::01

A first marriage occurs when the girl is around 11 to 13 years old and gives up her virginity to the man whom she likes. Nevertheless, she is not definitively married until she becomes pregnant and gives birth to a child. Before 1975, marriage was practically indissoluble, but nowadays, when a man leaves the house, which is frequent, it's called "divorce of the children".

During the seclusion, which lasts some 40 days after birth, the woman calls her "other husbands" to take part in the ritual together with her effective husband. As she could have practiced serial, cerimonial sex with several dozen men during pregnancy, she identifies from one to four of these "other husbands" as those who contributed with a sufficient quantity of semen for the formation of the fetus. These men should observe food and sexual restrictions in such a way as to favor the growth and health of the child. If not, the life of the child is put at risk. Presently, there is no longer identification of these other husbands, but the belief persists. Consequently, in order to guarantee the health of the baby, another principal "husband" is secretly advised about the necessity of observing food and sexual restrictions, without his actual wife knowing anything about his transgressions.

The children are raised in the house of the mother and mother's sisters and all her children. Before more intense contact with Western patterns of sociability, it was common for the woman to leave her children with her mother or one of her sisters while she would be off on a love affair.

	::02

In this way, formal friends could have sexual relations. This activity was so widely practiced that it constituted a very common form of recreation. Extra-marital sex was allowed to everyone - except consanguineal relatives, formal friends, and certain affines - during its serial practice, as the innumerable annual festivals required. Thus, depending on the occasion, a group of ten to 80 men could have sex - one at a time - with a group of two to eight women. Among individuals, publicly or privately, to refuse the sexual desire of a man was difficult, for such an attitude was seen as selfish and anti-social, and even mean. Men and women thus had to be generous as much with their bodies as with their few possessions such as baskets, bows, arrows and food.

Kinspeople (such as uncles and nieces, or aunts and nephews) who did not live in the same house, and had no name-ties or prescribed behavior, played and joked when they met. However, very distant kin could break the incest tabu and then treat each other like "spouses". Nevertheless, this uncommon sexual generosity was totally lost in the mid-1980s, as a result of the intensified contact with non-Indians and when industrialized goods came to be more easily acquired and strongly desired. The old times of pleasure were thus lost due to sexual jealousies on the part of the husbands.

In the social sphere, the Canela have five systems of moieties and, exclusively among males, six groups of the central plaza, five ritual associations, two hierarchical orders and five groups of men who are of inter-tribal origins. The women do not have associations, but almost all of the masculine groups have two girls selected as members of these male associations. The women get their own force in relation to the men through the control of their families and extensive kinship networks.

Although the power between the sexes was balanced in favor of the men, the situation of the women grew in strength in the latter half of the XXth Century. Today the women can also be painted on the central plaza like cerimonial chiefs. The power of the men is best considered when orders and initiatives come from the chiefs and the elders. Male power has its basis in the meetings on the plaza and affects all the members of the village. In compensation, the power of the women is demonstrated exclusively within the house, through the control over the distribution of food to all the inhabitants of the village.

Although the power between the sexes was balanced in favor of the men, the situation of the women grew stronger in the latter half of the XXth Century. Today the women can also be painted on the central plaza like cerimonial chiefs. The power of the men is best considered when orders and initiatives come from the chiefs and the elders. Male power has its basis in the meetings on the plaza and affects all the members of the village. For their part, the power of the women is demonstrated exclusively within the house, through the control over the distribution of food to all the inhabitants of the village.