WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: How Shrunken Heads Work 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:03.600 M Hey everybody, it's me Josh, and for this week's 0:00:03.720 --> 0:00:07.160 s Y s K Select, I've chosen Shrunken Heads, one 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:09.840 of the all time great Stuff you Should Know episodes. 0:00:10.160 --> 0:00:13.200 It originally ran in June of two thousand eleven. And 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:15.920 although it will teach you step by step how to 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:19.440 shrink a human head, you should not try this at home. 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:27.960 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from house Stuff Works 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:36.520 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:39.479 Clark with me as always as Charles W. Chuck Bryant, 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:44.160 and that makes this stuff you should Know the podcast indeed, 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:48.440 not the radio show though, no no, no, this not yet. 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:51.279 It probably will be eventually this one. Yeah, I bet 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:53.519 you they'll speed this one through. Man. You know it's crazy, 0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:58.080 is we could say right now, hello w FM you listeners, 0:00:58.800 --> 0:01:02.040 so that when this is read purposed into our radio 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:05.880 show on WFMU, it'll blow their minds. What you're speaking 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:08.000 of is we're on WFMU in New York. If you 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:10.080 live in the New York, New Jersey area, not on 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:12.839 one point one, you can hear us Fridays from seven 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:14.760 to eight pm. Now that's not at all what I 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:17.520 was speaking of or Hudson Valley at ninety point one. 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:21.319 You got you got the call signs all over the place, 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:24.640 don't you two stations from tattooed on your your tristep 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:27.319 I might do that. Yeah, they're gonna rush this one through. 0:01:27.319 --> 0:01:29.640 They're gonna see I'm not even gonna say the topic, 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:32.440 even though people already know because they clicked on it. 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:33.880 But they're gonna see that and go, who we need 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:36.400 to get this on the air. Um, chuck. You remember 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:39.880 we also did one on cannibalism before. Yeah, and this 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:44.840 is related well in the I relate to two in 0:01:44.880 --> 0:01:49.040 the introduction of this article on trunking heads. Right, So, um, 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:54.160 there's you know, those two things really probably are equated 0:01:54.240 --> 0:02:01.880 with pre civilized barbarism savagery, um, more than any thing else. Right, agreed, 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:03.640 And this is just as gruesome, we should point out. 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:08.160 That's our little warning. But um, with cannibalism, there's a 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:12.040 lot of dispute over exactly how and when it was practiced. 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:14.160 Like we do know there is evidence that people have 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:17.160 eaten other people in the past, but there we're starting 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:18.960 to think that it was never in any kind of 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:23.080 ritual form where basically it was like we're enduring some 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:26.440 horrible climate change in famine, and so we're going to 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:29.720 figure out how to justify this through like warring with 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:34.160 neighbors and then feeding ourselves with their dead bodies for nutrition. 0:02:34.520 --> 0:02:37.280 But the jury still out as to whether or not 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:41.079 cannibalism was ever practiced in any real you know, mass 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:45.000 formed by any culture. That's not the case with head shrinking. 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:51.480 Head shrinking is this weird little um cultural trait. I 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:55.240 guess that um is specific to one culture as far 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:57.920 as we know. And we know that culture because we 0:02:57.919 --> 0:02:59.760 could go down to Ecuador right now and meet some 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:02.440 of them. Yeah, the Shore culture. Yeah, I got a 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:05.560 few tribes that did it, but they're they're the main daddies, 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:08.760 So a few. What you're talking about is there's evidence 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:11.840 that other tribes did practice it in pre or para 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:15.440 Colombian contact. Yeah, the and the evidence is like there's 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:19.560 it's shown in tapestries um or that tribes art or something. 