Who Are the Ishir?
The Ishir (also known as Chamacoco) are a Zamucoan-speaking indigenous people of the northern Paraguayan Chaco, living along the upper Paraguay River in the Alto Paraguay department. Numbering approximately 1,500-2,000, they comprise two main groups: the Tomaraho and the Ebytoso. The Ishir are renowned for their elaborate ceremonial life, spectacular body painting, and the Debylyby festival—one of South America's most complex ritual systems. Their material culture, particularly featherwork and carved wooden objects, was extensively collected by early anthropologists. Today the Ishir face land loss, cultural erosion, and poverty in one of Paraguay's most marginalized regions.
The Debylyby Festival
The Debylyby (also Tomaraho spelling: Debylyly) is a complex ceremonial cycle involving elaborate body painting, masks, dances, and the manifestation of spiritual beings called anábsoro. During the festival, men paint their bodies with distinctive geometric designs using red, black, and white pigments, transforming themselves into spirit beings. Masks and costumes represent various supernatural entities. The ceremonies involve singing, dancing, and the transmission of sacred knowledge. Women and children traditionally occupied different ritual roles. Anthropologist Ticio Escobar documented these ceremonies extensively, producing influential photographs and analyses. While the full ceremonial cycle has declined, aspects continue and cultural revitalization efforts attempt to maintain this tradition.
Art and Material Culture
Ishir material culture was among the most elaborate in the Chaco. Featherwork produced spectacular headdresses and ornaments using macaw, parrot, and rhea feathers. Carved wooden objects—staffs, containers, combs—displayed distinctive styles. Woven items and ceramics rounded out material production. Early anthropologists (particularly Guido Boggiani in the 1890s) collected extensively, and Ishir objects appear in museums worldwide. Body painting techniques, while no longer daily practice, remain known and are revived for ceremonies and cultural events. Contemporary Ishir continue some craft traditions for sale, particularly woven bags and carved items, though markets are limited in their remote location.
Contemporary Ishir
Modern Ishir communities face severe marginalization. The Alto Paraguay department is among Paraguay's poorest and most isolated regions. Traditional subsistence—fishing, hunting, gathering—is constrained by land loss to ranchers. Agricultural opportunities are limited by environmental conditions and lack of resources. Many Ishir survive through a combination of small-scale fishing, occasional labor, government assistance, and craft sales. The Tomaraho subgroup, numbering only about 100-150 people, faces particular demographic vulnerability. Cultural knowledge remains with elders, but transmission to youth is uncertain. Advocacy organizations work to secure land rights and support cultural programs, but resources are severely limited. The Ishir represent an indigenous people whose spectacular cultural traditions developed in relative isolation and now face erosion in the face of poverty and marginalitation.
References
- Escobar, T. (2007). The Curse of Nemur: In Search of the Art, Myth and Ritual of the Ishir
- Cordeu, E. J. (1999). Los Chamacoco o IshĂr del Chaco Boreal
- Susnik, B. (1969). Chamacocos I: Cambio Cultural