The Yanomami belong to the Indians from the Amazon region who until relatively recently had had no contact with the outside world. This has now changed: scientists, gold seekers, loggers, they have all become acquainted with the Yanomami. The Yanomami are among the most famous Indians from the Amazon rainforest.
The Shabono
The Yanomami (also called Yanomamo or Yanomama) consist of about 20,000 people, spread over around 250 villages and are located in the border area between Venezuela and Brazil. The villages are relatively small and consist of fifty to four hundred people, who are usually related to each other. The marriage that the Yanomami prefer is with a daughter or son of an uncle on their mother’s side or with a son or daughter of an aunt on their father’s side (a so-called cross cousin). The entire village lives together in a covered area in the rainforest, the shabono. The shabono is usually oval and open in the middle. The shabono is built from material from the rainforest and cannot withstand very heavy rainfall and wind, which is why the shabono is rebuilt every year or two.
Horticulture
The Yanomami use what anthropology calls ‘slash and burn’, whereby every so often part of the rainforest is burned down and then used to grow crops. Constantly moving ensures that the soil does not become exhausted. They mainly grow cassava, bananas, sugar cane, papaya, mangoes, cassava and sweet potatoes. It is mainly women who are involved in this horticulture. In addition, the Yanomami are hunters and gatherers. Women carry large loads, from 30 to 35 kg. A great harvest is traditionally celebrated with a feast, to which relatives from other villages are invited. The space used by the Yanomami can be seen as circles around the Shabono. The first circle has a radius of about five km and this area is used for fishing and gathering on a small scale and for growing crops. The second circle, which has a radius of about ten km, is used for hunting and extensive gathering. The third circle, which has a radius of up to twenty km, is used for extensive hunting expeditions and gatherings that can last two to six weeks. The villagers spend a third to a half of their time in this third circle, giving the land the opportunity to regenerate. The forest is so important to the Yanomami that it is much more than ‘nature’, it is a living entity for them.
Rituals
Shamans and other men regularly use a mind-altering substance: yakoana powder, which is inhaled and which causes one to go trans and come into contact with the world of spirits. Women do not use this powder. They do participate in the traditional funeral ritual in which the brains of a dead relative are eaten (endocannibalism).
The onset of menstruation means that a girl is turning into a woman and usually girls are married off immediately. Menstruation is a big taboo for the Yanomami and the first menstruation is full of rituals. Girls are visited by women only in a kind of tent in a secluded place, they are not supposed to talk out loud and the girl is given new clothes to make clear her entry into the women and as a marriageable woman. While boys’ puberty receives little attention, girls’ puberty is really the step from child to adult.
Oorlogs of The Fierce People
Although the village or the Shabano is a world in itself, there are important contacts with the outside world, the surrounding villages. These contacts manifest themselves in both economic and ceremonial terms. But not all contacts are peaceful and there is regular war between various villages. According to anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon, the Yanomami were extremely violent and lived in a state of constant war, which led to a controversy in anthropological circles. Other anthropologists, including Jacques Lizot, who lived among the Yanomami for twenty years, drew different conclusions, finding the Yanomami no more violent than other societies. Anthropologist Brian Ferguson even concluded that the wars in which the Yanomami participated were precisely caused by the widespread influence of the West. Colonial influence had reached the Yanomami long before they actually came into contact with Westerners.
The language
The Yanomami language has various dialects, which can differ so much that people from different villages can sometimes hardly understand each other. The language of the Yanomami is separate and not related to the languages of surrounding Indians, such as the Yekuana (or Yekwana), who speak a Caribbean language. Linguists assume that the Yanomami lived very isolatedly for a very long time and therefore developed a very unique language. The name Yanomami is derived by anthropologists from the expression yanomami thëpë, which means people, but is only used for their own group.
Origin
The Yanomami say in their legends that the origins of their people lie in the Parima mountains, in the area between the Orinoco and the Rio Branco. This is still the area most densely populated with Yanomami, who probably began moving down the river in the 1800s after settlers began encroaching on their territory. The population growth of the Yanomami from that time on was also very high, causing them to need more land. Anthropologists assume that population growth was caused by new crops and iron tools. Because neighboring groups such as the Caribbean and the Arawak were exterminated by the arrival of settlers, more space became available for the Yanomami.
Contact with the Outside World
The Yanomami initially only had to deal with other Indian tribes, but that changed from the beginning of the twentieth century. At first it mainly concerned soldiers and travelers, later missionaries and others followed. The missionaries set up posts, which became centers for health care (but also frequent outbreaks of epidemics) and a source of material goods. Since the 1970s and 1980s, contact with the outside world has increased significantly. That contact did not always go well, new diseases broke out among the Yanomami and it was not always easy socially. In 1987, a gold rush hit many people and brought many outsiders into Yanomami territory, about 30 to 40,000, mostly clandestinely. In 1993 this even led to the so-called Haximu Massacre, in which gold seekers or garimpeiros killed sixteen Yanomami. In response, at least two gold seekers were killed. During the 1990s their numbers declined, but a group of prospectors remained in the area. There are also three military posts in the area, which causes various problems, including prostitution.