Area: Xingu - Para, Brazil (Map)
Other Names: Asurini, Asurinikin, Surini, Awaeté
Population (year 2002): 106 - In 1971, the population was approximately 100
individuals and in 1982 was 52. In 1992 the population was 66 Asurini which went
up to 72 in 1994. In 1992, the Asurini population 106, composed of 33 women, 18
men and 55 youths and infants.
Language Root: Asurini, of the family Tupi-Guarani
First Contact: 1971
Economy: Hunting and Fishing
The
word Assurini means "Red People". The Assurini have produced an
unusual type of pottery for generations. At present there are only 10
women left in the world that can make this particular pottery. Each design is
particular to the individual artist. The designs are the same that are
traditionally used for their corporal painting. These designs may also be seen
on such things as their bowls made from a gourd type plant. The geometric
designs are a visual system of autonomy and are a stylization of their natural
environment - Mother Nature. In another aspect, it is a quick glimpse of their
Cosmology view. Each design has a specific name and may represent an
interpretation of a turtle or jaguar or jabuti. The high gloss on the pots is a
natural tree resin (breu do jutai), making this a natural varnish. The red color
is an extract of a plant called "urucum". The pots are fired in an
open wood fire, then the resin crust is applied. The thinness of the pots show
(anthropologically speaking) the exceptional ability of the Assurini as
ceramicists. The pots are produced to hold liquid food and are painted for pure
artistic personal enjoyment.
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The only existing village is located on the right bank of the Xingu
River. Asurini gardens,
hunting, fishing, and gathering places are situated between the banks of the
Xingu and Piranhaquara rivers and the Piaçava stream. From time to time, they go
to the headwaters of the Xingu, where their ancient villages were located. Presently, the population is comprised of 33 women, 18 men, and 55
young men and children, totaling 106 individuals. In large part, the
demographic recovery is due to an increase of the infant population and,
consequently, a change in the pattern of family composition, along with
interethnic marriages.
Besides hunting, fishing and gathering, agriculture is the main
subsistence activity of the Asurini, and manioc represents the basic element of
their diet. In their gardens they cultivate various species of manioc, consumed
in different ways, manioc cereal being the principal product. They also cultivate corn (for which there are restrictions to be
followed in its planting), yams, sweet potato, tobacco, cotton, urucum, peanuts,
beans, watermelon, bananas. Following the sexual division of labor, it is up to
the men to prepare the soil (cutting, felling, burning, and secondary burning)
and to the women the planting and gathering.
Gathering is an activity that men and women do. The principal products
are fruit and the turtle, one of the favorite dishes of the Asurini. Hunting is
a male activity with wild pig the preference. Collective fishing is done in the summer, in the streams, lakes, and
places of the river that permit the use of traditional techniques, such as plant
poison in water that is naturally dammed-up or through the
construction of earthen dams. The fish are shot with arrows or gathered in
baskets. Completing this equipment, they use a series of traps and, in the
winter, they generally fish with hooks and nylon line
Asurini material culture includes the following items: ceramics,
weaving, basketry, weapons, body ornaments, wooden benches and musical
instruments (flutes). Ceramics and weaving (hammocks, slings, headbands and
other ornaments made of cotton) are the women’s tasks. Ceramic pots serve as
recipients to transport and deposit water, serve food and prepare it over the
fire. In the latter case, these are earthen vessels which have become black with
use. For other uses, ceramics are decorated with geometric designs.
Ceramics are prepared from a clay that is obtained from deposits two
or three kilometers away from the village, located near the banks of the Xingu
River. The vessels are made by using the technique of cording, that is, the
overlaying of rolls of clay. The form of the vessel takes shape from the fusion
of the rolls together and with the help of a spatula made from a gourd.
With this also, the potter does the initial smoothing of the piece which will
later be complemented during the drying of the piece, using the fruit of the inajá or a rolling stone. The border of the vessels is
usually shaped with the fingers or by using a species of lichen that makes it
fine and uniform. After drying, the vessel is initially burned, being placed
near the fire until its surface appears very dark. Later it is burned in an
oxidizing atmosphere with the barks of different types of trees.
The final touches on the undecorated pieces are made by applying a
layer of a substance contained in the inner bark of the stalk of a tree, giving
them a reddish-brown color. In the painting of the decorated pieces, mineral raw
material is used, that is, small stones of three colors: yellow, red and black. These stones are rubbed onto another
larger one, thus producing the dye. The yellow one is used as a base, painting
the entire external surface of the piece with this color. The black and red are
used in the elaboration of geometric designs. These are done with paintbrushes
that can be made of small pieces of wood covered with cotton, palm leaf stems,
plant stems or feather fiber. After finishing the painting, the piece is
left to dry. Afterwards, a layer of resin from the jatobá tree is passed over the external surface of the piece, polishing it
and fixing the dye.
Besides ceramics, geometric designs also decorate the gourds
(incised), bows and ornaments (traced). From a vast repertoire of motifs and
patterns of designs used in the decoration of these items of material culture,
there are those that are used to ornament the body, either by tattoing or
painting with genipapo. These designs are stylizations of elements from nature,
as well as representations of supernatural beings or symbolic elements, such as
Anhynga kwasiat (a mythical being that gave the design to men) and Taingawa (a
doll used in shamanic rituals and that also means “image, model, replica of the
human being”).
Text from © Instituto Socioambiental. You can
find their web site here:
http://www.socioambiental.org/e/
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Assurini Pot
Additional Information
The Assurini Indian Tribe of the Amazon Rainforest
- The Raintree Website contains in-depth important information and photographs
of the Amazon Rainforest including it's Indian tribes.
Assurini
- SIL International
Assurini
vocabulary
The
Tupi - Guaranian family is probably the best studied Native American
languages group
Arquivo
Multimeios - Índios Assurini - photos
