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A day in the life of a Peruvian shaman - Gabriel Prieto

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TEDEd Animation

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The year is 1400 BCE. At the temple of the fisherman, the morning is unusually still and this is just the latest in a series of troubling signs for Quexo, the village shaman. The villagers live off the sea, but this year the winds have died and the fish have dwindled. He’s seen this before— his only hope to fix it is a special ritual. Gabriel Prieto outlines a day in the life of a Peruvian shaman.

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Climate change is a constant threat for humanity. Although the uses of red cinnabar won’t have a real effect in the weather pattern, it had a strong impact in the conscious of the shaman and his people, like placebos do today for medical purposes. What kind of similar placebos could you find in modern societies that give us psychological relief during environmental catastrophes?

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Meet The Creators

  • Educator Gabriel Prieto
  • Director Hernando Bahamon
  • Narrator Addison Anderson
  • Storyboard Artist Hernando Bahamon
  • Animator Rony Torres, Laura Carranza
  • Compositor LaPajarapinta
  • Art Director Ivan Barrera
  • Music Manuel Borda
  • Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal
  • Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott
  • Associate Editorial Producer Elizabeth Cox
  • Fact-Checker Eden Girma

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