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Hands Around the World |
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Hands Around the World |
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Indian Cultures from Around the World
The Sateré-Maué tribe resides in the States of Amazonas and Pará in the Amazon Basin of Brazil (Map).
Population: 7,134 (in 2000)
Region: Pará,Andirá and other rivers. May also be in Amazonas. More than 14 villages.
Alternate names: Maue, Mabue, Maragua, Satare, Andira, Arapium
Classification: Tupi, Mawe-Satere.
Comments: People are somewhat bilingual in Portuguese. Grammar. Literacy rate in first language: 12%. Literacy rate in second language: Below 5%. NT 1986.
The areas in which the Sateré-Mawé live are called sítio. In this space each family unit has its residence, where a fire is lit both for cooking and for keeping the residents warm (the fire also serves to congregate the family members around it). In their sítios families also have their kitchen, built halfway between the house and the river, where the men roast guaraná and the women prepare manioc meal. They also have their porto (port), as they call the site on the river or igarapé (small Amazon waterway) where the family members bathe, wash clothes, soak cassava, wash guaraná and land their canoes. Sítios congregate all the family unit’s fields: the guaraná fields and the roças (planting fields) of cassava, pumpkin, yam, sweet potatoes, as well as the orchards.
The Sateré-Mawé are organized under the authority of the chief of the extensive family, who lives in his sítio along with his children’s and grandchildren’s families.Subsistence is based on agriculture, especially on guaraná and cassava. Manioc meal is the main staple; large quantities of it are also sold for the neighboring towns of Maués, Barreirinha and Parintins. For their own consumption the Sateré-Mawé plant also pumpkins, sweet potatoes, white and purple yams and many fruits, especially oranges. In addition to expert farmers, they are hunters and gatherers. Honey, brazil nuts, different varieties of coconuts, ants and other insects complement the Sateré-Mawé diet. They also gather tar, vines and different kinds of straw, used both for their own consumption and to be sold in the towns. Through hunting and gathering men contribute to the group’s diet, which is complemented by the manioc meal, beiju (tapioca) and tacacá (porridge made of tapioca) made by the women.
The main expression of the Sateré-Mawé’s rich material culture is the teçume, which is how they call the crafts manufactured by the men with stalks and leaves of caranã, arumã and other Amazon plants, such as sieves, baskets, tipitis (a kind of cylinder used for squeezing the poison out of wild cassava), fans, bags, hats, walls, roofs etc.
Text from © Instituto Socioambiental. You can find their web site here: http://www.socioambiental.org/e/
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All photos property of Hands Around the World.
Click on the thumbnail pictures below for a full-size picture, then click the top-left BACK button to return.
"Girl Catchers" - When you stick your finger in the flexible weave you cannot pull it out when it is pulled against. The weave must be pushed against in order to remove your finger. An interesting little conversation piece from the Satere-Maue Indians.
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Additional Information
International - City's Bright Lights Prove Big Let Down for ... - ... of a dozen Satere Maue Indian families in the Santo Dumant section of town.
Satere Maue - SIL International
SATERÉ-MAWÉ: a language of Brazil
Fittipaldi, Cica. A Lenda do Guaraná [The Legend of the Guarana Tree]. Sao Paulo, Brazil: Melhoramentos, 1986. LANGUAGE: Portuguese. Curric. 469 F547L. This myth explains the relationship between the Satere-Maue Indians of Brazil and the guarana tree. Many of the rituals of the tribe center around the guarana tree, a symbol for life itself. The women of the tribe prepare a drink from the fruit of the guarana, which is drunk for good luck. The artist's black and white drawings and paintings in acrylics reflect her understanding of the culture of this South American Indian tribe.
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