The Yanomamo People 

Environment and Human Adaption

The Yanomamo people are a group of approximately 20,000 people who live in 200-250 villages in the Amazon rainforest on the boarder of Venezuela and Brazil. The Yanomamo people live in huts called Shabonos but they have to rebuild them every few years due to heavy rainfall and winds that happen each year in the Amazon forest. Their huts are made for leaves, vines, plums and tree trunks, they always using everything from the forest. The Yanomamo people and slash-and-burn people and they grow bananas, gathers fruit and hunt for animals and fish. These people depend on the rainforest and without it they would die. Their culture is made up of many small family units. The Yanomamo people are known as hunter gathers and their diet is very low in salt. They have the lowest blood pressure of any demographic group. If the people have a good harvest then they will celebrate with different rituals. They also gather large amounts of food to give to their neighboring villages to keep thinks peaceful. Women gather many different types of scrubs such as termites, frogs, land crabs and caterpillars to cook for their family. The Yanomamo people have become instinctive conservationists. Its is a way of life for them, if they were to take to much food in one year the forest would not be able to produce enough new food for them to be able to survive in the nest year. The Yanomamo live in a warm climate that does have a lot of rain because they live in a warm climate they don't wear much clothing. Most children die before age two and many adults in this culture only live to age 40 because of their daily stress survive. 

The Yanomamo people had to learn to adapt to their way of life because of how isolates their villages are from the rest of the world. They have had to learn to live off of the rest of the forest and adapt to being hunter gathers so they can have food and water. The Yanomamo people spend most of their time gather food and water. They have also had to adapt to losing many family members due to major violence in their culture. They are one of the most successful groups in the Amazon rainforest to gain superior balance and harmony. The Yanomamo inhabit two main areas of Brazil and they are the dense rain forest and the savannas. 

Week 2 Language and Gender Roles

The Yanomamo Language has four different languages: Yanam, Sanuma, Yanomamo, and Yanomamo. Yanomamo has the most speakers with about 17,600 speakers (Humberto Marquez). The Yanomamo have no written language but they do have a large vocabulary and oral literature. Storytelling is a major part of their culture. Because they don’t have written language they store all of their vocabulary in their heads. The Yanomamo are diglottic people, which mean they use a special for of bilingualism: the Yanomamo posses a formals and informal dialect. The formal dialect, wayamo, is spoken at rituals and social events and the informal dialect is spoken the rest of the time. Their numeration system consists of three digits: one, two and more than two. There is no measurement for hour; their annual life cycle is dominated by the wet and dry seasons.

The Yanomamo people have to specific genders. The men go out and hunt all of the food and clear away all of the gardens by using the slash and burn method. The women take care of the homes and gathers berries and scrubs. The women also are in charge of weaving baskets. The gender roles are very strict and the women are mostly used for bearing children and to serve their men and family. It would be inacceptable for one gender to perform the other person gender. Even the formal language women are not allowed to speak it only the men are. Although boys spend most of their time with their mothers they learn from a very young age that there status is difference than that of the girls. From a young age the boys are indulged in every way by their fathers. Boys are expected to be fierce and are rarely punished for beating young girls in the village because the grown males beat their wives.

Males primarily dominate the Yanomamo culture but the women do play a very important role. The women are expected to raise and bear many children and rely on help from their daughters to do the family chores from a very young age. 


In the Yanomamo society, marriage ceremonies are almost non-existent and are not celebrated in any way. Marriage is a social dynamic within villages, and they are usually driven by political opportunity by men who are seeking alliances with other men from different villages. Men are expected to be peacekeepers and violent warriors, both of which require force, which women are not considered to have in the Yanomamo culture. In this society, women gain respect as they age, after they marry and have children but they are still never treated the same as men. Elderly women are highly respected and usually can become immune to violence and warfare between villages. The older the women can travel to and from villages and be protected because they are so higly respected. 


The Blessed Curse

Many Indian cultures believe in spirits like the Yanomamo people do and they believe that al sprits are created equal whether it be a rock, waterfall, moon, animal plant of human being but I don’t think the Yanomamo would be very accepting of this person because gender roles are so important in their culture (R. K Williams). Men and women are treated so different that I don’t think they would know how to react to this situation. They might even go as far as exiling the person out of their village. On the other token the Yanomamo people are accepting of homosexuality in men so they might me accepting of this person if it had more male features.

