An attempt at understanding Miskito cosmovision and it's relation to traditional healing and medicine. All errors or misinterpretations are mine alone.

1. MISKITO:
COSMOVISION, AND
MEDICINE
STEPS TOWARDS UNDERSTANDING.
NOVEMBER 2016
PAIL TREADWELL

2. A PRELIMINARY NOTE
• The following slides are a summary of information gathered from different source material. At times the
materials conflicted with each other, or similar concepts were explained in divergent ways. I have
attempted to use my best judgement and limited knowledge to make a fair synthesis. Any errors are my
own.

3. COSMOVISION?
• Worldview, if you prefer. Cosmovision is a term
often used in in relation to Mesoamerican
indigenous cultures.
• A cosmovision is a view of the world, especially
the view of time and space and its ritualized
representation and enactment. 1
• In Miskito culture the cosmovision is enacted, in
part, in traditional healing and medicines.

4. THE RELIGIOUS STRUCTURE
OF MISKITO BELIEF
• 4 great spirits:
• Wan Aisa
• Dama Alwani – Grandfather Thunder
• Kuka – Grandmother
• Yapti Misri – Great Mother Scorpion
• Man was created by Wan Aisa with his partner
Tasba Misri (Mother Earth), from the sacred
mountains.
• The lasa (spirits) safeguard the life of the Miskito
people, maintaining harmony between Wan
Aisa, Tasba Misri and Laikira and Muihni Aslika
Laka.
• The lasa are also responsible for all the evil that
happens in the world of humans.

5. THE DAWANKA
• The Dawanka are the lasa that control certain
elements or components in nature.
• The primary dawanka are:
Dawanka Element
Liwa Mairin Water
Unta Dukia Forest
Prahaku Air, wind
Uhra Marshes /swamps
Tara Sisin Ceiba (tree)
Swinta Animal of the forest

6. APALKA
• All of these spiritual beings inhabit a place named Apalka, which is similar to paradise or eden. It is lush
and verdant.
• Apalka is said to be located at the mouth of the Rio Coco on the shore of a lagoon.
• None can view Apalka, unless you have a pure heart and the spirits permit it

7. HUMANS IN THE WORLD
• When a persons time comes to return to Tasba Misri they can go to either:
• Ubakta – A place of torment beneath the earth.
• Yamni Tasba Kum (Good land) – For those who have lived life with a clean heart
• Corporal body – wina tara
• Astral body – lilka
• Supernatural body - Isigni

8. BETWEEN SPIRIT WORLD AND EARTH
• Two roles/persons have relationships to health:
• Ukuly or Pasa Yapti (Prophet)
• Literally, Maker of weather and wind
• Struck by lightning , indicating a relationship to Prahaku
• Highest ranked medical/spiritual healer
• Sukia (Cuarendero or Healer)
• Chosen by spirits
• Trained, during trances and other world journeys, by spirits

9. OTHER HEALERS IN MISKITO COMMUNITIES
• Herbalists– sika uplika
• Snakebite doctors
• Midwives
• Dreams play a fundamental role in revealing cures, illnesses, etc for all healers including Sukias and
Ukuly

10. DISEASE
• Diseases are caused by lasas (spirits) when a person does not follow natural laws of health (also when
nature is abused or overused)
• Example: Killing too many deer evokes Swinta, who will steal your lilka (spirit)
• During illness the lilka is weakened or taken away. If the lilka is taken away by a spirit and not returned
the person may die.
• A sukia or cuarandero is able to see a persons lilka and determine if it has been affected or taken by a
lasa.

11. SWINTA
• He lives in the plains especially in areas where
palm trees, is considered the owner of the deer.
• Can materialize and carry the victim away, and is
only visible to that victim.
• People who return from encounters with Swinta
have lost their reason – especially hunters who
are punished for having killed too many animals.

12. LIWA MAIRIN
• Owner of rivers, streams, lakes and
seas. There are four types: Liwa Siksa, Bulni
Liwa, Liwa and Liwa Pihni Sukrira. These are
embodied in male and female form with
resemblance to a person, usually described as
a being half man and half woman or
fish. (Fagoth Ana R. et al 1998)
• Liwa mainly affects women, causing
imbalances in health mainly the female
reproductive system causing vaginal
discharge, bleeding, pain in the lower
abdomen and sometimes abortions and
premature births. This occurs when there is
contact between the spiritual entity and
person. It makes permanent contact with the
person through dreams. (Fagoth Ana R. et al
1998). Liwa mairin from :
http://rossanalacayo.weebly.com/yo-soy-de-donde-
hay-un-rio.html

13. ISINGNI
• The Isingni is the supernatural body. It often returns and causes sickness among the living.
• Symptoms of isingni sickness are very similar to low grade tuberculosis. This is problematic when it
delays prompt treatment for tuberculosis. In general (in rural communities) isigni sickness will be
treated first.
• Isingni sakaia was a traditional ceremony conducted by the sukia to take the isingni from its place of
death to the cemetery.

