Wari’ people
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| Total population |
|---|
| 2,721 (2006)[1] |
| Regions with significant populations |
 Brazil ( Rondônia) |
| Languages |
| Religion |
|
traditional tribal religion |
The Wari', also known as the Pakaa Nova, are an indigenous people of Brazil, living in seven villages in the Amazon rainforest in the state of Rondônia.[2] Their first contact with European settlers was on the shores of the Pakaa Nova River, a tributary of the Mamoré River. Many of them live within the Sagarana Indigenous Territory.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Name
Europeans at one time used the name "Pakaa Nova" to refer to the Wari', because of the location where they first encountered each other. However, the people themselves prefer to be referred to by outsiders as "Wari'", a word in their language, meaning "us" or "people."[1] They are also known as the Jaru, Oro Wari, Pacaas-Novos, Pacahanovo, Pakaanova, Pakaanovas, Uari, and Uomo.[2][1]
[edit] Language
The Wari' speak the Pakaásnovos language, which belongs to the Txapakura,[1] or Chapacura-Wanham language family. Parts of the Bible were translated into their language from 1975 to 1984.[2]
[edit] Population and location
Along with the Torá, the Moré (or Itenes) and the Oro Win, the Wari' are the last of the Txapakura linguistic group. Other groups, such as the Urupá were exterminated by Europeans.
Up until the 19th century, the Wari' were present in the Amazon's Southeast, namely the basin of the Lage river (a right-bank-tributary river of the Mamoré River), the Ouro Preto river, the Gruta and Santo André creeks, the Negro river (all tributaries of the lower and middle courses of the right bank of the Pakaa Nova river), the Ribeirão river and the Novo river (tributaries of the left bank of the Pakaa Nova river).
In the early 20th century, continuous incursions by people of European descent in search of rubber trees forced the Wari' to relocate to the less accessible headwaters of the Mamoré River, to where they were confined until the pacification. Today, they live in seven settlements, located within the state of Rondônia.[1]
[edit] Denomination and ethnicity
The tribe is divided into ethnic subgroups, but no word exists to define an individual that belongs to a different group, and the term usually applied is tatirim (stranger). A person from the same ethnic subgroup is referred to as "win ma" (land fellow).
Today, the Wari' subgroups are:
- OroNao
- OroEo
- OroAt
- OroMon
- OroWaram
- OroWaramXijein
Some individuals still identify themselves with two other subgroups that no longer exist, the OroJowin, or the OroKaoOroWaji. Oro is a collectivizing particle that can be translated as "people" or "group".
[edit] Relations between subgroups
Present relations between subgroups are still influenced by the dynamics that existed before the pacification (see below). Each subgroup is intimately connected to a territory, which consists of a set of areas, all identified by name, each inhabited by a "local group".
The frontiers between territories are fluid, since an area associated with one subgroup can be incorporated into the territory of another subgroup if it is occupied by a local group that belongs to another subgroup. That is made possible by the semi-nomad characteristic of the people (see below).
Membership to any given subgroup is also not defined by fixed rules. Children may be considered members of either parent's subgroup or of the subgroup associated with the territory in which they were born. Cultural or ethnic identities are not things one is born to, but rather constructed during a lifetime, through the relations with one's relatives and neighbors. The Wari' experience what could be defined as a "multiple identity", since different people classify any given individual differently.
[edit] Society
Every subgroup is organized around a set of brothers, each of whom is often married to a group of sisters. Polygyny, especially sororal polygyny, is the basis of Wari' family structure. Any village is made up of nuclear families and a separate house, called "the men's house", which serves as a dormitory for single adolescents and like as a meeting place for adults. A couple usually varies their place of residence, shifting between the woman's parents' and the man's parents', although no specific rule determines when the shift is made.
The Wari' are semi-nomadic, and their villages never remain in the same location longer than five years. They are, however, always located away from flooded areas but by the shores of small perennial rivers.
A maize swidden, providing the staple crop, always surrounds the village. The location of ideal]] earth for corn growing (black earth or terra preta) plays a key role in determining where to set up a village. The importance of agricultural land is also reflected in the language, since a person from the same subgroup is called "land fellow".
[edit] Cannibalism
The Wari also practiced endocannibalism, specifically morturary cannibalism. Endocannibalism is the consumption of members of one's own society. This was done as a form of utmost respect to those who had passed.[3]
Right after death, the closest relatives would hug and embrace the deceased person. The body would be left for three days, although there was no set span, and depended largely on how soon family members in other settlements could get to the funeral.[4] As messengers and relatives had to travel by foot, the time between death and the funeral averaged out to be about three days, by which time the body had begun to decompose in the heat and humidity of the Amazon, sometimes reaching the stage where the body became bloated and discolored.[4] When all relatives within reasonable distance had arrived, the body was prepared respectfully, unlike the exocannibalism practiced on the body of the enemy. Mortuary preparation involved ritual wailing and other ceremonies, building a fire, removing the visceral organs, and finally roasting the body. The decedent's closest kin would not consume the body, but rather, they would urge the attendant relatives to eat. Consumption of the flesh would assuage the family's grief, as it meant the soul of the person was being kept in the living body of relatives, rather than being abandoned to wander the forests alone; this cannibalism was therefore an act of compassion and affinal love, as much as a gesture of grief.[4] The relatives were encouraged to eat what they could, but this sometimes amounted to little more than small tokens of the spoiled meat, which often caused the consuming mourners great gastric distress.[4] The heart and liver would be eaten, but much of the body was burned, including the hair.[3]
Today, Wari' do not practice any form of cannibalism, and their dead are buried after two or three days of morning.[3]
[edit] Warfare
Currently, the Wari' are peaceful, but before the pacification they warred with neighboring tribes. Their most notable victories occurred over the Karipuna, a Tupi ethnicity, and the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau. With the European invasion in the early 20th century, the focus of their warfare shifted and they lost contact with the old wijam (enemy).
The Wari' consider enemies as "former Wari'" who have distanced themselves to the point of severing cultural exchanges. In spite of that, a Wari' warrior did not distinguish between an enemy and an animal, thus felt no need to be merciful or gracious to a human enemy any more than he would an animal. The bow and arrow was the primary weapon in Wari' warfare.[citation needed]
Once the battles were over, the Wari' warriors would bring home the bodies of the fallen enemies whenever possible. Those bodies would be served to the women and younger men who had stayed home, to strengthen the group. Those who had participated in the battle would retreat to the "men's house" and were subject to a quarantine, a period during which they would move around as little as possible, staying in their hammocks for most of the day and drinking only unfermented chicha. The purpose was to "keep the enemy's blood within the warrior's body", thus giving him strength. Sex was also prohibited, as they expected the blood of the enemy to "turn into semen", thus allowing the strength of the enemy to pass on to their children in the future. The warrior was not allowed to partake of the fallen enemies, because it was believed that since he had kept the enemy's blood within himself, the act would be self-cannibalism and result in the death of the warrior. Children were also prohibited from eating dead enemies. The quarantine would end when the women refused to continue preparing chicha.[citation needed]
[edit] Notes
[edit] References
- Conklin, B. (2001). Consuming Grief: Compassionate Cannibalism in an Amazonian Society. Austin: University of Texas Press.
