Poetry
Ayvu Rapyta
Not translated into English
Anonymous · 1959
Synopsis
In the midst of the primordial darkness, before the earth exists, Ñamandu, the First Father, draws from his own wisdom the foundation of human speech, then the origin of love of one's neighbour and that of a sacred hymn. He then brings forth divinities who will share his condition and will be the true fathers of the word-souls, the divine part that each human being receives. A first earth comes, which the Flood will destroy, then a new earth; precepts, counsels and songs about daily life follow.
Context
León Cadogan, born in Asunción in 1899 to Australian parents who had come for the colony of Nueva Australia, came to know the Mbyá in the early twenties, while working on the yerba mate harvest in the forests of Caaguazú, and then spent time with them in Villarrica. After years of dealings with them, he obtained the release of a Mbyá held in the prison of Villarrica; in return, he was judged worthy of hearing the “first beautiful words”, kept secret until then, and was regarded as one of their own. He transcribed the texts in Mbyá and translated them into Spanish, with notes; three instalments appeared in 1953 and 1954 in a journal of the University of São Paulo, before the volume of 1959.
Who it is for
Sacred texts in a ritual language whose vocabulary differs from everyday usage; best read in the bilingual edition, with the notes and the preface in which Cadogan tells how he received them.
Prizes and reception
Regarded as the most important corpus of Guaraní oral texts; it nourished the work of Pierre Clastres, whose translations have been debated.
Sources for this page 2
The pages consulted to check this page.