Fish and people exhibition by ascom-Musa

Sponsorship

CONFORTO, SEGURANÇA E QUALIDADE

Support

fishandpeople

Secretaria de Estado de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação

MEIO AMBIENTE E SUSTENTABILIDADE

Production

musa museu da amazônia

Associação das Comunidades Indígenas do Médio Tiquié (ACIMET) Associação Escola Indígena Tukano Yupuri (AEITY) Associação das Tribos Indígenas do Alto Rio Tiquié (ATRIART)

ISBN 978-85-67545-01-1

fishandpeople exhibition

Aloisio Cabalzar Ennio Candotti (organizers)

fishandpeople exhibition

Manaus

musa museu da amaz么nia

2014

Instituto Socioambiental Museu da Amazônia Fish and People Exhibition CURATORS

Aloisio Cabalzar (ISA) Ennio Candotti (Musa) VISUAL CONCEPT AND ART DIRECTION

Zeca Nazaré RESEARCH AND TEXTS

Aloisio Cabalzar Guilherme Pimentel Tenório José Penha Pimentel Marcella Rufino Regina Melo Kenny Javier Calderón PHOTOS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

Juan Gabriel Soler Feliciano Lana Mauro C. Lopes Aloisio Cabalzar Beto Ricardo Janet Chernela Kenny Javier Calderón Orlando Massa Moura Pedro Rocha Pieter Van Der Veld Zeca Nazaré

Musa – Museu da Amazônia Administrative Head Office Rua Planeta Plutão 11 Loteamento Parque Morada do Sol Aleixo, Manaus, AM – CEP 69060-060 www.museudaamazonia.org.br

Normalização João Carlos Chrisóstomo – CRB/11 - 487 Catalogação na fonte Ex 76 Fish and people exhibition / Aloisio Cabalzar; Ennio Candotti (Orgs.). – Manaus: Instituto Socioambiental; Museu da Amazônia, 2014.

116 p. : il. color.

Various authors Various illustrators

ISBN 978-85-67545-01-1

1. Indigenous people. 2. Fish – Fishing – Traps. 3. People. 4. Upper Negro River. 5. Tiquié River. 6. Musa. 7. ISA. I Ca balzar, Aloisio. II Candotti, Ennio. III Título. CDD 306.089813 Systematic index: 1. Indigenous people : Amazon : Upper Negro River – 306.089813

Photo by Juan Soler

Fish and People This exhibition aims to reveal the knowledge and the practices of the indigenous people of the Northwest Amazon (Oriental Tukano linguistic family) regarding fish and fishing management. “Fish are people-fish,” said Manuel Azevedo, a Tukano leader, thus concisely expressing an idea that is central to the understanding of the relationship these people have with the fish: one of symmetry between them and us, we are all people. At the same time that it presents traditional fishing tools and techniques, it also brings information about the concepts, the origins and the place of the fish within the cosmology and the ceremonies of these people, the indigenous associations’ work with plans of intercommunity management, the culinary preparation of the fish, the life cycle of the fish and their relation with other social and natural cycles, offering a comprehensive view of the theme. The Fish and People exhibition is the result of a partnership between Musa (Museu da Amazônia / Museum of the Amazon), ISA (Instituto Socioambiental / Socio-environmental Institute), Acimet (Associação das Comunidades Indígenas do Médio Tiquié / Association of the Indigenous Communities of the Mid Tiquié), and Atriart (Associação das Tribos Indígenas do Alto Rio Tiquié / Association of the Indigenous Tribes of the Upper Tiquié River). It involved a considerably large interdisciplinary and intercultural team, including artisans and indigenous connoisseurs, anthropologists, video makers, designers and production personnel in Manaus, São Gabriel da Cachoeira, and mainly in the Tiquié River communities. With the resources obtained by Musa through the Rouanet Law, it was possible to organize a series of activities in 2012, in order to generate materials which, in addition to those accumulated through joint working projects between Foirn (Federação das Organizações Indígenas do Rio Negro / Federation of the Indigenous Organizations of the Negro River), ISA, and the Tiquié River communities along the two last decades, allowed us to assemble the exhibition. A group of five artisans from the Tiquié stayed on the museum’s premises for over a month assembling the traps; several trips were made to film the way certain traps are made and used, involving a cameraman and four indigenous apprentices; a workshop was held by the Indigenous Agents for Environment Management and indigenous connoisseurs, describing how some of the traps are set; maps, texts, kitchen utensils, and many other materials were made. More than an exhibit, the initiative is part of an ongoing work by the indigenous communities, associations, schools and their partners, involving cultural strengthening activities, the valorization of indigenous practices and knowledge, intercultural research, and its dissemination to a wide audience, in order that the socio-environmental diversity of the Negro River basin and the Amazon as a whole might be understood and respected. Aloisio Cabalzar ISA – Instituto Socioambiental

What the cacuris tell us The Fish and People exhibition tells stories about the skills and the imaginary of a people who live in the upper Negro River. It also tells about the Museum of the Amazon, the Musa, a live natural and cultural museum of the Amazon forest. To share their stories and tools, we invited: Luciano Amaral Barbosa, of the Yebamasã ethnicity; the Tukano José Pimentel, Tarcísio Barreto, Domingos Marques, and the Tuyuka Guilherme Pimentel Tenório, skillful engineers who live on the banks of the Tiquié River, men who are knowlegeable of the secrets of the forest, the fish and fishing practices, outstanding craftsmen who build fishing traps which they assemble by using vines and splinters from paxiúbas and zarabatanas. Musa welcomed them in Manaus and offered them tools to recreate, step by step, their everyday life and fishing practices and ceremonies. Musa also welcomed Feliciano Lana, a Desana man with a prodigious memory of myths and stories, who painted the facade of the exhibition pavilion and the beautiful watercolors that illustrate the origin myths recorded on the exhibition panels. We also invited anthropologist Aloisio Cabalzar from ISA, who, with the help of a dedicated team, recorded the fishermen’s life at the Tiquié. He worked with Juan Soler, a Colombian biologist and cinematographist who recorded the day-to-day fishing and trap setting scenes. Aloisio also introduced us to Mauro Lopes, an excellent drawing artist who spent ten years portraing the more than two hundred fish species in the upper Negro River in exquisite watercolors, which we can admire in the central pavilion. In collaboration with them — and with the passionate Musa team —, we have put together an exhibition to tell everyone who lives far away from the Tiquié how the origin of the world and of humankind were understood, in the old times, when only the fish and the humans populated the earth. Musa is a sensitive observatory of the culture of the forest, a theater where humans and non-humans can live and play together like in the times of the myths, thus understanding how, in different cultures, they created ways to celebrate nature. From the stories of the Tiquié engineer-fishermen, we learn that, in order for the fish to come into the traps, they want to be invited to participate in the ceremony of feeding the people. Sensible and solidary, people and fish have sought to navigate together the paths of life and enchantment since their origins. To Musa, defending and disseminating indigenous cultures is not only an imperative of human solidarity, but also a necessity if we want to decipher the enigmatic representations of nature’s theater in the forest. Ennio Candotti Musa – Museu da Amazônia

Fish and People is a production of Musa and ISA held at the Musa Visitor Center, located in the Adolpho Ducke Forest Reserve, east of Manaus. Anthropologist Aloisio Cabalzar and Musa’s director Ennio Candotti hold the curatorship, with visual concept and art direction by artist Zeca Nazaré, photographs and documentaries by Juan Gabriel Soler, and illustrations and mythological stories by Feliciano Lana, a Desana. Based on Aloisio Cabalzar’s book Peixe e Gente no Alto Rio Tiquié (Fish and People in the Upper Tiquié River), it compiles ichthyological knowledge, myths and cosmological concepts related to the origin of the fish and their relationship with humanity. Visiting the exhibition is being face to face with the cultural universe of the people of the upper Negro River, on the Northwest Amazon, specially the indigenous ethnicities that live along the Tiquié River, the Tukano and the Tuyuka being among them. Traps manufactured by indigenous artisans in the communities and at the exhibition site, panels explaining the fish cycles and telling mythological stories, and a typical indigenous kitchen with traditional utensils used in everyday life compose the exhibition. Fish and People was made possible by funding from the Rouanet Law (Federal Government/ Culture Ministry), with the sponsorship of Bemol and Fogás enterprises and the support of the Manaus Municipal Secretariat for Sustainability and Environment.

PhotoS by VANESSA GAMA / MUSA

Fish and People exhibition

Ichthyological knowledge Photo by Juan Soler

At the exhibition, it is possible to become aware of fish management projects developed by the Tiquié River communities, with the purpose of valuing indigenous knowledge and practices related to fishing and contributing to food security, since the rivers in the Negro River basin are rather biologically unproductive due to the fact that they originate from extremely poor soils.

Photo by PEDRO ROCHA

Fish and People shows us, on huge panels, the topography of this region, with floodplains, igapós (seasonally flooded forests) and meander lakes on the lower Tiquié River; and abrupt margins and hilly areas with rapids and waterfalls. Topographic features such as waterfalls and rapids — like Pari-Cachoeira, Pedra Curta, Cachoeira Comprida, and, specially, the Caruru falls — serve as obstacles to the dispersion of many species of fish and other aquatic organisms.

Photo by Juan Soler

Phenomena like the migration of fish that go up and down the river throughout the year are closely observed and monitored by the indigenous fishermen, who follow the oscillation of the seasons (summer and winter) and know the time of coupling, spawning, and piracemas. The Tukano and Tuyuka fishermen know the places where these species, year after year, have their reproductive gatherings in short and limited sections of the Tiquié River or its tributaries. Above, waterfall on the upper Tiquié. In the center, fish trap in a waterfall. Below, fishing in an igapó.

w ra

The wise elders of the Tiquié follow the motion of the constellations (wametire), associated to river level fluctuations and to berry picking, fishing, hunting, and agricultural cycles. This observation guides the calendar of ceremonies and feasts for individual protection, healing benedictions, birth, and first menstruation. They also perform protection ceremonies like environment management rituals — as they seek to maintain this motion of the world and its cycles —, when they update their sense of ritual substances, remember and revive the knowledge of the elders. The chanting feasts are conducted by the baya (master of ceremonies), with the consumption of caxiri, caapi, ipadu, and many other ritual substances, in which the kumua (healers) perform benedictions for the protection of their maloca or communities, called wanõare (in Tuyuka), burning pitch and bee wax. Astronomic references guide everyday practices such as farming, fishing, hunting, traveling, and feasts, being relevant to recent initiatives involving resource management at the community and intercommunity (associative) levels, as well as fish management.

Above, ritual adornments made of feathers. In the center, special ornaments used during rituals. Below, the caxiri, consumed during rituals and feasts.

Photos by Juan Soler

Cycles and ceremonies

Mythology and cosmology IllustrationS by Feliciano Lana, Desana

The Oriental Tukano indigenous people, including the ones living in the Tiquié River basin, have a very special relationship with the fish. Not so much because they are the main item in their diet, but due to their cosmological meaning. In their oral tradition, they associate the origin of humanity to the ancestral trajectory of the Cobra-Canoa da Transformação (SerpentCanoe of Transformation), which went up from Lago de Leite (Lake of Milk) until it got to the waterfalls at the Uaupés and its affluents, where it emerged and originated the People of Transformation, as these people consider themselves. Everything would have started when the God of Origins saw that this earth was full of meanness and sadness, and so he made the Houses of Transformation to produce good things, like the Houses of Milk and of Sweet Fruits, where he could bless the souls of all the children. From the Lake of Milk, also called the Door of Milk, emerged the people of the Northwest Amazon. It was from the Lake of Milk that the God of Transformation came in the Cobra-Canoa, the Canoe of Transformation, naming and transforming each House of Transformation. In its panels, the Fish and People exhibition tells us this and other mythological stories, like the story of Doépirõ or Diádoe (or the origin of the matapi), the story of Kamaueni, and the story of the origin of the sarapós and ituins (Diabo sem cu / Devil with no ass), illustrated by artist and story teller Feliciano Lana, a Desana.

When visiting the Fish and People exhibition, one discovers why the traps are considered more than artifacts built for the capture of fish. They compose an integrated system in which narratives of the origin of the universe and its beings are identified. Used to catch fish, the traps may be stationary or portable. The stationary ones are large and solid structures built on riverbanks, rapids and igapós or suspended in the upper flow of the waterfalls. Built with oblique enclosures (cacuri) on riverbanks or like a big mat (caiá), they are used to catch a diversity of fish (mandi, traíra, aracu, pacu, jeju, acará-trovão, jacundá, acarás, etc.). During the preparation of some of the stationary traps, some rules are observed, such as fasting for one day, not eating spicy or hot foods, and not having sex. Some portable traps also demand that rules be observed during their construction. The matapi (Tukano: kasawu; Tuyuka: kasaga), for example, used to catch aracu, traíra, jandiá, mandi, jacundá, acará, and jeju, demands a blessing to attract the fish and to avoid children’s diarrhea. Other portable traps are part of the Fish and People exhibition: jequi (Tukano: bukuaka, bukawu or haruka; Tuyuka: haruga), portable cacuri (Tukano/Tuyuka: imirõ), which demands care but does not need blessings, pari (Tukano/Tuyuka: imisa), and puçá (Tukano: w˜eheku; Tuyuka: bapigu).

PhotoS by RUBENALDO FERREIRA / MUSA

The traps

House-kitchen Photo by Juan Soler

The house-kitchen is a fundamental part of the houses in the upper Negro River. In it, the women produce all the necessary food for their families and community, who eat a diet based on beiju, quinhampira, fish, mujeca, and tapioca porridge, in addition to game, maniuaras, chibé, fruit wine and, on community work and festival days, the caxiri.

Photo by Juan Soler

In the old kitchens, each married man in the local group or ancestry had a compartment where he lived with his wife and children, where there was a fire in which the women cooked and where the food was preserved by smoke and stored. Next to the women’s entrance door, there was a small communal kitchen area, with meals taking place in the open part of the malocas. An oven to roast manioc beiju and farinha served all the maloca residents.

Photo by KENNY CALDERÓN

The changes in the configuration of the kitchens reflect the social changes undergone by the people of the Northwest Amazon. Old residents tell that, with the interference of the Salesians, the malocas were replaced by nuclear family houses made of wood and straw. Nowadays kitchens vary in size. The walls are made out of bark from the envira tree or intertwined white straw, sometimes with wooden boards. The roof is made out of caraná straw, white straw and, in some cases, aluminium. Above, kitchen built for the exhibition. In the center, starting the fire to make beiju. Below, fish in the moquém.

Fish and People Exhibition

At the entrance of the exhibition, a stylized maloca shows paintings that depict parts of the myth of creation, according to the Desana. Desana artist Feliciano Lana and his nephew painted the front of the maloca. Part of the painting was done on the floor and assembled afterwards by Musaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s team.

Photos by ZECA NAZARĂ&#x2030;

Building the facade

Fish and People Exhibition

Building the traps

Photo by ZECA NAZARÉ

Artisans and indigenous connoisseurs from the upper Tiquié assemble the traps at the exhibition space.