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:22.480 There's only one tribe that's documented as having done it, 0:03:22.520 --> 0:03:24.800 and that's the Shore and only one that you know 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:27.480 did it really really well. Yeah, they're pretty good at it. 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:29.840 And if you if you're going if you're going to 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:32.720 look up Shore and you run across Javarro shoe are 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:35.080 it's the same people as sho are members of the 0:03:35.160 --> 0:03:39.960 Javarro language group. Yeah, and that's apparently that's a kind 0:03:39.960 --> 0:03:42.320 of a slam that the word you are. It's like 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:46.080 a corruption of that what shu are those people? Yeah, 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:48.680 it was I think it meant like uncivilized or something 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:54.280 and like like Eskimo, yeah maybe or eaters remember yeah yeah, uh. 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:56.800 And the Nazis may have done it too, may have 0:03:56.880 --> 0:03:59.960 named the shore, may have shrunken heads. Oh really Yeah, 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:05.520 they found some at bucking Wald and even presented that 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:08.720 at the Nuremberg trials as like, hey, look what these 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:11.160 guys did. They did all sorts of mess up stuff. 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:15.080 There's a bar of soap in Canada that's supposedly made 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:19.839 from um, the fat of concentration camp victims. I should 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:22.800 say it's alleged, though they never pinpointed and said the 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:27.200 shrunken head came from Jews from bucking Wald. But you know, well, 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:32.320 that's what I'm saying, Like, there's very few incredibly strange, 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:37.200 exotic things that IT culture has done that we can say, yes, definitively, 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:40.280 these people did do this. There's no it hasn't been 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:42.640 blown up by Hollywood or anything like that. This is 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:45.520 legitimate and shrunken heads are are that kind of thing. 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:48.359 And the reason why the shoe Are We're able to 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:52.000 shrink heads and get really good at it over the 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:55.839 years was because even after contact with Europeans like the 0:04:55.880 --> 0:04:59.480 Spanish coming into South America, um, the shoe Are we're 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:02.440 one of the very few groups that managed to repel 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:06.640 any kind of Spanish colonialism. Like they lived under Spanish 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:08.919 rule for I think like thirty or thirty three years 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:13.400 and then frankly said, we're tired of being taxed for 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:18.360 our gold, so we're just gonna kill a lot of you. Yeah, 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:20.400 and it worked. Yeah, there was a revolt, right, Yeah, 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:23.360 they killed like twenty five thousand people. And then uh, Spain, 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:27.960 was it just Spain, I guess said we're just gonna 0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:29.920 get out of here. Yeah, you guys are good exactly. 0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:33.240 And that's really saying something considering the amount of gold 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:36.760 or that the shoe Rs like land sad On, right, Yeah, 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:38.840 and you know that Spaniards loved their gold. So so 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:40.840 the Spaniards were like, Okay, we know you're in there, 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:42.600 and we're gonna leave you alone. And you go do 0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:44.600 whatever you want to do, and the Shoe are just 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:48.400 continued to practice some head hunting and head shrinking. Head 0:05:48.440 --> 0:05:53.000 hunting practiced all over the world, right yeah, head shrinking 0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:57.560 shoe are only as far as the meetings with the Spaniards. 0:05:57.640 --> 0:05:59.960 They probably at virtually no no, And then they were like, 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:02.800 it's not that much gold, really, I mean you can 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:06.359 get gold elsewhere exactly. Yeah, well we'll we'll hold the 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:12.000 Inca's hostage. I'm reading again right now. Really, it's a 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:14.359 great book. I was hoping to read that before you 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:17.800 read it again. Sorry, I never picked it up though. 