Culture Project: Yanomamo

1. Culture Project: Yanomamo Justin Floersch 2B 5/31/12

2. History • They have been around for more than 8000 years. • Since they were discovered by the rest of the world, they have been dying out. However, in isolation, they thrived. • They never discovered the wheel, and use only metal traded to them from the outside. • They are literally a stone age tribe.

3. Location • They live in South America, in Brazil, in the Amazon. They have always lived in the Amazon.

4. Climate • Being in the rainforest, the climate is tropical (hot and humid). • The average temperature (around 80 degrees F) varies very little between seasons. • There is no dry season. It is rainy year round.

5. Resources • There is an abundance of almost all resources, since they live in the rainforest. • Many plants in the rainforest serve as medicine used by healers and shamans.

6. Economic Lifestyle • They are a horticultural society. • They utilize the slash and burn technique. • Most of the crops they grow are plantains and bananas. • They also have many aspects of a hunter-gatherer society, so they are considered to be both this and horticultural.

7. Decline or Rising Status • The Yanomamo people are becoming extinct. They are losing their lands to miners. • The government of Brazil is aware of this, and they are trying to protect the Yanomamo.

8. Migration of Culture • Their culture, being isolated for so long, didn’t really influence other cultures. • Their culture was influenced by Americans who were there for various reasons (some for anthropological studies, others for gold mining.)

9. Government • They are led by shamans and chiefs. Over all, their society is communal, and they all help each other and work together, but the shamans and chiefs are the wisest, so they are consulted when needed.

10. Relationships • Externally, they had no relationships with anyone. Their culture is more than 8000 years old, and they were first discovered in the 1960s. • Internally, they are very social and are constantly interacting.

11. Culture • The Yanomamo people are one of the only remaining ancient cultures in the world, dating back more than 8000 years. • Polygyny is sometimes practiced. • Every house or village considers itself its own independent economic entity.

12. Contributions to Society/World • Due to their isolation for such a long period of time, their influences on the world outside of their tribe have been minimal.

13. Religion/Belief System • They believe in four planes of existence, including an empty one, one similar to Earth, Earth, and the underworld. • Their religious leaders are shamans, who supposedly have the ability to control demons from the underworld. They can use them to cause or cure illness.

14. Music • There wasn’t much information I could find about music, but from what I have gathered, it is similar to typical tribal music, including chanting and drums.

15. Literature • They have four different styles of their written language used in different areas. They have cultural stories both written and spoken, but as with music, I could not find much information on any specific stories.

16. Art • Most of their art was body painting. • The other pictures that they drew were simple, and told a story or a myth.

17. Clothing • They wear woven clothing, but usually do not wear much. • Lower ranking people in the tribe tend to wear more clothing. Higher ranking people wear less clothing, but more decorations. • Children usually do not wear any clothes.

18. Customs • Marriage is arranged by older members of the tribe. It is usually used for alliances between families. • They cremate their dead, mix the ashes of the • A large part of their time is spent on social activity, as harvesting their crops only takes a few hours. • They have many ceremonies and rituals, most of which include the whole tribe.

19. Cuisine • Most of their food is grown in gardens. • The rest is hunted. • Both men and women fish, but only men hunt. • Both men and women tend to the gardens. • This food is eaten because it is the most plentiful, and therefore, the easiest to get.

20. Education • Children are taught by parents and extended family. • They are taught the stories and myths of their religion, and useful skills for life, such as hunting and farming.

21. Technology • They make weapons for hunting and tools for farming, but not much else. Being horticultural, their farming is done by hand, rather than using animals, so the tools they use are hand tools. They also make simple things like baskets and other helpful items.

22. Works Cited • http://ksuanth.wetpaint.com/page/Yanomamo+History • http://yanomamicatrimani.org/ • http://www.unique-southamerica-travel-experience.com/amazon-rainforest-climate.html • http://www.wayfaring.info/2006/11/30/the-worlds-greatest-natural-resource-is-amazon-rainforest/ • http://www.everyculture.com/South-America/Yanomam-Economy.html • http://www.crystalinks.com/yanomami.html • http://indian-cultures.com/Cultures/yanomamo.html • http://206.204.3.133/dir_nii/nii_dat_yanoma.html • http://www.everyculture.com/South-America/Yanomam-Religion-and-Expressive-Culture.html • http://www.aaanet.org/committees/cfhr/rptyano7.htm • http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/yanomami/wayoflife