Mythologies of the Karajá Tribe

The Karajá, also known as Iny, are an indigenous tribe located in Brazil. Karajá people live in a 180-mile-long area in central Brazil, in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso, Pará, and Tocantins. They currently reside in 29 villages in the Araguaia River valley, near lakes and tributaries to the Araguaia and Javaés Rivers, and the Ilha do Bananal. Earlier in the 20th century, there were 45,000 Karajá. In 1999, there were 2500–3000 Karajá. Today, they number around 3200-3700 people, all living in 20 different villages (Instituto Socioambiental, 2016; Museu do Índio 2016). They speak the Karajá language, which is part of the Macro-Jê language family. It was suggest as being a part of this family as early as 1886 but remained as an unclassified language for the majority of the 20th century until around 1967 (Ribeiro, 2012, p. 268). The language has four dialects: Northern Karajá, Southern Karajá, Javaé, and Xambioá. Within these dialects, there are differences in speech males and females (Ribeiro, 2012; Insituto Socioambiental, 2016). The Karajá language is generally the first language spoken by children, indicating that the majority (if not all) of people are fluent speakers of the language (Museu do Índio, 2016).

Carajá, also spelled Karajá, tribe of South American Indians living along the Araguaia River, near the inland island of Bananal, in central Brazil. Their language may be distantly related to Ge, which is spoken by most of the surrounding tribes. The three subtribes of the Carajá—the Carajá proper, the Shambioá, and the Javahé—have almost identical cultures and are all oriented toward the river rather than toward the forest. The principal source of food is fish, with agricultural produce of almost equal importance. Clearings are made in the jungle flanking the river and planted with cassava, corn (maize), and a variety of other crops. The Carajá wear little clothing but use a variety of ornaments. Men wear labrets in the lower lip, as well as earplugs, while both sexes use a great deal of body paint and tattoo a small circle on each cheek as a tribal mark. In the wet season large, permanent thatched houses are occupied by the members of several related families; during the dry season flimsy shelters are built on the sandy beaches along the river. Within the village the social unit is the extended family, and the heads of these families are the effective leaders of the society. The village chief, although granted considerable deference, has little authority. For most purposes the villages are independent of one another, but some adjoining villages cooperate in religious ceremonies. The Carajá are noted for the singing and dancing that are prominent features of all ceremonies. The religion is dominated by the men, who hold masked dances during which they impersonate spirits and the ghosts of slain enemies.

The Karajá live along the Araguaia River in the Matto Grosso lowlands of the eastern Amazon. Tall and elaborately decorated ijasó headdress (and an associated set of rattles) are always made in pairs, and represent spirits called by shamans to visit the Karajás’ villages. Strongly associated with summer, or dry season, ceremonies, the ijasó join the Karajá in dancing and singing festivals. Ijasó is also the name for a fish that swims in the Araguaia River. According to Karajá oral tradition, the Karajás’ first ancestors came from the river and from these very ijasó fish.

Secular inhabitants of the banks of the Araguaia River in the states of Goiás, Tocantins and Mato Grosso, the Karajá have lived with the National Society for a long time, which, however, did not prevent them from maintaining the group’s traditional customs, such as: the native language, the ceramic dolls, family fishing, rituals such as the Festa de Aruanã and Casa Grande (Hetohoky), feather ornaments, basketry and wood crafts and body painting, such as the characteristic two circles on the face. At the same time, they seek temporary coexistence in cities to acquire means of claiming their territorial rights, access to health, bilingual education, among others. The name of this people in their own language is Iny, that is, “us”. The name Karajá is not the original self-denomination. It is a Tupi name that comes close to the meaning of “big monkey”. The first sources of the 16th and 17th centuries, although uncertain, already had the spellings “Caraiaúnas” or “Carajaúna”. Ehrenreich, in 1888, proposed the spelling Carajahí, but Krause, in 1908, established the spelling Karajá.

Karajá, also known as Iny rybè, is spoken by the Karajá people in some thirty villages in central Brazil. There are distinct male and female forms of speech; one of the principal differences is that men drop the sound /k/, which is pronounced by women. Karaja is a verb-final language, with simple noun and more complex verbal morphology that includes noun incorporation. Verbs inflect for direction as well as person, mood, object, and voice. Dialects are Northern Karajá, Southern Karajá, Xambioá, and Javaé. Karajá proper is spoken on the main course of the Araguaia River in and around Bananal Island. Phonologically, it is set apart from the other dialects (Javaé and Xambioá) by the occurrence of the vowel /ə/ (not represented in the orthography), which corresponds to a full vowel in Javaé and Xambioá whose quality is a copy of the vowel of the next syllable.

