Culture
In South America there are a number of indigenous traditions and more recent religious movements based on the use of ayahuasca, usually in an animistic context that may be mixed with Christian imagery. There are three main groups using DMT-MAOI based sacraments in South America:
- The Amazon Basin's indigenous population. There are many indigenous cultures in South America, mostly in the Upper Amazon Basin whose traditional religious practices include the use of ayahuasca. These are the oldest cultures in the whole of South America that continue to use ayahuasca or analogue brews, such as the ones made from Jurema in the Pernambuco, near Recife or Iquitos in Peru.
- Santo Daime ("Holy Give Unto Me") and Barquinha ("Little Boat"). A syncretic religion from Brazil. The former was founded by Raimundo Irineu Serra in the early 1930s, as an esoteric Christian religion with shamanic tendencies. The Barquinha was derived from this one. The Santo Daime also includes children in their Entheogenic rituals; studies done by the Brazilian government concluded that there were no physical or mental damage caused by this practice, so it is allowed.
- União do Vegetal ("Union of the Plants" or UDV). Another Christian ayahuasca religion from Brazil, a single unified organization with a democratic structure.
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