Bandeira do Brasil

Bandeira do Brasil

Thursday, April 23, 2015

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

 
The Wajapi of the Tupi-guarani cultural-linguistic group are indigenous to the northern Amazonian region. Some 580 Wajapi live in 40 small villages on a specially designated territory in the state of Amapá. The Wajapi have a long history of using vegetable dyes to adorn their bodies and objects with geometric motifs. Over the centuries, they have developed a unique communication system – a rich blend of graphic and verbal components – that reflects their world-view and enables them to hand down knowledge about community life. 

This graphic art is known as kusiwa and its designs are applied with red vegetable dyes extracted from the roucou plant mixed with scented resins. The Wajapi consider that the technical and artistic proficiency required to master the drawing technique and the preparation of the dye cannot be attained before the age of forty. Commonly recurring motifs include the jaguar, anaconda, butterfly and fish. Kusiwa designs refer to the creation of humankind and come alive through a rich corpus of myths.
For them, the colours and graphic patterns originate with the first peoples, since before then there was no colour and everyone in the world was equal.This body art, closely linked to Amerindian oral traditions, possesses multiple meanings on socio-cultural, aesthetic, religious and metaphysical levels. Indeed, kusiwa constitutes the very framework of Wajapi society and is endowed with significance extending far beyond its role as a graphic art form. This coded repertory of traditional knowledge is perpetually evolving as indigenous artists are constantly reconfiguring the motifs and inventing new patterns.
 
 
For its exceptional value and great tradition, the Kusiwa  art was registered as cultural heritage of Brasil in 2002 and also declared by UNESCO (World Heritage Centre) an oral and intangible heritage of the humanity in 2003.
 
 
SOURCE: UNESCO



 

Thursday, April 2, 2015

LOVE BEING OUTDOORSY?

Imagine visiting indigenous reservations, going on ecology-themed hikes, enjoying a trike flight over the city of Porto Velho, over the waterfalls of Teotônio and Santo Antônio, seeing the Madeira-Mamore railway station amidst the jungle, the Cathedral, and the Samuel Hydroelectric Power Plant, and eventually coming across a large snake.
Porto Velho (Old Port) is the capital of the Brazilian state of Rondonia, in the upper Amazon River basin. The population is 426,558 people (according to the 2010 census). Located on the border of Rondônia and the state of Amazonas, the town is an important trading center for cassiterite, the mining of which represents the most important economic activity in the region, as well as a transportation and communication center. It is located on the eastern shore of the Madeira River, one of the main tributaries of the Amazon River. It is also Rondonia's largest city, and the largest state capital of Brazil (by area).

Shoals of fish going upstream during spawning
Inner view of capital´s cathedral








 
 
 

Santo Antonio´s hydroelectric plant
 
Archeological findings near the capital
 


Suruí, Gavião e Uru-eu-wau-wau
Surui, Gavião and Uru-eu-wau-wau tribes
Uru-eu-wau-wau
 Indigenous People of Rondônia:
 Aikanã, Ajuru, Amondawa, Arara, Arikapu, Ariken, Aruá, Cinta Larga, Gavião, Jabuti, Kanoê, Karipuna, Karitiana, Kaxarari, Koiaiá, Kujubim, Makuráp, Mekén, Mutum, Nambikwara, Pakaanova, Paumelenho, Sakurabiat, Suruí, Tupari, Uru Eu Wau Wau, Urubu, Urupá
 
AERIAL PHOTOS

Source: Wikipédia

Photo by Agencia Brasil

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