Rikbaktsa

The Erikbaktasa, or Rikbaktsa, are also known as Canoeiros [Canoe people] because of their skill in using canoes; they used to be known as Orelhas de Pau [Wooden Ears], due to the use of big wooden plugs in their enlarged ear lobes.

They live in the Juruena River basin, in the northeast of Mato Grosso state, in three indigenous territories—Erikpatsa, Japuíra, which are contiguous, and Escondido, further north, on the left bank of the river.

The Rikbaktsa speak a language that is still unknown, but included in the Macro-Jê linguistic branch. At the time of first contact, between 1957 and 1969, the population was reduced by about 75%. As soon as epidemics were contained and food production went back to normal, the villages grew at an accelerated pace; today, the population is about 1,500.

Traditionally, the villages comprise one or two houses inhabited by extended families (the owner of the house, his wife, children, sons-in-law, and grandchildren.) and a men’s house (makyry), where widowers and young unmarried men live. In 1957, 42 villages like this were found, always built near the source of streams and interconnected by open trails through the forest. In the 1960s, through the activities of Jesuit missionaries, the villages were centralized, becoming less numerous, and bigger, concentrated along the right bank of the Juruena. However, in the last two decades, the Rikbaktsa have successfully regained parts of their territory, which has resulted in the multiplication of traditionally-sized villages.

The Rikbaktsa still live by hunting, gathering, fishing, and agriculture, activities which they perform in a ritualized way within a cycle of ceremonies in rhythm with the agricultural year. They believe that all beings were human one day and their myths tell of their definitive transformation into animals. They also believe that the fate of the dead depends on the life they had: some return as human beings once again, others return as feared animals, like jaguars and snakes. This mythical universe is expressed in their rituals through music and colorful feather adornments. Stools are not representative of their material culture.