|
|
Hands Around the World |
|
|
|
Hands Around the World |
|
Indian Cultures from Around the World
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.
-----------------------------------------
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/
-----------------------------------------
Photo property of Hands Around the World. Click on the thumbnail for a full-size picture, then click the top-left BACK button to return.
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
The Tupi - Guaranian family is probably the best studied Native American languages group
Arquivo Multimeios - Índios Assurini - photos
Click here to visit our Native American Indian
market for baskets, pottery, and other hand made crafts
Hands Around the World
111 E. Main, Jonesborough, Tennessee 37659
Phone: (423) 753-8177 Fax: (423) 913-2489
E-mail: handsaroundtheworld@earthlink.net
