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The Kadiwéu individual receives a name at his or her birth and whenever a kinsperson dies. During the funerary rites, the kin of the deceased have their hair cut. Someone who cuts his or her hair in a sign of mourning is called okojege. Older women, who know these rites, meet during the funeral to decide the most suitable name for the mourner. When someone loses a close kinsperson, it is also possible to adopt another person (independent of age, sex and the degree or even existence of kinship) to fill the absence left by the deceased. A kinsperson adopted in these circumstances is called godokogenigi. The latter is also given a new name and his or her hair is cut. There is yet another way to establish a tie of kinship 'of consideration.' This is through the relationship between imedi (or imeeti in the case of women, a word translated as 'friend'). Two families can agree to make a child from each an imedi, who then establish a fraternal relationship between themselves with the particular appropriate attitudes. The descendents of the two imedi will also be imedi to each other.

In addition to funerary rites, they also practice what they call a 'Girl's Festival.' A female initiation ritual, the girl undergoes a two day reclusion and a rigorous diet after she starts her first menses. She cannot step on the ground nor look at animals. At the ritual's climax, this girl is 'fanned' with a red cloth hemmed with beads and baubles (the 'fan,' wajuide) and, lying prone, is pressed above the kidneys by a woman from the village carefully chosen by her family, since her characteristics will be assimilated by the girl.

The Boat, or Etogo, is considered by the Kadiwéu to be the ritual most clearly expressive of their alterity, since, as they say, it is the clearest in displaying that they are 'really Indians.' It was last performed in 1992 after at least fifty years during which it had not been staged. It has not been repeated since. The immediate motive for its performance was the need to show the Whites, their guests, the ritual that most expressed their identity.

The Boat is a long ritual. It refers to the Paraguayan War, noted, among other aspects, by the planting of stylized Brazilian and Paraguayan flags to either side of the bamboo boat built as the setting for the ritual. The Boat mimics a war boat similar to those the Kadiwéu say they saw navigating the Paraguay river in the past.
The chief of the Boat is the persona called Maxiotagi, or the 'Macho.' Maxiotagi is a Xamakôko persona (although the actor is Kadiwéu), from the ethnic group that was the main source of captives in the past. His function in the ritual is to direct its scenes as they develop.

Maxiotagi, who is blind, is accompanied by Ligecoge, 'the Macho's eyes', and Lionigawanigi (Small One), who assist him in his activities. These personae decorate themselves with comical attire. The Boat also features the Delegate, the Sergeant (Jajentege), the war chiefs and the convent clerks (Nidikuna). There is also Ixotece Gonibedona Gonibegi, or 'Finger-in-the-Arse,' who is in charge of the 'watch.' The maximum rule during the Boat is that one cannot laugh, under penalty of being imprisoned and/or paying 'bail,' generally charged in the form of cattle to be slaughtered there and then, supplying the collective barbecue held over the several days of the ritual.

During the ritual period, the village's routine is completely altered and everyone behaves as though under a voice of command, only acting in accordance with the chief's orders. During the Boat, all the men of the village are called 'soldiers' and all the women 'Paraguayans' (gaxianaxe), and represent war captives. There is also a specific role for the older women, who are the ones who keep the group's sacred chants. These women - the only people who know the language of the chants, which young men do not know how to translate - sing in a sudden fashion whenever an important event happens to the group. Their chants recall historical facts and preserve the memory of the chiefs and their great feats, as well as providing commentaries on contemporary events based on their history and cosmology. The older women sing (or 'pray') during the Boat for release of the captives.

Ritual moments are also accompanied by both male dances (nabacenaganaga, or 'stick-beating') and female dances, by music played on their typical instruments, the flute (natena) and the drum (goge), by joking and games (especially those displaying the physical performance of the men, recalling the godapoagenigi), and by the presentation of 'clowns' (bobotegi). These are personae who also appear outside of the Boat ritual. They make their appearance in masks with their body also camouflaged and unrecognisable, dancing their odd 'polkas' and scaring the children who ply them for presents.

There is also a Father in the Boat, who performs baptisms imitating the Christian priests and simulates curing rites, such as those performed by the nijienigi (the Kadiwéu shaman). The nijienigi is capable of foreseeing future events with the help of spiritual entities who guide him. As a result, his role was a fundamental aspect of war strategies in the past. The nijienigi also cure and are still summoned to intervene in cases of sickness in the villages.