Case file · Sacred site
Ayvu Rapyta, the sacred words of the Mbyá
In 1959 the ethnographer León Cadogan published 'Ayvu Rapyta', the sacred chants of the Mbyá Guaraní of Guairá, Paraguay, which describe how the creator Ñamandu unfolded himself and the 'foundation of human speech'.
1959 CE · -25.75, -56.45 · status: account
The account
Cadogan, accepted into Mbyá religious life, recorded the texts in Guaraní with translation. The work is considered one of the great sacred literatures of the Americas and a key source on the Guaraní ideas of the soul as 'word' and of the 'land without evil'.
The sceptical view
A documented ethnographic text; its presentation reflects Cadogan's own selection and translation.