Kayapo

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For the language, see Kayapó language.
Mebêngôkre
Kayapó
Total population
8,638 (2010)[1]
Regions with significant populations
 Brazil (Mato Grosso, Pará)[1]
Languages
Kayapo language

The Kayapo (Portuguese: Caiapó [käjäˈpɔ]) people are the indigenous people in Brazil who inhabit a vast area spreading across the states of Pará and Mato Grosso, south of the Amazon River and along Xingu River and its tributaries. This pattern has given rise to the nickname the Xingu tribe.[1] They are one of the various subgroups of the great Mebêngôkre nation (people from the water’s source).[2] The term "Kayapo" is used by neighbouring groups rather than the Kayapo themselves. They refer to outsiders as "Poanjos".

The type of sweet potato that forms an important part of the Kayapó diet is sometimes named "caiapo", after the tribe.[3] It is cultivated under that name in Japan, and has been found to have health benefits.[4]

Location

See also: Kayapó Indigenous Territory

The Kayapo tribe lives alongside the Xingu River in the most east part of the Amazon Rainforest, in the Amazon basin, in several scattered villages ranging in population from one hundred to one thousand people in Brazil.[5] Their land consists of tropical rainforest savannah (grassland) and is arguably the largest tropical protected area in the entire world, covering 11,346,326 hectares of Neotropical forests and scrubland containing many endangered species.[6] They have small hills scattered around their land and the area is criss-crossed by river valleys. The larger rivers feed into numerous pools and creeks, most of which don’t have official names.

In 2018, there was an estimated 8,638 Kayapo people,[1] which is an increase from 7,096 in 2003.[7] Subgroups of the Kayapo include the Xikrin, Gorotire, Mekranoti and Metyktire. Their villages typically consist of a dozen huts. A centrally located hut serves as a meeting place for village men to discuss community issues.[8]

Name

The term Kayapo, also spelled Caiapó or Kaiapó, came from neighboring peoples in the early 19th century and means "those who look like monkeys". This name is probably based on a Kayapó men's ritual involving monkey masks. The autonym for one village is Mebêngôkre, which means "the men from the water hole." Other names for them include Gorotire, Kararaô, Kuben-Kran-Krên, Kôkraimôrô, Mekrãgnoti, Metyktire, and Xikrin.[9]

Appearance

The Kayapo use intricate black body paint covering their entire bodies. They believe that their ancestors learned their social skills from insects, so they paint their bodies to mimic them and to better communicate with the Spirit that exists everywhere. The black body paint also allows them to blend into their surroundings when hunting in the forests. To help find their way through the forest, the Kayapo paint their legs with red pigment that rubs off on the surrounding terrain.[10] The colors that a Kayapo wears is representative of their tribe's colors.

Older generations of Kayapo men wear disks in their lower lips, but the practice is less common among younger Kayapo men.[2] The men adorn themselves with radiating feathers, representing the universe, in their hair. Kayapo men also can be seen with rope in their hair, to represent the rope which the first Kayapo used to arrive from the sky.[11] Traditionally, Kayapo men cover their lower bodies with sheaths.[clarification needed] Due to increased contact with outside cultures, contemporary Kayapo often wear Western-style clothing such as shorts. Kayapo chiefs wear a headdress made out of bright yellow feathers to represent the rays of the sun.[11] The feathers used in their headdresses are from birds native to their area such as hyacinth macaw and crested oropendola. The birds found in the Amazon are naturally bright-colored; the Kayapo do not dye the feathers.[12] Kayapo children wear cloth or beaded bands with colors representing their tribes. Typically these bands are tied below the waist or crisscrossed around the torso. When the child become of age, they go through a naming ceremony in which they wear large yellow headdresses.