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:19.800 That's the first step. I even went and bought a 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:22.880 book like special for this book. Oh yeah, one of 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:27.440 those little clip on deals, champ So Chuck, why would 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:30.920 anybody shrink ahead? I mean obviously they're just big dumb 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:33.680 savages who like to shrink heads, right, I mean, there 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:38.200 can't be there can't possibly be any explanation behind that. 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:40.720 Not true, Josh, because as you point out, because you 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:45.200 wrote this awesome article, Uh so you know the answer. 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:49.440 But that's just our stick I was acting. Uh, they 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:54.840 are firmly rooted in um and and magic and spiritualism 0:06:54.839 --> 0:06:58.840 in war and from an early age, little boys are 0:06:58.880 --> 0:07:04.200 taught like retrobue shan, violent retribution is a really good thing, 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:06.400 and it's a part of our culture. Yeah. And if 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:10.640 you don't carry out violent retribution properly, your dead uncle 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:14.160 or your dead grandfather or whatever, your dead ancestors going 0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:17.560 to come back and bring, you know, horrible pestilence and 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:20.200 famine on you. You're You're in trouble. So they do 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:22.040 do it for a reason. They do it to uh, 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:24.760 I guess ward off those spirits, right, or to or 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:30.240 to finalize the whole thing. Yeah, well, so it's part 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:33.040 of this larger process. There is part of this bigger belief, 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:36.720 which is if you die, if we're related and you 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:40.200 die of some unseen like disease. Right, let's say you 0:07:40.240 --> 0:07:44.360 die of cancer, it's not cancer, it's somebody else in 0:07:44.400 --> 0:07:48.920 another household, another shoe, our household bewitched you and using 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:53.560 magic kills you remotely. So since there's no priestly class 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:57.560 amongst shoe are culture, like any anybody can consult with 0:07:57.600 --> 0:08:01.080 the spirits under the right circumstances. The right circumstances being 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:05.920 you take hallucinogenic drugs. I would take a hallucinogenic drug, 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:10.480 probably the tema, right, Yeah, it's from a jungle vine evidently, Yes, 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:12.880 a jungle vine that gets you lit. Yeah, And I 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:14.960 just this I want to point out. I love that 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:19.640 from a jungle vine, like hallucinogenic mushrooms. It's like you 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:23.120 name it. Some human has found a way to get 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:25.200 every bit out of every single thing on the earth 0:08:25.280 --> 0:08:27.760 if it can mess you up. Don't forget toads to 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:30.720 toads yet, looking toads, we don't recommend that though, by 0:08:30.720 --> 0:08:34.040 the way, although I was listening to an old, old, 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:37.920 old episode and you talked about your hallucinogenic toad collection 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:41.760 in college, just like to collect toads because it was funny, 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:45.280 remember that. So, um, I I suspect that you died 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:47.960 because you were bewitched. And now I've taken the tema 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:50.720 and I'm on a vision quest and I'm consulting with 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:53.120 your spirit maybe some other spirits to find out who 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:56.160 killed you. And I'm gonna come down and be like, oh, 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:59.320 it was George down the river, right, So now I 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:03.839 have a blood vendetta against George or hey, thank you, 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:07.320 and um, I'm going to assemble other households in the 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:11.800 area into a confederation to go take your head George, 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:15.560 to make it right. Hey, yeah, because if I don't, 0:09:15.800 --> 0:09:18.439 then you my dead relative are are going to haunt 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:21.439 me and bad things are going to happen. And plus 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:23.760 it's just a matter of like that's what our culture 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:26.440 calls for. And you said, they'll even tell the other 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:29.360 tribe sometimes like we're coming for you. Yeah, they'll they'll 0:09:29.480 --> 0:09:31.600 learn the other householder plans because this