When Was The Yawanawa Tribe Discovered?

There are about 240 tribes living in Brazil today, adding up to around 900,000 people, or 0.4% of Brazil’s population. Yawana tribe is in the state of Acre, in the Western Brazilian Amazon. However, there are over 900 Yawanawa, living in 8 tribal villages. so, the name Yawanawá translates as ‘The People of the Wild Boar’.

The first contact for Yawanawa tribe with the yara, or white man, was in 1969. After the first contact, many Yawanawa people died from diseases they didn’t know about. The shamans of the Nixiwaka Yawanawa tribe couldn’t cure their people. So, they were discovered in 1969. But, this encounter brought a lot of problems to Yawanawa people. After the contact, the Yawanawá people had to work for various bosses, producing rubber in the Kaxinawa rubber plantation for decades. It was only abandoned in 1992. However, colonisation and religious missions have almost extinguished the Yawanawá people. But, they accomplished to resist, and still have been fighting for their rights.

Yawanawa Tribe

Nixiwaka (Ni-Shee-Wa-Ka) Yawanawa is an Amazon Indian from the Yawanawa Tribe and a member of tribo Yawanawa, who works for raising awareness of the rights of Amazon Indians- explains in an interview:  “After contact, white people forced the Yawanawa people to change their way of living. People criticized their rituals as being devil’s work.  Foreigners reflected Yawanawa tribe in many ways. On the other hand, they introduced Yawanawa people to alcohol, sugar and salt which were never in their diet.”

Traditionally, they live in houses called ‘pêshê’. Pêshê have a wooden structure, with a roof thatched with palm leaves tied into place with a strong vine called a liana. Today, they have started building different kinds of houses, taking inspiration from Western architecture.

Yawanawa tribe has many Yawana tribe healing plants. It has been their healing tools for thousands of years. The main traditional healing rituals of the Yawanawá are the Uni (Ayahuasca) and the Rume (Hapé). Above all, they are spiritual ceremonies of purification, healing and vitality. Both play an important role in the culture and cure of the Yawanawá people.