The carajás, also called karajá and iny mahãdu (which is their self-denomination), are an indigenous group that inhabits the region of the Araguaia and Javaés rivers, in the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso, Tocantins and Pará, in Brazil. Their language, the Carajá language (named by the Carajás as inyrybe, which means “the speech of the iny”), belongs to the Carajá linguistic family, which, in turn, belongs to the Macrojê linguistic trunk. Its current population is 3 768 people, distributed in 21 villages. The self-denomination of the ethnic group, iny, means “we”. The exonym “carajá” originates from the ancient Tupi karaîá. The ethnic group has already been called “Caraiaúnas” and “Carajaúna”. Ehrenreich, in 1888, proposed the spelling “Carajahí”, but Krause, in 1908, consecrated the spelling “Karajá”. The Carajás are divided into three subgroups that also correspond to the three dialects they speak: the Carajás themselves, the Javaés and the Xambioás (sometimes referred to as “Northern Carajás”). They call themselves inã, which is a term common to the three subgroups. Some classifications consider the Javaés as a quite distinct group, although they share the same culture and ritual life as the Carajás and Xambioás, only differing in some details.

“About eight hundred Karaja Indians still live on the shores of the Bananal Island, Araguaia River, in Central Brazil. They have been in peaceful contact with our civilization for more than a century but maintain a high level of their old traditions. During the dry season, from May to October, they erect summer-villages of light straw houses on the immense beaches of white, soft and hot sand, performing every afternoon and night their sacred fertility rites, with colorful masks of feather heads and straw skirts.”

Inhabitants for centuries of the shores of the Araguaia river in the states of Goiás, Tocantins and Mato Grosso, the Karajá who today live in various villages have a long history of contact with non-Indian society. Yet this has not prevented them from maintaining many of their traditional customs such as: their native language, their ceramic dolls, domestic fishing trips, rituals such as the Aruanã Festival and the Big House (Hetohoky) Festival, feather decorations, basketry and craftwork made from wood, as well as body painting such as the distinctive two circles designed on the face. At the same time, they look to spend temporary periods in towns as a way of acquiring the means to fight for their rights such as demarcation and preservation of their lands, and access to healthcare and bilingual education. The name of this people in their own language is Iny, meaning ‘us.’ The name Karajá is not an original auto-denomination. Rather, it is a Tupi name that can be roughly translated as ‘large monkey.’ Although uncertain, the earliest sources from the 16th and 17th centuries already use the spelling ‘Caraiaúnas’ or ‘Carajaúna.’ In 1888 Ehrenreich proposed the form Carajahí. However in 1908 Krause settled the confusion of names by fixing the spelling as Karajá.

The Karajá Indians of central Brazil are a native American group presently numbering about 1500 souls. They live along the Araguaia river, and their prime food source is the fauna (fish, turtles) that they expertly capture from this bountiful riverine system. They supplement their diet with produce from their slash-and-bum gardens. The Karajá maintained intermittent contact with Brazilian society from 1775 through the first four decades of this century. Since the Second World War, contact has become more intense and threatens their traditional village way of life, This dissertation is based on anthropological fieldwork carried out by the author in the company of his wife from July 76 to December 76 and February 77 to June 77 in various Karajá villages, Chapter I provides a general introductory overview of the Karajá and their adaption to the environment. Chapter II surveys the human environment within which the Karajá live and discusses the pre-contact situation of the Karajá. In Chapter III the written records covering the historic period since contact are reviewed. The devastating impact of demographic decline during this period is highlighted, A brief review of Karajá economic life comprises Chapter IV, while Chapter V traces the development of the Karajá individual from birth through death, Special focus is placed on the various aspects of marriage among the Karajá. Chapter VI furnishes information on the Karajá village, emphasizing key features of the dynamics that propel village life, The final chapter, number VII, discusses Karajá religion. Emphasis is given to the pivotal role of the shaman in Karajá society, The important Karajá religious rituals are described, most notably the mask dance rites, which the Karajá perform throughout the year. Two appendices supply maps of major Karajá villages and a detailed discussion of Karajá kinship terminology.

The Xambioá, also called the Karajá do Norte, Ixybiowa, or Iraru Mahãndu, are an indigenous people who live in Tocantins, Brazil. The size of the present-day population does not reflect what it had been up to the end of the 19th century, when the Karajá do Norte numbered some 1,350 individuals. Since that time the group went through an extremely violent process of population loss, which reduced it to just 40 people in 1959. Karajá do Norte population is slowly beginning to recover. The present Karajá do Norte population is 268 people.