My Second Church Service

Upon arriving to the church, everything was more familiar and less strange. Although, the whole fire cracker thing is a bit disconcerting. Every so often, I’m sure demarcated by a certain hymn, fire works explode right next to the church, which causes Grace to run frantically, face first into my crotch, screaming in fright. What does shooting off fireworks signify? They are the kind that have no color, they just pop loudly, and no one is there is watch, they are all singing in the church. I’m leaping at an interpretation here, but I think they set off the fireworks as a way of connecting the earthly plane to the astral or heavens. I will have to ask one of the ladies at the church. Given my limited vocabulary, this may take some time.

Many things made this church service different for me, first, there were only about 100 people at this hinario (a book of hymns that are sung during the service). Second, given that there were less people, it was easy to move around from the back area to the front where the hinario was being sung. This freed up a lot of room for Gracie to run around. Third, I felt more comfortable because the women had seen them at the anniversary hinario and gave me friendly smiles. The kids also, made it nice when they ran up to Grace and patted her on her back. They would speak to her and she would look at them and then, surprised me by saying, “no folo Portugese”. She will be speaking before me, I’m sure.

From what I understand there are several different books of hymns. These hymns were received by a person while in miracao, or in the vision of huasca. The hymns are about different topics and Matt told me that the book sung at this hinario have to do with being a truthful person and dealing with others who lie in our lives. A hinario, or the singing of a book of hymns, takes roughly 6 or 7 hours depending on the number of hymns.

During this service, I really took note to see if I could tell if people were under the influence. Many, well most, had a glassy look to their eyes and their pupils were large. One kid, bent down to tie his shoe and he stumbled to the side, cracking up. But, other than the normal physiological displays of the sacrament, everyone seemed pretty normal and very happy. I use the word sacrament here because it feels wrong to me to use the word “drug”. It feels inappropriate after spending time with the members. They view the tea as a tool to help them be in touch with God. A tool to help them reach the astral plane. So its seems derogatory to refer to their sacrament as a drug.

I watched as the women blessed themselves with the sign of the cross before drinking down Ayahuasca and then moving back to the main center to fall in line and start singing the hymns. Many of the women dance like swaying trees, gliding back and forth, while the men stomp vigorously, making large noises with their homemade maracas. The maracas chime in beat with the guitars and the voices singing. All of the maracas are homemade and vary size and materials. There were little tomato cans with wooden handles used by the kids, or slightly larger cans for the women. Some men used pint paint cans and large ball bearings that made a colossal sound.

I made a friend who speaks pretty good English. She has agreed to help me gather birth stories in exchange for English lessons. I’m thrilled. Apparently it is very common for women to use their sacrament to help ease the stress of childbirth…