04/12/2020
Amazonian lore #3
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Me: "There are stories of extraordinary curanderos who lived in the distant past who many say no longer exist today. They are called bancos among mestizos, or merayas among the Shipibo. The Yawanawa in Brazil call them tsimuyas."
Me: "Did you ever personally know anyone like this?"
Maestro Juan Flores: "I had the good fortune to know a few such men when I was young."
Me: "People say they no longer exist today because nobody has the patience or willpower to spend years and years dieting in isolation in the forest. Do you believe that is true?"
Maestro Juan Flores: "They do not exist today, that is true. But it is also because to diet like they did, you have to be in the very deep forest, where the oldest spirits have gone, where there is no sight or sound of man. Even here [by the Boiling River], you hear noises, see people, it is not the same kind of dieta."
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[Note: It sometimes feels like half the Shipibos claim to descend from meraya ancestors. Some Peruvian curanderos claim to be bancos themselves. In my conversations with elders across different traditions, bancos/merayas no longer exist, so I would suggest a healthy dose of skepticism if you come across such claims. Of course, it depends on how you define these titles, and whether you believe they ever truly existed.]