Subsistence and Economy

Hunting only accounts for 10% of the Yanomamo food but amongst men it is considered to be the most prestigious of skills and meat is highly valued amongst everyone (Claudia Andujar). No hunter ever eats the meat that he has killed; instead he shares it with family and friends. The women are in charge of tending the gardens and they grow around 60 crops which make up about 80% of the Yanomamo diet. The women also gather nuts, shellfish, insect larvae and wild honey.  In this culture both the men and women fish. They use vines and create bundles to trap the fish and then they scope them up with their baskets. The Yanomamo also know a lot about botanicals and they use about 500 hundred plants for food, medicine, house building and many other things as well.

Men go out and hunt and fish every day and the women and young children are always tending the gardens and taking care of the daily chores. The children are expected to help from a very young age. Women the women in the Yanomamo culture get their period they then become women and take on all of the roles of a grown woman. There is a very distinct separation of labor between the men and the women. Their diet is very low in fat and sugar, high in protein and fiber and complexes carbohydrates and adequate protein. Obesity is non-existent among the Yanomamo people who follow their hunter gather diet (Kat McCallum). Because they have a healthy diet and an active lifestyle it prevents them from getting heart disease. The first leading cause of death is infectious disease and the second is physical violence between villages. The Yanomamo people are very dependent on the Amazon forest and have to move their gardens every few years because they Amazon soil isn’t very good. Some of the villages produce a small surplus from their gardens to sell of exchange with other villages for things they can’t produce themselves.

The Yanomamo people don’t deal with any kind of currency because they are not a highly advanced civilization. They do trade goods with other villages but they don’t deal with any form of money. Trade is a very important aspect of their life and it helps reduce the chances of warfare between villages. Often one village with have manufactured goods that are badly needed by other villages.

Marriage and Kinship

Marriages are arranged by older kin, usually men such as brothers, uncles or the women’s father. There is a shortage of women in the villages and some men do have multiple wives. The Yanomamo also practice polygamy which helps to stimulate the population and they do have a lot of cousin marriages which makes more people doubly related to each other. Kinship is critical in the arrangement of marriages and very strong bonds are formed between groups who exchange women. The men are in charge of arrangement the marriages and some of the arrangements are for political power. Marriage in the Yanomamo tribe is considered to be important but they don’t participate in an actual wedding ceremony. Marriage is simply for reproduction and political gain. The marriages are arranged usually by older kin such as fathers, brothers or uncles. The arrangement of marriage is mostly made before the girl hits puberty by the men who are attempting to create alliances with other people in the village. Women are becoming short on demand because of the acceptance of polygamy in the tribe. The women of the tribe have no voice in who they will marry and they are promised to men many years before their puberty. Once the women hit puberty have their first menstrual cycle they are kept in a place away from all men and made to sit over a whole to get rid of the blood. Their mothers and older women throw away the young girls old clothes and give her new garments that represent that they are now a women and ready for marriage.

Some men are unmarried and they try and seduce married women and this causes many fights and brawls between tribes. Sexual jealousy is one of the biggest social problems between kin and outside tribes. The men take much pride in having as many brides as possible and having many children with them as well. They prefer to have mostly boys because girls cannot participate in the affairs of corporate kinship and political matters.The Yanomamo people believe that there are many bad taboos associated with blood. When it comes to cooking meat they make sure they cook all of the blood out so none of it is visible. They also make women stay in tents and get feed with sticks because they believe that the menstrual blood is bad. They also believe that much illness may be cause by the breach of a ritual regulation or taboo (Jeremy).

Sexual intercourse is prohibited with a female if she is pregnant of nursing which created a problem for the men because it leaves very little sexual active females. Teenage males frequently have homosexual affairs because the females of their own ages are usually married. By the time the males is 20 years old though he is anxious to display his masculinity and becomes an active competitor for the favors of the sexually active women.  All of this leads to friction between the men in the village. Incest for the Yanomamo people is defined by any sexual relations between close kin such as parents, children or siblings. If any woman is caught acting this incest out them will be shunned and not cremated at death.

