Total population | |
---|---|
2,672 | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Brazil | 2,502 (2014) [1] |
Guyana | 170 (2006) [1] |
Languages | |
Wai Wai language Various local languages | |
Religion | |
Christianity, Animism |
The Wai-wai (also written Waiwai or Wai Wai) are a Carib-speaking Indigenous people of Guyana and northern Brazil. Their society consists of different lowland forest peoples who have maintained much of their cultural identity with the exception of Christianity which was introduced to them in the late 1950s.
The Umana Yana in Georgetown, Guyana, takes its name from the Wai-Wai for "meeting place".
The explorer, Sir Robert Schomburgk, may have been the first western to have contact with the Wai-Wai in December 1837. He found one village on a tributary of the Essequebo river, along with two others on the Mapuera River in Brazil. Schomburgk describes the Wai-Wai as:
During the early 20th century, some of the Wai-Wai in Brazil moved further north. It is speculated that this is because of the influenza epidemic that nearly exterminated the Taruma tribe. From 1933 to 1938, the Wai-Wai people moved deeper in Guyana's interior to avoid the outsiders working with the Boundary Commission. [3]
The Wai-wai in Guyana live in the far south of the country, near the headwaters of the Essequibo River. There are approximately 200 Wai-wai in Guyana, region of the country known as Kanashen. It is also a community-owned conservation area. [3]
There are about 2,000 Wai-wai in Brazil, and they mostly reside in Terra Indígena Wai-wai, Terra Indígena Trombetas-Mapuera, and Terra Indígena Nhamundá-Mapuera. These are located mainly in the northern states of Roraima and Pará. Settlements include: Mapuera in Pará and Jatapu-zine, Catual, Cobra, Pequeno Paraíso in Roraima.
Though the Wai Wai are great hunters, they are also farmers. However, the light, thin soil they have to work with and an annual rainfall of 4 meters can make it very challenging to produce enough food. Their traditional method of farming was the 'slash and burn' method. [4]
The Wai Wai are known for their weaving. They twist cotton into yarn for weaving, but they (along with Arawak and Carib people) are known for their hammock weaving. All the hammocks are weaved on square hammock frames. [5] Their other artistic skills include pottery, woven combs, bone flutes, and other crafts.
Consuming primate meat is a source of pride for Waiwai, distinguishing them as “‘true’ forest people” and making them distinct from most other indigenous groups in Guyana. [6] Primate hunting can be a way to demonstrate masculinity and improve chances of betrothal. [6] Various primate body parts have different non-game uses, from saki tail dusters to bone arrow points. [6]
The Wai Wai have an affinity for musical instruments such as guitars, flutes, and hand drums. Often the Wai Wai people will craft their flutes and drums out of natural materials found in the surrounding Amazon rainforest.
Women play a crucial role in the Wai-Wai culture. In terms of Wai-Wai constructs, the men's success in terms of wealth and power are dependent on female labor and reproduction. [7] The size and stability of a village are dependent on cultural values and how relationships are tied. For the Wai-Wai, the relationship between a father and daughter lends a sense of control to the father over his daughter and son-in-law.
A village size is the indication of the level of political strength and riches, and thus heavily reliant on the women in the community.
Mansiya is marriage. For women, marriage cannot take place until after women have reached their first menses at around age thirteen. Most women are married by the age of seventeen.
The yaskomo of the Waiwai, also called a medicine man or shaman in literature, is believed to be able to perform a soul flight. The soul flight can serve several functions:
Thus, a yaskomo is believed to be able to reach sky, earth, water, in short, every element. [8]
Western influence has severely changed their traditional culture and religion. Many have converted to Christianity. [9] In 1949, many of the Wai-Wai people chose to migrate to Brazil following the heavy persecution, violent imprisonment and forceful extradition of Christian missionaries by the authoritarian government run by Forbes Burnham at the time. Many of the missionaries were well liked among much of the tribe. When the missions had to leave Guyana because their residence permits were not renewed, 700 Wai-Wai people followed them to Brazil. Some 150 Wai-Wai people left in Guyana fell under the influence of Christian Brethren Bible Outreach. [10]
There are several thousand speakers of the Wai Wai language, though the Carib-speaking Wai Wai Indians have close affinities to another Amazonian group known as the Arara.
The Wai Wai have a history of intermarriage with other indigenous groups who speak similar languages. [11] [12]
Wai-wai people are split between modern day Guyana and Brazil (Roraima).
The Wai-Wai people in the Konashen District of Guyana created the nation's first Community Owned Conservation Area (COCA). This area is legally protected under regulations passed by the Guyana parliament. 625,000-hectare is a protected area that was developed with the technical and financial support of Conservation International. The Wai-Wai people were given the formal title to this land in 2004, and has worked with Guyana's Environmental Protection Agency and the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs to develop COCA. The goal is that the area will bring economic benefit to the Wai Wai, and protect a large part of the rainforest. Because the Wai Wai have kept a deep cultural and spiritual relationship with the Earth, protecting natural resources and biodiversity in this region is a main objective. [14]
The COCA community is open to visitors all over the world, and protecting the plants and animals are valuable to the Wai-Wai's everyday life. The Wai-Wai people have said that the rainforest produces the air they breathe, keeps soil in place as not to clog waterways, provides foods (nuts, fruit, fresh fish), is a source for natural medicines, and many more. The Konashen Indigenous District in Southern Guyana is the headwaters of the Essequibo River. This river remains Guyana's main source for water, and drains the Kassikaityu, Kamoa, Sipu and Chodikar rivers. [15]
The Cariban languages are a family of languages indigenous to northeastern South America. They are widespread across northernmost South America, from the mouth of the Amazon River to the Colombian Andes, and they are also spoken in small pockets of central Brazil. The languages of the Cariban family are relatively closely related. There are about three dozen, but most are spoken only by a few hundred people. Macushi is the only language among them with numerous speakers, estimated at 30,000. The Cariban family is well known among linguists partly because one language in the family—Hixkaryana—has a default word order of object–verb–subject. Prior to their discovery of this, linguists believed that this order did not exist in any spoken natural language.
