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The Araweté possess a very simple material
culture within the Tupi-Guarani horizon. This can be partially
explained by their state of constant alert and flight
from foes in the past few decades and partially by contact
trauma. In its simplicity itself, the material culture
of the Araweté does not allow for approximation
to any other particular Tupi-Guarani group. The absolute
prevalence of maize cultivation compared to cassava also
sets the Araweté apart from other Amazonian Tupi-Guarani.
The men carry a thick beard,
which they grow in a goatee; they go naked except for
a length of string tied to their foreskins. The women
wear an outfit made of four tube-like pieces (waistband,
skirt, an armsling-blouse and a headcloth) woven from
native cotton and dyed with urucum. They wear earrings
made from arara feathers fashioned in flower-like arrangements,
pendantifs of ciñã beadstrings, as well
as necklaces made of the same bead. The men wear the
selfsame earrings, however shorter. Their hair is cut
straight across the forehead to the ears, whence it
grows to the back of the neck of the men and the shoulder
blades of the women.
The basic color and dye of
the Araweté is the blood-red urucum, with which
they cover their hair and bodies, anointing themselves
uniformly. They may, however, draw a single horizontal
line across their faces at the eyebrow level; one along
their noses and one line each from their ears to the
corner of their mouths. This pattern is also used in
their festive decoration, when it is drawn in perfumed
resin and covered with the minuscule bright blue plumage
of the cotinga bird. The harpy’s plumes are glued
to their hair.
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