Photo by RUBENALDO FERREIRA / MUSA

From left to right, the ones responsible for the assembly: Luciano Amaral Barbosa (Yebamasã), José Penha Pimentel (Tukano), Tarcísio Borges Barreto (Tukano), Guilherme Pimentel Tenorio (Tuyuka), Domingos Prado Marques (Tukano).

Matapi, a trap used in igapós.

Cacuri, trap set on the margin of rapids.

Caiรก, a trap used in waterfalls.

15 Photo by VANESSA GAMA / MUSA

Photo by VANESSA GAMA / MUSA

Photos by ZECA NAZARร

Photo by Vanessa Gama / MUSA

Negro river 18 ORIGINS 25 Origin and transformation

Kamaueni 30 Devil with no ass

CONTEXTS 43 Fish life cycle

Fluvial geography

Everyday life of the fisherman

DIVERSITY OF FISH

TRADITIONAL FISHING TOOLS AND PRACTICES

Matapi 66 Jequi 70 Portable cacuri 76 Matapi-de-lua 80 Jequi with two mouths

Cacuri 84 Cai谩 88 Swordfish catching

Timb贸 94 CURRENT FISH MANAGEMENT

101

HOUSE-KITCHEN 107 EXHIBITION CREDITS

113

Negro River The exhibition presents the region of the Negro River basin, particularly the upper Negro River, where the TiquiĂŠ River is located; its occupation process, the people who live there, and their social organization. The presentation is developed as a prologue, giving visitors an understanding of the context where all the nuances of the relationship between people and fish are developed in this part of the Amazon.

Negro River

PANAMA

VENEZUELA

GUYANA SURINAME

FRENCH GUIANA

COLOMBIA

ECUADOR

PERU

BOLIVIA

Negro River basin

The world’s greatest black water basin, with more than 700 thousand square kilometers, the Negro River basin is shared by Brazil and Colombia. Half of this extension corresponds to areas destined to indigenous use, some not yet officially delimited, and 35% are Conservation Unities. In Brazil, 41 indigenous territories have already been recognized, and 8 are now the object of an identification study by Funai (Fundação Nacional do Índio / Federal Indian Affairs Agency), where 36 people groups currently live. For thousands of years, this region has been inhabited by native populations — as expressed in their origin narratives and confirmed by recent archeological research. This area is characterized by serious ecological limitations, acid waters and soils that are poor in nutrients and of low productivity. The Indigenous Land of the Upper Negro River (80 thousand square kilometers in size) contains vast areas occupied by the Amazon savanna, which is very restricted for the practice of agriculture. These two factors — age of occupation and serious ecological limitations — have led the people who inhabit this region in a long adaptation process, in an attempt to find efficient and sophisticated ways of managing the soil, forests and capoeiras, fish, and game.

Negro River

COLOMBIA VENEZUELA

Cucuí

T.I. Alto Rio Negro Iauareté Pari Cachoeira

T.I. Balaio

São Gabriel da Cachoeira

T.I. Yanomami

T.I. Médio Rio Negro II Santa Isabel do Rio Negro

T.I. Rio Téa T.I. Médio Rio Negro I T.I. Apapóris

T.I. Uneixui

Vila Bittencourt

T.I. = Terras/Territórios Indígenas (Indigenous Lands/Territories)

Nowadays, the indigenous population is more concentrated in the upper Negro River. According to data from IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística / Brazilian Geographical and Statistical Institute), in 2010, the city of São Gabriel da Cachoeira, with 29.017 inhabitants, had an indigenous population of almost 80% — Brazil’s largest proportion. In 1988, five indigenous lands were homologated, totaling 106 thousand square kilometers, where approximately 20 thousand natives currently live.

The ethnic groups of the Northwest Amazon • Arapaso,

Bará, Barasana, Desana, Karapanã, Kotiria (Wanana or Uanano), Kubeo, Letuana, Makuna, Miriti-tapuya, Pira-tapuya, Pisa-mira, Siriano, Taiwano (Eduria), Tanimuka, Tatuyo, Tukano, Tuyuka, Yuruti, belonging to the Oriental Tukano linguistic family;

• Baniwa,

Baré, Kuripako, Tariana, Werekena, belonging to the Arawak linguistic family;

• Daw,

Hupda, Nadöb, Yuhupde, Nukak, Kakwa, belonging to the Nadahup (Maku) linguistic family;

• Yanomami,

belonging to the Yanomami linguistic family.

Negro River

Negro River basin in numbers > The largest left tributary of the Amazon River, it has its source in the pre-andine region of Colombia, where it is called Guaína, and is linked to the Orinoco through the Cassiquare canal, draining 71,438,267 hectares. > Approximately 700 rivers, 8 thousand igarapés, 500 lakes, the two biggest river archipelagos in the world — Mariuá and Anavilhanas —, and the highest peaks in Brazil: Pico da Neblina (3,014 m) and Pico 31 de Março (2,992 m).

> The average temperature of the Negro River is 25oC, the maximum depth is about 100 m, the speed is 2 to 3 km/h, and the maximum width is 24 km (at the Boiuçu Bay). In Manaus, the greatest flood in the last 110 years happened in 2012 (river height: 29.78 m) and the worst drought, in 1963 (river height: 13.5 meters). > 79% of its extension is in some form of protected area, in indigenous lands/territories, or in different kinds of protection units. This number should increase in the next few years.

PHOTO BY Beto Ricardo / ISA, 2005

> The Branco sub-basin is the main one. The Negro River is approximately 1,700 km in length, and the Branco River, 558 km.

> It flows totally or partially through more than 23 cities in Brazil (among them, 21 have their headquarters within the basin), 15 in Colombia, and 23 in Venezuela, with an approximate population of 2.5 million. More than half of this population lives in the city of Manaus. There are more than 40 indigenous people groups in the basin.

Negro River

Indigenous people of the Northwest Amazon

PHOTO BY Beto Ricardo / ISA, 2008

In the ethnographic literature, the Northwest Amazon region is known as an ample and multi-ethnic social system. The Tukano (located in the center of this area) and the Arawak (north and south) are riverine and farming populations, while the Nadahup (better known as Maku), more nomadic, explore more disperse resources and occupy interfluvial areas. The long neighborly relationship between these people has generated sociocultural continuities. One of them refers to the extensive exchange and commerce network that existed and still exists, to some extent, in and between the various parts of the Negro River basin, reinforced by handicraft specializations and the management of different ecozones. Each group of Tukano descent (which generally corresponds to a linguistic group) refers to their ancestral trajectory and considers itself as descending from an ancestor anaconda. The Tukano, for example, consider themselves as “children of the cobra-terra” (earth-serpent), while the Tuyuka, as “children of the cobra-pedra” (stone-serpent). The fact that the Tukano people are surrounded, in the north and in the south, by Arawak language groups, and that they narrate an ancestral trajectory of their own arrival to this region coming from the east, suggests a prior presence of the Arawak there. The latter have their origin narrative in the very center of this region, in the Aiari River. In spite of all this, it can be assured that these different peoples do identify with each other in many aspects, related in the next page.

Baniwa community in Tucumã-Rupitã, Içana River.

Negro River 1. The social organization is characterized by the presence of patrilineal descendence groups, which tend to identify as linguistic and exogamic unities (the marriages happen out of the group). In this sense, a person generally marries someone that speaks another language. The children learn two languages early on, the mother’s and the father’s. Each one of these descendence groups is subdivided in sibs that are named and hierarchized. Marriage is patrilocal, which means that the woman will generally go and live in the husband and his agnatic relatives’ houses. 2. The maloca, in its particular architectural model, is a conceptual reference in the social and cosmological relations. It is at the same time a residence, where people live and work, and a space used for ceremonies, with ornaments and chants that recall the origin of the group. Home, in Tukano wii, is an inclusive concept that comprises the current houses and malocas as well as the transformation houses mentioned in the origin narratives. It is associated to the idea of structure, both cosmic and territorial. Various important places (mountains, hills, waterfalls, etc.) are viewed as pillars of the malocamundo (maloca-world). 3. The Tukano and the Arawak generally place their settlements along the main riverbanks in the region, are more sedentary, and prefer to travel, move, fish and hunt in canoes on the rivers. It was precisely the fact that they live in larger and more accessible rivers that enabled their insertion in colonial enterprises such as trade, catechesis, and schooling. 4. The main subsistence activities are the cultivation of bitter manioc and fishing. These people have attained complex culinary skills in the preparation of manioc, on the one hand, and a deep knowledge of fish and fishing methods on the other.

PHOTO BY Beto Ricardo / ISA, 2005

5. They have developed knowledge related to the annual calendar, observing and managing life cycles through the astronomic calendar and a number of ritual procedures traditionally carried out at certain times.

Plantation on the upper Tiquié River. Along with fishing, the cultivation of bitter manioc is the main subsistence activity of the people of the upper Negro River.

Origins The exhibition emphasizes the fact that, to the indigenous people, fish mean more than food. In a sense, they share common life conditions. As the narratives compiled here show, during the origin and transformation of humanity, people and fish were bonded, they identified with each other. Throughout the episodes in these narratives, people and fish shift from one condition to another. It is important to remember that origin stories (mythology) are references for life, and that it is through them that the cycles of life, the relations between beings and the social process are understood and managed. To the indigenous people, they form the comprehension matrix of the world.

Photo by Vanessa Gama / MUSA

Origin and transformation of Humanity and People-Fish In their oral tradition, the Oriental Tukano indigenous people associate the origin of humanity to the ancestral trajectory of the Cobra-Canoa da Transformação (Serpent-Canoe of Transformation), which went up from the Lago de Leite (Lake of Milk) until it reached the waterfalls at the Uaupés and its tributaries, where it emerges and originates the People of Transformation, as these people consider themselves. Along this path, houses are visited — the Houses of Transformation —, where various material goods and knowledge are obtained. Here a simplified version of this narrative is presented, as told by Feliciano Lana, a Desana. In the more complete version, more than a hundred Houses of Transformation located at the Negro, Uaupés and their tributaries are mentioned. In many of them, facts and episodes have happened which originated plants, animals, work tools and rituals, landscapes, natural characteristics, etc.

Lake of Milk (Opekõdia, Okosope Makawi) The God of Origins saw that this earth was full of evil and sadness. Therefore, he created all the Houses of Transformation to produce good things, like the Houses of Milk and of Sweet Fruits, where the souls of all children could be blessed. That is how it all started. The transformation of our people, with all their divisions, started at the Lake of Milk, the place of origin. Humanity would have to emerge from the Lake of Milk, a place that is as clean as a maternal womb, the uterus, a House of Milk, maternal milk, the sustenance of life. For the transformation, a seat was needed: the Stool of Milk. To attain wisdom, one needed the Cuia of Ipadu, the Cuia Support and the Tobacco. The people of the Northwest Amazon appeared through the Lake of Milk, also called the Door of Milk, emerging as the People of Transformation. In the beginning of the transformation, the God of Transformation gathered everything he had to take with him: blessing ceremonies, dances, and chants. He already had ipadu, tobacco, bee wax, ornaments, lança-chocalho, and cigarette holders. Through these things, he thought of having sons and brothers that would assemble to perform chanting ceremonies. Through blessings, they searched for the lives or the souls of children in the House of Milk and blessed all the children.

Illustration by Feliciano Lana, Desana

Serpent-Canoe of Transformation.

Houses of Transformation The People of Transformation came from the Lake of Milk, the origin of soul and life, in the Serpent-Canoe, the Canoe of Transformation. The God of Transformation began appointing each House of Transformation, where they were being transformed. There was an obstacle in each House. In these Houses first known by man, they learned behaviors, blessings, and paths to follow. They came to know the Houses of TĂľko, the Houses of Sadness, and the Houses of the Sacred Flutes. Besides the people being transformed, there were beings that remained in the world without being transformed, which cause many illnesses, People-Fish diseases, Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2018;Tree diseases, People-Frog diseases, from which we must protect ourselves. The People of Transformation learned protection prayers against sickness and evil. They travelled in the Canoe of Transformation, in a great voyage, as recalled in the ceremonies and blessings for healing or protection, during feasts and other moments.

Origin and transformation of Humanity and People-Fish From the Lake of Milk, the People of Transformation started to visit the Houses of Transformation, looking for places to live. They were inside the Serpent. Nowadays we can say that they came in the Canoe. They arrived at the places and purified them, transforming them in Houses of Milk. Malocas where they prepared the soil to dance. Where they started dancing. There were the Houses of Sadness, of People-Fish, which did not want the People of Transformation coming to this land. Therefore, they did not stop at these houses, going right past them.

PHOTO BY Zeca Nazaré

In the Diawi (House of the River), at the Uaupés River, all the groups got their sacred flutes. In this House of Transformation, they started the initiation ceremonies and the dabucuri fruit ceremonies. Diawi is the center of everything, where the caapi (the vine from which the ceremonial drink is made) appeared, where the first woman gave birth. The blood from the childbirth flowed, forming a stream called Stream of Blood. With the sacred flutes, the People of Transformation attained greater protection power; hence, Diawi marks the beginning of a new phase, no longer of the Houses of Transformation like the others, but of the Houses of Transformation of the Sacred Flutes.

Maloca in Cachoeira Comprida, upper Tiquié.

photos by Zeca Nazaré

Origin and transformation of Humanity and People-Fish

Facade of the maloca in São Pedro, upper Tiquié.

With their sacred flutes and dance ornaments, acquired in the Diawi, the People of Transformation began to be differentiated as separate people groups, each with their own language. In Ipanoré, at the same Uaupés River, they emerged in this land through the Hole of Transformation. From there, each group follows their own way, some take the Uaupés River, others take the Tiquié or the Papuri, and start living in this region.

Hole of Transformation.

Kamaueni Origin of the aracu-de-pau and other fish from the upper Tiquié

When the Tuyuka arrived at the Tiquié River, six generations ago, they did not know the origin of the fish. They only knew that some were not good for people, for their minds. They found it difficult to bless these fish in order to feed the children. The Tuyuka consider that, when arriving to a strange land, one needs to know the conditions of all the species living there. So, they looked for the former inhabitants of this river and learned the story of Kamaueni from them. It is the story of this river, of the ones who traditionally lived at the Tiquié and who now live in the area of Pirá‑Paraná: the Barasana (Panerõa), Taiwano (Eduria), Yuruti (Suna), Tatuyo (Pamõa)… A shaman came to teach the Tuyuka how to protect themselves from the fat and bitter fish (se wai) that are bad for one’s health. Text based on narratives by Guilherme Pimentel Tenório, Tuyuka from São Pedro, and Higino Pimentel Tenório, Tuyuka from São Pedro • Illustrations by Feliciano Lana, Desana from São João

It is told that two brothers lived down from the rapids called Jirau of the Ghosts (Watiakasa), above the current border between Brazil and Colombia, left of the Tiquié River. On the right side there was another ghost house called Caiá of the Ghosts (Watiaewa). When feather ornaments and necklaces are made, the men spend several days fasting. They must abstain from all food except water and white manioc flour. Then, the younger brother, Kamaueni, became thirsty… “Big brother, I have to go to the toilet!” he said, feeling thirsty. “Look, we are making feather ornaments (mapoa). You have to hold yourself! When we finish, we are going to say a prayer before eating! Then we are going to fish in order to dance the first feast with these ornaments! Do not eat anything,” the older brother insisted, warning him. He knew it! When Kamaueni went to relieve himself down by the harbor, he saw ghost women roasting fish. He felt very hungry. Maybe he was a widower. When he squatted, he heard the voice of his deceased wife. He looked and saw the women laughing. They said: “Come and eat, boy! You are enduring hunger for so long, many days…” Feeling enticed, Kamaueni could not resist. He swam to where the women were, besides a jirau full of aracus, which they were roasting. They offered him the fish and he ate. Immediately, the ornament he was making and the stool he was sitting on to work turned black, soaked with fat, becoming stained.

