Film Description

In the most recent production from the Video in the Villages series, an eclipse takes place during a video workshop in the Kuikuro village of Upper Xingu, Brazil. The Kuikuro villagers explain in their own words what happens during the eclipse--or when the moon menstruates. There is little time to waste and much to celebrate.

The spirit animals dance and transform and objects must be awakened. To become better wrestlers, the men scar themselves with an instrument made of catfish teeth as drawing blood after the eclipse makes them stronger and less lazy. The women sing and dance, using the occasion to insult the men and respond to what they consider to be the men's offenses against them. Children also take part in the festivities, either dancing with the women or demonstrating their bravery by being scarred like the men. And shamans prepare for a particularly busy period of healing the villagers who complain of pains after the eclipse. While the villagers agree that the exclipse significantly impacts all things human and non-human, there is one question that elicits a divided opinion--despite its menstruation, is the moon a man or a woman?