Deep within the Amazon rainforest, at least 6 hours down its titanic rivers, live throngs of amazon rainforest tribes. Approximately 350 of the indigenous tribes in the amazon rainforests have made communication with modern society. However, 50 of these resilient communities still continue to preserve their traditions and way of life in harmony with the rainforest.
Currently, indigenous groups in the Amazon occupy roughly 28% of the total Amazon basin, about 80% of which is recognized under national law. Today, about 1.5 million people in the Amazon are indigenous, spread among 385 ethnic groups. In Brazil alone, nearly 900,000 indigenous people speak 274 languages.
The Amazon has a history of slavery from the era of Rubber Trappers, known as the "rushes". Fires, deforestation, and a changing climate threaten their ancestral lands and cultural heritage. Recognizing this vulnerability, Rajas Arcana partners with select indigenous communities. It supports their efforts to protect the rainforest and their traditional knowledge. A portion of website sales directly empower these amazon rainforest tribes. It helps them continue protecting the land, make their medicines, and build infrastructure and education programs for their villages.
For millennia, these secluded Amazonian communities have nurtured a profound connection with nature. They pray over the sacred medicines that you find on this website and sing to them. This deep connection goes beyond the physical. The natives believe some encounters with specific animals, a revered bird or snake, can become avenues for communication using the force of rapé.
You contribute to preserving the wisdom and resilience of these uncontacted tribes. This ensures their vital role as protectors of the Amazon's precious biodiversity.
The Nukni, a Pano-speaking tribe of around 750 people, call the Jurua region of Acre, Brazil, home. Nestled along the Serra do Divisor and nine river banks, they dwell in an area teeming with biodiversity. They live in clan-based villages, with their ancestral history etched in memory. Like the other tribes, they've faced past hardships like forced labor and massacres.
Skilled hunters and fishers, the Nukni thrive on a diverse diet that includes wild boar, deer, and fruits like acai and pupunha. Their traditional knowledge shines through in medicinal uses for plants like copaiba and jatoba. Their creativity sparks in vibrant handicrafts.
Various tribes include the Inubakëvu (‘people of the spotted jaguar’), Panabakëvu (‘people of the assai palm’), Itsãbakëvu (‘people of the patoá palm’) or Shãnumbakëvu (‘people of the serpent’). They are known for their beautiful handicrafts: woven baskets, feather ornaments, and body painting.
Illegal logging and climate change threaten their way of life. Despite these hurdles, the Nukni persevere. Their resilience is rooted in their deep connection to the land and their rich cultural heritage.
The Yawanawa are known as the "people of the wild boar." Rubber barons in the 16th century discovered this diverse group. It's actually a conjunction of tribes, such as Shawãdawa and Iskunawa. The Gregório River Indigenous Land is only around 450 people strong. They fiercely guard their 92,859-hectare homeland and share it with the Kaxukina.
Masters of the rainforest, they hunt, fish, and cultivate crops like manioc and bananas. Their knowledge shines in unique crafts like body paint designs and weapons, traditionally used in warfare. They use various plant poisons, such as lupine and sandbox tree sap. When placed in the water, these poisons cause the fish to rise to the surface, making them easier to catch.
Spirituality permeates their lives, most vividly in rituals like the Uni (Ayahuasca) and Rume (Rapé) ceremonies. These practices, deeply entwined with their medicine, focus on healing, purification, and vitality.
For decades, the Yawanawá worked for various bosses, producing rubber in the Kaxinawa rubber plantation. It was only abandoned in 1992, when new projects were implemented in partnership with foreign private companies.
Despite a history of forced contact and challenges, the Yawanawa persevere. They've even created the "Yawanawa life plan," a testament to their ongoing fight to protect their culture and land.
The Katukina tribe occupies two Indigenous Territories in the Amazon. The first, the Gregório River IT, is shared with the Yawanawá. The second is the Campinas River IT. They lack a unified name. They identify through six clans (Varinawa, Kamanawa, etc.). The clans have differing beliefs about descent.
The population of the Campinas village has seen a remarkable 80% increase in recent decades. It is now larger than Gregório due to migrations. This growth occurred despite historical challenges. The rubber boom era, which forced relocations and conflicts with outsiders, was one of them. According to Funai’s data, the Katukina totalled 177 people in 1977: 100 in the village on the Gregório river and 77 in the village on the Campinas river. In 1998, a little over twenty years later, the Katukina had a total population of 318 people. There were 98 people in the Gregório village and 220 in the Campinas village. In addition to the demographic growth, there has been an inversion in the relative size of the population between the villages.