Illustrations by Feliciano Lana, Desana

Kamaueni weaving dance ornament with his brother To do this kind of work one has to be fasting, it has to be done in an appropriate place, a little far from the house. There, they must remain working and fasting. For this job, one should not eat hot pepper, should not eat much! But Kamaueni was very hungry…

Caiá of the Ghosts One day, Kamaueni went to the Caiá of the Ghosts. Nowadays this place is called Jirau of the Ghosts. It is beyond the border, in Colombia, at the Tiquié River.

Kamaueni • Origin of the aracu-de-pau and other fish from the upper Tiquié “Ah, this fellow ate fat fish! He’s in trouble!” the big brother thought the very instant he saw this. When Kamaueni came back and saw that his ornaments and the stool were stained with fat, he was sad to have disobeyed the order. Nevertheless, they finished the feather adornments. “I told you and you disobeyed. It is your fault indeed! What are we going to do now? Let us go to the first feast with these new feather adornments! Let us find some fish to offer at the feast. At the end of the feast we will eat some of this fish,” the older brother said. Then they went fishing beyond the mouth of the Abiu (Kanepuya) igarapé, at the Toco de Camarão (Dasiaturuya) creek. They got nothing, the fish turned into shrimp and hid among the logs and leaves. Kamaueni then started to swell, he was nothing but fat. They went down to the Guariba (Emõya) igarapé seeking fish for the party, but they could only hear howler monkeys. They proceeded to the Pumanako, where all the fish turned into rotten leaves. They went to the Waniserora, the fish became acarás that leave and hide in the ditch. By then he was very fat, becoming fatter even without eating because he ate when he should be fasting. They continued to the Mariya igarapé and closed it with pari. When they finished, Kamaueni said: “I will go see if there is fish, see if we can catch some!” and climbed up a log to look. The big brother waited for him to scare the fish, so he could catch them with the puçá downstream. Suddenly a shoal of fish appeared. Many fish! “He must be melting! I think he is melting and his fat is turning into fish,” he thought, and slowly went to look. “A curse from that fish, a curse from the fish! Whoever eats of this fish will have enemies!” he heard Kamaueni saying from the top of the log. His flesh was falling off, morphing into fish that he cursed, saying that whoever ate them would become violent and aggressive.

Kamaueni getting fat His body started swelling and became greasy after he disrespected the diet restrictions.

Illustrations by Feliciano Lana, Desana

Kamaueni melting The big brother saw that Kamaueni’s flesh was melting. Only the head and skeleton were left. The flesh turned into fish.

“This brother of mine is doomed, I am going to abandon him here to die alone,” the big brother thought. Therefore, he abandoned Kamaueni and left without making any noise. The brother became more and more deformed, falling into pieces. Only the head was left. They were both shamans. The older brother came rowing quietly. When he switched the row to the other side, the reflection of the row reached Kamaueni. “My brother is leaving me, I will avenge this contempt,” the brother who was melting away thought. Through his shamanic power, he became like a head (Kamauenidupua) and entered the hollow between the big brother’s collarbone and the top of his shoulder, and his brother then had two heads. Kamaueni’s head became fully incarnated, the veins incorporated into his brother’s. The big brother would die if he cut Kamaueni’s head. When he went back to his relatives at the maloca, he had two heads. “What are we going to do? How can we get rid of this head?” the other brothers thought. That head had no peace. When they had fish to eat, only the head ate. The big brother hardly fed, he was debilitated, as only Kamaueni’s head ate.

Kamaueni • Origin of the aracu-de-pau and other fish from the upper Tiquié “Will our brother die?” the relatives wandered, until they had an idea to try to rid him of Kamaueni’s head. It was the ucuqui season. At that time, the ucuqui was already very sweet, but did not cut the mouth like now. They prayed for the ucuqui to become sharp. They made up a story. “There are lots of ucuqui there!” they told Kamaueni. “I want to eat,” his head said! They brought home many panacus with ucuqui, but only the head ate everything and wanted more. “There is more in the forest!” they said, and took the brother with that head to the ucuqui fields, at the mouth of the Puniya igarapé, in Neniroãbu. There, he ate a lot. “I want water!” he said, as his mouth was already bleeding. “Eat a little more!” They gave him hot pepper to eat, which made him thirstier.

Kamaueni’s brother with two heads Kamaueni’s head did not let his brother eat anything — it ate everything. Skinny, upset, tired of suffering, the brother led Kamaueni to the forest to look for ucuqui to give the head.

“I want water!” he insisted. Then they turned the ucuqui seeds into little frogs (neterõ). All the little frogs croaked to indicate where the water was, and the head left the brother’s neck and went after the water. Each time the head got near the water, the little frogs moved way. When the head left, the big brother, then without the head, fainted. While Kamaueni’s head looked for water, the big brother was taken home. However, they knew it would come back, and so they tightly closed the maloca. “Buruburuburuburu…” they suddenly heard. “Kamaueni is coming, Kamaueni’s head!” they said. He was a shaman and, when he came, he brought a lightning storm. He landed right in the center of the roof ridge. That is why it is said that the maloca’s roof ridge is never very straight. If he had just leaned there, it would be possible to topple him. However, he

Kamaueni • Origin of the aracu-de-pau and other fish from the upper Tiquié Illustrations by Feliciano Lana, Desana

incarnated all the pillars of the house, becoming ingrained, the same way he had attached himself to his brother. The maloca became his very body. Nobody could pull it out. There it stayed night and day, talking. “I want to see my brother!” the head said. Nobody left the house until all the food was gone, and then they began to starve. If anybody left, the head would incarnate again. The old shamans at the maloca attracted a herd of peccaries, believing that the head might incarnate a peccary and leave with it. It went away, but it came back. They then sent for deer. The head jumped into the deer, but it came back to wait for human beings to incarnate again. They sent for jaguars, for them to eat the head. It did not work! They attracted ferocious jaguars with long fur (poayaiwa), more ferocious. Kamaueni wanted to incarnate them, but the lions waited for the head with their mouths wide open. “Pa… pa… pa…” They finished it, devouring it. It was the end of Kamaueni’s head. The lions tore it up and killed it. The maloca was free and people could go back to normal life. Kamaueni’s brains turned into bigheaded little frogs.

Kamaueni departs from his brother’s head After eating lots of ucuqui, Kamaueni’s head craved water, left his brother’s neck and went away after the frogs that indicated that there was an igarapé nearby.

Kamaueni’s head incarnates the maloca’s roof ridge After escaping from Kamaueni’s head, his brother and all the others locked themselves in the maloca. The head climbed on the maloca’s roof ridge, waiting.

Devil with no ass Origin of the sarapós and ituins Text based on narratives by Feliciano Lana, Desana from São João; Guilherme Pimentel Tenório, Tuyuka from São Pedro; and Higino Pimentel Tenório, Tuyuka from São Pedro Illustrations by Feliciano Lana

Wasu was a bachelor, he could never get a woman. He lived in the Serra do Traíra area (next to the border between Brazil and Colombia, north of the Japurá River). He travelled through all the villages in that area looking for a woman to marry. He travelled in the river. Going downstream, he arrived at the Traíra River. There, he got a canoe and went up to the Jacamim waterfall. There were a few women there, but none of them wanted him.

Wasu, cousin of the Devil with no ass, at Serra do Traíra There was a being called Wasu. He was the cousin of the Devil with no ass. He was a bachelor who could never get a woman to stay with him. He used to live in the Serra do Traíra area.

Continuing his trip, Wasu arrived at the Lua waterfall, currently called Andorinhas waterfall. Many swallows would gather there. There were women there too, but none wanted him. Wasu travels the river searching for a woman He was sad, as he was getting He travelled through all the villages in that area looking for a close to his town, and no woman. woman. He travelled in the river. Going downstream, he reached the Traíra River. Passing the waterfalls, he saw a harbor. There he found a canoe. This place is now called Serra do Diabo sem Cu (Devil with no Ass Range). He docked the canoe to see who lived there. He saw a house where a man lived alone. The man recognized him from afar. It was the Devil with no ass, his cousin.

Illustrations by Feliciano Lana, Desana

Wasu at the Jacamim waterfall Going up the TraĂra River, Wasu reached the Jacamim falls. It was the trumpeters village, the House of the Birds. There were women there, but nono of them wanted him.

In his search for a woman, Wasu gets to a harbor Many swallows gathered. There were women there too, but none wanted to be with him. He was sad, as he was getting close to his village, and no woman. Passing the waterfalls, he found a harbor. A canoe was there.

The two met for the first time. The Devil with no ass comes to the door. Wasu docked the canoe at the Devil with no Ass Range harbor to see who lived in that place. He saw a house where a man lived alone. The man recognized from afar that it was his cousin.

Devil with no ass • Origin of the sarapós and ituins The two cousins decided to live together in that place. At some point, Wasu needed to defecate and went to the field. There he found something that looked like a beiju curadá, very warm. As he was hungry, he ate the beiju. The beiju was, in fact, feces belonging to the Devil with no ass. That was the place where he always defecated. A few hours later, the Devil with no ass came to defecate at the same place where Wasu had eaten the beiju. He saw that somebody had eaten his feces. He got very sad and said: “What is happening now? From my childhood to this day, this has never happened to me. It is the first time. I think it is a bad sign! Am I going to die?” Going back home, the Devil with no ass told everything to his cousin. Only the two men lived in that house. However, Wasu noticed that there were some woman’s working utensils there: a grater, a tipiti, a cumatá, a sieve, aturás, baskets, an oven to make beiju, everything! One day, the Devil with no ass was invited by the people from another village to have some caxiri with them. And he left! Only his cousin Wasu stayed to take care of his house. At dawn, Wasu heard a noise and something moving at the top of the house. He wondered what was happening. Suddenly he saw that there was a trunk on the loft. He opened the trunk, and a beautiful woman appeared. She came out of the trunk, went downstairs, got the utensils and started making beiju, manioc flour… When everything was finished, she jumped into the trunk. Seeing that she was beautiful, Wasu started flirting with the wife of the Devil with no ass. One day, the two cousins went bathing. When they got to the harbor, Wasu said: “I’m going to defecate!” The Devil with no ass noticed that Wasu defecated differently. Curious, he wanted to know what he did to defecate like that. “What is this my friend?” the Devil with no ass asked. “It is nothing, I am only defecating.” “Through where?” the Devil with no ass wanted to know. “Through my ass.” “I wish I were like you, my friend! But my ass is right here below my mouth.” That was what Wasu wanted… “Yeah my friend, my ass is in my back. Aren’t you sick? You defecate and smell right there! It must be horrible!” “So it is!” he agreed. “I wish I were like you. Who fixed you, placing the ass like this?”

Illustrations by Feliciano Lana, Desana

Feces belonging to the Devil with no ass There was a moment when Wasu needed to defecate, he went to the field. There he found something like a beiju curadรก, very warm. As he was hungry, he ate the beiju. The beiju was, in fact, feces from the Devil with no ass.

A beautiful woman comes out of the trunk One day, the Devil with no ass was invited by the people from another village to have some caxiri with them. Only his cousin Wasu stayed. At dawn, Wasu heard a noise and something moving at the top of the house. He opened the trunk, and a beautiful woman appeared.

Wasu defecates at the harbor and is seen by the Devil with no ass The Devil with no ass saw that Wasu defecated differently. Curious, he wanted to know what he did to defecate like that.

Devil with no ass • Origin of the sarapós and ituins “My father. He pierced my ass.” “How did he do it?” “With sticks.” “Did it hurt when he did it?” “No! It does not hurt at all!” Wasu answered. “Did you learn how to make an ass from you father?” he asked. “Yes, I did. I know how to make an ass.” “Then, my friend, don’t you want to pierce my ass like yours?” “I will do it in less than a minute,” and they went home talking. “You stay here toasting ipadu while I go and look for sticks,” Wasu said, and left. First, he got new arumã, then a bunch of arumã de sapo, fishing sticks, palms with thorns used to make zarabatana, thorny vines (añaupida), and strong sticks. He came back with a bundle. “My friend, I brought this to make the ass. You are going to defecate well, you will have an ass like mine.” “Let’s go right now. We will finish the ipadu later.” The Devil with no ass was very excited. “Let’s go, I want to fix you now. I want you to have the ass ready this afternoon. Crouch down, but don’t look this way. Close your eyes so you don’t feel pain, it hurts just a little,” Wasu said. He started with the new, soft arumã, easily breakable. He poked hard, the arumã broke. “Womm… rorõ…”

The Devil with no ass thought it was already going in. Wasu asked if it hurt, and he said no. “It is already in a little bit,” Wasu lied. “Now I am going to fix it more.” And he repeated it with another arumã. “It went in a lot. Did you feel any pain?” The Devil with no ass answered no again. “That is it! You won’t feel pain.”

Devil with no ass • Origin of the sarapós and ituins

Illustrations by Feliciano Lana, Desana

Then, he got the strong stick, the spear-rattle (yukubesugu). He shoved it in full force. At this very instant, the Devil with no ass lost consciousness and dropped dead. Wasu also shoved in the vine with thorns, extracted the bowels, and threw them in the water, originating various species of fish, sarapós (dikea, Gymnotus genus), and ituins (meperoa, Brachyhypopomus sp. and ñiripõra, Sternopygus cf. macrurus). All of them fish that have their anuses very close to their mouth. The hills where they lived are next to the Traíra River; one is called Wasugututu, and the other, Diabo sem cu (Devil with no ass).

Wasu stabs the Devil with no ass with a wooden stick “Would it be possible for you to pierce me, so I could defecate from behind like you?” the Devil with no ass asked. As Wasu wished to kill the Devil with no ass to be with his woman, he forcefully shoved the stick all the way to the throat of the Devil with no ass, who died on the spot.

Origin of the sarapós After the death of the Devil with no ass, Wasu pulled out the stick, extracting his bowels. These entrails originated sarapós fish species: sarapó-cunuri (wahpu-dihke), sarapó-comprido (dihke-yoi), sarapó-grande (dihkepu), and sarapó-das-folhas (weriripuri).

