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The two basic subsistence activities of the Baniwa
are agriculture and fishing, which have equal and complementary
cultural and economic importance. Baniwa knowledge of
the forests is extensive. Every man knows where to find
the best lands for gardening, where to look for fruits,
and where to hunt game. In the Walipere-dakenai territory
there are many areas of terra firme which means that land
for new gardens is found in abundance. But, there are
no flooded areas on their lands, in contrast with the
lands of their affines, the Dzauinai who live downriver
in a region of many lakes. The Dzauinai of the community
of Juivitera, for their part, do not have terra firme
to plant gardens and they only have one small island located
in the middle of a great flooded area in the mid-Içana.
They say that this island was “made” by the
Walipere-dakenai, who brought earth for them in many journeys
by canoe. At that time, the Walipere-dakenai women who
married the Dzauinai men suffered because they did not
have manioc to make beiju in sufficient quantity, and
it was for that reason that they decided to make a place
where their affines could plant gardens.
Near their ancient dwelling places, the Baniwa
also indicate the existence of patches of black earth
which, when possible, are used for gardens because of
their excellent productivity. There also are old areas
of brushwood, from which they obtain great quantities
of plant remedies. Besides the major ecological divisions
- terra firme (not flooded), campinarana (bush forest
with hard and stiff leaves, in sandy soils) and igapó
(forest flooded over most of the year) - the Baniwa
demonstrate a refined and detailed knowledge of the
differences in the forests of their area. This is evident,
for example, in the narratives of origin of the various
Baniwa groups. In one version of these narratives, it
is said that when the Creator/Transformer Nhiãperikuli
took the ancestral couple of each one of the phratries
(Walipere-dakenai, Hohodene, Dzauinai, Adzanene, etc.)
out of the holes of the rapids of Hipana on the Aiari
river, each of them went to live in a determined place,
in the middle of the forest, where there was a cluster
of patauá fruit trees.
In fact, the manner in which the Baniwa perceive
their environment not only includes the macrodivisions
mentioned above based on ecological studies, but also
demonstrates a refinement within these categories. These
“scientific” units are given specific names
in the Baniwa language: hamariene (open fields, or savannah),
édzaua (terra firme) and arapê (flooded
land), although they do not specifically designate the
type of vegetation or soil, for they refer more precisely
to the type of landscape, associated with a type of
vegetation and soil. For example, the term hamariene
designates a “clear” environment, a marked
characteristic of savannah formations, for the forest
is more open in comparison with terra firme.
Besides that, there are terms in the Baniwa
language to designate specific types of vegetation,
which refer to an enormous gamut of identified variations
within the above cited categories. This is a system
of classification based on the perception of the dominance
of different species in specific parts of the forest.
For example: the term punamarimã is comprised
of punama (= patauá) and rimã (= concentration
of), which can be translated as “area of patauá",
or even "patauazal". According to the Baniwa,
the punamarimã consists of a specific kind of
vegetation that occurs in the interior of the campinarana
forest, that is, the presence of a dominant species
indicates in this system a specific typological sub-unit.
This classificatory resource is employed in a generalized
way, such that all the different parts of the forests,
in terra firme, campinarana or igapó, have specific
names.
The Baniwa classify the terra firme forest soils
according to a gradient of colors that varies from yellow
to black. Black soils occur in various points of their
territory, as is the case of the mukulirimã type,
which is one of the best types of earth, even for planting
corn. They consider precisely the dark coloring and
gross texture of the earth in their choice for the clearing
of a garden. Another criteria used by their ancestors
is the taste of the soil: the more bitter the soil,
the more inappropriate for a garden (comparing with
the taste of castanha, brazilnuts). As for campinarana,
they say that in general the soil is sandy, except for
the types called uaparimada, mapuruti and kuiaperimã
which are clearly darker, and are more useful for the
opening of small gardens.
While fishing is an activity that occurs throughout
the year, it is in the summer dry season that the great
fishing expeditions on the lakes of the mid-Içana
occur. The Baniwa know many techniques for fishing including
the use of traps and nets, hooks, bow and arrow, machetes
and spears and fish poison. Both fishing and agriculture
are activities that are synchronized with a variety
of environmental indicators and mythical calendars and,
in the past, were connected with a series of important
rituals.
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Probably commercial and extractive activities have
contributed the most to change traditional subsistence
patterns. From early on in their contact history, the
Baniwa have participated in a series of extractive activities
such as piaçava, borracha, sorva, castanha, and
minerals. Since the distribution of these resources is
unequal, seasonal labor migration has become a common
pattern. Commercial activities include the production
of artwork (baskets, manioc scrapers, feather headdresses)
and manioc to sell to merchants, or in urban markets.
The Baniwa are excellent artisans. They are the only producers
of manioc scrapers made of wood and quartz points which
are distributed throughout the region, through interethnic
trade or by merchants. Currently, they are the principal
producers of urutu baskets and balaios in a great variety
of shapes, sizes and types of designs and colors, which
are sold in markets throughout Brazil. To know more about
this activity, see the electronic version of the book
Arte
Baniwa. |
