Initiation Plants and Their Role in Treatment in the Vaupes Region, South America

Abstract

In this article, we focus on plants used during initiation rites in Colombia. The aim of this paper is to describe the initiation plants of Cubeo and Curripaco people living in the Vaupés region.and explain how their application changed to be therapeutical only with the loss of rich cultural and ritual uses because the rites were abandoned by ethnic groups, who originally performed them. There are described plants of Cubeo and Curripaco people living in the Vaupés region. These ethnic groups are recognized to have an extensive knowledge on medicinal plants, venoms and aphrodisiacs. Finally, we declare that conservation tools and cross cultural research projects are needed to be established to preserve initiation rites for future generations, because they are part of world cultural heritage.

Keywords

• initiation plants
• treatment
• Colombia
• Vaupés