isn't like a 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:34.800 quick thing. It's very well planned, um, and there's a 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:37.840 lot of people involved, and it's very violent and bloody 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:40.680 when it finally does happen. But yeah, they'll say we're 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:45.040 coming after you. You're in big, big trouble, and there 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:48.719 may be retribution, but more likely than not, it's going 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:51.199 to be like, well, you probably shouldn't have killed his uncle, 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:53.880 Oh really, because that was gonna be My question, isn't 0:09:53.920 --> 0:09:56.800 this just an endless loop of head shrinking and cut 0:09:56.920 --> 0:09:59.599 or cutting the shrinking. Well, it is like it's supported 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:03.080 by death, but it's generally non violent death that they 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:09.199 associate with magic or bewitchment, which really requires this specific 0:10:09.200 --> 0:10:13.400 type of retribution. Okay, okay, gotcha, So revenge will take place. 0:10:14.520 --> 0:10:18.120 I see. You also pointed out that maybe the whole 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:21.080 household is slaughtered, maybe they'll take the women as wives, 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:24.280 and we're not really sure, like, uh, they used to 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:26.920 take the wives. Uh. Further back is at the deal, 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:32.040 Well that some old account said that these guys are polygamous, 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:35.520 which they are. You are are polygamous. Um, so if 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:37.160 they do carry out one of these raids, they're going 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:39.520 to take the women as their wives. But then a 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:42.080 more recent one from I think the seventies or eighties 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:45.760 or something later in the twentieth century said, no, they 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:48.800 kill everybody they find in this household. They just don't 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:51.960 take little kids heads. But they'll kill a little kids. Yeah, 0:10:52.000 --> 0:10:53.800 but they don't take the head. I like that even 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:56.400 they had, hey, a line they would draw. Not much 0:10:56.400 --> 0:10:59.199 shrinking to be done. They like to sh really shrink. 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:00.959 I wonder if that has something to do with it. 0:11:01.000 --> 0:11:03.000 But a little never mind, I'm not gonna go there. 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:07.000 So check there's a specific way that that all this 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:09.640 is gonna go down, right, very specific, because you are 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:12.440 don't live near one another. They live over a pretty 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:16.319 substantial area of the Amazon basin. Yeah, there's no high 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:21.080 rise full of shoa right, So um, it will take 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:23.360 days to get to this place, and when they finally 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:27.240 get there, they basically alert their target that they're here 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:30.000 by If they have guns, they'll shoot into the air, 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:32.800 they'll shoot at the house or whatever. Basically they're like, 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:36.920 come on out, punk, we're looking for Jorge. Yeah, because 0:11:36.920 --> 0:11:39.920 he killed my uncle. I imagine two. I'm making this up, 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:42.480 but it seems like if they sent out Jorge, they 0:11:42.559 --> 0:11:45.480 might just be like, Okay, we'll just take Jorge. Um. 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:47.680 That could be the case. Or do they just exact 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:50.920 revenge over the whole family no matter what? You know? 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:55.360 I would imagine that that probably depends on the person, Okay, 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:59.280 on the amount of rage and in mourning and grieving, 0:11:59.440 --> 0:12:02.360 you know, in drugs that they're taking, right yeah, so 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:05.120 um there. So, even if they do have guns, you 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:07.600 use a spear if you're going to take someone's head 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:10.719 to shrink it and turn it into we haven't even 0:12:10.760 --> 0:12:14.959 said yet. Um what's called it? Tansa or sansa? Yeah? Right, 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:20.040 t s A and t s a yes. Um. You 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:22.240 kill them with the spear by driving the spear through 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:26.559 their neck their throat. That's that, and then you start 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:29.160 this process of shrinking their head by cutting their head off, 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:32.440 and you even do that in a specific way to right, Um, 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:37.160 you cut chuck into a V. Right, you do between 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:40.600 the clavicles above the clavicles in a V shape between 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:43.080 resulting in the point of the V. I guess between 0:12:43.120 --> 0:12:46.040 the nipples. Yeah, so there's like a pointed flap hanging 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:51.560 down from the neck like a skin ascot. Right, we 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:53.559 should probably say that this is where it starts to 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:56.920 get graphic in this podcast, because we're going to describe. 