Galibi-Marworno

The Galibi-Marworno inhabit the extensive savannahs and floodplains in the north of Amapá. Most of the population live in the Uaça Indigenous Area, by the Uaça River, which empties into the same estuary as the Oiapoque, marking the frontier between Brazil and Guyana. Ethnically diverse peoples live in the Uaça reserve: Aruã, Maraon, Karipuna (speakers of a general language derived from Tupi), and Galibi, who speak a general language derived from the Galibi language. The term Maworno is a very recent self-designation, used with the purpose of distinguishing the Galibi of the Oiapoque region. The term refers to the ethnic ancestors of the current population, the Maruane or Maraunu.

The history of this people’s contact with the white population coincides with the history of the two borders. They are distinct populations, migrants from the old Jesuit missions and fugitives from imprisonment both by the Portuguese and the French, who throughout history created networks of inter-ethnic alliances and exchanges. Today there are around 1,800 individuals, distributed between five villages. The largest of these is Kumarumã, with 170 houses, located on a large island on the left bank of the middle Uaça.

The Galibi-Marworno have been producing surplus manioc meal since the 1930s, using it as a means of trade to acquire other food items. They are also excellent canoe builders, which they sell, generally to order, in Saint Georges, Guyana, but also along the Oiapoque and Caciporé rivers.

The great ritual festivity of the Galibi-Marworno is the Turé, during which great quantities of caxiri are consumed and, between singing and dancing, the shaman, sitting on his ornithomorphic stool and shaking his rattle, calls the Karuanã spirits to help his curing powers. The wooden post around which the dances occur, the shaman’s stool in the form of a bird, the collective bench in the form of a snake, where those who wish to be “cured” sit, follow traditional decoration patterns, with colorful checks and dots. Throughout the ritual, the spirits “enter” the objects, transforming them into spirits also.

The shapes and designs of the stools, benches, and posts are dreamed of by the shaman, according to the Turé and the forest animals to be honored. Along with the shamanistic songs, the marks or painted designs on the stools and ceremonial posts constitute the shaman’s cultural wealth.