00:10In the mythology of the Guyana tribes and the northwestern Brazil, Kanima are spirits of
00:16vengeance and retaliation, that will viciously attack and painfully kill their victims, as
00:22payback for some injustice. Some accounts say that Kanima are powerful shape-shifters that
00:28can appear in a variety of forms and can drive anyone insane with just one look. Other accounts
00:35claim that the Kanima cannot exist or manifest its powers or hurt anyone on its own, but can
00:42only operate through an eligible host or agent. The host or agent of the Kanima is a vengeful
00:48soul, a person who seeks to avenge a known cause, a person who direly wishes to see another
00:55fellow suffer a painful death in retaliation to an unforgivable injury, harm or pain inflicted
01:02upon him, or those dear to him. In other words, the Kanima has no will of its own, it fulfills
01:09the wishes of someone who seeks nothing but vengeance for a wrong or injustice done.
01:14The Guyana tribes believe that when a person desires revenge against another fellow from
01:20the depths of his heart, so much that it becomes his sole intent or purpose of living, he unconsciously
01:27awakens and invokes the Kanima demon which in turn possesses him, thus, giving him the
01:33power to achieve his vengeful desire. The Kanima's thirst for blood can only be quenched with the
01:39death of the offender, or the annihilation of his whole family. If a Kanima is wrongly summoned
01:45without any real intent of revenge, it possesses an animal instead, preferably a jaguar, tiger
01:53or leopard, then kills the foolish summoner. The possessed animal goes insane and becomes the
01:59Kanima itself, it becomes able to walk on two legs as well as on all fours. In this animal form,
02:07the thirst for blood and hunger for flesh is increased by tenfold. It goes on a killing spree,
02:14maiming and killing anyone on its path, until it finds a master who is worthy of its services.
02:21In the case of Kanima possessed humans, the possessed host becomes mad and wild with rage,
02:28and will violently attack its victims. He suddenly disappears from the settlement or community,
02:34no one knows where he is. He wanders now as Kanima through the forests, valleys, and heights,
02:41and does not return until he has slain his victim and then banished the Kanima demon. If the target
02:48cannot be found, the Kanima goes after the target's families and friends. From the moment the Kanima host
02:55leaves the settlement, he is outlawed, he has cut all the ties which bind him to his family and his
03:02tribe.
03:03He becomes a general enemy and anyone who may accidentally meet him in the bush,
03:08should try to kill him or be killed by him. Within days of the demonic possession,
03:14the host begins to transform into what the Kanima demon looks like. His skin develops red,
03:21brown or black spots like that of a jaguar. By the time the transformation is complete,
03:27every shred of humanity in the host is gone. He loses his soul. He becomes neither a man nor an
03:34animal.
03:35He becomes the dreadful Kanima itself in its full entity. The soul of the host can only be regained
03:42when the Kanima demon has been banished from inside him which is only possible after the death of the
03:48target. The longer the target evades the Kanima, the more the Kanima wreaks havoc on nearby communities.
03:56Every single night of not finding its target, the Kanima shape shifts into a jaguar, and slays unsuspecting
04:04victims. Whoever the Kanima kills, it would slit the victim's tongue and twist his intestines into
04:10knots such that the tongue and abdomen appear swollen. These are the distinctive marks of Kanima
04:17attack. When at last the Kanima finds his target all alone, he can choose to rip him apart instantly or
04:25more commonly, slay him by poison, the arrow, or the club and then complete the killing on the third day.
04:32If by poison, the victim immediately feels a sharp burning sensation in the bowels, a raging fever,
04:40and an extreme and unquenchable thirst, with no means of obtaining relief. The victim would quickly
04:47realize that his days, even his hours, are numbered. Within few days, he becomes reduced to a skeleton and
04:55dies in fearful torment. Now, to obtain his freedom and purification, whichever means the Kanima may employ,
05:03whether by poison, arrow, club, or deep fatal scratches, the Kanima host especially refrains from
05:11causing the immediate death of his victim for the reason that the banishing ritual can only be done on
05:17the third day of the victim's death or the third day of the attack on which the victim dies. This
05:23means that the actual death should not take place before three days have passed. The Kanima makes
05:30equally certain that the sufferer does not tell anyone of his ordeal and torment by slitting or
05:35twisting his tongue. But if the attack proves too fatal and the victim dies outrightly, the Kanima must
05:43bury or enclose the corpse where no one else would find it. Then, on the third night the Kanima visits
05:49the grave and stabs a pointed staff, or in few stories, its long pointy nails into the body. Upon
05:57drawing this out, he will lick the blood off it. And by so doing, the host has appeased the Kanima
06:04demon
06:04inside him, hence, the Kanima is banished from him. The host is purified and regains his soul,
06:12such that he returns contented and normal to his settlement. However, the Kanima demon, just like
06:19every other demon, is a clever one in the view that it would not want to leave the body of
06:24the host,
06:25and so would try to tempt the host into not performing the banishing ritual. Fortunately,
06:31the will of the host supersedes that of the demon and would always triumph if the host truly wants his
06:37freedom after his mission is complete. But if the evil spirit succeeds in dissuading the host from
06:43performing the purification rites, his soul is lost forever, and he wanders mad until death or some
06:50other dire consequences. Some say that if one dies with the Kanima demon still in him, he would surely
06:58end up in the pits of hell, delivered to the demon king by the Kanima which possessed him. It is
07:04a relief to
07:05know that the Kanima demon and host could be killed before their mission is complete. The first way
07:11is to directly charge at and kill the Kanima host, thereby banishing the demon. This is a feat reserved
07:18only for powerful shamans. It would be pure suicide for any other person, as no average human can withstand
07:26the spiritual and physical viciousness of the Kanima. The second way is to let the Kanima kill its target,
07:33then poison the corpse, so that when the Kanima comes back on the third day to taste the blood of
07:39the
07:39corpse. The poison would kill the host and the evil spirit would be banished. Kanima is also said to be
07:47the name of a certain tree growing in the savannas, of which the sap has remarkable properties. After
07:54rubbing himself with it, a man will go mad and become changed into some animal, as a tiger or a
08:00snake,
08:01and do people harm. In addition, accounts of it that at the head of the river Jorapiri and river
08:08Tarumanasut streams flowing into the Rio Negro to the eastward of the Rio Branco, there are a series
08:15of wild tribes called Kanima tribes. These Kanima tribes are killers and cut throats by profession,
08:22educated from generation to generation in the act of murder and theft, killing for the pleasure of
08:29killing, not even eating their victims but utilizing their tibias for flutes and their teeth for
08:35necklaces. They would approach the sleeping places of men, or where lay the solitary Indian in his path
08:42and subject them to painful deaths. And, that is all about the Kanima.
08:48Do subscribe for more videos on mythology.
Comments