0:12:57.200 --> 0:12:59.280 You will know how to shrink a head after we're done. 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:02.360 We're always like any seconds late with us. Also, if 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:06.920 you shrink ahead because of this, we no longer consider 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:09.560 you a member of the stuff. You should know nation 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:12.080 you've gone off the deep end. You're a murderer and 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:15.920 you should be punished severely for your crime. Okay, is 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:17.760 that a good disclaimer? Yeah? I hope we didn't have 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:19.560 to say that. But there may be one sick oh 0:13:19.600 --> 0:13:22.520 out there. You never know. So, like you said, you 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:24.960 cut it into V shape and then you set a 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:29.440 hair band potentially or a vine like a scrunchy Yeah okay, yeah, 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:32.160 because they often the men often wear their hair long 0:13:32.600 --> 0:13:35.720 and they'll have it back in a ponytail, and once 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:38.160 you have stabbed somebody cut their head off in this 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:41.160 methodical way, you need to get out of there because 0:13:41.160 --> 0:13:43.920 there may be reinforcements coming. So you loop it through 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:47.040 the throat and then out the mouth tied off, and 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:49.840 you've got a little pocketbook yep, and you tie it 0:13:49.840 --> 0:13:51.920 around your waist or throw it over your shoulder, and 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:54.520 you get the heck out of there, exactly because you 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:56.880 know that this is um there your you will be 0:13:56.960 --> 0:13:59.600 killed if you're found right, Yeah, I would imagine they 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:02.680 don't like get when you killed neighbors or whatever. But 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:05.240 um also, you need to get out of there because 0:14:05.320 --> 0:14:08.760 you you've just probably discarded your weapons. Once you use 0:14:09.040 --> 0:14:12.000 um a weapon to kill somebody in this ritual manner, 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:17.240 it's spoiled. Like everything from this first from the beginning 0:14:17.679 --> 0:14:19.600 stages of this raid all the way to the end 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:22.160 of it. The stuff that you're using is spoiled and 0:14:22.240 --> 0:14:24.320 has to just be left behind. So you're probably running 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:27.440 to get out of there and your your weaponless. And 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:29.640 I would agree with that that tactic anyway. I mean 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:32.760 lightens the load well now and like we say later, 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:34.440 there's like a clay pot and other things you use 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:38.040 like that is spoiled, you know, because it has a 0:14:38.040 --> 0:14:40.160 head on it. Yeah, it's just dirty, Like get it 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:42.560 out of there on you don't want to cook in it. 0:14:42.760 --> 0:14:46.440 Now we're getting to that though, So um wow, this 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:48.680 is a really methodical one, isn't it? Like step by 0:14:48.680 --> 0:14:50.840 step as is shrinking heads. And you know what's funny is, 0:14:50.880 --> 0:14:54.040 as I was reading this the whole time, I was like, yeah, 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:56.680 that's how I drink ahead, Like it all makes total 0:14:56.840 --> 0:15:01.160 perfect sense. And they've been doing it for centuries, not millennia, 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:04.360 so they really do have it down to step by step. Now. 