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Besides hunting, fishing and gathering, agriculture
is the main subsistence activity of the Asurini, and manioc
represents the basic element of their diet. In their gardens
they cultivate various species of manioc, consumed in
different ways, manioc cereal being the principal product.
This is made in three traditional ways: 1) ui´eté:
after scraping the manioc on paxiuba (a palm with thorny
roots) (pat(s*)i iwa), the pulp is squeezed with the hands
and placed into a trough to dry; after dried, it is pounded
and shaped into balls, that are later placed over the
fire to be smoked and then they are pounded again and
sifted; then the manioc cereal is toasted over the earthen
oven(d(*z)apé); 2) maniakapyaka: made of manioc
pulp that is placed in the bottom of great pots, along
with the squeezed juice; after it is dried in the sun
and pounded, it is toasted; 3) maniakui: made of manioc
soaked in water for several days, dried in the sun, pounded
and finally toasted. They also eat manioc bread (beiju)
and various types of porridge (mingau) prepared with the
juice of sweet manioc (maniakawa) or thickened with wild
manioc (maniaka), soaked and pounded, and later dried
in the sun (maniapywa).
They also cultivate corn (for which there are
restrictions to be followed in its planting), yams,
sweet potato, tobacco, cotton, urucum, peanuts, beans,
watermelon, bananas. Following the sexual division of
labor, it is up to the men to prepare the soil (cutting,
felling, burning, and secondary burning) and to the
women the planting and gathering.
The men of a domestic group maintain relations
of cooperation amongst themselves, clearing gardens
near to each other. For felling, all the men of the
village are invited and are served a porridge. The production
is the women’s domain and they, transforming what
is planted into food, distribute it to the other domestic
groups according to the rules of kinship.
Gathering is an activity that men and women
do. The principal products of gathering are castanhas-do-pará
(nh(?)), the inajá fruit (inóa(*z)á),
babaçu (ú(*z)anúy) fruit and the
turtle, one of the favorite dishes of the Asurini. Hunting
is a male activity and the animals hunted are the following,
by order of preference: wild pig (ta(*z)aho), cotia
(akut(*s)i), mutum (mytum), jacu (d(*z) aku), inhambu
(inabo) and caetetu (t(*s)iwá).
Collective fishing is done in the summer, in
the streams, lakes, and places of the Ipiaçava
that permit the use of traditional techniques, such
as plant poison (timbó) in water that is naturally
dammed-up or through the construction of earthen dams.
The fish are shot with arrows or gathered in baskets.
Completing this equipment, they use a series of traps
and, in the winter, they generally fish with hooks and
nylon line.
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