Kayapo women can be distinguished by the V shape shaved into their hair.[11]

Language

They speak the Kayapo language, which belongs to the Jê language family. The Kayapo are split into many groups, resulting in different dialects of their language. The Kayapo value oratory highly, calling themselves those who speak beautifully (Kaben mei) when compared to other indigenous groups. Beauty is valued highly in the Kayapo culture. A beautiful name is seen as a sign of wealth. The tribe will move and re-construct their camp in order to find the materials required to undertake the naming ceremony eg. Sufficient food sources for celebration must be gathered and presented to the father of the new-born.[13] During certain occasions, Kayapo men may speak as if someone is punching them in the stomach. The Kayapo possess varying knowledge of Portuguese, depending on the individual groups and their history of contact with outsiders.–

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Botany and agriculture

External videos
video icon Kayapó Headdress: a glimpse of life in the Amazon rainforest, Smarthistory at Khan Academy, (5:15), November 25, 2014

The resource patterns of the Kayapo are non-destructive to the resource base but require a very large area of land.[6] The Kayapo people use shifting cultivation, a type of farming where land is cultivated for a few years, after which the people move to a new area. New farmland is cleared and the old farm is allowed to lie fallow and replenish itself.[14] The particular type of shifting agriculture employed most frequently by the Kayapo is the slash and burn technique. This process allows forested areas to be cut down and burned in order for cultivation of the lands to take place. These “new fields” “peak in production of principal domesticated crops in two or three years but continue to reproduce for many years; e.g., sweet potatoes for four to five years, yams and taro for five to six years, manioc for four to six years, and papaya for five or more years”.[6] Old fields are important for their concentration of medicinal plants.[6] With the spread of indigenous groups, trail-side plantings and “forest fields” were also used for cultivating crops.[6] Trails systems were extensive in the area and were used for transporting and growing crops along their margins. The field system was done by utilizing either naturally occurring or man made clearings in the forest for crop cultivation which required little maintenance afterward.[15] The Kayapo also cultivated “war gardens” which were hidden plots used as a resource in times of food scarcity.[15]

The Kayapo use approximately 250 different food plants and 650 different medicinal plants that they find around their village.[16]

They also have trade agreements with The Body Shop.[17]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Mebêngôkre (Kayapó)". Povos Indígenas no Brasil. Retrieved October 27, 2018.
  2. ^ a b Posey, Darrell A (2002). Kayapó Ethnoecology and Culture. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-27791-4.
  3. ^ "Caiapo Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas) Shows Beneficial Effects of Improving Insulin Resistance". BioFoundations. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  4. ^ Ludvik, Bernhard; Waldhäusl, Werner; Prager, Rudolf; Kautzky-Willer, Alexandra; Pacini, Giovanni (2003). "Mode of action of ipomoea batatas (caiapo) in type 2 diabetic patients". Metabolism. 52 (7): 875–880. doi:10.1016/S0026-0495(03)00073-8. ISSN 0026-0495. PMID 12870164. Closed access icon
  5. ^ Dowie, Mark (2009). "Chapter 15". Conservation Refugees: The Hundred-Year Conflict between Global Conservation and Native People. The MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-01261-4.
  6. ^ a b c d e Posey, Darrel A. (2008). "Indigenous Management of Tropical Forest Ecosystems: The Case of the Kayapo Indians of the Brazilian Amazon". In Dove, Michael R.; Carpenter, C. (eds.). Environmental Anthropology: A Historical Reader. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4051-1125-6. Part 1.1.
  7. ^ "Bruce Parry's Amazon - About The Journey - The Kayapo". BBC UK. Retrieved January 16, 2012.
  8. ^ Popovic, Mislav. "Kayapo". Traditions And Customs. Retrieved January 16, 2012.
  9. ^ "Name: Kayapo". Povos Indígenas no Brasil. Retrieved January 16, 2012.
  10. ^ National Geographic (2014-03-31), Martin Schoeller: Kayapo Warrior Tribe | Nat Geo Live, retrieved 2016-12-19
  11. ^ a b c "Kayapo | TraditionsCustoms.com". traditionscustoms.com. Retrieved 2016-12-19.
  12. ^ Smarthistory. art, history, conversation. (2014-11-25), Kayapó Headdress: a glimpse of life in the Amazon rainforest, retrieved 2016-12-19{{citation}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ Turner, Terence (1989). "Kayapo - Out of the Forest" (Documentary). Granada Studios. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
  14. ^ Wilson, Edward O., ed. (1988). Biodiversity, Part 3. National Academies Press. p. 140. ISBN 0-309-03739-5.
  15. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference posey2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ McConnell, Douglas John (2003). The forest farms of Kandy: and other gardens of complete design. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 108. ISBN 0-7546-0958-8.
  17. ^ "Kayapo: The Body Shop states its case". Retrieved January 16, 2012.

External link

Media related to Caiapós at Wikimedia Commons

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