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:06.440 Obviously it's easier for us to see it as step 0:15:06.440 --> 0:15:10.320 by step as outsiders. Sure there's tons of significance with 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:13.520 every single step and you know, a lot of symbology, 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:15.680 but for the most part, it is a very methodical 0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:18.680 way of you know, taking and shrinking ahead that this 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:22.120 year are practiced. That's right. So we left off with 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:24.760 getting the heck out of Dodge, and that is when 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:26.640 the process begins, because like you said, they live far 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:28.960 apart from each other, so they can't just wait till 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:30.680 they get back. It might be three days later and 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:33.960 you're gonna have a rotten head. So they started immediately 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:37.800 with an elder tribesman who's probably not doing the fighting, 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:41.080 but he he heads up the process. What's what we 0:15:41.080 --> 0:15:45.400 are they called he is called the kuraca. They started 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:47.960 on the waiting word for him. Well, he's probably the 0:15:48.000 --> 0:15:51.080 one who he's the head of the household or he's 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:55.080 like them in this confederation of households that was assembled. 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:59.680 He's probably like the most respected or war worn warrior 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:01.640 shrunk ahead or two in another word. Yeah, he knows 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:03.960 what he's doing, and he's probably the one who took 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:07.400 the nattema and had the vision quest and got the answer. 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:10.640 But basically he is the party planner for this whole thing, 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:14.200 and he's the one imbued with the most um spiritual 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:16.440 significance throughout. So he's the one who's going to shrink 0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:19.280 the head. But he doesn't. He he didn't necessarily go 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:21.920 on this raid. And if he didn't, then he met 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:26.640 this raiding party at a predesignated camp, one of many 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:29.440 along the way back home from the place where they 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:32.000 just killed the people at home. So he says Jorges 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:34.840 the man, go get him to a checkpoint, a exactly 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:38.520 camp fun and now they're meeting there. Okay, so that's 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:42.240 where we are. It is very methodical, uh, and it's important, 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:44.520 he said, to be attended to these steps because if 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:48.160 you do it wrong, it doesn't count. Right. Well, yeah, 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:51.960 you're not. You're part of this is paying homage to 0:16:52.160 --> 0:16:55.880 your dead ancestor or or appeasing your dead ancestor. And 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:57.360 if you if you don't do it right, then your 0:16:57.400 --> 0:16:59.280 dead ancestor is not a peas and you're in trouble. 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:04.119 It doesn't count. And part of that is um, like 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:09.560 if the sirocca the karaka right, um. When he starts 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:13.760 this process, he'll say, there's like incantations, and it's not 0:17:13.840 --> 0:17:15.800 just him, it's like everybody in the rating party is 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:18.240 very much paying attention to this and being a part 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:21.640 of it. So he'll be like, I'm, you know, pulling 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:25.399 the the throat from the neck, and the other people 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:27.359 say he's pulling the throat from the neck. And it 0:17:27.400 --> 0:17:29.840 goes down like that pretty much every step of the way. 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:31.600 There's nothing funny about that. It's the way you said it. 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:34.080 I think we also need to point out that the 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:37.440 warrior guys also have to do certain things like, um, 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:41.159 not eat certain food substained from sex. Um, don't. They 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:43.480 don't hunt alone. And this is this is during the 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:47.160 whole like year long process. Uh no, this is during 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:51.440 the drinking process, all right, because the spirit is held 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:53.919 at bay. Yeah and you said it. I mean this 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:56.840 is a yearlong process. Um. It doesn't take a year 0:17:56.920 --> 0:18:01.120 to shrink Ahead, but Ahead holds this man entical significance 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:04.639 for a year. And there's certain prescribed celebrations that have 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:10.360 to take place to fulfill this obligation to the dead ancestor. 