Contexts This part of the exhibition presents fish and fishing in their environmental and social context. How fishing is present in the day-to-day life of men in general and fathers in particular; how it is related to the ecological, social, and economic calendar; how the methods used by the fishermen vary, according to the river level, the season, and the events that are inherent to the fish life cycle. It shows the fish in their yearly migratory and reproductive movements, how they are perceived and understood — generally in terms of the indigenous society itself. It gives an overall view of the geography of rivers, igarapés (channels), lakes, wells, paranás (secondary channels)… with places where one may fish or not, where each trap is placed at pre-determined times; where a diversity of fish species is dispersed; the location of the fish owners, the cobras-grandes, and so on. These contexts show the complex relationship between the indigenous people and their environment.

Fisherman Adalberto Pedrosa in the igapó, in times of high water levels, Serra de Mucura. Photo by Juan Soler

Fish life cycle in the astronomic and socioeconomic calendar Black water rivers, like the Tiquié and the majority of the rivers in the Negro River basin, are biologically unproductive because they originate from extremely poor soils, which explains the very low mineral content of their waters and the consequent reduction in primary production (poor in species). The greatest productivity occurs in the floodplains, with the flood pulse, by reason of the availability of shelter and food for the biota, adjusted to take advantage of the expansion of this habitat. The igapó forests are important areas for the supply of fish, including species that use the white water river floodplains as a reproduction and growth area. Floodplains, with igapó forests and meander lakes, are typical of the lower Tiquié River. In the upper area, abrupt margins and uneven areas with rapids and falls — like Pari‑Cachoeira, Pedra Curta, Cachoeira Comprida and, above all, the Caruru falls — serve as obstacles to the dispersion of many species of fish and other aquatic life. Many of the fish species found in the Tiquié River display a clear preference for specific habitats.

Annual migration cycle The Tiquié is the stage for the migration of several fish species, which go up and down its course throughout the annual cycle. These phenomena are keenly observed and monitored by the indigenous fishermen, as they can represent opportunities for good fishing results and are indicators of the availability of fish in other months. 11 10

Water level (m)

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 J

Graphic showing average water levels in the Tiquié River (middle course) between 1983 and 2009. Source: SNIRH / ANA

Although the seasons oscillate, there is a rainy season when the water levels remain higher (between April and July). After this period, a phase with brief summers and winters follows, until the end of December or January, when the dry season begins.

Photos by Juan Soler

The main seasons

Mating and spawning periods The mating (wai turiratia wese) and spawning (wai turise) of species — such as the Leporinus klausewitzi (yuku botea), Leporinus friderici (botea niti peritigu), Leporinus agassizii (botea niti maaritigu), Cyphocharax multilineatus (akoroawũ maaritigu), Cyphocharax spilurus (akoroawũ niti petigu), Curimatella alburna (akoroawũ butigu), and others — coincide with the swell of rising waters caused by heavy rainfall between November and April (sometimes going until June). The peak of these species’ spawning happens at the end of summer, when it rains a lot and river levels rise rapidly, not returning to lower levels for a few months.

Piracema (spawning season) Above, a dried out Tiquié River in the

The Tukano and Tuyuka fishermen know the places outskirts of the Pirarara community. where, year after year, these species gather for Below, the Tiquié River in a drier period, Tucano rapids. reproductive purposes, in very short and specific sections of the Tiquié River and its tributaries. The indigenous people relate that the piracema (spawning) occurs in days when water levels rise gradually and constantly throughout the entire day, like at times of heavy rainfall in the headwaters; if the level of the river water stops rising, the shoals interrupt their mating.

Fish migration After reproduction in the upper Tiquié, the fish move downstream in shoals to the igapó areas in the middle and the lower Tiquié. In the initial spawning season, between November and January, the fish don’t move downstream yet; in the following one, between February and March, only a few move downstream; it is in the last season, beginning in April, that many fish migrate towards the river mouth (in Tukano they call this temporary migration wai buruse).

Fish life cycle in the astronomic and socioeconomic calendar At the end of this season, shoals of fish start to move upstream in the Cabo de Enxó Flood (Sioyahpu poero), from June up until October. When they reach the upper Tiquié, they are fat. As time goes by, they start losing fat, at the same time that the eggs are forming, until the spawning. The elderly used to say that when the abiu (kãre) is ripening, the same thing happens to the fish eggs. When the abiu season is ending (falling and rotting), it is a sign that the fish are fatless and the eggs are ready. In years of stronger floods, when the waters rise and remain that way for a long period, the fish go upstream in larger numbers. On the other hand, when the water level is not so high, the migrations are not intense and the abundance of fish in the remaining months of the year is smaller. In the more productive years, the amount of fish that move upstream is such that they can be easily caught in the communities’ ports. Fishing tools such as the imirõ (portable cacuri), puçás, fishing nets, and cacuri are used. Cacuri is a barrier that prevents the passage of these shoals, allowing only a few species to pass. In the waterfalls, the fishermen use the fence with jequis and caiás to catch fish in this period.

Life cycle of the fish drawn by Tuyuka researchers João Bosco Rezende, Marcos Rezende, and Gabriel Barbosa.

Fish life cycle in the astronomic and socioeconomic calendar

Knowledge of the elderly The wise elders of the Tiquié follow the movement of the constellations (wametire), associated to river level fluctuations and to berry picking, fishing, hunting, and agricultural cycles. Considering these cycles, they perform protection ceremonies, which can be thought as rituals for the management of the environment, as they seek to maintain the movement of the world and its cycles. These are chanting feasts conducted by the baya (master of ceremonies), with the consumption of caxiri, caapi, ipadu, and various other ritual substances in which the kumua (healers) bestow blessings for the protection of their maloca and their communities — called wanõare (in Tuyuka) —, burning resin and bee wax. These ceremonies update their sense of the ritual substances, recalling and reviving the knowledge of the ancestors. This ceremonial and annual cycle of feasts has been simplified, even though they have maintained the individual protections or blessings related to healing, childbirth, and first menstruation. The knowledge and observation of the cycles or the calendar, on the other hand, have been kept up to date, and there is an interest among young natives in understanding it. Astronomical and life cycle references are present in everyday work, guiding daily practices such as farming, fishing, foraging, hunting, travelling, and feasts. They are also relevant to recent initiatives involving resource management at the community and intercommunity (associative) levels. It is the case of fish management.

Life cycle of the fish drawn by Tuyuka researchers João Bosco Rezende, Marcos Rezende, and Gabriel Barbosa.

Fluvial geography Drawings of management areas at Pirarara-Poço, in the mid Tiquié River, show the range of the waters when the river is dry (kuma), and during overflows (poero), when extensive areas of the forest are flooded. With the formation of the igapós, it is also time for fishing daguiru, the general denomination of a group of leather fish caught during the night and very appreciated in meals, especially for their broth. In the igapós, there are appropriate locations for the placing of fences and matapis. It is also a good opportunity to catch swordfish (soo). During times of high waters, a net of channels and paranás is formed, functioning as shortcuts for the canoes in the river. For this reason, and despite the current, trips are shorter and quicker. When the river is dry, the landscape becomes very different. Beaches appear along with stones on the riverbed, and, in some years, when the dry season is more intense, navigation may be hindered. This time is appropriate for WAI WESHIASE FISHING fishing with a flashlight and a spear and, in some CHANNEL TO THE LAKE DIHTARA WEMARIMA cases, for the use of the timbó in lakes or waters PARANÁ YUHTI with slow current. KÃHSA

Igapós and fish

MATAPI MALHADEIRA (GILLNET)

WEKHU ~

There is a very important interrelation between the life cycle of the fish, fruit trees in riverbanks and igapós (seasonally flooded forests), and the high and low water cycle. The flooding of the river and of the igapós facilitate the access of the fish to these environments.

WAI TURIRO

PIRACEMA

DOE YURÓ

TRAÍRA’S FISHING

BAHPÁ NIRO

PLACE TO FIND DARACUBI

MIHPI

AÇAÍ PALM

WIÍ

HOUSE

DÍHTARÁ

LAKE

DIAKOÉ

IGAPÓ

DIÁ

RIVER

PIMENTA-DOS-PEIXES WAI BIÁ In the Tiquié River, floodplains, with igapós and JENIPAPO-DO-RIO DIAWÉ meander lakes, are typical of the lower course; in the middle course, they are interspersed — in sections where the riverbanks are higher — with land forests. In the higher course, abrupt riverbanks and hilly areas with rapids and falls are predominant. Specific fishing traps have been developed for each one of these environments. (Fish food) (Fish food)

Maps produced during a workshop held in the Tiquié River communities as part of the preparation work for the exhibition.

Map of the fishing areas in the Acará-Poço and Pirarara-Poço communities in the winter

MIMIRÃ

SEREYA

PEHKANHOAÑA

ÑUMUÑA

OHPEYA

NETA ÑEHKARÃ

HOSARA

YARA WAÑATHA

YARA WAYRIMA

MUHIÑA

DOEYA

CELESTINO

OMEPERIRA

BUHTUSERA

WÃRIA DHMTARA

MARIANO

ÑUMURA HOPURINÃ

OHKONIRIMA HOPURINÃ YUTI

KÃMIÑA

LUCIANO OHKOÑIRIKO

DOE SERAKO KÃMIRA

RAFAEL DHIRA

NÃRIA YUTI

UÑUÑA

KUMIÑA YOTI YORA

MIHPITIRIMA

MHAWI TUHKURÕ WARIAÑA WARIA TUHKURÕ

WEHKUYA

Map of the fishing areas in the Acará-Poço and Pirarara-Poço communities in the summer

MIMIRÃ

PEHKANHOAÑA

SEREYA ÑUMUÑA

OHPEYA

NETA ÑEHKARÃ

HOSARA

MUHIÑA

YARA WAÑATHA

CELESTINO YARA WAYRIMA

DOEYA

OMEPERIRA BUHTUSERA

WÃRIA DHMTARA

MARIANO

ÑUMURA

OHKONIRIMA HOPURINÃ

KÃMIÑA

LUCIANO HOPURINÃ YUTI OHKOÑIRIKO

KÃMIRA DOE SERAKO DHIRA

NÃRIA YUTI

RAFAEL

KUMIÑA YOTI

UÑUÑA YORA

MIHPITIRIMA MHAWI TUHKURÕ WARIAÑA WARIA TUHKURÕ

WEHKUYA

Everyday life of the fisherman Evaristo starts the day participating in a morning prayer followed by a community meal (quinhampira and porridge). His routine activities are: going to the manioc field with his wife, going fishing, hunting, participating in community work (wayuri, mutirão), fixing the canoe, the house, helping his father in the production of handicrafts (Tukano bench and tipiti), and making fishing tools such as puçás and traps (kasawu, pari).

Evaristo fishes mostly (75% of the time) at night and very early in the morning, using a gillnet, a spear (zagaia), hook and line. During the day, he usually uses a hook, line and a rod, in addition to the gillnet. The frequency with which he uses the gear varies depending on the time of year. The fishing lasts about five and a half hours, both during the day and at night.

Like the other men in the region, Evaristo Caldas Azevedo, Tukano, sib Ñahuri porã, dweller of the Pirarara-Poço community, mid Tiquié, devotes a great part of his day to fishing. Married to Rivelina, from the Desana ethnicity, a father of seven, he is the former community leader, and is currently an Indigenous Agent for Environment Management (AIMA). As such, he maintains registration logs of the activities that comprise the socioeconomic and ecological calendar, recording his fishing results in a register. In this photo, he shows an aracu-trêspintas baited with daracuri in the hook and line, Pirarara fishing area.

Photos by Juan Soler

Evaristo fishes all year long. Sometimes he takes his son with him. In his house, other fishermen, like his father, brother and son-in-law, help provide for the whole family. When they get a larger amount of fish, they preserve it by salting or roasting.

They catch a great variety of fish species. Evaristo’s register identified 63 species. The most commonly caught were yuku botea (aracu-de-pau), doe (traíra), ñosowi (peixe‑cachorro), botea nitipetigu (aracu-três-pintas), pirõsero (daguiru), waisiporo (mandubé), and muha (jacundá). Fish like buu (tucunaré), wariã (acará), dupuritero (bauari), bupo (acará-trovão), muha ( jacundá), waiporã (peixe-filho), and buu (piranha) are more associated to summer time, when the water level on the Tiquié River is low, like during the Ur˜ e kuma (Pupunha Summer) and the Mer˜ e kuma (Ingá Summer).

The Aña poero (Jararaca Flood), which starts in the beginning of November, marks the beginning of the spawning season for fish like the botea nitipetigu (aracu-três-pintas) and the botea nitimaatigu (aracu-riscado). During the following months, other fish species also spawn in the rivers, streams, igapós, and lakes. The last spawnings are usually observed during the Wuru (Preguiça Winter), with the Waikahsa poero (Jirau de Peixe Flood).

In the winter, when the Tiquié levels rise, there is a greater abundance of akirõ and pirõsero (daguirus), waikutiporu (sardines), buhkasero (ituim), and various species of botea (aracu). The period between May and July is marked by the Ñohkoatero poero (Constellation Flood), the Waikahsa poero (Jirau de Peixe Flood), the Sioyahpu poero (Cabo de Enxó Flood), and the Yhe poero (Heron Flood), a time when genipaps are ripe and are largely used as bait to catch uhu (pacu), with the uhuatero (cacuri-de-lago). During this period, fishing becomes more difficult due to the dispersion of the fish in the flooded forest, where they find refuge and food. It is time to build the fences for the matapi in the igapó. Matapi, set up between May and July in the igapós.

Illustration by Feliciano Lana, Desana

The fishermen know the location of the piracemas. Evaristo sometimes fishes at the Wapa turiro, where the wapa (Poptella compressa, a kind of piaba) spawn.

Everyday life of the fisherman Another kind of bait that is largely used is the bahpa (daracubi), an igapó worm more abundant in the winter and very appreciated by several fish species. Shrimp, spiders and japurá are also used to catch aracu. The region where the Pirarara-Poço community is located is one of the most productive fishing areas at the Tiquié River, a place of extensive igapós and various lakes. Fishing takes place in several locations and environments. These are the igarapés used by Evaristo: Ohkoniriko, Ohkonirima, Wehkuya, Uñuñã, Buhtusera, Ohopuriña, and Kumiña. The lakes: Doeserako, Buhtusera, and Yaka Wañatha. He often leaves at dawn to go fishing, going up behind the community to the Ohpeya kusa estirão. He starts out by using a #11 hook and a 0.30 line to catch little fish like dupusu, waikutiporu, bosepuri, and dupurit˜ero (acarás), which will serve as bait to catch bigger fish. Then he baits a #6 hook with a 0.60 line and goes down the middle of the river with hook and line in hand, often catching mihpipuriwi (barba‑chata), moõ (piraíba), orerõ (surubim), and waisiporo (mandubé). Upon getting home, he gives the fish to his wife, who then prepares and serves them to all the family.

