Bactris gasipaes thorns


Ritual songs (anent) sung during the chonta festival portray the thorn patterns on the gasipaes trunk as beaded bracelets on the arms of a chonta maiden


Chonta thorns have an irritant that make them especially painful when they enter the skin.  Biruti, the spirit arrows sent by yachajs (shamans) are envisioned as chonta thorns.