ボリビア・アマゾンのモホス地方の先住民族トリニタリオのあいだには,近
年まで,専門の霊媒師が死者の親族の依頼を受けて,故人の霊を呼び出すとい
う降霊術が存在していた。降霊術にやってくる死者はすべて先住民だが,白人
で唯一,ビルトゥチという大昔の殺人者がたびたび現れ,失踪者の居所や紛失
物のありかを告げることで,魂の救済に不可欠なキリスト教の祈りを受け取っ
ていた。本論は,なにゆえ先住民の降霊術に白人の殺人者の霊が呼び出される
のかという疑問に答える試みである。
歴史資料によれば,ビルトゥチは20世紀初め,殺人の餐で公開の銃殺刑に処
せられた。彼の処刑は,成立後間もないモホス地方の司法機関が執行した最初
の処刑であり,共和国政府がその権力を誇示する最初の機会だった。他方,処
刑という国家儀礼を初めて目にした先住民にとって,それは衝撃的な出来事で
あり,その衝撃が後にビルトゥチにまつわる特異な信仰と伝承として具体化し
たのだと推定される。
筆者の考えでは,先住民にとってビルトゥチの処刑は,それ以後国家が神に
なりかわって罪を裁くのだということを宣言する儀礼的演出にほかならなかっ
た。こうした国家司法の概念は,罪を裁く権利を神にのみ認める先住民の司法
概念と真っ向から衝突するものだった。本論は,ビルトゥチにまわつるトリニ
タリオの信仰と伝承を,国家による司法的正義の独占に対する彼らの批判,お
よびその転覆の試みとして読み解こうとするものである。
Until recently, the Trinitarios, an indigenous people of the Moxos
region of the Bolivian Amazon, occasionally held seances where the
medium invoked the spirits of the dead at the request of their living
relatives. The dead who came to the seances were all but one indigenous
people. The only exception was Virtuchi, a white man who is said to
have been a murderer in the remote past. He would often come to the
seances and tell the Trinitarios where they could find a missing person or
object and, in exchange for this service, receive Christian prayers which
were indispensable for his salvation. In this paper, I will try to answer
the question why the spirit of a white murderer was invoked at the indigenous
seances.
Historical sources indicate that Virtuchi was charged with a murder
and publicly executed by a firing squad at the beginning of the 20th
century. This was the first public execution in the Moxos region, an
ostentatious manifestation of the power of the newly formed local
judicial apparatus. It can therefore be assumed that the indigenous
people, who theretofore had never witnessed such an event, would likely
have been profoundly impacted by the experience and this would subsequently
have given rise to their peculiar beliefs and traditions concerning
Virtuchi.
It is my intention to show that the execution of Virtuchi was, from
the viewpoint of the indigenous people, an effectively performed ritual
proclamation that the State would thereafter take hold of the administration
of justice and thereby replace God as the dispenser of justice.
This concept of State justice would inevitably have clashed with the indigenous
concept of divine justice. This paper will interpret the beliefs
and traditions concerning Virtuchi as a narrative of criticism and subversion
of State monoply of justice.
ビルトゥチの処刑 : ボリビア・アマゾンの一殺人事件とその記憶
KH_024_4_002.pdf
(2.6MB)
