A tribal evening

In April Educação Condutiva - Com Amor celebrated its first birthday with a play performed by the students. After much debate it was decided that the children would present a short play about the different origins of the Brazilian population. The population of Brazil is divided into four categories not actually of origin but of colour, skin colour. These four are negro (black), amarelo (yellow), vermelho (red) and branco (white). These four colours represent the different races within Brazil, and as at the time we had four children, each child represented a different race. During the play each child took its turn to present to the audience and so the history of Brazil and the arrival of each race to the country was told.

I learned a lot about the formation of the Brazilian population whilst preparing for the play, so here is a short summary. Brazil was first occupied by Indians (vermelho, red), native Indians living in tribes using nature's products to feed, clothe and house themselves. Next arrived the Europeans (branco, white), mostly wealthy Portuguese who created large coffee and sugar plantations, whilst turning small fishing villages into large cities. They used their money to buy African (negro, black) slaves, bought to work on the plantations. Finally people arrived from the Far East, mostly Japonese (amarelo, yellow), and so the Brazilian population was constructed.

During my first year in Brazil I had encountered many different Brazilians of differing skin colour, but I had never had the opportunity to observe the life of the native Indians that to this day still occupy the Amazonian rain forest. Upon my arrival in the Amazon I was informed that this would be possible and grasped at the chance to visit an Indian tribe. Before I set out on a dark Sunday night to watch their daily night ritual, I was concerned that perhaps I would not enjoy the experience, and would feel like it was not genuine, but a show put on for tourists. I almost did not go, but as I arrived into the small clearing deep in the forest I soon realised that this was not a show but their daily routine, and I was purely an observer.

A young boy was blowing on a horn, inviting us in as the tribe members prepared food for dinner, apparently unaware of our presence. We sat down a little distance away as it was explained that what we were about to see was not due to our presence, but a ritual they performed every night before eating, to give thanks for their food. As the food continued cooking over the fire, the members of the tribe gathered together and within seconds began dancing. Women, men and children danced whilst singing in a language that I did not recognise. The dancing was led by a boy who held one of his hands in the air for the duration of the dance, on his hand was a wicker glove that was crawling with biting bullet ants. As a boy turning into a young man it was his responsibility to lead the tribe, whilst enduring the pain of the biting ants. Young girls played instruments as they danced, never making a wrong step. The dancing lasted about five minutes and just as suddenly as it had started it stopped, the food was removed from the fire, and the tribe started to eat, us too.