Courage, beauty, truth and other words that I learned with the Yanomami
by Letícia Leite, reporter for ISA
This text was originally published in Portuguese before the second round of the presidential election in Brazil
Courage, beauty and truth, respectively, Waitheri, Totihi and Peheti, were the first three words I learned from the Yanomami of Watorikɨ, where the XI Meeting of Women was held, an annual event created by them to share the experiences and knowledge of the female world.
Speaking in public is an act that requires courage in any society. In this sense, the people that live on the largest indigenous land in Brazil, the Yanomami Indigenous Land, which lies between Roraima and Amazonas, have developed a interesting approach. The Yanomami grow up knowing that their patio is where one speaks about the common world, where truths and decisions need to be shared every evening by those with courage.
Modern therapies must owe some debt to the Yanomami. While we spend a lot on health professionals to lead us through this difficult task of relating our anguish, every evening the Yanomami occupy the center of the patio of a long house to, one by one, talk about theirs. They call this practice Hereamu. They talk about what bothers them, what is important, how they can understand and feel the pain of others. They exercise the courage to tell the truth and make collective decisions every day.
The village of Watorikɨ, where the meeting was held, is located at the foot of a 327 m mountain, an imposing view that reminds us of Sugarloaf Mountain. The Xapiri live there, sacred spirits summoned by the shamans that dance and secure the sky so that it does not fall, as described by the most popular of Yanomami shamans, Davi Kopenawa, in his book “A Queda do Céu” [The Falling of the Heavens].
Davi was present at the meeting, but the main host was his wife, Fátima Kopenawa, with whom he has six children. On the first night I slept in the home of the Yanomami, with the long house full of visitors, she was the first to occupy the arena of courage and in the center of Watorikɨ began the Hereamu.
“I will speak the truth. I will speak about the hair of Yanomami women, hair cut short and round. Our hair is beautiful. I always say this and I will continue to say it. When the women need to go to the city, they can pretend they’re not indigenous there, but when they return here they have to return to being Yanomami, they have to remove their clothing and wear their hair short,” she argued for hours.
Watorikɨ is just one of more than 250 houses spread over Yanomami Indigenous Land. In this collective house — yano a — live Yanomami women, with straight black hair, cut short in the bangs and the back, above the shoulders, like Fátima recommends. They all wear red cotton thongs and wrap themselves in colored beads.
Fátima and Davi have their hammocks tied near the main entrance of the house. There are no chiefs among the Yanomami, but rather shamans, like Davi, who is not the only one in Watorikɨ, are very respected figures. When they get married, women place their hammocks next to their husbands and make a new fire, which marks the division in the house shared by 147 people. A new fire is a new kitchen. Around it, a Yanomami family.
To marry a woman, a man must serve his future mother-in-law for a time. Hard work, gardening, hunting and small repairs are required of a candidate for son-in-law. A Yanomami man can only place his hammock next to a Yanomami women if he proves to her father that he is ready to work for a family. That is why girls are very much welcome, to attract someone productive. And a society that welcomes women is admirable in these times.
When the sun rises in Watorikɨ, women gather the firewood necessary for a day and a night of fire. Their bodies are prepared to carry a nursing child and a bundle of firewood on their backs, both supported by slings. It is around the fire that they cook fresh fish that they catch in the backwater and make pancakes and porridge and so many other ancient forms of food based on manioc.
It is also around the light of the fire that the Yanomami family talks when the day is done. On the first night I slept in Watorikɨ, I saw almost 30 points of fire simultaneously in the house of straw. It’s like this every night, with no record of accidents.
Communication and relatives
I went to the Yanomami Indigenous Land to train six Yanomami youth in communication. Covering the Meeting was part of a practical activity for the course that I put together with the journalist Alan Azevedo and my colleagues at ISA, Marília Senlle and Lídia Montanha. The project was designed to provide communication solutions for the indigenous peoples based on a new regulatory framework for civil society.
Alcida, Roseane, Vitoria, Kenedy, Juruna, Oziel and Dalissa were recommended by Associação Hutukara for this training in communication. For five days in Boa Vista, they learned how to use cell phones to take photographs and videos, visited a radio station, gave live interviews and covered the graduation of Yanomami teachers. We then traveled together to Watorikɨ where they covered the XI Meeting of Yanomami Women as a practical workshop activity.
Listening to Fátima on the first night and observing how all of them listened on the hammocks, stretched out, reflecting, was key to understanding that young people need to show that they have the courage to be communicators. That is why, during the day, I began to direct them to photograph, draw and take notes about what they saw happening at the women’s meeting so they could recount what they saw in the evening. The generator was turned on so they could present, on an improvised screen, the photos and videos they had recorded for everyone who was in Watorikɨ. In front of their images, they dispensed with the games boys of 16 to 20 normally play and did what the Yanomami do every evening: speak their truths with courage. It was beautiful.
