The Sateré-Mawé, the first people to cultivate guaraná, live in the mid-Amazon region, in two indigenous territories in the state of Amazonas, near the border with Pará. Today they total more than 13 thousand individuals distributed between the areas of Andirá (42 villages) and Marau (31 villages). There is also a Sateré-Mawé population in the west zone of Manaus, which has grown rapidly, reaching more than 500 inhabitants today.
Throughout their history, the group has had several names, given by chroniclers, pioneers, missionaries, and naturalists. Sateré-Mawé, the name they call themselves, is a combination of words with different meanings: Sateré, “fire lizard” refers to the most important clan in their society, the one that traditionally appoints the line of succession of political chiefs. Mawé, for its part, means “intelligent and curious parrot.”
The Sateré-Mawé language is part of the Tupi linguistic branch but its vocabulary contains words completely unknown in Tupi, which cannot be related to any other linguistic family.
The Sateré-Mawé possess a rich material culture, with the straw work (known as teçume) done by the men as its greatest expression. They use stalks and leaves from caraná, arumã and other plants to make sieves, baskets, tipitis (a kind of cylinder to squeeze poison from manioc), fans, bags, hats, walls, roofs, and so on. The production of stools is occasional.
Sateré-Mawé cosmology puts great emphasis on the Porantim, a piece of wood about 1.5 meters high with bas-relief carvings covered in white paint (tabatinga). The Porantim carries engravings of the myth of the origin of guaraná on one side, and on the other, the myth of war. Its form resembles a carved paddle. It has magical powers, able to foresee events and mediate in conflicts.
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