Natureza Divina

Os Índios Kaxinawa
The Kaxinawa constitute an ethnic indigenous group located on the Brazilian-Peruvian frontier, in the states of Acre, southern Amazon and eastern Peru. They speak Pano, but there are small variations between the culture and the language of the different tribes. According to the 2000 census, 1.400 habitants from this ethnic group were living in Brazil while a 1999 study showed that in Peru there were 3.964 habitants.

The first stories of contacts with travelers speak of the rivers Muru, Humaitá and Iboiçu, affluents of the Envira, which is in turn, an affluent of river Juruá, and the origin of the Kaxinawa region. By the 18th century, colonizers had already started to carry out invasions in this region in search of slaves. At the end of the 19th century, the invasions became more frequent as a result of rubber exploration, intensifying in the beginning of the 20th century, bringing a change in customs, sicknesses and consequently conflicts. Some groups decided throughout the years to recluse into the forests, isolated from contact with the 'white man', while others ended up taking advantage of this contact and started using things like axes and rifles in there day to day lives. This contact ended up bringing the decimation of villages with up to 75% of its population dying from measles.

Today productive activities revolve around the hunt and fishing, planting and the harvest. They plant bananas, cassava, beans, peanuts and cotton in roçados. The hunt is done exclusively by the men, and is taught at a very young age. Children are surrounded by techniques and rituals, on how to observe the habits of each animal, recognize their tracks and imitate their sounds. Fishing is done by both men and women, using the timbó, a poisonous vine, that when diluted in water, kills the fish and causes them to float up to the surface, making it easier to capture them.

Kaxinawa art revolves around Kene Kuin, a style of design used with the dye from the jenipapo fruit, to decorate the bodies of the members of the community for special occasions. This type of painting is also applied to objects for everyday use, such as baskets and mats.

Rituals vary according to the time of year and correspond with the harvest, fertility, rite of passage into adulthood, weddings and other events.

Kaxinawa continue to base there shamanic vision on the concept of yuxin. They don?t see spirituality (yuxin) as something supernatural, but something which is incorporated by plants and animals, the nature which surrounds us. According to the Kaxinawa conception, this spiritual presence permeates all live phenomenon in the earth, in the water and the sky.

The ritual use of Ayahuasca, considered a privilege which only the shaman of the different communities of the Amazon use, is practiced collectively by the Kaxinawa, which are in search of establishing a connection with the spiritual world (yuxin) in order to understand it better. The shaman who searches to know and to relate to the yuxin is indispensable for the well-being of the community.