The men have the most authority in the kinship of the culture. Social life is organized around those same principles utilized by all tribesmen: kinship relationships, descent from ancestors, marriage exchanges between kinship/descent groups, and the transient charisma of distinguished headmen who attempt to keep order in the village and whose responsibility it is to determine the village's relationships with those in other villages. Their positions are largely the result of kinship and marriage patterns--they come from the largest kinship groups within the village. Stated by www.everyculture.com “Neither status nor property is inherited among the people. At death, Kin incinerate the personal property of the deceased.”

The Inuit Eskimos have some similarities but many differences from the Yanomamo people. The Men do hunt and fish like the Yanomamo and the women raise the children, cook and clean but women can also hunt if they want to too. The relationships between the Inuit are strictly monogamous, open marriages, polygamy, divorce and remarriage is simply unheard of in their culture. Marriages were often arraigned sometimes when the women were still babies. The Yanomamo do don’t follow the Eskimo system. Many of them marry their cousins or men have multiple wives so almost everyone in the village is somehow related to one another. In the Yanomamo culture the ego does know its parents but they don’t specifically know who their aunts, uncles and cousins are because everyone sleeps around to men have multiple women that he is with. The Yanomamo don’t really follow a specific pattern. The Hawaiian system is where the kinship between relatives of the same sex and generation are referred to by the same term.

Social and Political Organization

The Yanomamo people are a stratified culture. The women are not equal to the men and even young boys who grow up with their mothers know after a certain age that they have more power than women and they can do whatever they want without being punished.

Every Yanomamo tribe is a separate political entity and can therefore decide upon their relations with each one of the other Yanomamo village. The Yanomamo are egalitarian people but age, sex and personal accomplishments withhold great importance in for people’s status. High status is granted with harsh combat, accomplished hunting, and expertise of sjamanim. Status cannot be inherited it must be earned and status and property are lost when a person dies. High status men are in charge and they monopolize the positions of political power and authority. Those that are highly regarded in the Yanomamo society are those having been victorious in combat, acquired expertise in shamanism and good hunting skills. Therefore, unlike many other cultures, this status is not inherited but instead earned. This is where the social hierarchy ties in with the Yanomamo political system. The village leader is always the man with the most elaborate local patrilineage. The result being that the majority of authoritarian positions within the community are dominated by older men. To fulfill his role as head of the tribe, this man or men must display his ability to settle disputes, defend the territory, manage the relations with neighboring villages and maintain the kingship agreements of the clan. However, the Yanomamo believe in a very egalitarian society in which every man is free and if he or she so wishes, they may detach themselves from the rest of the tribe. In order for a man to change his status he must be very violent and have many wives in order to be highly respected.

The villages headman is the dominate political leader and come from the largest part linage. If the village is really large and filled with two local descent groups then there might be a few head man. Political power is decided on whoever is the most violent and has the most wives and children this is also connected with reproductive success. Political power cannot be transferred to another person it must be earned. A woman can never be a headman; the headman is supposed to be peacemakers and violent warriors. Women are disrespected at a young age but they gain respect from other men in the culture as they age. Yanomamo society and politics is dominated by family relations.

Violence normally happens in the culture because of infidelity. If a woman cheats on her man then the husband and the man that she had the affair with will fight. Many of their killings are vengeance killings because of the marital issues. There are also raids when two villages fight and try to kill as many people as possible. The main goal is to kill the grown men that might have been responsible for the killing of the avenger’s family. All of these revenge kills are highly rewarded and the men gain social status once the killings are done.

Belief Systems and the Arts

The Yanomamo believe that the cosmos consist of four parallel planes. One of the layers or parallels is occupied by ancient beings and the second layer of spirits of dead men and women. The third layer is the earth and below that is the underworld. The underworld is filled with the spirits that bring harm to living people. The Yanomamo believe hat they have multiple souls. They also think they each have demons that they can use at their own deposal to cure or cause illness to other people. Catholic and Protestants have been trying for years to make a breakthrough with the Yanomamo people but haven’t had much success.

They also have people that use plants and other herbs to cast spells. The people that cast these spells are called Shaman and only men can become them. The Yanomamo have many different rituals but one of their most dramatic ceremonies is the reahu or the mortuary ceremony. This is where they cremate the deceased person and then consume there bone ash with a plant puree, this is a sign of respect. The ceremony has considerable political implications if the deceased was a strong warrior. Ceremonies are a major part of the Yanomamo life. The religious ceremonies they take part in are very important to them.