Species mentioned by Evaristo in his register Tukano name

Family and genus

akirõ Auchenipteridae akirõ-kurusa Liosomadoras yaiakirõ Auchenipterichthys amã Parauchenipterus pirõsero anã anã-kahseroa

Potamotrygonidae Potamotrygon, Paratrygon

botea-nihtimati Anostomidae botea-nihtiperiti Leporinus yuku botea buu Cichlidae buu-kamiro Cichla sirãpero bua Characidae Serrasalmus bupo Characidae dupuritero Satanoperca nimatu Mesonauta wariã Heros Aequidens buhsa Heptapteridae pawa Rhamdia saia saipohta waisiporo Auchenipteridae Ageneiosus yõsowi-oa Acestrorhynchidae Acestrorhynchus muawi Cichlidae muha Crenicichla waiporã orerõ mihpipuriwi

Pimelodidae Pseudoplatystoma, Pinirampus

buhkasero Sternopygidae Sternopygus doe Erythrinidae Erythrinus seã Characidae Hemigrammus yepoari

Cynodontidae Hydrolycus, Cynodon

Everyday life of the fisherman

2006 January 16 The river keeps flooding. According to the elders, this flood is the end of the Pamo poero (Armadillo Flood). January 29 The river is full. Now it is possible to catch daracubi and the fish from the flood like akirõ, pirõsero, yaiakirõ, amã, pawa. These kinds of fish can only be found at night, putting hook in the igapó, with daracubi bait. It is also in this water that it is possible to put matapi in the igapó. In the bushes appear various kinds of ingá and also ucuqui and wild cucuras. February 1 I baited the hook with sauba ant (yamikã) and also the hook for daguiru, to fish at night. I set thirty for daguiru and ten for pacu. When I was coming back and looking at my hooks, I saw that they got three pacus and two aracus, one riscado, and one três-pintas. Then I came back home. At dawn, I went to look with my son and we came back at 7:30 AM. We caught one waisiporo, one pawa, twenty four pirõsero, four yaiakirõ, four bua, and two akirõ-kurusa. All this with hook #12 and silk line. February 2 My brother went fishing at the igapó, across from our community. He caught the following fish: sixteen pirõsero, eight yaiakirõ, and three saia. There were twenty hooks fixed with silk line and daracubi bait. At noon papa Mariano placed the hook for daguiru. February 3 Mariano caught thirteen pirõsero, one buhkasero, one saipohta, four buhsa, and three yaiakirõ. The river is a little bit higher. February 4 The Tiquié River keeps ebbing. The Ure Kuma (Pupunha Summer) is approaching. February 20 The river continues ebbing; it is already a little low. Summer fish start to show: waiporã, muha, wariã, duhpuriterõ, and buu (jacundás, acarás, and tucunarés). The river being low, tucunaré is the most sought fish. March 5 Sunday. At 2 AM, my brother-in-law and I went to fish with a flashlight at Okoñiriko igarapé. I caught four yuku-botea, one nimatu, one buhpó. Him, one buu-kamirõ, one yuku-botea, one doe. All caught with spear. We got back at 4 AM.

Everyday life of the fisherman March 8 My brother-in-law and I went to undo the pula-pula hook. I left three lines waiting at Doeserako estirão. With the last line I left, right in front of Doeya igarapé, I caught a piraíba, but almost turned the canoe over with the struggle of the piraíba and the canoe being small. Even so, I got the piraíba into the canoe and cut its head at least three times. It weighed 15 kg and was 115 cm long. I also caught a 4,5 kg surubim and other fish. The river keeps filling; today it went up three handspans. March 10 Beginning of Dahsiu poero (Shrimp Flood). March 13 The weather was nice and the river still getting higher, and that is why the frogs were singing from sunset until 5 AM. April 6 I went searching for the daracubi (bahpa), and then I caught one nimatu, one botea-nihtiperiti, and one yuku-botea. I fished with rod, line 0.30 and hook #12. Then I set the pula-pula hooks in Ohkoniriko igarapé, left seventeen hooks #8. I went to check my hook at 11 PM: got five traíras (doe). I checked again at 4 AM and caught two more traíras. The river starts filling. According to my father Mariano, it is the beginning of the Yai poero (Jaguar Flood). April 10 At 3 AM, I went fishing beyond the community. In the morning, I was at Opeya kuhsa estirão. From there I came down fishing mandubé (waisiporo) and stopped fishing at 9 AM; got three waisiporo and one mihpipuriwi.

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April 15 Spent the night in front of Muroko igarapé to fish at Pehkanõaña igarapé, I left the pula‑pula hook and also a forty-meter gillnet that 12 I borrowed. Then I got seven traíras and, 10 in the gillnet, two waisiporo, two soa, and 8 one traíra. The river begins to go down 6 a little. 4

April 25 River keeps getting higher; it was the beginning of the Yai poero (Jaguar Flood). Ants were popping up in some places, like the Umari River, where there was a piracema of aracu-três-pintas.

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2006

Fluctuation of the Tiquié River level between January and April 2006, as recorded by the Indigenous Agents for Environment Management (AIMAs)

Everyday life of the fisherman April 28 My brother and I went to get cunuri-do-mato to put in the muhipu kahsawu (matapi-de-lua). We came back at midday. In the afternoon, we went to set the muhipu kahsawu, trying to get some fish. May 1 River continues to fill due to the rain tonight. It is the beginning of the Yõkõtero poero (Seven Stars Flood). May 3 At 1 AM, my brother and I left to fish with flashlight at Wehkuya igarapé. At the entrance of the igarapé, we left a fifty-meter gillnet. Then we began to fish, and caught three traíras and speared an agouti, it was a male. The gillnet caught two mandubés and one pirandira. May 8 Coming back to the village, I went looking for daracubi (bahpa) at Ohkoniriko igarapé. As it was already late, I got just a few. I went fishing again. Caught one uhu, one botea, and one duhpuritero. May 17 Went fishing at the igapó of the Ohpeya kuhsa estirão. I searched for spiders to bait the aracu. I got ten spiders and set the hook #12 with silk line; I set ten hooks. I stopped at 1 PM and got four pacus and one aracu. River continues ebbing. May 20 Left home to go fishing in Ohpurinã at 4 AM. There I looked for genipap (diawe). I found six, cut them in four and hanged them in hook #12. I set ten hooks, and when I went back to look, after forty minutes, I caught four pacus. After another forty minutes, got five more pacus. Later, with the reed and daracubi, I caught six nitiperitirã (aracu-três-pintas) in the igapó. I went to undo the hooks and caught five more pacus. My wife came with a pot to receive the fish, cleaned them, cooked, and served us for dinner. She offered some of the fish to my aunt Renata. She roasted the rest in the jirau for us to eat them tomorrow. The river is still ebbing. May 26 According to information from papa Mariano, it is the beginning of the Wai Kahsa poero (Jirau de Peixe Flood). June 23 My father went to set the cacuri (wairo) in Sororoca igarapé. In the afternoon, my father-in-law, João Massa, went looking for daracubi in Ohkoniriko igapó. He said he set the hook for daguiru.

Everyday life of the fisherman June 25 At 10 AM, father, mother, and one of my daughters went to see the cacuri (wairo) in Ohpurinã igapó. They came back at 3 PM with seven pacus. June 26 At 7 AM, as there was no food, I went fishing at the igapó of Ohpeya kusa estirão. Getting there, I set the hook for pacu, sixteen hooks. The bait was genipap. Stayed until midday, caught six pacus, and was back at 2 PM. July 4 Tiquié River getting higher. It is the time of the Sioyahpu poero (Cabo de Enxó Flood). July 10 In the afternoon, I went to set the hook for pacu, with genipap bait. Caught six pacus. Later, I left the pula-pula hook and some hooks for the daguiru. At night, I went to check my hooks and caught four traíras and eight daguirus. July 13 At midday, my father checked his cacuri and caught five pacus. July 14 In the afternoon, my wife prepared caxiri. Tiquié River stopped filling, yet the river is high and there are igapós. Some people at the community are using the matapi to catch fish. July 18 As there was no food in the morning, I went fishing at Ohkonirima igapó. Getting there, I set the hook with bait for pacu and left twelve hooks. Then went fishing with reed and daracubi bait. Caught three aracus-três-pintas, four aracus-riscados, and one aracu-quatro-pintas. The river keeps filling.

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9 2 5 y 8 ay 1 ay 2 ay 2 un 5 n 12 n 19 n 26 Jul 3 ul 10 ul 17 ul 24 ul 31 ug 7 g 14 g 21 g 28 J J A J J J Ju Au Au Au Ju Ju M M M

2006

Fluctuation of the Tiquié River level between May and August 2006, as recorded by the Indigenous Agents for Environment Management (AIMAs)

August 8 In the afternoon, I went fishing at the mouth of Ohkonirima. Caught piabinha and fished pirandira with reed, line 0.30 and hook #12. I caught eighteen pirandiras and stopped at 5 PM. The ebb of the river continues. August 21 The river flood continues. Up 3 cm, just today. It is the end of the Yehe poero (Heron Flood).

Photos by Juan Soler

Everyday life of the fisherman

Evaristo Caldas Azevedo collecting fish from the gillnet. Featured, ñosowi (peixe-cachorro). Pirarara-Poço community, mid Tiquié River.

September 1 The ebb continues, the river is almost dry and many beaches are appearing. In this summer time many fish appear, like tucunaré, traíra, aracu, etc. September 5 Ñamia Flood. September 10 Took the gillnet to Uñunã estirão. Checked it in the afternoon and caught seven aracusriscados (nihtimatira); the wife prepared the fish, roasted two, and put the other three in the quinhampira. The ebb continues. September 18 At 8 AM, left to fish at the Doeserako Lake. Fished piramiri (seã) and tried to fish tucunaré later, caught five tucunarés with fishing line 0.60 and hook #8. I also caught the waiporã with the reed.

Everyday life of the fisherman September 24 Ebb continues, river almost dry. Season: Inã Buhkura Kuma (Catterpillars’ Growth Summer). September 25 Went fishing at Ohkoniriko igarapé, got some bait and caught two medium pirarucus, cut them in half and started fishing with line 0.60 and hook #8. Caught one surubim, two tucunarés (buu), and two arraias (anã). October 3 Began fishing at the igarapé at 4 PM until 6 PM and caught two tucunarés-pintados and one tucunaré-ferida (buu-kamiro) — with line 0.60 and hook #8. River stopped filling. October 12 The Constellation is Anã poero (Jararaca or Ray Flood), according to information from the old Luciano Azevedo. This afternoon, manivara (mehka) flew away. River starts filling after plenty of rain. October 13 Went fishing at the very end of Ohpeya kusa estirão, I heard that the caititu pigs were there. Got my shotgun and shot one, it was a male. I got a little further up, and right at the Ohopurinã (Sororoca estirão), at that beach, I saw a surubim (orerõ), got the spear, and hit it right in the head. Went up and stopped at the end of the estirão, and came down to the middle of the river, with line 0.60, hook #8, and arauiri (wirari) bait, down from Sororoca igarapé. Suddenly the fishing line was gone, because that line had molongó (poga), so I took long to catch because the piraíba always escaped… after 15 minutes, I finally caught and started pulling, and then got the machete and cut right in the piraíba’s head and came back paddling to the port. We roasted the fish and the wild pig. River continues to flood. November 5

Times for Anã poero (Jararaca Flood).

Went with my son to check my gillnet in the morning at the igarapé, and we caught yuku-botea, sirãpero, yõsowi-oa. November 23 Mother cooked caruru with mandubé. While we ate, father Mariano returned

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November 20

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2006

Fluctuation of the Tiquié River level between September and December 2006, as recorded by the Indigenous Agents for Environment Management (AIMAs)

Everyday life of the fisherman from the fishing with three mandubés, three piranhas, and one tucunaré-pintado. Mother roasted the fish. December 7 At 3 PM, went to check the gillnet I had left yesterday, and there were three waisiporo, one muawi, one botea-nihtimati, and two yepoari. December 8 Took the gillnet to Ohpeya kusa estirão and caught two pirandira, two dupusua, and one waisiporo. My wife and my daughter Evanete came and helped me, and we started to farm. They also got four bunches of bananas. December 19 Below the Muroko well, we found two rays (anã kahseroa), we caught them with the spear, and my wife started a fire and cooked it. December 20 At 2 PM, I went to check my pula-pula hook and there was no fish because it was too full. The hook was at the pula-pula bottom. I took the gillnet to Doepasariko ( Traíra igarapé) and managed to catch some yepoaria… my wife cleaned the fish, cooked some, and roasted the rest. December 25 According to the old men, this is the Pamo poero (Armadillo Flood). December 30 Went to check my gillnet in the igapó, across Ununã igarapé, and got two traíras, one tuim, two pirõsero, and one waisiporo.

Fish diversity in the Negro River The Negro River basin is known as one of the richest in species throughout the Amazon basin. It is estimated that there are 700 species in the whole basin. There is, however, very little knowledge about the fish in the upper Negro River, one of the exceptions being the fish studies conducted at the Tiquié River. A broad survey of the fish in the Tiquié River basin was initiated in 2000, when ISA (Instituto Socioambiental / Socio-environmental Institute), MZUSP (Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo / Zoology Museum of the University of São Paulo), and Foirn (Federação das Organizações Indígenas do Rio Negro / Federation of the Indigenous Organizations of the Negro River), together with the local association Atriart (Associação das Tribos Indígenas do Alto Rio Tiquié / Association of the Indigenous Tribes of the Upper Tiquié River), started a collaborative project to inventory fish diversity and the associated indigenous knowledge. Three field surveys were carried out in the years 2000, 2002, and 2004, and 147 fish species were found. Posteriorly, an inventory of the fish diversity in the middle portion of this river was taken during two trips in the second half of 2006. All this work was performed with the help of fishermen and indigenous experts. Indigenous names and information about origins, ecology, occurrence and fishing methods were collected. We reached a total of 261 fish species documented for the whole Tiquié River basin. The data collected was used in the description of the many fish species, 20 of which are known exclusively in the Tiquié River up to the moment, that is, they are considered endemic to this river. There are still some species collected in the Tiquié River which have not been described, and are still waiting to be formally named.

Pictures with drawings by Mauro C. Lopes, showing fish species that occur in the Tiquié River. Photo by Vanessa Gama / MUSA

Fish species found in the Tiquié River basin

Aracu-riscado, aracu-cabeça-gorda

Cachorro, peixe-cachorro, dente-de-cão

Aracu-comum, aracu-três-pintas

Cachorro-do-rabo-vermelho, pirandira

Aracu-de-igarapé

Pacu-txui

Illustrations by MAURO C. LOPES

Mandubé, bocão, palmito

Piranha-preta

Jacudazinho

Tucunaré-paca, tucunaré-açu

Surubim, pintado, cachara 63

Traditional tools and fishing practices In spite of the low biomass, the Negro River is known for its great fish diversity, compared to muddy water rivers. Along thousands of years of experience in this region and having fish as their main source of protein, the indigenous people have developed refined strategies for the management of this resource. This means that they possess a broad set of fishing artifacts and techniques, which they alternately use in their day-to-day life, thus allowing for a more efficient and, at the same time, sustainable exploration. In this part of the exhibition, some kinds of traps and fishing techniques are presented, examples of ingenuity, design, and intelligence. Each one is to be used in specific places and times of the year, following a set of rules that are necessary for their efficacy â&#x20AC;&#x201D; rules that are both technical and symbolic. This fishing culture has undergone significant changes in the last decades, with the introduction of new tools and procedures, such as metal hooks of all sizes, battery-powered flashlights to fish at night, gillnets, and the use of engines, which allow frequent access to more distant areas. These transformations have generated a growing impact on the fish population, a fact of which the indigenous fishermen are becoming increasingly aware. Hence the recent fish management initiatives among indigenous communities and associations, which, besides intercommunity agreements, involve joint research projects between natives and non-natives. This exhibition is also part of an effort to promote the appreciation of these traditional techniques.

