The Kalapalo are one of the seventeen Brazilian indigenous tribes who inhabit the Xingu National Park

Xingu National Park

The Parque Nacional Xingu is located in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil and was created on April 14, 1961, signed by President Jânio Quadros. The area of the park is 2,642,003 ha., and it is contained in the municipalities of Mato Grosso; Canarana, Paranatinga, São Félix do Araguaia, São José do...

 in the Upper Xingu river

Xingu River

The Xingu River , also called Rio Xingu, is a 1,230-mile long, river in north Brazil; it is a southeast tributary of the Amazon River.-Description and history:...

 region of the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso

Mato Grosso

Mato Grosso is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest in area, located in the western part of the country.Neighboring states are Rondônia, Amazonas, Pará, Tocantins, Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul. It also borders Bolivia to the southwest...

. They are also one of the four peoples speaking Cariban languages

Cariban languages

The Cariban languages are an indigenous language family of South America. They are widespread across northernmost South America, from the mouth of the Amazon River to the Colombian Andes, but also appear in central Brazil. Cariban languages are relatively closely related, and number two to three...

 in the area. They have a population of 569 (in 2010). The Kalapalo are a generally peaceful group.

History

The Kalapalo were the first Xingu tribe to be contacted by the Villas-Bôas brothers, in 1945. Before the arrival of the Villas Boas, the people had sporadic contact with the white man, so that the name Kalapalo was given to this group by white settlers in the late 19th century.

The Cariban dialect of the Kalapalos shows that they have not always lived in the Upper Xingu. The Kalapalo speak a dialect of a language that belongs to the southern branch of the Guyana Carib language family and their closest linguistic relatives are Ye'kuana or Makiritare

Ye'kuana

The Ye'kuana, also called Ye'Kuana, Yekuana, Yequana, Yecuana, Dekuana, Maquiritare, Makiritare, So'to or Maiongong, are a Cariban-speaking tropical rain forest tribe who live in the Caura River and Orinoco River regions of Venezuela in Bolivar State and Amazonas State...

 in southern Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

 and Hixkaryana language

Hixkaryana language

Hixkaryana is one of the Carib languages, spoken by just over 500 people on the Nhamundá River, a tributary of the Amazon River in Brazil. It is one of a few known natural languages that normally use object–verb–subject word order, and may have been the first such language to be described...

, spoken in the Nhamundá

Nhamundá

Nhamundá is the easternmost municipality in the Brazilian state of Amazonas. Its population was 18,198 and its area is 14,106 km²....

 area in Brazil and Guyana

Guyana

Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...

.

The Kalapalos and these tribes also share certain oral legends which describe their encounters with the white man and Christian rituals. This oral tradition suggests that the Kalapalos encountered explorer Colonel Percy Fawcett and may have been the last to see his expedition alive

Dead Horse Camp

Dead Horse Camp, or Fawcett’s camp, which is one of the major camps that Colonel Percy Fawcett made on his journey to discover the mythical Lost City of Z...

.

These stories suggest that the Caribs of the Xingu region left the Caribbean area after being in contact with Spaniards, possibly to escape from them after experiencing violent contact, some time in the second half of the 18th century. Among the Cariban-speaking Indians, the tribe is known as Aifa Otomo, or "those who live in a ripe area."

Customs

Before the creation of the Xingu National Park

Xingu National Park

The Parque Nacional Xingu is located in the state of Mato Grosso, Brazil and was created on April 14, 1961, signed by President Jânio Quadros. The area of the park is 2,642,003 ha., and it is contained in the municipalities of Mato Grosso; Canarana, Paranatinga, São Félix do Araguaia, São José do...

 in 1961, the Kalapalos lived at the confluence of the Tanguro and Kuluene, which are tributaries of the river Xingu

Xingu River

The Xingu River , also called Rio Xingu, is a 1,230-mile long, river in north Brazil; it is a southeast tributary of the Amazon River.-Description and history:...

. Since then, the Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian government has convinced them to settle near the Leonardo station, where medical treatment was made available. However, they frequently return to their former villages where they can grow cassava

Cassava

Cassava , also called yuca or manioc, a woody shrub of the Euphorbiaceae native to South America, is extensively cultivated as an annual crop in tropical and subtropical regions for its edible starchy tuberous root, a major source of carbohydrates...

 and cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....

 and where they can gather shellfish

Shellfish

Shellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environments, some kinds are found only in freshwater...

 for art and craft-making purposes.

