Karo (people of Brazil)
The Karo ( Portuguese : Arara , other names: Arara de rondônia, Arara Karo, Arara Tupi, Ntogapíd, Ramaráma, Urukú, Urumí ) are an indigenous people group on the right bank of the middle course of the Rio Ji-Paraná in the state of Rondônia in Brazil . They live in the two villages of Iterap and Paygap in the southern part of the Igarapé Lourdes area, which is reserved for indigenous groups . Their traditional enemies, the Ikolen, live in the same area(Gavião de Rondônia). The Karo were first contacted in the late 1940s. As a result, hundreds of them died of contagious diseases and the survivors went to the rubber workers.
They embarked on a non-indigenous lifestyle, but their medicine men are still considered very powerful by all indigenous people in the neighboring regions.
Surname
Arara is the Portuguese word for macaw parrots . In their own language they are called diamonds . The terms Arara de rondônia , Arara Karo or Arara Tupi are used to distinguish the Karo from other indigenous peoples, also known as Arara.
language
The Karo language is the only living language of the Ramarama language family , which belongs to the Tupí tribe .
Practically all of the Karo living in the two villages of Iterap and Paygap speak Karo and have learned Portuguese as a second language. Some diamonds who were in the service of settlers only speak Portuguese, but understand diamonds perfectly, with the others they communicate bilingually. There are also some Karo who speak or understand the Gavião , the language of the icons , which can be traced back to marriages between the two ethnic groups.
geography
The Karo have always lived in what is now the area, the Igarapé de Lourdes reserve . The reserve is approximately 190,000 km² and is legally recognized by the federal judiciary. A third of the area "belongs" to the diamonds, the rest is intended for the icons.
The closest town to the two Karo villages is Ji-Paraná , about 70 km by road during the dry season or about three hours by boat during the rainy season.
history
The history of diamonds has only been understandable since contact with non-indigenous people. The Karo were first contacted in the late 1940s. As a result, hundreds of them died of contagious diseases, mainly pneumonia, flu and measles, and the few that survived worked with non-indigenous people in the affected area.
It was not until the late 1960s that an employee of the Serviço de Proteção ao Índio (SPI) managed to get the diamonds to move and live with the icons. After much dispute, the Karo decided in the mid-1980s to found their own village. It originated near the Igarapé da Prainha River , about five km from its confluence with the Rio Machado .
At the beginning of the 1990s there were internal power disputes as a result of which the then chief Pedro Agamenon and his family group founded his own village elsewhere on the reserve, which is now called Paygap.
population
In 1987, after the first village had just been built, there were about 100 inhabitants. In 2006 the population of the now two villages was 208, two thirds of which live in the village of Iterap and the other third in the village of Paygap. There are seldom marriages, both of men and women, with ikoles and, even more rarely, marriages of Karo with Zoró Indians who live in the neighboring area. There are few marriages of diamonds with non-indigenous people. Children from mixed marriages first learn the languages of both parents and later Portuguese.
Social order
In the course of the roughly 60 years that the Karo have been in contact with the population around them, their traditional social organization and cultural activities have increasingly lost their importance or have disappeared completely. Reports from the elders showed that there were traditional festivals, such as the festival of the maize harvest, and that young people were also included until the time of marriage. There were two different groups of diamonds: the current diamonds and the so-called "black feet", who probably spoke a different dialect. Although they lived in neighboring areas and were on good terms with each other, on some occasions the two groups harbored such strong grudges against each other that deaths occurred on both sides.
The old customs have survived to this day that married people have to work for their father-in-law (field work, hunting, fishing, etc.) until the latter releases him from this work. This custom can also be observed in intermarriage between Karo and other indigenous people.
There have also been some cases of Karo and non-indigenous marriages, but this is generally not welcomed by members of the community.
It is not known what the traditional system of naming newborns was, but diamond children are given as many diamond names as Portuguese names, usually by their parents and / or grandparents. The meaning of the diamond names always relates to a physical characteristic of the child or an episode at birth or during pregnancy.
