To meet Wikipedia's quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. See rationale on the talk page, or replace this tag with a more specific message. Editing help is available. (Tagged January 2006)
Cohoba is an old Spanish transliteration (then h was not mute as in modern Spanish, today j is used for the h sound) for ceremony in which psychedelic ground seed of the cojóbana tree; was smoked in twin nasal Y-shaped pipes also called Cohoba [1]. The cojóbana tree is believed by some to be Yopo, Anadenathera peregrina [2] although perhaps it may have been a generalized term for psychotropics including various quite toxic Datura and related genera (Solanacea). The corresponding ceremony using cohoba-laced tobacco is transliterated as cojibá (the terminal accented á indicates action in Taíno). This corresponds culturally to the practice of drug induced “astral traveling” so common to the Americas and else where. Binomial name Anadenanthera peregrina Yopo, Anadenanthera peregrina, (also known as Cohoba, Nopo, Ñopo), is a native South American tree as well as an entheogen used in healing and rituals. ...
The most important sacred substance for the Taíno was cohoba, a psychoactive powder ground from the seeds of trees native to South America and the Caribbean.
The effects of cohoba make the user see the world in an inverted way: people, animals, and objects appear upside down; movements and gestures are reversed; and perceptions are marked by constantly shifting shapes and kaleidoscopic colors.
Ceramic figures on duhos illustrate stages of the cohoba ritual, from the initial use of the spatula to the aftermath of stupor, fatigue, and spiritual exhaustion.
Most important, it has become clear that the Taíno worldview was distinctly pre-Columbian in its conception of the universe and its profound spirituality.
At the beginning of time, these spirits blanketed the cosmos with invisible layers of geometric designs - symmetrical motifs that covered the faces and bodies of people, animals, communities, the earth, the heavens, and the sea.
Illness, bad crops, and natural disasters such as hurricanes were caused by destructive spirits that ripped holes in the geometric fabric of the world.
Feeds |
Contact