The Huaorani in the Amazon
For at least a thousand years, Ecuador's Amazon rainforest, the Oriente,has been a land of welcome for the Huaorani (meaning "human beings " or "people"). They consider themselves the bravest tribe in the Amazon. Until 1956, they had never had any contact with the outside world.
A tribe with strong beliefs
The Huaorani are remarkable hunters and feared warriors. Threatened by oil exploration and illegal logging practices, their lives as hunter-gatherers have changed to live mainly in camps. They have a vast knowledge of animals, plants and trees that comes from a total dependence on nature.
The Huaorani have an animistic belief, i.e. they believe in the spiritual as well as physical existence of an animal. They believe that a person who dies then walks a path of life after death, which is guarded by a large anaconda. Those among the dead who cannot escape the snake do not manage to enter the realm of dead spirits and cannot return to Earth as animals (often termites). Spirits are present all over the world, which for the Huaorani only includes the forest.
The Huaorani identify deeply with the jaguar, an important and majestic predator. According to the myth, they are the descendants of a mating between a jaguar and an eagle. Therefore, they will never hunt the jaguar. And they will also not kill snakes because they are considered an evil force and a bad omen, the anaconda in particular.
Traditions and customs
Hunting and fishing provide much of the Huaorani diet, as well as being of cultural importance. Traditionally, hunted creatures were limited to monkeys, birds and peccaries (wild boars). Neither land predators nor raptors are hunted. Bananas, cassava, peanuts, sweet potatoes, berries (berries) and fruits are on the menu. Fermented cassava is the main ingredient of their beer, which is poured in abundance during the festivities.
The Huaorani have many taboos concerning the tradition with hunting and food. They don't eat deer because their eyes look like human eyes. Although hunting is a joyful activity, it implies a minimum of ethics. The Huaorani have to kill animals to live, but believing that they have a spirit and a soul, they must be appeased or else they will take revenge. Therefore, a shaman shows respect during the ritual preparation of the poison (curare) deposited on the darts. Hunting with these darts is not considered killing but rather gathering.
One of the most important things for the Huaorani is family life. Extended families are very close. Everyone contributes to the community: men, women and children. The men cut down trees to create fields for the women to cultivate. The food they plant includes bananas, peanuts, sweet potatoes and cassava. Once they have used the full potential of the soil, they leave the area to find another place.
A perfect knowledge of their environment
In addition to plants and trees, the Huaorani have a great knowledge of poisons, medicines, hallucinogens, building materials and many others. The Huaorani marry each other, with the resulting tradition becoming an important social activity. They take great care in organizing the ceremonies. Many of their festivities and ceremonies lead to weddings.
Usually, men feed their families by hunting. Their main hunting weapon is the blowgun. It's usually three to four meters long. They make their own weapons. Huaorani spears are most often made from pejibaye (small fruit palm) wood and have sharp spikes on both ends. As for the darts, they are soaked with poison from the curare plant that paralyzes its victims. This type of weapon allows the tribe to hunt prey such as birds or monkeys from a distance. Their precision is relentless.
The Huaorani usually wear their hair long. Face and body paintings are made for religious ceremonies, to frighten evil spirits, or simply for aesthetic reasons. The paintings come from trees and plants growing in the area. Traditional dance is an important part of life. Children are included in the dances to ensure that the dances are passed on to the next generation. In many situations, these dances involve the whole village. The Waodani (or Waodari, Huaorani) is polygamous and is traditionally married within the tribe through cousin marriages.
Today
Life changes for the Huaorani. Over the last few decades, they have, against their will, gone from a hunter-gatherer society to a life of permanent forest camps (beginning of sedentarisation). However, in remote villages, hunting is still the preferred way of life and the key to their survival. They possess an intimate and profound knowledge of the animals, which stems from a total dependence on nature. The Huaorani homelands are threatened by oil exploration and illegal logging practices. In 2012, the Huaorani have about 6,800 km² of land, about a third of their original territory.
