Kamayurá

The Kamaiurá speak a language from the Tupi-Guarani family and are part of the traditional indigenous peoples from the Upper Xingu cultural area. They have never moved from their area of original occupation, in the confluence of the Culuene and Coliseu Rivers, with their village near Lake Ipavu. In 1954, when there was a severe measles epidemic in the region, they were reduced to 94 individuals, but today they total around 600.

The Kamaiurá village follows the Upper Xingu model, with large dwellings built around a central plaza, where all the paths that lead both to the dwellings and to public areas converge, and where the house of the flutes is built, crossed over in the middle by the “path of the sun”. In front of the house of the flutes, where ritual objects are kept, can be found the smokers’ bench. This is where the men gather to talk and discuss such issues as the preparation for a collective fishing expedition, participation in the building of a house, the cleaning of the plaza or preparation for an upcoming festivity. It is also here that, among the men, food distribution (fish, porridge beiju, pepper, bananas) is done, generally in payment for services rendered (such as on the occasion of a house-building or the burning, clearing or community planting of a garden), or simply retribution from the those who participated in a festival.

In the Upper Xingu system of specialized trade and exchange, the Kamaiurá used to take charge of the production of bows, but this changed when firearms were introduced into the village; bows, however, still exist today as the symbol of the group rather than an item of exchange. The material culture of the Kamaiurá also includes such objects as baskets, dart throwers, jatobá bark canoes, hammocks, fishing nets, and flutes (jakui). The materials used are all of native origin: wood, embira and buriti fibers, cotton. But some industrialized products have also been incorporated into their production, such as beads, wool and cotton thread, tins, nails, and colorants. The adult men like to think of themselves as the best house-builders in Upper Xingu.

Today the Kamaiurá are organized around the Mavutsinim Association, whose aim is to develop specific projects, such as the Escola da Cultura [School of Culture], where older men and women teach children and young people to dance, sing, make handcrafts, and learn the stories of their people.