Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Story: The Tikuna make up the largest indigenous people in the Brazilian
Amazon. With a history marked by the violent entry of rubber tappers, fishermen and
loggers into the Solimões river region, it was not until the 1990s that they achieved
official recognition of most of their lands. Currently they face the challenge of
guaranteeing their economic and environmental sustainability, as well as
corresponding relations with the surrounding society while keeping their rich culture
alive. The international repercussion that the masks, designs and paintings of this
town have obtained is no accident.
Location: This people lived in the upper reaches of the streams, tributaries of the
left bank of the Solimões River, in the stretch in which it enters Brazilian territory and
up to the Içá / Putumayo River. Then, there was an intense process of transfer in the
direction of the Solimões river.
Religión: They base everything on the belief of God but they do not let it affect
their socio-cultural organization. They try their best to preserve traditions and their
livelihood is still based on chagras.
TYPICAL DANCE: La Pelazón is an act that keeps tradition alive and at the same
time is a contemporary ritual that has managed to accommodate the various
transformations that the Ticuna indigenous people have lived and are living today.
Typical drees: The Ticunas formerly walked half-naked, they wore wooden
earmuffs with feathers or made with metal plates. They complete the outfit with
wooden masks made from a wood called topa, as well as necklaces and crowns
adorned with seeds and feathers.
Gastronomy: The main crop products are sweet cassava, bitter or wild cassava,
corn, plantain, yams, umarí, caimo and fruit trees such as pineapple. The Ticuna
practiced the cultivation of native species such as cassava, cará (a kind of sugar
cane) and other tubers. Formerly, with a diet based on game meat, fishing was of
minimal importance and was practiced with a technology of fences and fish
poisoning for which timbó juice was available (Oliveira, 1988).
Culture: The rites are based on a founding reality, loaded with the origin of
everything that exists, its symbolism and its meaning. In the stories of origin there is
order, the place that corresponds to everything that exists; the same as the laws and
precepts to follow to travel the path of life
iNstruments:
• Flute: size variation between 60 and 160 cm long. They have a sound system
similar to the European recorder group. The most common flutes in this region
are built mainly with Paxiuba palm trunks and decorated with white chalk and
other colors.
• Drum: percussion musical instrument, cylindrical, hollow, covered by its two
bases with a taut skin.
• Rattles: they are designed with seeds of jungle vegetables, attached with a
string of chambira. When they hit each other they emit a particular sound.
• Rattle stick: rattles are added to the stick, hitting them against the floor to the
rhythm of the dance originates a rhythm in the ritual.
TIKUNAS
Historia: Los Tikuna constituyen el pueblo indígena más grande de la Amazonía
brasileña. Con una historia marcada por la entrada violenta de caucheros,
pescadores y madereros en la región del río Solimões, no fue hasta la década de
1990 que lograron el reconocimiento oficial de la mayor parte de sus tierras.
Actualmente enfrentan el desafío de garantizar su sustentabilidad económica y
ambiental, así como las correspondientes relaciones con la sociedad circundante
manteniendo viva su rica cultura. La repercusión internacional que han obtenido las
máscaras, diseños y pinturas de este pueblo no es casualidad.
Ubicación: Este pueblo vivía en los tramos altos de los arroyos, afluentes de la
margen izquierda del río Solimões, en el tramo en el que ingresa al territorio
brasileño y hasta el río Içá / Putumayo. Luego, hubo un intenso proceso de
transferencia en dirección al río Solimões.
Cultura: Los ritos se basan en una realidad fundacional, cargada con el origen
de todo lo que existe, su simbolismo y su significado. En las historias de origen hay
orden, el lugar que corresponde a todo lo que existe; lo mismo que las leyes y
preceptos a seguir para recorrer el camino de la vida.
instrumentos: