I knew the Daime by the hands of Mestre Irineu himself. It was still in the Custodio Freire’s location. It was there that I drank the Daime for the first time, only that I was already drinking this brew, but it was not Daime, it was vine. I knew it through the Caboclos; it was with them that I learnt how to make it. We would arrive from the rubber plantation and we would make it, at night (...) it would happen more during Saturdays, playing guitar, singing the calls of the “caboclos”..., it was good, it was our fun. There was some folks who suffered, alarmed, of the same way that happens here (...) But it was different. It was more like for having fun. The brew was the same and it was already a serious thing, only that we didn’t see it, because we did not understand. It was Mestre who showed it to us. It was him who taught us, who showed the light of the drink. There in Feijó we did the thing, but without a purpose (...) When I arrived at the Custodio location and saw all those people dancing, everything white, in that beauty, everything aligned, with farda... It was such a shine, a beauty! Then I understood it and I wanted to stay, because everything was indoctrinated (...) and it was Mestre who indoctrinated it for us, who showed the way for people, the truly truthful path.

Mr. Eduardo (one of the responsible people for the Feitio in the Ceu do Mapiá community) -- A História do Encontro do Mestre Irineu com a Ayahuasca: Mitos Fundadores da Religião do Santo Daime -- from Sandra Lucia Goulart.

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There is not a doctrine alike the one of Mestre. It is a true doctrine, the doctrine of the Virgin Mary. It was the Queen who gave the doctrine to him (...) of this way was also given the name Daime. She said to him that the name of the drink had to change. Uasca was the name that the Caboclos gave for the brew but that name wasn’t the right one. The true name was Dai-me (give me), that comes from the request of asking from God. As we say, “give me strength”, “give me light”.

Ms. Cecília (the maternal aunt of Peregrina Gomes Serra, Mestre’s Widow) -- A História do Encontro do Mestre Irineu com a Ayahuasca: Mitos Fundadores da Religião do Santo Daime -- from Sandra Lucia Goulart

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In the same way, Mr. Bernaldo, when talking about the Santo Daime feitio, manifests this attitude of revitalization and revival of the happenings occurred with Irineu Serra in the occasion of his encounter with the Ayahuasca. Bernaldo, also a Céu do Mapiá inhabitant, natural of the Acre state, is another former rubber tapper, being in the doctrine since 1970.

"The Feitio is a serious thing; it is not to anyone. One has to have firmness; firmness to enter in the woods, to collect the Jagube (...) then we have the cleaning, the bateção (triturate the vine), the cooking. Everything is a single discipline. When the guy is beating the Jagube he is disciplining himself, getting rid of his impurity in the same measure that he is doing it to the Jagube. It is a great probation! In the Feitio, as well as in the work, we are proving ourselves until we reach the ideal state; in the point to receive that light, that force, as we say, for us to be transformed in the Daime itself. In the Daime itself! As Mestre was transformed. But before we go through the probations (...) just like Mestre had his. Mestre also went through a lot of probations. He saw many things when he underwent a diet and stayed alone in the jungle. Many good things; the forest beings, the divine beings, he knew everything. But he also saw many bad things. The dangers of the jungle were all those visions... everything wanting to test him, while he kept holding on, until the point in which he didn’t have to drink Daime anymore. At this point he knew all the woods’ mysteries, seeing everything, foreseeing things (...) because the force of the Daime had already entirely passed to him; it was already all in him. It was of this way that he knew the secrets of this drink. The Daime itself taught him. The same Daime! Because Mestre is the same Daime! (...) Well, we are here repeating the history. We are passing through our probations (...) because one has to go through it in order to know the mysteries of this drink, to receive, to reach the Daime's force and of this way history tells (...)".

A História do Encontro do Mestre Irineu com a Ayahuasca: Mitos Fundadores da Religião do Santo Daime -- from Sandra Lucia Goulart

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“He went far away to bring it [the Daime] and it came from Peru. According to history this drink derived of the King Uascar, passing to the Inca King, from this one to a Peruvian caboclo named Pizango, from the caboclo to Antonio Costa and from Antonio Costa to him. However, till then it was a totally brute drink. Only the men had the right to drink it. He tried to specialize it and he dedicated himself to it. He underwent a diet... over there he stated to the drink itself, “If it is a drink that comes to give name to my Brazil I’ll take it to my Brazil, but if it is going to demoralize my Brazil I’ll leave it. He did not tire to relate it to us”

(unknown) O Palácio de Juramidam -- from Clodomir Monteiro Da Silva

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“...The designated people to collect the vine, by right, spend three days without having sexual relations with their spouses... even, to determine the perfection, sleeping in another room... and not eating fat food; eating little. In the day of the harvest they drink Daime at dawn, carrying a piece of cassava in the bag, cooked without salt, taking it to the jungle, drinking one more dose of Daime whether it is necessary. They go in a group of three or five. Over there they split and so many are going to collect Jagube and so many are going to collect the leaf... there they cut the Jagube, already chosen, also knowing how and where it is. They leave more or less a palm and a half of trunk. They cut thence upwards, cutting pieces of twenty centimeters of length that is to scrape and to triturate. That little piece of trunk left behind will have conditions to grow again. When the vine, of the parasite kind, is hooked to the foliage we have to put down the trees; to cut it down in order to seize the whole vine. They cut it in the woods and place in sacks, then, after everything is ready they carry it on their backs bringing to the road where the car is… in the afternoon they bring the vine and the leaves.

They clean it very well, scraping all the vines while drinking Daime and singing. We come to make the Daime; the same group. It is not everybody. It is the selected group. In the next Feitio it will be another group. The women can only take part in the cleaning of the leaves. They are not going to collect it in the woods, in the harvest, but in the cleaning of the leaves the women can take part.

"Can the women watch the Daime being made?"
"I never heard that they could and I think this is due to their period and if the old Irineu did not allowed, who was the oldest in the subject..."
"Does it mean that the menstruation can take away the purity of the process?"
"He wouldn’t say it for no reason... people must know why".

... After they are clean, the leaves and the vine, is that it will be made. In the next day, at down, they start to triturate the vine, very well, with hammers, the leaves already chosen, putting the water to boil with a layer of leaf, one of vine, another of leaf, another of vine... three layers [each] that are placed in the fire with firewood in such a manner that the boiling density does not decay; that has a great influence. It is necessary to keep the exact degree of heat... of this way they keep singing hymns, a healthy environment, praising to God in anyway, only good things, having visions... everyone together... there are the ones who are outside, that are not making the Daime, working, drinking Daime, helping in the singing in order to achieve the ideal point. I always took part in it. Then, when it reaches the right point they take it and place to cool down in some pans...”

(unknown) O Palácio de Juramidam -- from Clodomir Monteiro Da Silva

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“… Because it is the mind that has authority over the person. When having a clean mind the Daime accepts, that’s what it wants. When the Daime arrives, which is purity, and finds that crowded place, with the person entangled in everything… firstly the person is going to suffer, is going to get beaten in order to reach a point...”

(unknown) O Palácio de Juramidam -- from Clodomir Monteiro Da Silva

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“... The Jagube is the element to give the force in order for the body to shake what is necessary to be awaken inside the organism; it is who brings the mission to go there, through the blood of anything and shake the numb systems; and the leaf is what seizes the opportunity of the vibration of the numb system to give the vision...Thence I tell that there is no such thing as male and female*...”

(unknown) O Palácio de Juramidam -- from Clodomir Monteiro Da Silva

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*this is an allusion to many follower's accounts saying that the Jagube is the male part of the brew and the Leaf its female counterpart.

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“...It is Mestre Irineu, but focused on him, without going adrift, it is on him... But to keep talking about Mestre Irineu but doing harm to others is a waste of time (...) the falsehood is the greatest dragon that exists; a devouring beast... Who is tuned into the talk pay attention (...) he put me there inside where I am... It is because he knows; he knows me from the inside out. Because I tell you –- in the outside I am not a man (...) here, within, we have everything that we want, but it is necessary to be loyal and to comprehend that this is a divine thing and cannot fail; with lie anybody gets it right (laughter)...”

(unknown) O Palácio de Juramidam -- from Clodomir Monteiro Da Silva

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The Jagube vine (Banisteriopsis caapi) grows coiled in the trees, ending up reaching up to 130 feet in length and a thickness of approximately 28 inches in its base. The leaf, which is called Queen (Psychotria viridis), is found in a bush of brilliant green coloration that, native in the forest, ends up reaching 10 feet of height. (...) The forest locations that present the larger concentration of vine are called reigns, and the most experienced feitores [Daime makers] manage to locate them through a characteristic sound (similar to a drum beat) emitted by the reign. Afterwards the vine is cut in pieces of approximately 9 inches of length and packed in sacks that sometimes weigh 110 lb.

Vera Fróes -- "Santo Daime, Cultura Amazônica -- História do Povo Juramidam".

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I just to like to exclaim so that the links of this productive chain stay always well connected -- EXTRACTION OF THE FOREST MATERIAL (Jagube, leaf, firewood) / TRANSPORTATION / MAKING OF THE DRINK / TRANSPORTATION / DRINK STORAGE / TRANSPORTATION / DRINK DISTRIBUTION -- because having transparency in this process we’ll be giving a demonstration of effectiveness and perfection with ourselves.

To me, a center that runs smooth should be thoroughly informed of how arrives to its hands the drink that it is going to distribute, as well as it guarantees a syntony among the vibrations put in the drink during its making and the vibrations in the rites for its distribution, as well as viability of individual accompaniment to each one of our fellow neighbors who wants to open their hearts for the mystery of the Santo Daime (or if they want, by having affinity with the Center, to have refined their spiritual search).

Eduardo Bayer -- email sent to the "União do Santo Daime" -- internet community.

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