacology 286, no. 146 (2022): 114910. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2021.114910.
Couto-Silva, Cainã M., Kelly Nunes, Gabriela Venturini, Marcos Araújo Castro E. Silva, Lygia V. Pereira, David Comas, Alexandre Pereira and Tábita Hünemeier. “Indigenous People from the Amazon Show Genetic Signatures of Pathogen-Driven Selection.“ Science Advances 9, no. 10 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abo0234.
Daly, John W., Janet Caceres, Roger W. Moni, Fabian Gusovsky, Malcolm Moos, Kenneth B. Seamon, Katharine Milton and Charles W. Myers. “Frog Secretions and Hunting Magic in the Upper Amazon: Identification of a Peptide That Interacts with an Adenosine Receptor.“ Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 89, no. 22 (1992): 10960–10963. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.89.22.10960.
Fabius, Carine. Jagua: A Journey into Body Art from the Amazon. Kouraj Press, 2009.
Fotiou, Evgenia. “Technologies of the Body in Contemporary Ayahuasca Shamanism in the Peruvian Amazon: Implications for Future Research.“ Human Ecology 47, no. 1 (2019): 145–151. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-018-0043-6.
Gorman, Peter. Sapo in My Soul: The Matses Frog Medicine. Gorman Bench Press, 2015.
Keppel Hesselink, Jan. M. “Kambô: A Shamanistic Ritual Arriving in the West - Description, Risks and Perception by the Users.“ International Journal of Psychology and Psychoanalysis 4, no. 2 (2018). https://doi.org/10.23937/2572-4037.1510034.
Keppel Hesselink, Jan. M., and Michael James Winkelman. “Vaccination with Kambo Against Bad Influences: Processes of Symbolic Healing and Ecotherapy.“ The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology 51, no. 1 (2019): 28–48.
Majić, Tomislav, Meike Sauter, Felix Bermpohl and Timo T. Schmidt. “Connected to the Spirit of the Frog: An Internet-Based Survey on Kambô, the Secretion of the Amazonian Giant Maki Frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor): Motivations for Use, Settings and Subjective Experiences.“ Journal of Psychopharmacology 35, no. 4 (2021): 421–436. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881121991554.
Nogueira, Thais A. C., Igor Luis Kaefer, Marco A. Sartim, Manuela B. Pucca, Jacqueline Sachett, André L. Barros, Moysés B. A. Júnior, Djane C. Baía-da-Silva, Paulo S. Bernarde, Hector H. F. Koolen and Wuelton M. Monteiro. “The Amazonian Kambô Frog Phyllomedusa bicolor(Amphibia: Phyllomedusidae): Current Knowledge on Biology, Phylogeography, Toxinology, Ethnopharmacology and Medical Aspects.“ Frontiers in Pharmacology 13 (2022). https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2022.997318.
Politi, Matteo, Fabio Friso and Jacques Mabit. “Plant-Based Assisted Therapy for the Treatment of Substance Use Disorders – Part 1. The Case of Takiwasi Center and Other Similar Experiences.“ Cultura Y Droga 23, no. 26 (2018). https://doi.org/10.17151/culdr.2018.23.26.6.
Rappaport, Roy Abraham. Pigs for the Ancestors: Ritual in the Ecology of a New Guinea People. New ed. Yale University Press, 1984.
Rappaport, Roy Abraham. Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity. Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Reynoso-García, Jelissa, Yvonne Narganes-Storde, Tasha M. Santiago-Rodriguez and Gary A. Toranzos. “Mycobiome-Host Coevolution? The Mycobiome of Ancestral Human Populations Seems to Be Different and Less Diverse than Those of Extant Native and Urban-Industrialized Populations.“ Microorganisms 10, no. 2 (2022): 459. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10020459.
Romanoff, Steven. “Women as Hunters Among the Matses of the Peruvian Amazon.“ Human Ecology 11, no. 3 (1983): 339–343. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00891379.
Romanoff, Steven. Matses Adaptations in the Peruvian Amazon. PhD diss., 1984.
Sanz-Biset, Jaume, and Salvador Cañigueral. “Plant Use in the Medicinal Practices Known as ‘Strict Diets‘ in Chazuta Valley (Peruvian Amazon).“ Journal of Ethnopharmacology 137, no. 1 (2011): 271–288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2011.05.021.
Schmidt, Timo Torsten, Simon Reiche, Caroline L. C. Hage, Felix Bermpohl and Tomislav Majić. “Acute and Subacute Psychoactive Effects of Kambô, the Secretion of the Amazonian Giant Maki Frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor): Retrospective Reports.“ Scientific Reports 10, no. 1 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-78527-4.
Sponsel, Leslie E. “Amazon Ecology and Adaptation.“ Annual Review of Anthropology 15, no. 1 (1986): 67–97. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.an.15.100186.000435.
Copyright © 2024 Religio