Native American Indian Cultures

Karaja Indians

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Other Names: Iny

Area: Goi�s, Mato Grosso, Par� and Tocantins, Brazil (Map). The group�s territory is defined by an extensive stretch of the Araguaia river valley, including the world�s largest fluvial island, the Ilha do Bananal, which measures approximately two million hectares. Their 29 villages are located by preference close to the lakes and affluents of the Araguaia and Java�s rivers, as well as inland on the Ilha do Bananal. Each village establishes a specific territory for fishing, hunting and ritual practices, internally demarcating cultural spaces recognized by the whole group.

Population: approximately 2,500 (1999)

First Contact: 1673

Language Root: Macro-je, Javae, and Xambioa

Economy: Agriculture and Artisan

Today: Self sustaining in part

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There is a high degree of mobility among the Karaj�, one of whose cultural traits is exploration of the food resources along the Araguaia river. Today, they still follow the custom of camping with their families in search of the best spots for catching fish and turtles, in lakes and on the river�s tributaries and beaches, where in the past they built temporary villages. These were often the scene for festival performances during the dry season period when the Araguaia fell to its lowest. With the arrival of the rains, they moved to villages built on the higher cliffs, safe from the rising water level. Some of these sites are still used for their domestic and collective swiddens, dwellings and cemeteries.

Men are responsible for defending the territory, clearing swiddens, domestic and collective fishing trips, the construction of dwellings, formalized political discussions in the Aruan� House or the men's plaza, negotiations with non-indigenous Brazilian society and the performance of the principal ritual activities, since they are equated symbolically with the important category of the dead. Women are responsible for the education of children until the age of initiation for boys and in a permanent way for girls, focusing here on domestic tasks such as cooking, collecting swidden products, arranging the marriage of children (normally managed by grandmothers), the painting and decoration of children, girls and men during the group's rituals, and the manufacture of ceramic dolls, which became an important source of family income in the aftermath of contact. On the ritual plane, women are responsible for the preparation of foods for the main festivals and for the affective memory of the village, which is expressed through ritual wailing of a special form when someone becomes ill or dies. Body painting is symbolically important to the group. Body painting is undertaken by women. Men are painted with different designs, depending on their age grades, using genipap juice, charcoal soot and annatto dye. Some of the more common patterns are black stripes and bands on the arms and legs. The hands, feet and face are painted with a small number of designs representing natural species, especially fauna.

The village is the basic unit of social and political organization. Decision making is made by male members of the extended families, who discuss their positions in the Aruan� House. Factional rivalry between groups of men disputing political power in the village is common. As a result of contact, one of the village's men is elected 'chief' and is held responsible for tackling political issues with external agents, such as FUNAI, universities, NGOs, state governments and so on. The community's staple food sources are the fish populations found in the Araguaia river and the lakes. A few mammals are prized as game, while the Karaj� display a special predilection for capturing macaw parrots, jabiru storks and spoonbills to make feather decorations. Swiddens are cleared in gallery forest using a slash-burn technique. The ethnographic and historical records cite the cultivation of maize, manioc, potato, banana, watermelon, yam, peanuts and beans.

Karaj� material culture includes house building techniques, cotton weaving, feather decorations, and artefacts made from straw, wood, minerals, shell, gourds, tree bark and pottery. Baskets are made by both men and women. They feature woven motifs reminiscent of Greek designs and inspired by fauna with animal body parts (Taveira, 1982). Ceramic art is exclusive to the women, displaying a highly diverse range of kinds and motifs, from domestic utensils such as pots and plates, to dolls with mythological, ritual, quotidian and zoomorphic themes. The ceramic dolls made by the Karaj� are the focus of intense interest from tourists who visit the villages, especially during the season when beaches are exposed along the Araguaia river (July, August and September): as a result, the dolls have become another means of subsistence for the group. Currently only the Karaj� sub-group manufactures the dolls. An activity unique to women, these ceramic figures function now as in the past as children's toys.

Feather decorations are very elaborate and possess a direct relationship to rituals. Now that macaw parrots - highly prized birds for the Karaj� - are more difficult to capture, the variations previously seen in this art form have decreased, leaving only a few decorations such as the lori lori and aheto designs, widely used in the boys' initiation ritual.

Text from � Instituto Socioambiental. You can find their web site here: http://www.socioambiental.org/e/

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The Karaja Indians reside in the vast lowlands of the Matto Grosso of Brazil. They are a very artistically talented tribe making ceramic dolls and animal figures called litjocos, masks, baskets, and beautiful feathered caps. With the very first contact of the Karaja, these special dolls and animal figures (litjocos) were noted by the chronicler. In the past this was exclusively women's work. They were originally made as children's toys. They were also used as a cultural teaching tool. They portray every day life in the community, animals of the forests and fish of the rivers. One of the most famous figures of the Karaja is a set of male and female dolls. The female figures reveal their notions of feminine beauty in heavy thighs and voluptuous lower bodies. Karaja sculptures also portray the magical side of the Karaja with figures such as; Arena, Adjoromani, and Kboi, special heroes of the mystical world of the Karaja.

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Photos property of Hands Around the World. Click on the thumbnail pictures below for a full-size picture, then click the top-left BACK button to return.

Very unusual figure of a Karaja hunter with a dead jaguar in a canoe. 20" long.

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Karaja women figures average 8" in height.

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Origin Myth - The Karaja ancestors, they say, once dwelt in an underworld until one day one of them climbed up a hole in the ground and out onto the surface of the earth, where his fellow tribesmen later followed and where they eventually settled. (from Robert L. Carneiro, American Museum of Natural History)

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	The Karaja Indians are a very artistically talented tribe making ceramic dolls, masks, baskets, and beautiful feathered caps. These small lidded baskets are hand woven and trimmed with colorful feathers. Approximately 4 to 6" in diameter.
	These Karaja combs are hand woven of natural reeds and fibers. Each comb has a different beautiful pattern of weaving.

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