A pause to talk about Ehuana
A photo of Ehuana Yanomami is the identity of the podcast Copiô, Parente, created at ISA to inform the indigenous people about what is happening in Brasília and around the country that could affect their lives. The audio bulletin is distributed by WhatsApp to a mailing list of indigenous representatives from every state. The programming is rebroadcast on the Rádio Nacional da Amazônia and by radio stations in Altamira (PA) and São Gabriel da Cachoeira (AM). I knew that I was going to the home of Ehuana. I would finally meet the face that was already so familiar to me and that represents a weekly connection with relatives that live throughout Brazil. To my surprise, Ehuana also knew that I was arriving and went to pick me up as soon as the plane landed.
“Letícia?”
“I’m Ehuana.” And she gave me a big hug.
I knew a little about Ehuana from her handwritten release authorizing use of her image for the cover of Copiô, Parente and for the drawing that she sent me together with the release.
I also knew a little about Ehuana because she was one of those responsible for the publication of the first book published by Yanomami women and written entirely in the Yanomae language. The Hutukara Associação is promoting, in partnership with researchers at ISA, various publications by Yanomami thinkers on a variety of subjects: shamanism, medicinal plants, food, mythology and history. This book by the women addresses the transformations of the body and the life of Yanomami women as a result of menstruation.
Ehuana is a researcher, intellectual, mother of three children, separated, one of just a few Watorikɨ women who speak and understand a little Portuguese. She is also the newest artist commissioned by Museu Inhotim (MG). She will produce, with the watercolors that arrived with me in the plane, paintings that will be displayed and sold at the museum. The money will return to the community through the association.
Women’s meeting
The XI Meeting of Yanomami Women lasted two days. It began when 16 women invited from the region of Missão Catrimani arrived in Watorikɨ. Since 2002, they have organized a meeting in their long houses. This time they were the visitors. Impeccably painted with exuberant necklaces and ornaments, they arrived smiling, in a line, and walked directly to the patio. Together with the hosts, they danced, occupying the entire space, singing, shouting, spreading kisses, hugs and smiles to the guests. When they arrived, all the guests were hugged by the hosting women.
It was the first time the meeting has been held in the region of Demini and organized by Ehuana. She was the master of ceremonies, negotiating with the women the order of the talks and themes, making sure that everyone was able to speak and present themselves. The event addressed many initiatives and spaces that the Yanomami women are fighting to occupy. They talked about the sale of the basketwork, the vitality of the six languages spoken inside the territory, the knowledge of women about medicinal plants, of the important women in Yanomami history and about traditional education. They spoke about the reproduction of Yanomami life and the threats to their lives.
A recent study conducted by Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), in partnership with Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), shows that the continuous encroachment by illegal miners into their territory has had serious consequences: in some villages as much as 92% of the people examined are contaminated with mercury.
“My name is Sara, from Hawarixa. I’ve come to talk about the responsibility of taking care of the forest. All the communities were alerted about the cutting down of buriti and inajá trees. This is fine. But over there in my community the river is dirty because of the illegal mining. They are working there at the end.”
Most importantly, they spoke about the knowledge and chores of women necessary for life in the territory, as Leliana Yanomami did in her presentation at the meeting.
“I am Leliana Yanomami, and I’d like to talk about history. Like my brother Davi said, we have to know about history. Our culture cannot end. I cut my hair with the tooth of a piranha. I am a real Yanomami. My mother-in-law taught me and I’ll never forget. That is why we are here. When we capture a crab for us Yanomami to eat, we go into the forest and grab it from the hole, this is our culture.”
At this reception, around 50 women occupied a large table inside the long house and spoke, always in Yanomami. Everyone had their time to speak and the conversations and presentations continued for two days without a man interrupting the speech of a woman. Just the opposite, they also had their space, they listened carefully to the complaints directed at them and contributed with their experience, when asked by the women to speak.
On the same day of this meeting, thousands of women from around Brazil went to the streets to say #EleNão [Not him] and alert the world of the many threats that the candidacy of Jair Bolsonaro represents in the lives of women.
The women of Watorikɨ do not vote, nor were the elections discussed in this meeting. But like the thousands of women in the streets, they are gathered, showing their strong words and making plans together on how to move forward.
They were gathered, speaking about themselves and to everyone, dancing, smiling, enjoying themselves. Together, fighting for the right to be different, to ensure an education in the Yanomami language for their children. To live without illegal mining on their territory, their way, with their round haircuts, like Yanomami women.
We as women have no other choice but to survive together. It’s like this in Watorikɨ, home to Ehuana, Fátima and 69 other Yanomami women. It’s like this in Brasília, where I have my home. It’s like this for women.