14. GRISI SIKNIS– PAUKA PRUKA
• Grisi siknis is a contagious, culture bound syndrome predominantly affecting young women
• Grisi siknis is typically characterized by longer periods of anxiety, nausea, dizziness, irrational anger and
fear, interlaced with short periods of rapid frenzy, in which the victim "lose[s] consciousness, believe[s]
that devils beat them and have sexual relations with them" and runs away.[1]
• According to traditional doctors this health problem is caused by people who practice witchcraft or
spells.
• The traditional belief is that grisi siknis is the result of evil spirits or black sorcerers.[1] While Western
medicine typically has no effect on those afflicted with the disease, the remedies of Miskito herbalists
or witch doctors are often successful in curing grisi siknis.[1]

15. YUMUH
• It is believed to be caused by the spirit of an animal possessing the body. Yumuh causes severe stomach
pains, sporadic diarrhea and a small mass is formed in the stomach.
• There are several types of yumuh including:
• alligator,
• rabbit,
• snake,
• spotted jaguar
• and others .
• The cure will vary depending upon the type of yumuh but includes a request to the animal spirit to
leave the patients

16. HERBAL KNOWLEDGE
• 310 species of medicinal plants used for medicinal purposes have been documented. (Coe & Anderson
1997)
• Plants are used to treat more than 50 ailments.
• Traditional knowledge, plant lore, is being lost due to a number of factors.

17. BRUM TAHPLIRA : BITTER
BROOM WEED : SCOPARIA
DULCIS
A valuable, non-poisonous, internal and
external remedy for snake bite, other
bites and stings, boils, small-pox, enteritis,
coughs, pains in the womb, rheumatism.

18. KUNTRIBO : DUTCHMAN’S
PIPE : ARISTOLOCHIA
TRILOBATA
Smelling like soursop leaves, very
important remedy for snake bite,
smallpox, malaria, and dysentery.
Dose: three leaves

19. RISKUPATA : BLACK SAGE :
CORDIA CURASSAVICA
For respiratory problems-plant
used to steam patient in vapor;
For snakebite-leaves used as a
poultice on the wound and also
made into a tea

20. YU TANGNI : COMMON
WIREWEED : SIDA ACUTA
used during difficult deliveries-
root crushed and boiled as a tea
to hasten birth. Small, creeping
ground cover with small yellow
flowers that open only around
noon.

21. KIA SAURA : CILANTRO :
ERYNGIUM FOETIDUM
Used for grisi siknis,-leaves are
crushed and rubbed on the face
to revive the victim; "the strong
smell is what makes it work";.
also used for epileptic seizures.

22. THINGS I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT
• Yapti Misri – mother scorpion. (Goddess of the realm of the dead? Considered to be the mother of all
miskitos and is described as having innumerable breasts. Heath 1950)
• Wan lilka pukni takisa – our soul becomes hazy (Dennis 2010)
• The boat pulled by toads (butku nani) – which may or may not be a thing?
• Relation to Laman Laka, buen vivir - humans and earth in balance, etc…

23. SOME MISKITO WORDS AND TERMS
• Kupia karna – a hard heart
• Kupia kumi – a single heart – peace, harmony and consensus among people
• Pana pana laka – reciprocity
• Wita – chief political authority in Miskito village
• Yabakaia – a magical incantation done in a whispered voice over an object or a sick person. An
individuals particular form of doing yabakaia is secret personal property.
• From Dennis 2010

24. REFERENCES
• Coe, F. G., & Anderson, G. J. (1997). Ethnobotany of the Miskitu of eastern Nicaragua. Journal of
Ethnobiology, 17, 171-214.
• Dennis, P. A. (1988). Herbal medicine among the Miskito of Eastern Nicaragua. Economic Botany, 42(1),
16-28.
• Dennis, P. A. (2010). The Miskitu People of Awastara. University of Texas Press.
• Heath, G. R. (1950). Miskito glossary, with ethnographic commentary. International Journal of American
Linguistics, 16(1), 20-34.
• Lucero, M. (2007) El Mundo Mitico De Los Miskitu in Cosmovisiones de la América Indígena
• URACCAN | Intercultural Health: http://observatorio.uraccan.edu.ni/node/5
• URACCAN | Sociocultural diseases http://observatorio.uraccan.edu.ni/enfermedades-de-origen-
sociocultural

25. CONTACT
• Paul Treadwell
• pt006@tc3.edu