Area: Xingu Indigenous Park, in Mato Grosso State, Brazil (Map).
The Waura inhabit the area surrounding Piyulaga Lake, a name which may be
translated as ‘place’ or ‘fishing camp,’ and which also supplies the name of the
village. The lake is linked by a channel to the right shore of the lower Batovi
river, in the western region of the basin formed by the affluents of the upper
Xingu river, in the state of Mato Grosso.
Other Names: Wauja, Vaurá, Aurá
Population: 333 (in 2001)
Language Root: Waura, Aruak family, Maipure group
First Contact: 1884
Approximately 270 people (from a census by the author made in June 2001)
reside in a single circular village (figure 2), with the typical Xinguano system
of a central plaza and a house of flutes. Another 63 people live in other
localities within the Xingu Indigenous Park (XIP). The residential units in Piyulaga are slowly breaking with the pattern –
frequently cited in the Xinguano literature – involving the cohabitation of the
various kin of an extended family and their affines. Of the 17 residences
existing in October 2000, 12 were inhabited by one or two couples and their
children, while only 5 residences were inhabited by extended families of kin and
affines. The rules of uxorilocality (a rule by which the couple lives in the
woman’s house after marriage) and virilocality (the couple lives in the man’s
house after marriage) exist concomitantly, seemingly without one prevailing
other the other.
Despite the process of technological change under way since 1884 – when Karl
von den Steinen made contact with the Waura and relations with non-Indians
became more systematic – many items of traditional material culture still remain
in use, including those that could be easily substituted for plastic, glass or
metallic items. But it is for symbolic – much more than functional – reasons,
that traditional artifacts continue to perform a role in the reproduction of
Waura culture.
Material culture is also responsible for the reproduction of Waura culture
for the exterior, not only on the ‘White man’s’ market, but also within the
Indigenous Park as a whole. For example, requests for bead waistbands with
designs are made by the Kayapó of Jarina-Capoto, an area to the north of the
Park. The artifacts of Waura material culture are highly appreciated and some of
the most successful items on the market of Brazilian indigenous craftwork. Their
very distinctive pottery is an emblem of their ethnicity. Today, pottery has an
extraordinary weight in the economic sustenance of the acquisition of
industrialized goods.
Next to ceramics, weaving is one of the most expressive graphic elements of
Waura material culture. Their graphic system is built around the combination of
five basic graphic elements: 1) triangles (rectangular and isosceles), 2)
points, 3) circles, 4) quadrilaterals (lozenges, squares, rectangles and
trapezoids) and 5) lines (straight and curved) (Coelho 1993 and Barcelos Neto
1996). As in any system of decorative art, it is the standardized combinations
of basic elements that determines the formation of a motif. Waura design
utilizes approximately 40 to 45 motifs in the decoration of material culture,
excluding many others used especially in body painting. Despite this rich
variety of graphical motifs, only 16 motifs are employed with any frequency,
and, among these, the kulupienê motif (figure 3) has been designed with a
very high frequency on all types of substrates since the first historical report
on the Xinguanos in 1884. This motif has also been identified on pottery from
the 12th century.
The Waura possess three main types of basket: mayapalu, mayaku
and tirumakana. The first, with an open weave and without designs, is
used to transport cargo and briefly store manioc; the latter two, with a closed
weave, display a dazzling variety of graphic designs. All baskets are made
exclusively by men. Their uses basically follow the principles of the sexual
division of labor: the woven fishing basket is for male use while the domestic
basket is for female use. The large-scale mayaku (60x50x20 cm) is
fabricated in special contexts as payment for ritual services to the sponsors of
mask and flute festivals. The large baskets – objects requiring a high degree of
technical skill and experience – have a higher symbolic value than the smaller
baskets, which are usually made by young apprentices and more recently have been
made to supply the ‘tourist art’ market.
Text from © Instituto Socioambiental. You can find
their web site here:
http://www.socioambiental.org/e/
Additional Information
Waura - SIL International
Vocabulário uaurá/vaurá (Waura/Waurá)
Waurá
BARCELOS NETO, Aristóteles / Arte, Estética e Cosmologia entre os Índios Waurá da Amazônia Meridional.
The Rankin Museum - photos
Coelho, Vera Penteado - 1983 Un
Eclipse do Sol na Aldeia Waura. Journal de la Societe des Americanistes 69:149-67.
Schultz, Harald - 1965 Lendas Waura. Revista do Museu Paulista 16:21-149.
