Nixi pae and its transcendental connection: An ethnographic essay on ayahuasca rituals in a Huni Kuin community in Brazil

The Huni Kuin people of the Amazon rainforest use ayahuasca as a bridge between different realms of existence. Based on personal participation in a ceremony, this paper examines ayahuasca rituals in a Huni Kuin community in Acre, Brazil, focusing on healing and spiritual connection within Huni Kuin cosmology. The authors, writing from different but connected perspectives, use a collaborative decolonial approach that centers Huni Kuin ways of knowing, being, and healing.

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Abstract

The Huni Kuin people, inhabiting the Amazon rainforest in Brazil and Peru, have mastered the use of ayahuasca, which serves as a conduit bridging different realms of existence. Grounded in an immersive personal experience of participating in an ayahuasca ceremony, this paper explores ayahuasca rituals in a Huni Kuin community in the Brazilian state of Acre, focusing on their healing purposes and role in fostering intimate connections with spirituality, as situated within Huni Kuin cosmology. Writing from distinct yet interconnected positionalities, we adopt a collaborative decolonial approach that centres Huni Kuin ways of knowing, being, and healing.