The houses in the villages are no longer built in the traditional way. They are made of wood, some of them already made of bricks. They have a living room and two or three bedrooms. The kitchen is built separately from straw as an annex to the house. It is the coolest place and as such a good place to stay during the greatest heat of the day.
Mythology and Shamanism
Little is known about the cosmology of the diamond. In some of the surviving myths , reference is made to the creation of the "white" man from a jatoba tree or the duality between good and evil is shown in the form of two brothers, one virtuous and one impudent, who bravely venture through the forest until the first denies second kills.
None of the traditional rituals are currently practiced. There are several medicine men who are all highly respected, both in their own community and by members of other tribes, but their responsibilities in the village seem to be limited to advising the community and no longer include the actions typical of medicine men, like shamanism, ritual conversations, elaboration of chants, etc.
Material culture
The traditional art of plaid can still be seen in the manufacture of handicrafts, such as various body decorations (necklaces made from different seeds, bracelets, headdresses, etc.), objects for the house (basket weaving, hammocks made of palm fibers and cotton, brooms, fronds, etc.) , or items for hunting (bow and arrow). Clay vessels are no longer made. Most of the women sew their own clothes from pieces of fabric bought in the city.
The diamonds usually painted their faces with jenipapo . They painted a thin line from one side of the face to the other. They drilled a hole in the inner nose to hang a macaw's feather in and used a small hole in the lower lip. Although they are no longer used today, these openings can still be seen on the older ones.
During the dry season, they fish using Timbórinde , a piscicidal climbing plant that is also used by other peoples in the region , with which they poison the fish. During the rainy season they fish with a fishing rod or with a net. There are a few diamonds who still prefer the more traditional means of fishing, such as a bow and arrow.
Hunting is generally done with rifles. Traditionally made hiding places made of straw are still used to hunt birds, especially the larger ones.
present
Today the Karo, together with the Ikolen, have a legal organization, the Associação Panderej (Panderej Association), through which they are linked to Brazilian society, for example in the development of alternative economic projects, the demand for improvement of health programs, the Request for patrols to remove fishermen from the reserve, etc.
Although there have been problems with owners in their area in the past, the Karo and Ikolen, together with employees of the Funai and the Federal Police, managed to evict the owners in the mid-1980s and there have been no problems of this kind since then.
There are indigenous schools in both villages, sponsored and maintained by Seduc-RO , the state education office that maintains a contract system with the indigenous teachers and trains them, with the exception of literacy in their own language. Sporadically, non-indigenous teachers from the state and municipal network are sent to the villages to teach Portuguese, mathematics and sciences at a complementary level.
The Funasa is responsible for the health of the Karo, which created and maintains a good infrastructure in the villages, with bathrooms for every family, several water wells with petrol-powered pumps, amateur radio for possible emergencies, etc. The authority also has contracts with representatives for health and hygiene in the two villages and is responsible for the improvement of the representatives through participation in courses and targeted training measures. Funasa technicians have already drawn up plans for drilling artesian wells and connecting all houses to a water supply system.
The Karo have good relations with the Funai. There is currently no non-governmental organization operating in this area. Two missionary institutions have relationships with the Karo, a Catholic and a Protestant, the latter since the 1980s.
Occasionally there were conflicts between the Karo and the people around them. Once a group of Indians went to the nearest farm to buy cattle. The meeting ended in drunkenness and misunderstandings and cost an Indian his life.
For a relatively long period (from 1990 to 1996) there were loggers in the area. They either worked on their own account, bypassing the Indians, or in consultation with Indian leaders. Since 1996, the illegal logging activity has been replaced by other activities developed for the Karo during this period, such as cattle breeding, fish farming, planting fruit trees and coffee, natural extraction of an extract from Copaíba and straw for making furniture.
After a spelling had been established for the language of the Karo, the first two books could already be published in this language: a primer for literacy and a book with reports of old Indians about the time of contact with the whites.
The project of literacy in the language of the indigenous people is currently being continued through the training of indigenous teachers so that they can gradually pass on their knowledge to their students.
Individual evidence
- ^ Nilson Gabas Jr .: Povos Indígenas no Brasil, Karo. In: Instituto Socioambiental. (English), ( Portuguese )