The Kalapalos have a strict code of ethics

Ethics

Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...

 established by them that distinguish them from other peoples inhabiting the Upper Xingu. They all collectively share their culture as their fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

. Any public quarrels and fights are a serious violation of their code and are punished. They refrain from hunting land animals for fur

Fur

Fur is a synonym for hair, used more in reference to non-human animals, usually mammals; particularly those with extensives body hair coverage. The term is sometimes used to refer to the body hair of an animal as a complete coat, also known as the "pelage". Fur is also used to refer to animal...

 by simply eating aquatic animal

Aquatic animal

An aquatic animal is an animal, either vertebrate or invertebrate, which lives in water for most or all of its life. It may breathe air or extract its oxygen from that dissolved in water through specialised organs called gills, or directly through its skin. Natural environments and the animals that...

s including fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

.

Social Organization

The Kalapalo social organization is very flexible (Ricardo). The two most important social units in Kalapalo and other upper Xingu societies are the village and household groups ("EZ Essays"). The choice of a Kalapalo to join a group is based on their relationship to an individual in the group, not their religious affiliation, or ancestral rights or obligations (Ricardo). Because of this, membership of villages and households are constantly changing ("EZ Essays"). Leadership extends only over the household group. The leader represents the village in matters that involve other upper Xingu groups ("Countries and Their Cultures").

Food

From May to September is the dry season in the upper Xingu region (Ricardo). During this time food is abundant (Ricardo). The Kalapalo fish for their man source of food. They used to fish with nets, basket traps and by using bait to lure the fish to the surface of the water, where they would shoot the fish with a bow and arrow ("Countries and Their Cultures"). Since contact with outsiders they have used more modern means of fishing like firearms, fishing gear and razors ("Countries and Their Cultures"). The Kalapalo also grow piqui fruit, maize, peppers, beans and sweet manioc ("Countries and Their Cultures"). When the Kalapalo are planting or harvesting manioc, they often bathe three or four times a day ("EZ Essays"). In Kalapalo society, every adult is responsible for contributing food to the food supply, however, if they don’t or can’t, they are still allowed a share of the food (Ricardo).

Beliefs

When they first encounter an outside source, they show generosity and peaceful behavior. It is not until they feel aggression or violence that they will attack you ("Kalapalo Indians"). They also believe that if they dance during certain ceremonies, the animal spirits will protect the living. They type of ceremony depends on if it is during the dry season or the wet season. Each dance has a certain value that they believe in (Smith). Another belief is that they don’t eat land animals, only aquatic animals. They believe that if they eat only aquatic animals, it will bring them moral beauty (Basso).

Activities

Some members of their tribe compete in bow and arrow competitions. Their bows are made out of peach palm, a special wood that comes from the amazon. They also make their arrows out of that wood but have feathers split in two to make the fletching, or the part of an arrow used to make it go further. These arrows are normally about 2 meters long (Smith). They also have games such as wrestling, where the hosts wrestle guests from other tribes, otherwise known as “egitsu” to the Kalapalos (Basso). About once a year they have “Jogos Indigenas” or Indigenous Games. These games for the natives are to similar extent of the Olympics. People from different tribes come together and compete against one-another.

Gender roles

At every ceremony, it is either the males or the females that lead the way, depending on the time of year. If it is the males turn to lead the ceremony, the females cannot even look at the males otherwise they will be abused, the males have similar consequences when it is the females turn (Basso). A lot of the time, women will eat a special diet due to the fact that it will be easier for them to get pregnant. Most women in the Kalapalo tribe have an average of 5 kids, so this diet is a big part of their population (Basso). In the culture of most other tribe’s, it is only the males who gather the food. In the Kalapalo tribe it is both the male and the females job to gather the food. If they do not come back with food, others will share with them as long as they do not always rely on others (Steinen).

External links

• Website on the Kalapalos
• http://www.sescsp.org.br/kalapalo/
• http://pib.socioambiental.org/en/povo/kalapalo
• http://www.everyculture.com/South-America/Kalapalo.html