Photo by Juan Soler

Matapi Kasawu Kasaga

Photos by Juan Soler

Foreseeing the coming of the flood, the fishermen prepare the matapis and at the same time build (or fix) the fence where they will be placed. They set them in the beginning of the Jacundá, Armadillo and Shrimp floods until the end of the great Jaguar flood, when the fish are going downstream after spawning. The matapi is made out of the splints of the paxiubinha, bacaba or patauá palm trees, tied with vines (several kinds can be used, and in Tukano they are called wabeda, sikãda, bukuroamisida or mereussekoda, and menekõara). The opening mold is weaved using a stronger and more rigid vine.

Roberval Pedrosa carrying paxiubinha palm splints to make matapis (above) and Adalberto Pedrosa manufacturing a matapi (below) at the Serra de Mucura fishing area.

Abstinence and matapi rules Upon coming back home after setting the trap, the fisherman must fast and obey certain rules: “He should not be startled, be stung by a bee, make or hear lots of noise, carry a crying child, start an engine, eat hot pepper (unless it is roasted), drink hot manicuera and, even when feeling cold, the fisherman should not get warm by the fire, or have sex with the wife.” If he does not do so, as Tukano brothers Adalberto and Roberval Pedrosa from the Serra de Mucura community explain: “Who is going to work for free? Trusting only the matapi, if he does not fast, see if it catches anything for you!”

Roberval Pedrosa placing a matapi in the fence, in the igapó at the Serra de Mucura fishing area.

These testimonies show that, according to their understanding, this trap is like an extension of the fisherman himself. The fisherman needs to take care of himself in order for the trap not to become inefficient, and thus be unable to catch any fish.

Matapi Kasawu Kasaga This trap is the most used and the simplest to make. With a conic shape, it has a large entrance like a funnel and a narrow, tied up bottom. The opening is placed in the direction of the current, incased by a rustic fence made out of sticks intertwined with branches and leaves. The extension of this fence varies, reaching up to 20 m or more, having its inner walls in an angle that leads the fish to the entrance of the trap. The fish enter when they are moving downstream.

Evaristo Azevedo and his son-in-law assembling a new fence to place matapi in the igapó, in the Pirarara fishing area. Photos by Juan Soler

It is placed in the slow current igapós, in the igarapés or river channels, including fish spawning sites. It is largely used during the piracemas, when the fish are mating. It catches aracus, traíras, tucunarés, jandiás, mandis, jacundás, acarás, jejus, cuiú-cuiús, and other species.

Jequi Bukawu Haruga The jequi is an elaborate trap that demands expertise and handicraft experience. It is of cylindrical shape, with a conic bottom. Unlike the matapi, the opening is shaped as an internal funnel in the entrance of the cylinder. This funnel allows the entrance, while blocking the exit of the fish. This trap is used against the current, that is, the fish go into it when trying to move upstream.

Making of the jequi The jequi is made out of bacaba, patauá or zarabatana (paxiubinha) splints, tied up with sikãda vine. The ring that is placed in the funnel must be strong; for this end, the harukamisida or bukamõda vine is used.

This page: Domingos Marques weaving the funnel for the jequi (above) and preparing to fit the funnel into the trap (below). Next page: Above, Firmiano Meira with a jequi at the Comprida falls. Below, Tarcísio Barreto with a jequi at the Periquito falls.

This trap is built in different sizes (length and circumference), depending on the site it will be placed and on the species one intends to catch. It is placed on the edges of rapids and in igarapés.

The different sizes of the jequis Botea buhkawu: turĩpamo, wamukã – to be placed in fish spawning sites and during the ascent of the fish, in natural obstacles, especially in rapids. Seã buhkawu: poepa, yuhtirikorimoabasama – should be placed in rapids and igarapés.

Photos by Juan Soler

Mari buhkawu: mãriãkãmoãbasama – should be placed only in igarapés.

Jequi Bukawu Haruga Photos by Juan Soler

Places for the use of the jequi Mainly used in rapids and fast current streams, where large‑sized ones are placed. It is very effective when the fish try to cross the rapids in their upstream migrations. Hundreds of aracus are caught in the months of July and August at the Pari and Caruru falls. In small igarapés, the jequis are smaller and a bait needs to be put inside, generally consisting of fruits from the riverbanks. It is always fitted in a fence made out of sticks. When it is being made, the same behavior, diet, and restrictions of the matapi are required.

On the left and above, Domingos Marques fitting the jequi into the fence, Caruru falls. Below, Periquito falls with fence for the jequi.

Jequi Bukawu Haruga

“ The falls are the appropriate fishing environments for us.

I have and make jequi fence. In the end of December and January, all people saw the climbing of the piabas in abundance, especially yoha. When the climbing intensity of the piabas diminished, then came the piabas-lisas, waiuriã and bupia, until February. In August, it is the climbing time for aracus. To me, the jequi becomes attractive when I weave after eating quinhampira, after everyone is gone to the field and the children have dispersed, in just one day. Finishing it, I take it and put on the due place to capture the fish, without the need to wash it. I have many jequi fences. Jequi fence for aracu up the village; jequi fence at Pikõka. In front of this fence, there is Suruduri, Wasũsũrõka. These are the environments for our fishing. There is another place, Mhapirõyuhti, where many fish can be caught. In the past, fish could be easily caught. In the month of August we ate plenty of fish.”

[Statement by Tukano fisherman and connoisseur Domingos Marques, a villager from the Caruru community located beside the Caruru falls, the largest in the Tiquié River]

Photos by Juan Soler

Below, fences with jequis at Caruru falls. On the right, Firmiano Meira getting the jequis out of the rapids.

“ When placed in the igarapés,

sarapós, jejus, jandiás and acarás are caught. When the jeju are spawning, plenty can be caught.”

[Tarcísio Barreto, Tukano connoisseur, on the use of the jequi]

Portable cacuri Imirõ A light and carefully made trap, used to catch small fish. The fish enter through a hole, attracted by some food (mainly termites) which floats in the inner surface of the artifact. The fish are kept away from the entrance by its circular walls. The ingenuity of the trap is that the entrance cannot be used as an exit.

Materials used

Photos by Juan Soler

The portable cacuri (imirõ) is made out of small paxiubinha, patauá or bacaba splints and intertwined with neõda, emõada vine. A screen from a used aturá is used in the bottom.

On the left, Tarcísio Barreto tying vine rings to support the imirõ. Next page, tying the imirõ rings with vine and sewing the bottom made of a used aturá.

Operation and fish species caught The trap is placed near the riverbank, with at least two thirds of it below the water. For this, it is tied to a branch or a piece of wood firmly affixed to the border. The entrance in the middle of the trap is kept open by a little piece of wood. A belt made of buriti or açaí leaves is used on the water surface, which keeps the termite bait that is floating in the interior of the recipient from leaking. The little fish enter to eat the termites that are floating, and cannot get out. It catches piabas (yoara, ewna, mikia, etc.) and peixe-cachorro (ñosowi), which enter to eat the trapped piabas. It is very effective during the ascent of the fish (July and August), when it is placed even at the harbors in the communities. It is also used in the igapós. Above, Tarcísio Barreto setting a portable cacuri in the São Domingos community fishing area. Below, he is putting termite in the portable cacuri.

Photos by Juan Soler

Portable cacuri Imirõ

Portable cacuri placed in the São Domingos fishing area.

“ The God Deshubari invented these traps. The ancients called gods the ones with a capacity to look and invent something. He was the first to look, think, and project the imirõ, already thinking of our generation.”

[Mario Campos, Desana connoisseur]

“ Bait is placed, mainly termite and kakadiarã (a kind of ant). Some use japurá bait to attract piabas. Roasted termites can be used, which means more work. At the time of the ascent of the aracu, their fat may be used as bait. To some, it is necessary to fast whenever they are going to use it; to others, not; and still to others, the imirõ becomes more attractive to the fish when the fisherman fasts before manufacturing it. An agile person can get it ready in just one day.”

[José Pimentel, Tukano connoisseur]

Matapi-de-lua Mhuipu kasawu Kasatuti Matapi-de-lua is a cone made out of little sticks and vines. The length of the sticks is that of a stretched hand plus the forearm. The diameter of the opening is an inch. These are the standard measurements. It may be larger if the intention is to catch piranhas or bigger pacus. To make it, one first needs to make a ring the size of the opening, out of cipó-titica (pimisi), where the splints are tied. The ten splints are from the zarabatana palm. The cipó-veado (ñamada) vine, which is more flexible, is used to intertwine. The intertwining is done using two vines at the same time. One goes over and the other goes under each splint, all the way to the mouth, thus removing the ring placed in the beginning.

Placing it at the riverbank It is placed at the riverbank, and, in order for it to be used, it is fastened to a mechanism consisting of sticks and vines that are triggered when the fish touches the bait inside the trap. With this, the fish finds itself partially out of the water.

Photos by Juan Soler

The matapi-de-lua is used with wild berries — like cunuri, uacu, japurá, sorvinha, and pupunha — and even fish meat for bait.

On the left, matapi-de-lua already placed in the igapó area. Cipó-titica, cipó-veado and zarabatana palms are used to manufacture the matapi-de-lua. On the right, João Meira setting the matapi-de-lua at the edge of the Tiquié River.

Jequi with two mouths Buhkawuturu Harugatunu This trap is placed in the bottom of a lake or the backwater of a river, where there is virtually no current, tied with vines to branches on the river edge. To build it, one makes a paxiúba mat that is approximately 1 meter or a little more in length and four rings out of a rigid vine (bukama). Then the mat is firmly tied to the four rings, forming a tube with a circumference of 50 cm. Two funnels are inserted and tied to this tube, one on each end. A small door is also made in the middle of the tube, through which the bait is inserted and the trapped fish taken out. When building it, the fisherman must fast in order for the trap not to become panema (the one with no luck in fishing).

Photos by Juan Soler

The most commonly used baits are fruits like umari, pupunha, jauari (diabeta), and others.

Tarcísio Barreto (next page, above) making the buhkawuturu and Mario Campos (on the left and next page, below) tying the funnel to the end of the buhkawuturu.

The cacuri (wairo) is a stationary fishing trap built at the edges of rapids or falls, in sections of the river where the water current goes over rocky outcrops, forming waves and swirls. It is common to find petroglyphs in these falls. The indigenous people in these regions often consider these places very important, relating them to the origin of the world and of humanity as well as of mountains and hills.

Photos by KENNY CALDERÓN

Cacuri Wairo

José Murillo and his son Yesid collect fish from the cacuri.

The construction of the cacuri happens at the end of summer (generally in February), so that it may be used during the floods that follow. During this period, the water level rises to cover most of the river rocks. The use of the trap also coincides with the period when the fish start their migration upstream, searching for their reproduction areas. From the indigenous perspective, the fish, like people (masa), are getting together to enjoy their feasts and dances. The falls and rapids are like their malocas. The rain is their drink, their caxiri.

Nana falls (Sane Wapa), in the Uaupés River (Colombia), March 2010, end of summer.

The materials used in the construction of the wairo are found in the forest. Vines are employed in the frame as well as to weave the paris. Struts, pieces of wood, and sticks are used to assemble the V-shaped structure. It must be sufficiently strong and heavy to withstand the force of the river. Finally, the mats and paris that are tied to the structure are made out of splints from the paxiúba and vines. That is how they build the fence where the fish remain until they are collected with the puçá. Assembling a cacuri is not merely a matter of skillful work with vines, pieces of woods and paxiúba. Its manufacturing and use also involve a set of rules and restrictions that directly influence the operation of the trap. During the collection of the materials, for example, the consumption of meat and spicy and hot foods should be avoided. The man who is assigned to collect the raw materials should not have sexual relations before going out to the forest. He must also avoid the noise from certain birds, since it is believed that they will be transmitted to his trap, thus scaring the fish away. Above, Adelmo Santacruz looking for vines for his cacuri. In the center, Adelmo Santacruz and his father Rafael begin their work on the cacuri. Nana, upper Uaupés River (Colombia). Below, Rafael Santacruz tying up his wairo.

During the building of the trap, one must also fast. In addition to the food restrictions, the men who assemble a cacuri should do so in silence, with a respectful and calm attitude, especially when weaving the paris out of vine and paxiúba. This The grandfather, Rafael Santacruz, weaves a pari for fishing and Vlademir Santacruz (Dom Rafael’s grandson) makes his first stitches. activity must be kept out of people’s sight, as it has multiple aspects: weaving (seera, Kotiria language) is a technical endeavor, but it is also an intellectual and spiritual act. Among the Tukano, a man is considered an adult when, among other skills, he learns how to weave.

Photos by KENNY CALDERÓN

Cacuri Wairo

The Tukano say that, when a cacuri, is built, the body of a woman is also built. This is possible through blessings. Therefore, the work in the trap is not only technical, but also magic. The wairo parts coincide with the anatomy of a woman sitting on the river shore, with legs, ribs, spine, and vagina. 1

Illustration by ORLANDO MASSA MOURA

4 5

The feminine anatomy of the wairo: [1] sucu cohã (spine) [2] pjoada (hair) [3] patipahma cohã (ribs) [4] numio yaro (vagina) [5] ñuchucu (legs)

Cacuri representing the body of a woman.

Every day, in the early morning and late afternoon, the men check their cacuri as well as the other traps. The amount and the species of fish caught in the wairo depend on the flood and on the place where the trap will be set, usually in the migration routes of certain species. Cuiú-cuiú, aracu, pirandira, mandi, traíra, pacu, jacundá, and others are caught. After collecting the fish from the trap, the fisherman’s wife or one of his daughters is responsible for cleaning and taking them home. The first fish from the cacuri should be roasted and reserved; they should not be immediately consumed. Otherwise, the trap may become inefficient. The men do the permanent maintenance of their traps. They clean and remove the leaves and branches which are brought in by the river. These residues may accumulate and obstruct the flow of water. They also wash the whole structure with certain herbs. This keeps the cacuri from getting “slimy” and looking like a trap to the fish.

José Murillo cleaning his wairo (above) and collecting the fish with his son Yesid (center). Below, Ingrid, José’s daughter, cleaning fish at the harbor.

