The Sateré-Maué tribe resides in the States of Amazonas and Pará in
the Amazon Basin of Brazil (Map).
Population: 7,134 (in 2000)
Region: Pará,Andirá and other rivers. May also be in Amazonas. More than 14 villages.
Alternate names: Maue, Mabue, Maragua, Satare, Andira, Arapium
Classification: Tupi, Mawe-Satere.
Comments: People are somewhat bilingual in Portuguese. Grammar. Literacy rate in first
language: 12%. Literacy rate in second language: Below 5%. NT 1986.
The areas in which the Sateré-Mawé live are called sítio. In this
space each family unit has its residence, where a fire is lit both for cooking
and for keeping the residents warm (the fire also serves to congregate the
family members around it). In their sítios families also have their
kitchen, built halfway between the house and the river, where the men roast
guaraná and the women prepare manioc meal. They also have their porto
(port), as they call the site on the river or igarapé (small Amazon
waterway) where the family members bathe, wash clothes, soak cassava, wash
guaraná and land their canoes. Sítios congregate all the family
unit’s fields: the guaraná fields and the roças (planting fields)
of cassava, pumpkin, yam, sweet potatoes, as well as the orchards.
The Sateré-Mawé are organized under the authority of the chief of the extensive
family, who lives in his sítio along with his children’s and
grandchildren’s families.
Subsistence is based on agriculture, especially on guaraná and cassava.
Manioc meal is the main staple; large quantities of it are also sold for the
neighboring towns of Maués, Barreirinha and Parintins. For their own consumption
the Sateré-Mawé plant also pumpkins, sweet potatoes, white and purple yams and
many fruits, especially oranges. In addition to expert farmers, they are hunters
and gatherers. Honey, brazil nuts, different varieties of coconuts, ants and
other insects complement the Sateré-Mawé diet. They also gather tar, vines and
different kinds of straw, used both for their own consumption and to be sold in
the towns. Through hunting and gathering men contribute to the group’s diet,
which is complemented by the manioc meal, beiju (tapioca) and tacacá
(porridge made of tapioca) made by the women.
The main expression of the Sateré-Mawé’s rich material culture is the
teçume, which is how they call the crafts manufactured by the men with
stalks and leaves of caranã, arumã and other Amazon plants, such
as sieves, baskets, tipitis (a kind of cylinder used for squeezing the
poison out of wild cassava), fans, bags, hats, walls, roofs etc.
Text from © Instituto Socioambiental. You can
find their web site here:
http://www.socioambiental.org/e/
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"Girl Catchers" - When you stick your finger in the flexible weave you cannot
pull it out when it is pulled against. The weave must be pushed against in
order to remove your finger. An interesting little conversation piece from the
Satere-Maue Indians.
