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WEEK ENDING NOVEMBER 13, 2016| guyanatimeSinternational.com
W
hile much is known of the indigenous piwari/paiwarri and kasirri drinks, documentation of other fermented and non-fermented drinks of this group of Guyanese remains sketchy, and perhaps over time some have even ceased to be produced. Prolific historian James Rodway, has become oftentimes the sole source of our much- undocumented national history, and here he provides some insight into the seemingly lost and forgotten traditions of indigenous Guyanese.
Fermented drinks
Beltiris is a name derived from the Arawak word beletto, signifying anything soft or jellylike. Whereas Paiwarri and Kassiri are used chiefly for purposes of feasting and sport, beltiri is essentially a fermented drink for home consumption.
It is made from cassava, having, in the course of making cassava bread, expressed the fluid from the squeezed cassava by means of the matapi and using kereli -an Arawak word for the chewed fresh cassavabread, previously soaked in sugar-cane juice, which has been thoroughly saturated with saliva and spat out again by the different women and children, sometimes men assisting. In certain areas this chewing process is said to be essentially woman's work. Berria is another cassava beverage product made by heaping up hot cassava-cakes and covering them with plantain leaves; after fermenting through the action of the heat, they dissolve them in warm water, and placing the resulting broth in earthen jars where it effervesces and produces a beer which is called Berria. This recipe though, varies somewhat among
users: Demerara River Indians manufacture a cassava drink on practically identical lines, but without the use of any kereli. Kumani, of the Demerara River, is a composition of cassava bread, cassava sticks or twigs, and soft wood, all burnt and pounded together, and placed in jars with water for weeks to ferment: portions of the fermented matter are then wrapped in leaves.It is sweet and honey -like, and when mixed with water, used as a beverage. Sakura is said to have been introduced by the seafaring Surinam Caribs. A kind of pap, made of chewed cassava, cooked yams and such-like (a handful of it mixed with a calabashfull of water forms a sort of soup). Among the Macusis, a few days before starting on a journey, the housewife bakes some fresh cassava bread, of which
Wapishana (L) and Atorad (Atorai) in warrior dance costumes at a festive event
Aerial view of National Library and St. George's Cathedral circa 1950-1959
HMS Curlew schooner waiting to load up at Demerara wharf circa 1924
one is chewed, while the others are kneaded into a paste; together with the chewed mass and the thickened juice of the manihot, fermentation commences after four or five days. When it’s time to quench a thirst, a small quantity is taken and placed into a drinking cup. Water is then poured on it, and the contents stirred until they are dissolved. Maize drink in British Guiana, certainly on the Pomeroon, involves the maize, after being pounded (if dry), or grated (if fresh), being thrown into warm water and boiled; chewed kereli is then added, and the liquor strained next day; within three days it is ready for consumption. Pine-Apple juice, an intoxicating liquor, is prepared by peeling the fruit and grating it on a sieve, allowing the juice to take its own time to ferment. The Arawaks have no special word for it, just calling it nanna-ura, literally, “pinejuice”. The Wild Cashew (Anacardium rhinocarpus) similarly yields a
very pleasant alcoholic drink. Arawaks call it obudi-ura, lit., “cashewjuice”. Cane- juice similarly requires no special preparation. While the sugarcane is being squeezed in the "mill/" the juice trickles down the artificial gutter whence it is collected. It takes some three weeks to fully ferment, and is highly intoxicating. The doubtfully Indian name, on the Pomeroon at least, is warrap.
Non-fermented beverages
Of the many non-fermented liquors, perhaps the most important on the coastlands is that obtained from the Ite-palm (Mauritia flexuosa) either from the trunk or from the fruits. Among the Macusis, to accelerate the collection of the sap, the upper end of the trunk is raised on a scaffolding of about a foot to 18 in. high, and a fire lighted under its whole length. When the drink is made from the fruits, the tree need not necessarily be sacrificed. The large bunches of fruits when more or
less mature are stacked in a close heap and covered with a thick layer of the leaves for some four days, at the end of which time the fruits will all be found to have dropped from their stalks. A pit is then dug in the swampy ground, about three feet wide by two feet deep, into which the water wells up from below, and into this basketful after basketful of the fruits are thrown in. A thick covering composed of many layers of Ite leaves is again placed over the whole which is left as it is for about eight days. By this time, the seed coverings will have become soft, and hence can now be easily scraped off, a procedure in which the person will be probably assisted by his family who either come and work at it on the spot, or else carry the mush home with them. Once removed, this soft substance is mixed, as required, with water and a little honey, and thus drunk. Rodway states that “[I]t tastes nice and is said to be very fattening.” (TO BE CONTINUED)