Subsistence farming relies on manioc, banana, and other crops. Hunting and gathering remain important. Traditional games like "tava ta vete" (sugarcane game) and "ti'i vete" (fire game) showcase their playful spirit.
These games or ‘jests,’ as the Katukina call them, oppose men and women of all ages, who fight over sugarcane and papaya or attack each other with clay and fire. The word vete refers to all these games, but is always preceded by the fruit which is being disputed or the substance being used to attack the other sex. Thus tavata vete is translated as ‘sugarcane game’ and ti'i vete as ‘fire game.’
The Yawanawá were also their most assiduous adversaries. The Katukina accuse the Yawanawá of abducting their women in the past, thereby provoking warfare between them. Sorcery accusations – also frequent – continue until today.
Despite past tensions with the Yawanawá, both share the Gregório River land. They strive to preserve their unique cultures and traditions.
Huni Kuin, meaning "genuine people," are one of the largest producers of hapé, with around 10,000 members across 36 villages in Brazil and Peru. They live in Brazil and Peru and create many of our hapé's from our Cacau blend to our Murici.
The Kaxinawá belong to the Pano linguistic family. They inhabit the tropical forest of eastern Peru, from the Andean foothills to the border with Brazil. They also live in western Brazil, in the states of Acre and southern Amazonas. In Brazil, the Kaxinawá live in the Upper Juruá and Purus areas and the Javari Valley.
Historically linked to rubber booms and violent contact, they maintain distinct identities in Peru and Brazil. They do this despite having shared ancestry. Shamanism plays a central role in their culture. Practices like ayahuasca consumption and mukaya (bitter-sweet remedies) are key features.
A salient feature of Kaxinawá shamanism is the importance of discretion in relation to the person’s potential to cure or cause illnesses. The invisibility and ambiguity of this power is linked to its transitory nature.
Many Amazonian groups consider Ayahuasca consumption the preserve of the shaman. However, among the Kaxinawá, all adult men and adolescent boys who want to see ‘the world of the vine’ collectively practice it.
The Kaxinawa claim that the first sign that someone has the potential to become a shaman is failure in hunting. They see it as a developed relationship with the world of the yuxin. The shaman develops a deep familiarity with the animal universe, including being able to converse with them. He is unable to kill them.
Gender distinctions are fundamental. Men focus on hunting and fishing, while women manage agricultural tasks. Both participate in timbó fishing using plant poisons.
Kaxinawá rituals dazzle with body art. They have blackened teeth, vibrant genipap designs, and full-body paint. This paint comes from annatto, peanut, or peach palm oils, often scented with inihti. Nixpu sap remains an essential dental care ritual. It protects and strengthens teeth according to their beliefs.
In 2022, Huni Kuin women formed the Ainbu Dayá association. They aim to empower their voices and share their unique cultural practices.
Believed wiped out in 19th century "rushes," the "coconut people" (Kuntanawa) reappeared as "Milton's caboclos." They are a family group living in Acre's Alto Juruá Reserve. They were the first tribe to become recognized by Brazil and given the Alto Jurua Extractive Reserve. There is an estimated 400 of them.
The Kuntanawa live on the banks of the upper Tagus River. They live within the Alto Juruá Extractive Reserve (Resex), located in the extreme west of the state of Acre, in the municipality of Marechal Thaumaturgo.
They believe that their founding mother was captured in the 20th cenutry. And have a history of fighting each other. Cabocla Regina, heroine of the Kuntanawa, integrated herself into rubber plantation society. She married several rubber tappers and lived with them, but she never abandoned her indigenous heritage. She passed it down to her daughter Mariana. She became known on the Jordan River, where she lived since coming from Envira. People admired her as an excellent midwife and knowledgeable about forest medicines, which they attributed to her indigenous origin.
It was the group that the regional coordinator of the CNS and all the projects that were subsequently implemented in the area (health, research, vegetable leather) could count on. In fact, they were always sought after.
Milton and his children claim to access deeper dimensions of Kuntanawa Indianness by drinking this sacred beverage. They say the visceral experience of the drink helps them do so. Ayahuasca is a powerful mechanism of subjectivation for the Kuntanawa ethnic emergence. It cannot be underestimated.
Once thought lost to history, the Kuntanawa tribe has re-emerged in the Amazonian political landscape. They've come back with a powerful voice. Despite their small numbers, they use their unique story and cultural knowledge to advocate for land rights and environmental protection. They connect with other indigenous communities and allies through ayahuasca rituals and storytelling, building a network of solidarity.
They raise global awareness about the threats to their rainforest home and the importance of preserving its biodiversity through media projects like Haru's film initiative. Their political activism is fueled by ancestral wisdom and contemporary tools. It offers a beacon of hope for the future of the Amazon and its diverse peoples.