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Use:Clavija is a medicine used by the Amazonian Quichua for a variety of purposes. One of them is as a medicine that hunters consume to dull hunger and attract game while out on long hunts in the forest. According to Clara Santi. “When you walk in the forest with hunger, when its fruits are smooth and ripe, you take them and you suck on them, breaking, breaking, breaking their thin skin. You suck on these when you walk with hunger. The hunger goes away. It is a medicine”. (Click for Quichua transcription or voice recording of the quote).
The Matiri plant is said to have a personality (or Runa) within it called Matiri Runa (MAtiri Man). To harvest the Matiri fruit the medicine gatherer addresses a song to this persona hidden in the plant. As Clara put it “This is one you sing to. You are to sing to it. Clara then sang her Matiri song which goes as follows:

Matiri Runa pai sachama.                      Matiri Man, he goes to the forest
Amtirita aparisha riushcai                      Carrying his matiri fruits
Cai pishcuta wañuchingahua                 He killed this bird
Matiri tapata undachisha                        Matiri filling a basket
canichisha                                               Will make her try a bite
Verdilla churasha apamuj mara              Dressed in green he will bring it
chi pishcuta pelasha                                Having prepared that bird
charisha                                                   He will have it
Martiri ruya runaga                                 That Matiri Tree Man
warmita engañasha                                  Seducing a woman
Matiri Ruya pai muyuhuata upisha         Drinking his little fruits
payhua enamorado warmita                    Sitting there to give
pishcuta                                                   The bird (he killed)
cusha tiasha                                             To the woman he loves
pay munai tucusha                                  So that what he wants will happen
engañara (Pastaza Quichua past tense)       He seduced her
Chasna man matiri runaga                      That is how Matiri Man is
matiri muyuga.                                       That Matiri Fruit
Payhua supaita                                         I will go
apasha risha                                             Taking his spirit (supai) with me
apahuai nisha                                           He is the man who stands there
shayaj runa mara                                      Saying “Take me!”
matiri ruyaga                                           That Matiri Man.

The purpose of the song is to persuade the plant man to allow the singer to take some of his medicine away with her: “I will go taking his spirit with me” she sings. “He is the man who stands there saying “Take me”, That Matiri Man.” The reason that the song is necessary is that the medicine works well only if the plant cooperates and gives its medicine willingly to the healer. Simply taking the plant won’t produce and effective medicine. Getting the plant to give its medicine is a delicate matter however because the plant is known to be temperamental, guarded, and prone to withdraw its healing power. The song, which is sung to the Matiri plant by a female singer portrays the Matiri Man as both as a seductive lover and as a skilled hunter.

By portraying Matiri in this way the song represents the guardedness or inaccessibility of the man behind the Matiri medicine as a kind of male sexual coyness. Once portrayed in this light the female singer knows how to behave toward the plant in order to coax him to cooperate. She attracts him with love songs like she might any evasive but attractive man who is vulnerable to women. Since hunters chew his fruits when they go out hunting it is with Matiri Runa’s power and personality that hunters endure hardship to bring back game to give to the women they love. Hence Clara’s love song to Matiri portrays Matiri Runa himself as a hunter and seductive lover who brings back game to seduce his love. By singing teasingly to him in this way the female singer turns the tables on him. By flattering male plant with her song she seduces him into giving her his medicine. Thus in the beginning of the song Matiri Man is the one in control, seducing women. But by the end he is the “man who stands there saying take me” and Clara concludes “I will go taking his spirit away with me.”

Resources: Listen toMatiri Caspi Taki , a ritual song on Clavija sung by Clara Santi and recorded by Tod Swanson. . Listen to an oral narrative on Matiri Caspi by Clara Santi (in Pastaza Quichua).