Saturday, February 7, 2009

Ayahuasca, a cultural heritage

The Peruvian National Institute of Culture (INC) has declared the knowledge and traditional uses of the Ayahuasca plant by the Amazon natives, a National Cultural Heritage. The INC goal is to protect the traditional use as well as the sacred ritual character of the Ayahuasca, from its use out of context and with commercial purposes.


The effects produced by the Ayahuasca (liana from the skies), which are different from the effects usually produced by hallucinogens, have been researched extensively. Ayahuasca rituals are given in a limited cultural frame for religious and therapeutic reasons. For natives in the Amazon, it is a gateway to the spiritual world and its secrets; their traditional medicine has been structured around the Ayahuasca ritual.

http://www.co.terra.com/terramagazine/interna/0,,EI8860-OI3010825,00.html
http://elcomercio.pe/ediciononline/HTML/2008-07-13/declaran-patrimonio-cultural-nacion-uso-ayahuasca.html

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