The Rupununi is a region in the south-west of Guyana, bordering the Brazilian Amazon. The Rupununi river, also known by the local indigenous peoples as Raponani, flows through the Rupununi region. The name Rupununi originates from the word rapon in the Makushi language, in which it means the black-bellied whistling duck found along the river.
The Warao are an indigenous Amerindian people inhabiting northeastern Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Suriname. Alternate common spellings of Warao are Waroa, Guarauno, Guarao, and Warrau. The term Warao translates as "the boat people", after the Warao's lifelong and intimate connection to the water. Most Warao inhabit Venezuela's Orinoco Delta region, with smaller numbers in neighbouring Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname. With a population of 49,271 people in Venezuela during the 2011 census, they were the second largest indigenous group after the Wayuu people. They speak an agglutinative language, Warao.
The Macushi are an indigenous people living in the borderlands of southern Guyana, northern Brazil in the state of Roraima, and in an eastern part of Venezuela.
The Wapishana or Wapichan are an indigenous group found in the Roraima area of northern Brazil and southern Guyana.
The Kalina, also known as the Caribs or mainland Caribs and by several other names, are an Indigenous people native to the northern coastal areas of South America. Today, the Kalina live largely in villages on the rivers and coasts of Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and Brazil. They speak a Cariban language known as Carib. They may be related to the Island Caribs of the Caribbean, though their languages are unrelated.
The Patamona are an Amerindian people native to the Pakaraima Mountains of Guyana and northern Brazil. They speak a Cariban language, Kapóng, and have often been referred to interchangeably as Akawaio or Ingariko. Patamona are considered a sub-group of Kapon people.
The Akawaio are an indigenous people who live in Roraima (Brazil), Guyana, and Venezuela. They are one of several closely related peoples called Ingarikó and Kapon. The Akawaio language is used by 5,000 to 6,000 speakers.
The Kalapalo are an indigenous people of Brazil. They are one of seventeen tribal groups who inhabit the Xingu National Park in the Upper Xingu River region of the state of Mato Grosso. They speak the Amonap language, a Cariban language, and one of four spoken languages in the area. They have a population of 569 as of 2010.
The Kassikaityu River is a tributary of the Essequibo River of Guyana.
The North Rupununi District in located in south-west Guyana consisting of a mixture of forest, savannah and wetlands ecosystems and is considered one of the most diverse areas in South America. Located on the eastern margin of the larger savannah system which extends into Brazil and is separated by the Ireng and Takutu rivers that come together to form the Rio Branco. The Guyana Rupununi system is divided into the North and South Rupununi by the Kanuku Mountains.
The Kanashen Community Owned Conservation (COCA) is Guyana's first community-owned area that is legally protected; it is primarily inhabited by the Wai-Wai indigenous group.
Wowetta is an indigenous village in the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo Region in Guyana. The village is mainly inhabited by Macushi people.
Waiwai is a Cariban language of northern Brazil, with a couple hundred speakers across the border in southern Guyana and Suriname.
Macushi is an indigenous language of the Carib family spoken in Brazil, Guyana and Venezuela. It is also referred to as Makushi, Makusi, Macuxi, Macusi,Macussi,Teweya or Teueia. It is the most populous of the Cariban languages. According to Instituto Socioambiental, the Macushi population is at an estimated 43,192, with 33,603 in Brazil, 9,500 in Guyana and 89 in Venezuela. In Brazil, the Macushi populations are located around northeastern Roraima, Rio Branco, Contingo, Quino, Pium and Mau rivers. Macuxi speakers in Brazil, however, are only estimated at 15,000.
Indigenous Guyanese, Native Guyanese or Amerindian Guyanese are Guyanese people who are of indigenous ancestry. They comprise approximately 9.16% of Guyana's population. Amerindians are credited with the invention of the canoe, as well as Cassava-based dishes and Guyanese pepperpot, the national dish of Guyana. Amerindian languages have also been incorporated in the lexicon of Guyanese Creole.
Audrey Joan Butt Colson, is a social anthropologist with a particular interest in the Amerindian peoples of Guyana, Brazil and Venezuela. She was, together with Peter Rivière, one of the pioneers of Amazonian anthropology at the University of Oxford.
Mount Roraima National Park is a national park in the state of Roraima, northern Brazil.
The Pidjanan languages are a subgroup of Arawakan languages of northern South America.
The Taruma are an indigenous people found in the northern Brazil, southern Guyana, and southern Suriname. They used to speak Taruma which is considered critically endangered. The Taruma in Suriname have merged with the Tiriyó, in Brazil they merged with the Wai-wai. The Wapishana village of Maruranau in Guyana still recognises the tribe.