Caiá Ewa Caiá is the largest fishing trap, one that demands greater collective effort and work. It consists of a big paxiúba mat (jirau) suspended on the upper level of a waterfall, supported by a large and solid structure capable of withstanding the weight of several adult men. The frame that supports the paxiúba mat is made out of struts and sticks, tied with vines. The fish that are going down or up the rapids are led by a fence made out of sticks, falling on top of the jirau. As this jirau is long and fenced on both sides, the fish cannot go back to the water, and so they die. Aracus, pacus and other fish are caught. Assemblage starts in the Ure kuma (Pupunha Summer), in February, to catch fish during the floods that follow starting in the month of March, the first one being the Dahsia poero (Shrimp Constellation Flood).

Photo by PEDRO ROCHA

Dietary and behavioral rules have to be followed during the assemblage of the caiá, thus keeping the trap from becoming panema. In this case, the fish notice that it is a trap, and do not fall into it.

Cacuri and caiás in the Caruru falls, mid Uaupés River, Kotiria region.

Photo by PIETER VAN DER VELD Photo by JANET CHERNELA

It takes a week to be built. The builders remain in a temporary shack during the work, without coming home. On the first day, they cut rods and sticks; on the second, they place the struts; on the third, they fasten the beams that will support the jirau; on the fourth, they go fetch paxiúba, bringing it already chopped, in bundles, to place them over the beams; on the fifth, they weave (usere), starting from the mouth and tying as they go; on the sixth, they use sticks to make the fence and its structure on both sides of the jirau.

Photo by ALOISIO CABALZAR

In the upper Tiquié, caiás have been assembled in many places: the Cabari falls (Kekeropoea, Peyapoea), the Igarapé Onça falls, the Jabuti, Pedra Curta, and Caruru falls in Umari-Norte, at Cachoeira Comprida, and at the mouth of the Paraná da Iniciação (Kamõyuti).

Above, caiá in the Periquito falls, at the Cabari igarapé, in the Tukano community of São Domingos, upper Tiquié River. In the center, caiá being built at the Pari falls, Tukano, upper Tiquié. Below, caiá in the Caruru falls, mid Uaupés River, Kotiria region.

Swordfish catching with pari and puçá Soa ñuse Soa sure When the ingá trees flower, it is time for swordfish catching at the mouth of the lakes. This species lives in the deepest part of the river. At night, they enter the lakes to feed on worms, shrimp and small fish. From 3 AM until dawn they return to deep river waters.

In the beginning of the night, the fisherman goes in the canoe to the fishing area, taking these mats and a big puçá attached to two reeds. He blocks the channel that links the lake to the river with the paris by fastening them to vines that have been previously stretched from one margin to the other. Two paris meet and link in the middle of the channel, but a little passage is left where the puçá is placed. Each time a fish gets in, the fisherman takes it out and throws it in the canoe. This activity lasts until dawn, when the paris are again rolled up and brought back home, along with the catch.

On the right, Nelson Pedrosa, Tukano, getting vines to make paris. Next page, above, Nelson Pedrosa weaving a pari. Below, Nelson and Roberval Pedrosa tying up the pari roll.

Photos by Juan Soler

The fishermen make paris out of paxiúba, zarabatana, or other palm splints, tied with vines. These mats are 3 m high and many meters long, and they can be rolled up.

Photos by Juan Soler

Catching swordfish with pari and puçá Soa ñuse Soa sure

Adalberto Pedrosa placing the rolled pari in the canoe (above) and setting the pari at the mouth of the lake (below). On the right, a pari encircling the mouth of the lake.

Timbó Heu Eyu There are many poisons of vegetal origin for fish, cultivated or in natura. Some are vines, others trees and bushes from which the roots, leaves or fruits are extracted. They are planted in the gardens, later showing up in the brushwood; the cunami (a bush from which the leaves are taken) is generally planted next to the houses. It is planted like manioc, from pieces of the stalk. It can be together with other plants, mixed with manioc, for example. To prepare it for use, the long roots are plucked, cut into sections and then bundled. It is taken to the tinguijar (a place where it will be thrown in the water to poison the fish). It is pounded with pieces of wood over a log or a rough pestle made in loco, being macerated. Then they dig up clay and mix it with the timbó. This mixture is placed in aturás and taken to the water. They shake the aturás inside the igarapé or lake, dissolving and spreading the poison. The bigger tinguijadas must take place in certain summers (Ingá Summer and Pupunha Summer), with the participation of the whole community and, traditionally, there must be a shaman who knows the enchantments to be performed before using the timbó and after fishing, in order to purify the water and make the environment fit for the life of the fish.

Above, Anastácio Monteiro, Hupda, pulling out timbó roots. Below, João Meira, Tuyuka, with a timbó bundle.

Photos by Juan Soler

There are many rules for the use of timbó: before the tinguijamento, the leader asks everyone to bathe; if a pregnant woman is around, she and her husband must bathe first; menstruated women should not participate; sweets must not be eaten and there must be no sexual intercourse before this activity. If a menstruated woman participates, the fish die, but do not float. The timbó is widely used, especially in small igarapés. Hupda populations that dwell in the hinterland, far from the main rivers, probably rely more on the timbó, which is used in small water courses. In these situations, smaller igarapé fish are caught, like sarapós, tamoatás, piabas, and jejus, among others.

Pieces of timbó carried in an aturá.

In the summer, when the water level is very low, it is possible to tinguijar the main riverbed. However, this practice is not well regarded, as it pollutes the water and is considered a cause of diarrhea. Another fact that has been limiting the use of this poison on a larger scale is the negative impact on the fish stock in the rivers, attributed to it. With this in mind, fish management plans being developed by the indigenous associations and communities are trying to define rules for the use of timbó. In November 2011, a workshop was conducted in the mid Tiquié to discuss the use of timbó and various procedure recommendations were established.

Timbó Heu Eyu

Above, pounding timbó. Below, Dario Rezende removing pounded timbó from the pestle.

Photos by Juan Soler

Timbó Heu Eyu

Above, mixing timbó with clay. Below, Manuel Azevedo dissolving timbó in the lake.

Timbó Heu Eyu

Photos by Juan Soler

Timbó Heu Eyu

On the left, dwellers of the Pirarara community collecting fish with puçás in the tinguijamento. Above, a boy from Pirarara with his catch.

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Indigenous organizations and fish management in the TiquiĂŠ River The discussion about fish management started in 2005, in the context of a growing interest by the indigenous organizations in establishing, through intercommunity agreements, environmental and territorial management plans. Various regionally based indigenous organizations started discussions within the communities and, in 2008, two meetings were held in Pari-Cachoeira to talk about the management of fish in the TiquiĂŠ River basin. For the first time, all the indigenous organizations of this river were seated together to discuss and forward proposals on this subject. The statements quoted below were taken from memories of these meetings, spoken by their participants, indigenous leaders, and dwellers of the TiquiĂŠ River communities.

Fishing during the dry season. Photo by Juan Soler

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Indigenous organizations and the fish management in the Tiquié River

The current problem

“ Fishing here is difficult.”

[Leopoldino Gentil, Tukano from Pari-Cachoeira]

“ Fishes are slowly extinguishing.”

[João Bosco Macedo, Desana from Duhtura]

“ The elderly said that the problem is in our whole river.”

[Paulo de Abreu Lobo, Miriti-tapuya from Iraity]

“ We are fishing out of the way of our ancestors. We ended up forgetting how to build a matapi, pari… with the introduction of the white men’s fishnets.”

[Luis Lana, Desana from São João]

“ The white men help us to discuss a balanced management, but do not offer rice and beans so that the fish can spawn and do the piracema with tranquility. Then, fishing, tinguijar is the only way. But tinguijamento is the problem.”

[Arsênio Lobo, Miriti-tapuya from Iraity]

“ Wanting to coexist in the western world and in ours, we end up conflicting and finding many difficulties.” [João Bosco Rezende, Tuyuka from Igarapé Onça]

“ As we are in a modern world, we leave our

parents in the community in order to study.”

[João Bosco Rezende, Tuyuka from Igarapé Onça]

“ Raising fish in ponds is the culture of whites. My parents did not raise fish in ponds.”

[Inês Moura, Tukano from Maracajá]

The book Peixe e Gente no Alto Rio Tiquié (Fish and People in the Upper Tiquié River), published by ISA in 2005, addresses fishing in the upper Tiquié River.

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Indigenous organizations and the fish management in the Tiquié River

History Historically, the Negro River basin is a region of old colonization, with an Iberian presence since the 18th Century. The violence of this process caused the abandonment and the drastic depopulation of the lower and mid Negro River. More recently, rubber bosses and those of other products obtained by extractivism were followed by Salesian missionaries in the first decades of the 20th Century as the main outside agency among the Indians in the region. After the peak of the Salesian educational and catechetical project, between the 1950s and the 1960s, there followed a period of decadence that culminated with the closing of the boarding schools. In the 1980s and the 1990s, the fight for the indigenous rights granted by the Brazilian Constitution of 1988, coupled with the emergence of numerous local and regional indigenous organizations, ended up reorienting local policies, culminating with the demarcation of five indigenous lands with continued territorial integrity in 1998. Recently, various governmental and non-governmental organizations’ programs have turned their attention to the Negro River. This basin recognizably offers an enormous potential for local sustainable development and conservation models. Historically occupied by traditional and indigenous people, with unique forest features that are of great interest to scientific research and sustainable management, the Negro River is a strategic area for the establishment of an inter-institutional and intercultural dialogue about the conservation, sustainable use and distribution of the benefits of biodiversity, as well as the implementation of innovative actions.

“ This river belongs to all of us.”

[Mateus Vaz, Desana from Acará-Ponta]

“ One can only feed the family by going fishing.”

[Manuel Azevedo, Tukano from Pirarara-Poço]

“ I fish only to support my family, according to my ability.”

[Pedro Alves, Desana from Maracajá]

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Indigenous organizations and the fish management in the Tiquié River

Fish management in the Tiquié River basin The collective discussions about the management of fish in the Tiquié River basin are characterized by a deep reflection on the situation of the fish and the fishery and how it got this way historically. Which are the main causes, not all of them obvious to an outside observer? Which good practices should be encouraged and which ones should be avoided? How to reduce predatory fishing and, at the same time, guarantee food for all? How to convince the fishermen, respecting each one’s freedom and autonomy? Generally, the ideas and guidelines discussed during these meetings have been used as the justification and the basis for the fish management actions that have been undertaken since 2005. The Indigenous Agents for Environment Management (AIMAs), residents of the communities responsible to keep this theme alive, have been asserting themselves within this context. The AIMAs, currently 30 in the Tiquié basin, keep daily records of the fishery and the life cycle of the fish, map the areas used by the communities and monitor environmental indicators, among other activities. With the support of ISA (Instituto Socioambiental / Socio-environmental Institute), the records and diaries made by the AIMAs are collectively systematized during research seminars and associations meetings, with the purpose of describing each annual cycle and discussing community management practices.

“ The federal government delimited our land. Therefore,

we are trusted to take care of our environment and our management area.”

[Cornélio Gonçalves, Desana from Boca do Castanha]

“ When we start a work like this, it is very difficult. It is not an overnight matter for us to understand the discussion.”

[Protasio Lopes, Tuyuka from Trinidad, Colombia]

“ In truth, a thing like this management policy requires immense patience, dedication and a search for solutions, always.”

[João Bosco Rezende, Tuyuka from Igarapé Onça]

“ Some adhere to the management plan, others do not.”

[Rafael Marques, Tukano from Boca do Sal]

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Indigenous organizations and the fish management in the Tiquié River

Management perspectives

“ Let us revalue and go after the fishing instruments of our ancestors.”

[Moisés Marinho, Tukano from Barreira]

“ To work the management well, one needs to create a coverage area. This facilitates the management.”

[João Bosco Rezende, Tuyuka from Igarapé Onça]

“ After a long time of meetings and

discussions, it was decided that each community might assume its responsibilities to take care of its area.”

[Manuel Azevedo, Tukano from Pirarara-Poço]

“ Our ancestors viewed and took care of

nature with respect. They did not fall a fruit tree.”

[Protasio Lopes, Tuyuka from Trinidad, Colombia]

The book Manejo do Mundo (Management of the World), published in 2010, includes some of the research developed in a collaborative effort by AIMAs, indigenous connoisseurs, and researchers.

“ We need somebody to become a shaman, in order that we ourselves may purify and make the river attractive to the fish.”

[Alexandre Rezende, Tuyuka from Igarapé Onça]

“ It is necessary to remain fixed in the region, carrying about the life of our river, in the

land left by our grandparents. That is why the elderly say that this is the river of our lives. This should be our way of thinking for the rest of our lives.”

[Vicente Azevedo, Tukano from São José II]

“ Our hope and objective was to teach our children our culture, in order that they be autonomous in thought.”

[Higino Pimentel Tenório, Tuyuka from São Pedro]

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Tukano house-kitchen Baase wii Yarige wii A good part of the day-to-day lives of the Tukano women is dedicated to activities between the field and the kitchen. The woman is responsible for manioc cultivation and processing, the preparation of foods using manioc and other products from the field as well as fruits from the forest, the preparation of fish and game hunted by their husbands and sons, among other tasks, like carrying water and wood. Among the Tukano, the complementarity between the economic activities developed by men and women is indispensable to guarantee daily food provisions.

Photo by Juan Soler

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Preparation of manioc flour.

The house-kitchen is a fundamental part of the residences in the upper Negro River. In it, the women produce all the necessary food for the family and the community, whose diet is based on beiju, quinhampira, fish, mujeca, and tapioca porridge, in addition to jaguar meat, maniuaras, chibé, wine from various fruits, and, on community work and festival days, the caxiri. In the old malocas, each married man in the local group had a room where he lived with his wife and children. There was a fire where the women cooked and where food reserves were stored, being preserved by the smoke. Next to the women’s entrance door there was a small kitchen communal zone, with community meals taking place in the open part of the malocas. An oven, a tripod and the pots were made of ceramic, plus the various kinds of jars and bowls for many uses. It is told that the grater, made out of quartz, was made by the Baniwa and obtained through interethnic exchanges. The changes in the configuration of the kitchens reflect the social transformations undergone by the people of the Northwest Amazon. In these houses, the kitchen — with the fire, the jirau and the oven — was on one side, and the family slept on the other. From the time the men went gold digging, they started to build houses out of clay, with aluminium roofs and a separate house for the kitchen, covered with caraná straw. The tools for processing manioc are still the tipitis, the cumatás that are set on tripods, and sieves which, like the baskets to put and serve the beiju, are made of arumã. This basketry work has intertwined patterns in black, from soot, live red, from urucum seeds, ochre, from the carajuru, caramel and light brown.