The Yanomamo people have very simple art. They are usually black or red and have common objects such as baskets, arrow paints and body paints. They also have a lot of verbal art and myth telling. Performers and myth tellers gain status based on their talents. They paint each other’s bodies for celebrations and ceremonies. Humberto Marquez interviewed a villager and he stated “We painted ourselves when there is a celebration, to show that we are happy, and also so that we can hear the Shaman’s song clearly when he calls us.” The women make handcrafter baskets that are very beautifully woven. The baskets are used for everyday use such as gathering food and firewood.

The Yanomamo people pass their information orally and they don’t write things down. Some of the paintings that have been found have been made by Indians who had never seen a paper or pencil before in their whole lives. They also get poising from frogs and they boil it down to make it stronger this goes into a drug they make for ceremonies. Then the men and women decorate themselves with red berry die they then take the apena snuff drug which makes them hallucinate but the women are allowed to take the drug. Smoking or snuffing this drug is a major part of the Yanomamo religion because it allows them to communicate with the spirit world while dancing singing and chanting. They believe that the drug allows them to see what the spirit world sees and this means that through many different ways of life they can see art (Brea Wenger). They do create their own music with songs and chanting.
The Yanomamo do not have or use musical instruments but they do chant and gather for there rituals. They also use the sounds of the forest as background noise for all of there gatherings. 

Conclusion

The Yanomamo haven’t advanced much in a few thousand years they still live like they are in the Stone Age but they are in danger of losing some of their land because people and developers are moving further and further into the Amazon. The Brazilians call them the most primitive people in the world because they have lived in total isolation from the outside world for years and that’s why they have kept their traditions. The Yanomamo people still use simple tools and they take food from the forest by hunting, fishing and collecting fruit, insect, frogs and other insects. Because the miners contaminated the water ways it created the perfect environment for malaria. Now days 70% of the Yanomamo people got infected with malaria and in some areas it has risen to 90%. The gold digger also hunt the Yanomamo food, rape their women, and waste their fields and crops, they also killed men who oppose them. 

The Yanomamo haven’t advanced much in a few thousand years they still live like they are in the Stone Age but they are in danger of losing some of their land because people and developers are moving further and further into the Amazon. The Brazilians call them the most primitive people in the world because they have lived in total isolation from the outside world for years and that’s why they have kept their traditions. The Yanomamo people still use simple tools and they take food from the forest by hunting, fishing and collecting fruit, insect, frogs and other insects. Because the miners contaminated the water ways it created the perfect environment for malaria. Now days 70% of the Yanomamo people got infected with malaria and in some areas it has risen to 90%. The gold digger also hunt the Yanomamo food, rape their women, and waste their fields and crops, they also killed men who oppose them.

The Yanomamo don’t have a strong influence on the outside world but the outside world does have an effect on them. They are losing more and more land by the year because of state developers and disease.

References

The Yanomamo, Giovanni Saffirio, James O. Wilson, copyright © 2007 

www.yanomamicatrimani.org

Culture-Venezuela New Compendium on Yanomamo Language, Humberto 


Marquez,Copyright © 2012, www.ipsnews.net

Yanomamo, Andy Thomason, © copyright May, 21 1999, 

www.archive.sutie101.com

Survival for the tribal Peoples, The Yanomamo, Claudia Andujar

www.survivalinternational.org

Yanomamo Diet, Food and Nutrition Kat McCallum copyright © November 22,


2010 www.livingstrong.com

Yanomamo-Religion and Expressive Culture, Jeremy Copyright 2012 Advameg,


Inc www.everyculture.com

Yanomami Put the Body Painting Down on Paper, Humberto Marquez, 


copyright © 2012 IPS-Inter Press service

Yanomamo, Arte Amazon, Peter Bach © Arte Amazonia

www.arte-amazonia.com/the-people/yanomami

Yanomamo Art, Brea Wenger Yanomamo Tribe (art) April 6, 2010

www.ksuanth.wetpaint.com

Conflict and Human Rights in the Amazon, the Yanomamo, Stephanie Bier 


August 19, 2010 www.america.edu

The Yanomamo in Ancient times and today, Maelle and Linda

www.gymmuenchecnstein.ch

Cultural Anthropology the human challenge, The Blessed Curse, R. K. Williams 


Class text book