LEFT: Kenewma Yawanawá. RIGHT: Yawanawá TribeMembers.
Credit photographer Zack Embree.
On Sept. 30 through Oct. 2, Miami will be the first city in a five-city tour to experience the colorful culture and celebrate the rich history of the Yawanawá Tribe as they step onto U.S. soil for the first time to share an encompassing weekend of activities, hosted by the Miami Theater Center in partnership with Indigenous Celebration.
For centuries, the Yawanawá tribe from the Acre region of Brazil has lived deep in the Amazon forest, passing down their rituals, their language, dances, songs, stories, and culture. They have lived in harmony with their surroundings. The mellifluous tribe life is in direct contrast to the fast-paced dynamics of Miami. Absorbing the beauty, the richness and tradition that is found in the Yawanawá world is a not to be missed opportunity. They have a story.
Anne Marie Miller, co-founder of the one year old organization, Indigenous Celebration, is con-sumed with a driving passion to bring awareness to the Yawanawá tribe and to promote action on their behalf.
Credit photographer Zack Embree.
She has made the extensive twelve-hour drive and six-hour canoe trip to visit the village of Mutum, to see and to become immersed in the life of the tribal culture. Miller speaks enthusiastically and realistically about the challenges faced by their community and the bountiful beauty of this remote world.
“We want to celebrate the Yawanawá culture and tradition while helping the tribe to be able to have a better life. At first, my biggest question was ‘What would they do with funding? They live off the land.’ I didn’t realize the extent of their needs and how to help. That is where IC could be of service. Times are changing, their water, forest, the climate. The Yawanawá understand that change is happening; they don’t want to lose the heritage that is so dear.”
A simple community that has lived by hunting, fishing and growing their own food, is now seeing the results of chemicals in the water, forests disappearing, land being sold, climate changing and the life, as they know it, evolving. The legacy of tradition and ritual could easily disappear.
“Basic necessities such as food, medicines, machetes for work, are necessary” Miller states. “It is not a matter of desire, it is a matter of survival.”
Yawanawá at Tree Horizonta. Credit photographer Zack Embree.
A local store has been built in their territory. With the selling of jewelry; bracelets, necklaces, headbands, (http://www.icmarket.org) funds are being raised to stock the store in the Yawanawá community.
Through the weekend of events and the following tour, funds are being raised to start the Traditional School of Mutum (TSM) in the Mutum Village of Acre, Brazil for Yawanawá. In this school, children ages 7-14 will go on hikes, learn about plants, hear the legends, and study their language, which is becoming obsolete. The elders of the tribe recognized that passing down information was valuable and necessary to continue the identity and heritage that is the Yawanawá. It was at their initiation that the idea of a school came to be.
One such elder is 98-year-old Pajé (shaman) Tata who is responsible for continuing the ritualistic legacies. Members of the tribe who will visit Miami have been through a yearlong intense initiation with the Pajé, including no sweets or meat and living in the forest with little or no human contact. It is a passing of tradition, culture and spirituality that everyone in the tribe experiences on a small scale.
Miller explains “It’s not only about heritage, it’s also about identity and knowing who you are and where you come from. In the past, the tribe has been told they must ‘fit in,’ give up their culture, rituals, even language. There has been depression, their spirituality was taken. IC wants to honor their culture while helping them to take advantage of what we, in the west, can offer. We can help each other and these wonderful performance experiences are one way of bringing awareness and exposure to the Yawanawá existence.”
Yawanawá Villageof Mutum. Credit photographer Zack Embree.
With the assistance of the National Endowment for the Arts and housed in the Miami Theater Center space, the initial long-shot idea has become a reality. There will be three performances, a fund-raising dinner and a Family Day in Coconut Grove’s Kampong Park on Saturday, Oct. 1.
Miller described the Family Day. “Twice a year, the tribe coordinates a five-day festival called the Mariri Celebration with games, songs, dances, hunting, a feast, a true coming together of the community of tribes. The Family Day, hosted by the tribe members that are in Miami, will be a fun and encompassing smaller version of that. In the Mariri Celebration, all ages participate, so we hope everyone gets involved.”
The tribe is invested in community and how each individual can be of service. In the perfor-mances, the audience will be invited and encouraged to participate. Each show will be more of an experience than a performance. The weekend of activities will be a colorful celebration un-like anything that has been present in the US.
Miller states “We have much to offer the Yawanawá, but we also have a lot to learn. That is what it is all about. We are different, but we are all sharing this earth.”
Performances are 10 a.m. Thursday and Friday, Sept. 29 and 30 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1
at Miami Theater Center - MainStage, 9806 NE 2nd Avenue, Miami Shores, FL 33138
For tickets:www.mtcmiami.org or indigenouscelebration.org. Call 305-751-9550 for information.
Tickets: $30 General Admission; $25 for Seniors, Students w/ valid I.D. & Children under 12
Related Events
- Community Dinner with the Yawanawá
7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30 at The Kampong, 4013 Douglas Road, Miami, FL 33133
For tickets: ictickets.org or indigenouscelebration.org Call: 305-751-9550 for information
Tickets: $50 per person. Sponsorship packages available- Family Day at The Kampong
10 a. m. – 2 p.m. Oct. 1 at The Kampong, 4013 Douglas Road, Miami, FL 33133
For tickets: ictickets.org or indigenouscelebration.org. Call: 305-751-9550 for information
Tickets: Free with admission to The Kampong
($15 adults; $5 children 4 -12; 3 and under free)
Appropriate for all ages
