Other Names: Kamaiurá, Camaiurá
Area: Xingu River, Mato Grosso, Brazil (Map).
The Kamaiurá have never withdrawn from their area of occupation, in the region
of the junction of the Kuluene and Kuliseu rivers, near the great lake of Ipavu,
which means, in the language of these people, “big water”.
Population (year 2002): 355
Language Root: Tupi-Guarani family
The Kamayura village follows the upper Xinguan model, with houses arranged
more or less in circular fashion, covered with sape grass, with a rounded roof
that reaches to the ground. In the center of this circular space there is a
patio or “plaza” (hoka´yterip) towards which all trails converge, leading both
to the dwelling-places and the public spaces, and where the house of the flutes
is built (tapuwí), crossed over the middle by the “path of the sun”. Instruments
of notable importance in Kamayura culture, the flutes (jakui) can only be seen
and touched by men.
The Kamayura village is formed by a group of houses, each of which is
occupied by a domestic group comprised of a core of brothers, to which are added
parallel cousins and eventual members of ascending generations. The leader of
this domestic group is the “owner of the house”, morerekwat, who coordinates
productive activities and other daily tasks that include the participation of
all the nuclear families. Ideally, residence rules define that in the first
years of marriage, the husband should live in the house of his wife’s parents,
paying through his services for the concession of their daughter. Having
completed this period, the married couple can choose a new residence, which is
generally the husband’s house of origin.
Many of the goods traded in the moitará are produced according to the system
of specializations of each ethnic group. In the upper Xinguan system of
specialized trades, the production of bows was attributed to the Kamayura,
highly-skilled in their fabrication. But the introduction of firearms in the
area greatly affected the the utility of the bow, which today is more a symbol
of the group than a trade article. The Kamayura still consider themselves
excellent specialists in baskets, arrow-throwers used in the Jawari, canoes of
jatobá bark, hammocks, fishnets, and the jakui flute. They even say they are the
best in house construction.
Text from © Instituto Socioambiental. You can
find their web site here:
http://www.socioambiental.org/e/
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The Kamayura Indians live in the region of the Xingu River (Alto Xingu, Mato Grosso state), 800
kilometers to the northeast of Brasília city. This population, from the
linguistic family Tupi-Guarani, may originally be from the coast of Maranhão
state and probably emigrated from this region in the beginning of the 17th
century to settle down in the Alto Xingu region, where other Indian groups had
already lived.
Despite the great
variety of origins and languages, these tribes have a defined cultural area.
They are the "uluri area" tribes, also known as "xinguanas"
tribes, who live in the south part of Xingu Park. In the north there are other
tribes with whom the Kamayura managed to have sporadic contacts, often not very
friendly, along their migration process. Nowadays, these tribes tend to have
better relations due to the pressure of the white men to solve their common
survival problems. (Text from the Kamayura - Urubu Kaapor website)
Origin Myth - The
Kamayura hold that in the beginning there was only night. It was so dark, in
fact, that people could not see to hunt or fish or plant, and so were slowly
starving to death. Then they discovered that the birds owned day and decided to
get it from them. Ultimately, they were successful, and day was sent to the
Kamayura decked in the brilliant plumage of the red macaw. (from Robert
L. Carneiro, American Museum of Natural History)
Additional Information
Kamayuras - photos
Kamayura - SIL International
Kamayura: a language of Brazil
Vocabulário camaiurá (Kamayura/Kamayurá)
Adote Um Povo Kamayurá Perfil
Kamayurá
Kamayura Vocabulary