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:13.800 It's a big deal. Yeah. Yeah, you don't just shrink 0:18:13.840 --> 0:18:17.920 heads willy nilly at least and um, chuck, I don't 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:19.320 know if we should say here or not. But the 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:25.440 head has three significances, right Yeah. First, it's physical proof 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:28.240 to the dead ancestor that you're carrying out this revenge 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:30.520 on his or her behalf. Yeah, so a trophy in 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:35.320 a way, but not like Europeans thought of it, right. Um. Secondly, 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:40.119 it has a spiritual significance where you are. It is 0:18:40.160 --> 0:18:43.000 the vessel in which the spirit of the person who's 0:18:43.040 --> 0:18:46.680 been killed, whose head it was, is trapped, so you're 0:18:46.880 --> 0:18:51.800 commanding that person now and then um. Thirdly, it increases 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:54.800 the social status of the of the warrior who who's 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:56.840 wearing it, because you wear that thing for like a 0:18:56.920 --> 0:19:48.639 year around your neck exactly. So let's tell him how 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:51.320 it's done. Let's step one. Well, first, if you want 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:54.400 to shrink ahead, Josh, you have to skin ahead because 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:57.359 you can't shrink a skull. Everyone knows that. So you 0:19:57.359 --> 0:19:59.600 need to get the Basically, what you want to do 0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:01.879 is cre at a halloween mask where there once was 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:06.080 a full head. So you uh cut some flaps that 0:20:06.080 --> 0:20:09.240 that around the base of the skull that and I 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:12.240 guess sort of like when you're taking chicken skin off, 0:20:12.280 --> 0:20:15.600 you can or if you're like uh spicing chicken under 0:20:15.600 --> 0:20:18.680 the skin, sometimes you'll cut a sliver and then you'll 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:22.399 stick your fingers in there. So you're you're loosening little 0:20:22.440 --> 0:20:26.119 by little the skin from the skull, cutting the tendons 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:29.040 and cutting everything the muscles that hold it all together. Right, 0:20:29.080 --> 0:20:31.760 But you want to cut close to the skull because 0:20:31.800 --> 0:20:33.960 one of the aims of this is to keep the 0:20:34.000 --> 0:20:37.879 facial characteristics of the person so that he would be 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:43.239 recognizable to his family except smaller. Yeah, So you're you're 0:20:43.280 --> 0:20:45.439 working all that through, you're separating it from the skull. 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:49.000 You remove the eyes. You discard the eyes, you discard 0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:52.400 the cartilage. You just guard the skull with the brain 0:20:52.440 --> 0:20:56.159 inside of it, evidently, and uh, what else do you 0:20:56.160 --> 0:20:58.560 cut away the cartilage that holds the nose and the 0:20:58.640 --> 0:21:02.520 ears intact. So so, like you said, just like a mask, 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:05.040 it's just what you have is the scalp in the 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:08.399 face and the neck, all that skin still connected, and 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:11.520 the hair right and the holes where the eyes were 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:14.720 and those flap in the mouth, and all that stuff 0:21:14.760 --> 0:21:17.879 is there. It's just there's no bone or connective tissue, 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:20.359 or there is connected tissue and fat still, there's just 0:21:20.400 --> 0:21:23.080 no bone any longer. So this is the most gruesome 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:25.440 mask that you could ever envision in your life, because 0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:27.399 it's real. I wonder if you have ever put it on. 0:21:27.520 --> 0:21:30.359 I don't know, Hey, look at me, like, yeah, it 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:33.439 have to be uh, karaco with a small head and 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:36.119 a victim with a really big head. But yeah maybe. So, 0:21:36.720 --> 0:21:39.800 although this is so specific, there's no way because that 0:21:39.840 --> 0:21:42.280 would mean that the revenge will come up on your head, 0:21:43.160 --> 0:21:47.040 all right. So that's that's the skinning. So now we 0:21:47.119 --> 0:21:52.680 get to the shrinking. Yes, now you have that rubbery mask, 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:56.879 it's made out of real skin because it's a real person, um, 0:21:57.080 --> 0:22:02.040 and do you you have to boil it down first? 0:22:02.160 --> 0:22:04.680 It's that you you mentioned a clay pot. They make 0:22:04.720 --> 0:22:07.920 a ceramic pot that is just big enough to hold 0:22:07.920 --> 0:22:11.560 a head, and they make it just for that person's head. 0:22:12.080 --> 0:22:14.120 Because it's never been used before and it will never 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:15.919 be used again. They'll break it and leave it in 0:22:15.960 --> 0:22:21.600 the river ahead. At this point, a skin bag, the 0:22:21.600 --> 0:22:25.679 face bag, head, skin the skull bag. Okay, this is 0:22:25.720 --> 0:22:29.560 going off the rails, so um, the the the Kuraco 0:22:29.800 --> 0:22:32.600 dips it three times into this heated water. This heated 0:22:32.600 --> 0:22:35.000 over a camp fire. And this is like one of 0:22:35.000 --> 0:22:37.400 those situations where he says like, I'm dipping the head, 0:22:37.760 --> 0:22:40.600 and then the warriors will be like he's dipping the head, 0:22:41.119 --> 0:22:43.720 you know. And then I think on the third time, 0:22:43.960 --> 0:22:47.919 he leaves it in there for um, thirty minutes, no 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:50.719