The Huni Kuin people inhabit the Brazilian-Peruvian border in the Amazon. In Brazilian territory, the villages are located in the state of Acre, close to the municipality of Jordão, and spread across the rivers Taruacá, Jordão, Breu, Muru, Envira, Humaitá and Purus.
According to data from Siasi / Sesai 2014, the population exceeds 10,000 individuals, and is the most numerous in Acre: it corresponds to 43% of the total number of indigenous people in the state.
Huni Kuin means “real people” or “smoke people” in Hatxa Kuin, the “real language”, derived from the linguistic stem Pano. The Huni Kuin are also known as Kaxinawá, a name they have earned from other peoples.
The Brazilian indigenous peoples suffered a wave of extermination already in the first contact with the colonizers, after the “such discovery” of Brazil. Later, with the arrival of rubber tappers in the late 19th century, many Huni Kuin decided to move to more isolated areas of the forest, in an attempt to escape from enslavement.
Those who ended up surrendering to the domain of rubber tappers moved a little away from traditional indigenous culture - a fact that even today tries to be reversed by other generations. This rescue came up against difficulties such as the scarcity of people who have lived a typical village life, witnessing the rituals, songs, dances, crafts, body painting and all the other traditions that are part of this culture.
In the Huni Kuin view, the spirit (Yuxin) is not considered external to being - the spiritual is in daily life, in animals, on land, in water, in the sky. For them, people are made up of body and Yuxin, as well as plants and animals.
Among the most traditional rituals celebrated by the Huni Kuin are Nixpu Pimá (baptism ritual) and Katxanawá (land fertility ritual).
The Huni Kuin community has well-defined gender roles. Children are taught from an early age to perform the tasks that correspond to them, and as adults they will continue to join a group of men or women for most daily activities.
Huni Kuin traditionally form marriages between relatives, usually between cousins. The arrival of the first child is considered to be the moment when the teenager becomes a woman.
Women are responsible for the care of the house, children and the preparation of food, which includes porridges made from bananas, cassava-based dishes, peanuts and corn. Other women's activities involve spinning and weaving cotton, making baskets and mats. Men have the task of taking care of the fields, fishing and hunting.
The Huni Kuin ethnic group is made up of true botanists: they work with medicinal plant species integrated into the forest environment.
Typical Huni Kuin designs respect a sacred geometry taught by Yube (Boa) and are called kenese. More than decoration, they symbolize healing and protection and appear on bodies, ceramics, weaving and props.
In 2011, the Jardim Botânico Research Institute of Rio de Janeiro, together with Dante Editora, published the book Una Isi Kayawa - Healing Book of the Huni Kui people of the Jordão River - Acre. This was the work of the renowned biologist Alexandre Quinet alongside the pajé Agostinho, and the book presents legends, recipes and a lot of good history of the ancestral peoples who, until then, had only been talked about.
