I had nervous butterflies swarming in my belly anticipating the Ayahuasca ceremony that lay in front of me. As we zigzagged through the traffic going out to the church, I tried to calm my stomach by gazing out the backseat window at the beautiful sunset to the west. Its brilliant orange and red hues, subsequent of the fires that rage in this area, spread across the skyline leaving the jungle land golden. They call this season, “the burning season”, the time when people on the outskirts of the city burn the boarders of their land to show that they are using the property. Otherwise, squatters can come and claim the land as being abandoned.
We arrived at the church for the 50th wedding anniversary celebration of the Mestre and Dona Teresa. She, a young bride(19 years old), married the Mestre (60 years old) of the church in 1956. He passed away in 1972 and she took over as head of the church. As we bumped along the pothole stricken road, members of the church were walking along the highway to the church gates. I suspect that many members are of low income and do not own or have access to a vehicle. The congregation seems very diverse in its make up. I met a federal judge, a senator, a business man running for office, and the house servant that works for Cosmo at his house. The socio-economic breakdown will be interesting to see once Matthew gathers this information.
Members were dressed in their traditional uniforms, the women wore a white long skirt topped with a kelly-green short skirt, a white long-sleeve shirt, with a kelly-green sash stretching across their body from left shoulder down to the right hip. Their hair is worn down, so that energy can flow freely through it, and a white sequined crown is worn. The men were dressed in all white as well; long-sleeve shirts, and jackets, pants and white shoes. Each member is adorned with a gold star-shaped pin when he or she becomes fardado/a, confirmed in their belief.
As we walked into the church structure, which was palapa style, I was instructed to go with the children to the left, while Matthew was told to go to the right. The men are not allowed over on the left side of the church, this area is designated women and children only. This caused some anxiety because I didn’t understand anything the women were telling me. I just followed and was lead to the back room. The room was another large palapa style structure with a thatched roof surrounded with a three foot high wall. The room was filled with hammocks, we found an open space for our hammock to fit. When I say open, I mean a two-foot space on the beam between two hammocks. There were over a hundred hammocks hanging, some had little bundles, babies sleeping, swaying in the breeze. We secured our and stowed our bags of food and water against the wall. I felt as through I couldn’t leave the back area because of the kids. However, as time progressed I did wander a bit with Grace on my shoulders as Maddie slept in the hammock.
Once the ceremony started all the women and men lined up on their designated sides, and each drank a quantity of Ayahuasca and returned to their place in the main room. Soon I could hear guitar music, singing and maracas shaking in rhythm. Matthew told me that they would sing the entire hymnal of Mestre’s hymns, which consisted of over hundred hymns. There would be a break at 9:30 PM, at this time, half the hymnal would be complete.
Fardada women with their children milled in and out of the backroom, and kids of various ages ran back and forth between the main festivities and the hammock room. Most of the kids swarmed Grace because she was the only blonde hair child. We were quite the spectacle because we were foreigners. Many children wanted to practice their English, but most of the women stayed clear of us.
Grace and I danced to the music and watched as large insects flew in and out of the room. While watching a large beetle fly around, I notice what appeared to be large hairy spider legs curled around one of the top roof beams. I thought, “that looks like tarantula legs”. Could it be?? I walked slowly around to get a better view, and sure enough, a huge tarantula, the size of my hand, was perched over the room, watching intensely. Normally, I would have been terrified but, since I watched a Jeff Corwin Adventure show where he assured me that tarantulas were not dangerous to humans, I looked in amazement. I showed Grace and she wanted to climb up to get a better look, she is definitely her fathers’ daughter.
A couple of hours into the ceremony Grace wanted to go and find Matthew. So, I perched her on my shoulders and we went into the main room. There we saw, the women and children standing in straight lines forming an L wrapped around the main alter and the men on their designated side also forming an L, together creating a human square around the center alter where Dona Teresa sat. They were dancing back and fourth, two side steps to the right and then two back to the left. Everyone, even the children, singing and dancing and shaking their maracas. The sound was deafening and the feel was energetic. Matthew was easy to see, since he stood a good foot over everyone in the room. He was dancing and singing on the outskirts of the main square. All those people who came that are not fardado must not join the main square. Grace wanted to go to him, but I promised her we would see him soon at the break.
The break finally came, marking its arrival with a firework display that scared Grace and Maddie half-to-death. We found Matthew and told him we wanted to leave, that trying to sleep in a hammock was out of the question. He agreed and we found Dona Teresa to say goodbye and congratulate her. I was surprised that everyone seemed pretty normal, despite the fact they were all miracao, or in the vision of Ayahuasca. So, my fear of being surrounded by a bunch of people all tripping out, was dispelled. The people of this religion believe that Ayahuasca is a sacred tea that heals their soul. I have much to learn from these people...