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Tukano house-kitchen Baase wii Yarige wii Photos by Juan Soler

The big baskets and cumatás are a Desana speciality. In the kitchens, we also find fans made out of tucum, brooms made out of vines, and small vine baskets used to roast hot pepper, catch small fish or shrimp or to keep trinkets. There are also smokers made out of bacaba splinters or vines. Pestles made out of bay wood or pau-amarelo are used to pound maniva, pepper, Maria Aparecida Pinheiro, Tariana, preparing beiju, maniuara, and pupunha; and Pirarara community. blowpipes are used to pound fruits like açaí and bacaba. The canoe-shaped trough used for the fermentation of caxiri is made out of wood and kept in the kitchen or outside. Urutus made out of arumã are used as trash cans; vine brooms are used to clean the house and the kitchen. All these artifacts are made by the men, mainly the husbands, fathers, fathers-in-law or brothers-in-law. The various bowls used for the consumption of different drinks are made by the women. They are made using a half of the fruit from the cuieté tree, polished on the outside and varnished on the inside, the brim or the whole surface being adorned with drawings. The women also master the manufacture of ceramic utensils, with sturdy decorative paintings in black and negative paintings. This involves a complex technique that includes the collection of the clay, many times from places far away from the community, the preparation of the clay, the removal of little rocks, its mixture with grey from the bark of the caraipé tree and juice from pinó-pinó or bay leaves

Beiju and fish.

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Tukano house-kitchen Baase wii Yarige wii (antiplastic), the molding of the piece, the smoothing out with gourd pieces, and the polishing with yellow stones — wateri peri in Tuyuka and watese peri in Tukano (which are difficult to find and are passed among the women from generation to generation). After this, the pots are placed near the fire to be smoked and then exposed to the sun. Then, a conic oven is built out of tree bark, to burn the pieces. This way, the pots come out white. The painting is done through the use of stamps made out of thin grass stalks, and a mixture of grey clay from the cupiúba and the juice of the cubiu leaf. The piece is then smoked again. This time, the bowl comes out black, with a crust of clay in the place where the drawings were made. This crust is removed, the ceramic washed, and the dark background highlights the drawings. Finally, the bowl is rubbed with the cubiu leaf for shining. Nowadays, only the women master the art of ceramic production, although some experiences regarding the transmission of this knowledge have been undertaken by the indigenous organizations. Few kitchens display a great variety of ceramic bowls; however, the pot to store the caxiri is found in almost all of them. The vine aturás used to go to the field are made by the Hupda women and obtained through exchanges for soap, salt, clothes, and hammocks. The pots and bowls used to prepare the food are generally aluminium made, bought from the merchants in the boats or in the city of São Gabriel da Cachoeira. Many times the dwellers of the upper Tiquié buy pots from Colombia. In some houses, we can find a gas stove. The caititus, fueled by petrol, are found more and more in the kitchens and are used as an alternative to the grater. Nowadays the families eat in the kitchens. Community meals take place in the palhoças (circular structures made of straw) or in the malocas, mainly in the morning. Above, Palmira Rezende, Tuyuka, cooling off manioc porridge, Pirarara community. Below, Enedina Azevedo, Desana, cleaning fish caught by her husband, Serra de Mucura community.

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Tukano house-kitchen Baase wii Yarige wii

“ We use to wake up early, when there is more work in the kitchen, 4 AM. Cook the fish to

eat later, make beiju, manioc flour. If there is lots of manioc flour to roast, it takes very long. We have to carry wood. If there is nothing left from one day to the other, we all go to the field to get manioc, carry aturá. Getting home, we have to scrape with knife and grind and then squeeze to get the starch to make beiju. If wanting to drink manicuera, when there is starch in the bottom of the bowl, we take the broth, put in the bowl and in the oven to boil, and then come out the tasty manicuera. For the head not to get dizzy, it has to be cooked well… the children like to drink… mixed with some fruit, like cubiu, ripe banana, grounded and put into the warm manicuera and mix… it gets very thick…”

[Maristela Aguiar, Desana, Pirarara community] Photos by Juan Soler

“ In the morning, I wake up at 6 AM to

make porridge. To make the quinhampira, I put water, pepper and salt, and use tucupi. If there is manicuera, I warm it. If my husband catches fish, I can also cook it, at any time, when he comes back. These days he arrived with the dog. Hunted an agouti. When he came back, I boiled water, scraped its fingers and went to the port to clean it, cut it. When I came back, I cooked it with water, salt and pepper… when there are onions I put… We make sauce too, to eat with agouti meat, with hot pepper, green onion. If there is lime, we put two or three drops, and it’s ready.”

[Maria de Jesus Marques Ramos, Tuyuka, Caruru community]

Palmira Rezende, Tuyuka, returning from the field with manioc and sugar cane, Pirarara community.

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Tukano house-kitchen Baase wii Yarige wii

“ There is lots of work to do by myself. I wake up;

start the fire to light the place. There is no electricity. Then I fill three tipitis and squeeze everything… I go down to bathe. Make porridge. If the man went fishing, when he comes back I fetch the fish, I cook it after the porridge, as soon as it dawns… If the bell tows we go and pray, after, there is quinhampira. Thus is our costume, which is how we live. If fish is found, we put in the jirau to roast, keep and eat after… I go to the field, and coming back I say: ‘come and eat my son,’ we eat quinhampira, than I grate manioc, squeeze it, if there is no wood we go fetch it. We bathe again, warm up quinhampira, and so it ends. If there is beiju, quinhampira and fish on the table, I like it.”

[Palmira Rezende, Tuyuka, Pirarara community]

“ I wake up at five in the morning and

start a fire. Warm up water; make porridge, warm up quinhampira. After, I make beiju. If there is fish, I cook, make mujeca. After finishing, I will bathe. Back, I drink quinhampira, go to the field, pull out weeds, and get some manioc. Getting home, I grate and squeeze it. One hour later, I cook manicuera. Finishing this, I go bathe, go back, warm up quinhampira and some food that I eat, and go to sleep.” [Ana Barbosa Meira, Tuyuka, Caruru community]

Palmira Rezende, Tuyuka, Pirarara community. Above, going to the field, and below, washing the manioc brought from the field.

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Fish AND People Exhibition CURATORS

Aloisio Cabalzar (ISA), Ennio Candotti (Musa) VISUAL CONCEPT AND ART DIRECTION

Zeca Nazaré CURATORIAL ASSISTANTS

Melissa Oliveira (UFSC), Maria Rita Oliveira (Musa) PHOTOS AND VIDEOS

Juan Gabriel Soler NARRATIVE ILLUSTRATIONS AND FACADE OF Maloca

Feliciano Lana (Desana) FISHING TRAPS

Domingos Prado Marques (Tukano), Guilherme Pimentel Tenório (Tuyuka), José Penha Pimentel (Tukano), Luciano Amaral Barbosa (Yebamasã), Mário Campos (Desana), Tarcísio Borges Barreto (Tukano) INDIGENOUS CONNOISSEURS

Adelmo Santacruz (Kotiria), Domingos Prado Marques (Tukano), Feliciano Azevedo (Tukano), Feliciano Lana (Desana), Guilherme Pimentel Tenório (Tuyuka), José Maria Lima Barreto (Tukano), José Murillo (Kotiria), José Penha Pimentel (Tukano), Luciano Amaral Barbosa (Yebamasã), Manuel Azevedo (Tukano), Mário Campos (Desana), Miguel Azevedo (Tukano), Ovídio Barreto (Tukano), Rafael Santacruz (Kotiria), Raimundo Sierra (Kotiria), Rodolfo Azevedo (Tukano), Tarcísio Borges Barreto (Tukano) RESEARCH AND TEXTS

Aloisio Cabalzar (ISA), Melissa Oliveira (UFSC), Kenny Javier Calderón (Grupo de Arqueología – ICANH), Marcella Rufino (Musa), Regina Melo (Musa) FISH ILLUSTRATIONS

Mauro C. Lopes SISTEMATIC OF THE FISH SPECIES

Flavio C. T. Lima (Unicamp), Alec Zeinad IMAGES OF THE ORIGIN STORY

Moisés Baniwa ART ILLUSTRATIONS, CREATIONS, AND INSTALLATIONS

José Julian Vasquez Martinez (Colombia) – construction of the big snake, fish and birds; Roberto Suarez (Peru) – painting of the big snake, fish and birds; Marcella Rufino – kitchen layout; Orlando Massa Moura (Tukano) – cacuri-woman illustration FITTING INTO THE CULTURAL INCENTIVE LAW

Lucia Fares Menhem VIDEO ASSISTANTS

Adelson Marques Meira, Angilson de Jesus Aguiar Azevedo, Joarez Pereira Azevedo, Josival Azevedo Rezende ADDITIONAL PHOTOS

Aloisio Cabalzar (ISA), Beto Ricardo (ISA), Janet Chernela (University of Maryland), Kenny Javier Calderón (Grupo de Arqueología – ICANH), Pedro Rocha (Funai) MAPS

Renata Alves (Laboratório de Geoprocessamento – ISA)

TREATMENT OF DIGITAL IMAGES

Juan Gabriel Soler, Mario Fernandez (Musa), Cláudio Aparecido Tavares (ISA), Claudemiro R. de Albuquerque Jr. INDIGENOUS AGENTS FOR ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT (AIMAs)

Agripino Castro, Alberto Alves Marques, Dario Azevedo Resende, Dionísio Mesquita, Evaristo Caldas Azevedo, Genesio Fernandes Araújo, Gilson Pimentel Aguiar, Isaac Borges Barreto, Ismael de Souza Lopes, Ismael Pimentel dos Santos, João Teles Meira, José Maria Alcântara, José Maria Barbosa Ramos, José Pedrosa, José Pimentel, Lucas Alves Bastos, Mateus Gomes Macedo, Orlando Massa Moura, Osvaldo Fontes, Oswaldo Barbosa Alves, Paulo Goes Pires, Rafael Azevedo, Renato Barreto Rezende, Roberval Sobrano Araújo Pedrosa, Rogelino da Cruz Alves Azevedo KITCHEN BUILDING

Guilherme Pimentel Tenório (Tuyuka), José Maria Lima Barreto (Tukano), Luis Ramos (Tuyuka), Ovídio Barreto (Tukano), Tarcísio Borges Barreto (Tukano) KITCHEN UTENSILS

Adão Amaral Barbosa (Yebamasã), Ana Lopes (Hupda), Benedita Lopes Madeira (Hupda), Domingos Prado Marques (Tukano), Edécio Marques Meira (Tuyuka), Felix Resende Barbosa (Yebamasã), Leôncio Villegas Ramos (Tuyuka), Lucas Alves Bastos (Tukano), Madalena Amaral Barbosa (Yebamasã), Maria de Jesus Marques Meira (Tuyuka), Oscarina Caldas Azevedo (Desana), Palmira Rezende (Tuyuka) CANOES

Adão Amaral Barbosa (Makuna) TUKANO BANK

Celestino Resende Azevedo (Tukano) FISH SUPERVISION

Arnold Lugo, Radson Alves TUKANO-PORTUGUESE TRANSLATION AND TRANSCRIPTION

Dagoberto Lima Azevedo (Tukano) CRAFTING OF TOTEMS

Jean François Genot COOKS

Benedita Pimentel Lana, Renata Gentil Aguiar, Rivelina Pimentel Massa PRODUCTION

Acimet – Associação das Comunidades Indígenas do Médio Tiquié AEITY – Associação Escola Indígena Tukano Yupuri Atriart – Associação das Tribos Indígenas do Alto Rio Tiquié ISA – Instituto Socioambiental Musa – Museu da Amazônia SUPPORT

Foirn (Federação das Organizações Indígenas do Rio Negro) ISA’S TEAM – Rio Negro PROGRAM

Carlos Alberto (Beto) Ricardo (coordinator), Carla Dias (coordinator), Adeilson Lopes da Silva, Aline Scolfaro, Aloisio Cabalzar Filho, Ana Paula Caldeira Souto Maior, Camila Sobral Barra, Carlos Barreto, Francis Miti Nishiyama, Gilmara Alberta Moraes Andrade, Joás (Mocotó) Rodrigues da Silva, Laise Lopes Diniz, Lucia Alberta Andrade de Oliveira, Marcílio Cavalcante, Margarida Murilo Costa, Maria Hildete Marinho, Natasha Mendes Cavalcante, Pieter Van Der Veld, Renata Alves, Wilde Itaborahy, Wizer de Oliveira Almeida

MUSA’S PRODUCTION TEAM

Alvaro Roberto Moraes, Angela Susan Fleming, Antonia Barroso, Antonio Pereira da Silva, Arnold Lugo Carvajal, Deusdedith Costa Jr., Elisa Herkenhoff, Ennio Candotti, Fábio Oliveira Farias, Fernanda Meirelles, Frank dos Santos Martins, Jean Paulo de Assis Macedo, José Ribamar Mesquita Ferreira, José Rodrigues Pinto, Karla Arakaki, Leandro Camilo da Silva, Marcella Rufino, Marlene Marreira de Souza, Maria Rita Chaves, Mariana Ferraz, Mario Fernandez, Nubia Gonzaga, Raimundo Rodrigues de Jesus, Regina Melo, Roberto Fortunato de Oliveira, Roberto Suarez Rengifo, Rubenaldo Ferreira, Vanessa Gama MONITORS

André da Rocha Mota, Angelica Nunes, Emerson Pontes, Henrique Oliveira Lima, Jhomason de Souza Gonçalves, José Rodrigues Pinto Jr., Larissa Lima de Queiroz, Larissa Souza, Lizane da Silva Melo, Naila de Almeida Fernandes, Phillip Klauvin, Pollyana Marcião, Rainielly Barbosa Soares, Tatiane Ribeiro

Fish AND People Catalogue ORGANIZATION

Aloisio Cabalzar (ISA), Ennio Candotti (Musa) EDITING

Regina Melo TEXT

Regina Melo (Musa), Aloisio Cabalzar (ISA), Melissa Oliveira (UFSC), Kenny Javier Calderón (Grupo de Arqueología – ICANH) PHOTOS

Juan Soler, Kenny Calderón, Vanessa Gama, Rubenaldo Ferreira, Zeca Nazaré, Beto Ricardo, Aloisio Cabalzar PORTUGUESE EDITION LAYOUT

Zeca Nazaré FINALIZATION

Mariana Ferraz, César Fernandes, Renato Moraes Proofreading

Maria Elisa da Costa Magalhães ENGLISH EDITION LAYOUT

Regina Ferraz PRINTING

Gráfica Ziló, Manaus

Musa – Museu da Amazônia www.museudaamazonia.org.br Email: musa@museudaamazonia.org.br Visitor Center – Botanical Garden Av. Uirapuru s/nº, Cidade de Deus – Manaus Open Tuesday to Sunday, 9 AM to 5 PM Administrative Head Office Rua Planeta Plutão 11, Loteamento Parque Morada do Sol Aleixo, Manaus, AM – CEP 69060-060 Phone: +55 92 3236-3079 / 3236-9197

116 Photo by Juan Soler

Sponsorship

CONFORTO, SEGURANÇA E QUALIDADE

Support

fishandpeople

Secretaria de Estado de Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação

MEIO AMBIENTE E SUSTENTABILIDADE

Production

musa museu da amazônia

Associação das Comunidades Indígenas do Médio Tiquié (ACIMET) Associação Escola Indígena Tukano Yupuri (AEITY) Associação das Tribos Indígenas do Alto Rio Tiquié (ATRIART)

ISBN 978-85-67545-01-1

fishandpeople exhibition