Yopo

The Sikuani, also called Guahibo, live on the savannas of the Orinoco Llanos in eastern Colombia and western Venezuela. Their faith is named for yopo, the ground seeds of the yopo tree, which a shaman, the dopatubinü, inhales to communicate with Tsamani, the giver of traditional medicine.

The Sikuani say that the goods enjoyed by humanity came from four brothers who climbed to the sky and can be seen as the Pleiades. Life and all the edible plants sprang from a great tree, Kaliawirinai, felled by Kutsikutsi with the help of the squirrels. Every dead Sikuani was honored with a second funeral, the itomo.