GuaranÍs

LOCATION: Paraguay; Brazil
LANGUAGE: Guaraní
POPULATION: 5 million (estimate)
RELIGION: Traditional indigenous religions

INTRODUCTION

The Guaranís were once one of the most influential Amerindian peoples in the southern part of South America. Eventually they established their settlements in the tropical forests of Paraguay and southern Brazil and also extended their settlements into northern Argentina. Before the Spanish conquest, during the 15th century, the Guaranís warred with Amerindians as far as the southern limits of the vast Inca Empire, bringing back gold, which they wore as ornaments. In the 16th century the Spanish conquerors found Guaraní settlements over a very wide area, including the islands of the Plata River, parts of the Paraná River delta, along the Uruguayan coast, and along the Paraguay River. Large concentrations of Guaranís lived in the Province of Guairá in Paraguay, where some of them still live today.

When the Spanish first arrived, many Guaranís were friendly and assisted the Spanish in waging war against other Amerindian groups and in establishing new settlements. The approach between Spanish and Guaraní people was the search for gold and silver conducted by the Europeans. The Spaniards established small ranches around Asunción, many of them known for their harems of Guaraní women. Many Spanish men, attracted by the beauty of the Guaraní women, married them, and in this way the Guaranís entered into a direct relation with newly found Spanish relatives whom they supported in these early encounters. This was the beginning of the long process of intermarriage that produced the Paraguayans of today. In the countryside, the descendants of Spaniards and Guaranís are still called simply Guaranís, and the language is spoken by many, not just in rural areas but also in towns, including the Paraguayan capital, Asunción.

Other Guaraní groups turned against the Spanish and waged war against them, trying to protect their freedom and their own way of life. This process continued into the 19th century. Some Guaraní groups fell under the control of the Spanish in the cruel encomienda system, where they worked for landowners, and others and paid a tribute (effectively a type of tax) to them. It was a harsh, exploitative system.

Other Guaranís entered into a complex relationship with the Jesuits, who became very powerful in this part of South America, establishing many missions where Guaranís settled, sometimes with inducements and promises of an easier life, sometimes with threats of punishment. The early Jesuit missions educated the Guaranís, Christianized them, taught them music, and persuaded them to adapt to a different, if dependent, way of life in the missions where they grew crops and kept cattle. Not only were the missions self-sufficient in food, but eventually the mission Guaranís were taught to use modern weapons and became, in effect, a powerful armed branch of the Jesuits, who as a result encountered the opposition of other powerful interest groups, such as wealthy landowners. The Spanish Crown ordered the expulsion of the Jesuits from South America in 1767. Guaranís at the missions were dispersed, and many returned to their old way of life in the forests. Those who remained had to fight raids on the missions by colonists who stole land from the Guaranís and destroyed both cattle and plantations.

This aspect of the Guaraní story forms the main part of the film The Mission, starring Jeremy Irons. He plays the part of a Spanish priest who agonizes over the choice between becoming a man of action and fighting the harsher aspects of the Spanish colonial regime, or remaining a pacifist priest.

In 1848 the Paraguayan dictator Carlos Antonio López decreed that the remaining Guaranís still living in missions should live in ordinary villages like everyone else.

The Guaranís also participated, as Paraguayan citizens, in the war against Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina (1864–70) and in the devastating War of the Chaco against Bolivia (1932–35), in which so many Paraguayan men lost their lives.

LOCATION AND HOMELAND

Today, the Guaranís who have retained their traditional way of life live in scattered settlements in Paraguay and in southern Brazil. Over the centuries, they migrated over vast areas, sometimes undertaking long journeys that led them to settle in widely diverse regions: forests and coastal areas, near sierras, and in river deltas. It is thought that the Brazilian settlements date from the 19th century. They also made their way into northern Argentina, particularly the province of Misiones.

LANGUAGE

Little is known about the Guaraní culture before the European explorers arrived to their lands. The reason is that Guaranís did not have written language, which would have allowed them to register their history. This Amerindian people relied on oral tradition and were a politically decentralized nomadic tribe, which made it even more difficult to confirm the information transmitted from one generation to another.

The Guaraní language is part of the Tupí-Guaraní language family, a family that includes many indigenous languages south of the Amazon. The two predominant branches of this family, Tupí and Guaraní, would have probably come from a common proto-language nearly 2000 years ago.

The Guaraní language is still widely spoken in Paraguay, a legacy of the influence this distinctive Amerindian people once wielded. However, the wide usage of the language is complemented by two other Guaraní languages that are both secret and sacred. In effect, the Guaranís have a "secular," a "secret," and a "sacred" language. The sacred language is used exclusively by male and female elders of the tribe, who receive divine messages and transmit them to the rest of the tribe. The secret language is a priestly language used only by initiates and shamans and is called Ñe'e pará, meaning "the words of our fathers."

Guaranís often have a Spanish name for everyday use, as well as a secret Guaraní name. It is the task of the tribal leader to find the origin of the child's soul and bestow a sacred name.

FOLKLORE

Guaraní folklore is very rich, and many myths hint at their origin in a very poetic way. According to the foundational myth, it was Tupã the god responsible for the world's creation. To accomplish this titanic task, Tupã would have descended to the earth in the region known as Paraguay with the objective of creating the oceans, forests, stars, and animals. Then, using clay, Tupã would have sculpted statues of man and woman breathing life into the human forms. Guaraní myths stated that their race was the first race of people in the cosmos.

Among the mbyás, a group of Guaranís who have preserved much of their original literature, the Creator, called by them Ñande Ru, gave birth to his son, Pa'í Reté Kuaray, whose body was like the sun, and he is the father of the Guaraní race. Pa'í taught his people not only sacred dances and songs, but also agricultural skills and ethics. He is the destroyer of evil beings and created the honey bee as a sweet offering to humankind. He entrusted to four gods the care of his creation. After the Creator Ñande Ru created the first earth, it was destroyed by a great flood through the will of the gods. Then, the Creator asked the son of Jakaira, the God of Spring, to create another earth. Since then, the four gods send the souls of boys to earth, and the wives of the gods send the souls of girls to earth.

The Guaranís are a very religious, even mystical, people, and during a long history of suffering they have had messianic, heroic figures who have led them in a quest for a better life and a search for Paradise, which they call the Land Without Evil. Sometimes these quests have taken physical form in long treks or river journeys.

A famous Guaraní hero is the chief Aropoty Yu. The Paraguayan president sent a military expedition in 1844 against the Guaranís, and in 1876 it was still the case that no one could enter Guaraní territory without the consent of Aropoty Yu.

RELIGION

Not all Guaranís profess identical beliefs. Among the three major groups that remain today, known as the Chiripás, the Mbayás, and the Pai-Kaiovás, there are some interesting differences. Generally, they believe that every person has an earthly soul and a divine one. Dreams come from the divine soul and are the source of inspiration for the shamans, who mediate between the divine and earthly realms and who also have the task of identifying evildoers and protecting the tribe as well as curing illness. Some Guaranís believe in reincarnation; others, who have had more Christian influences, believe that evildoers go to a land of darkness, whereas good people go to the Land Without Evil.

Shamans often isolate themselves for periods of time in jungles or forests and live austerely, with a basic vegetarian diet. Among the Guaranís, it is thought that every man and woman eventually receives a protective chant from a dead relative, which is divinely inspired. It is then taught to the rest of the community. Powerful shamans sometimes receive many chants or songs. They are called to their vocation in this manner.

The Guaraní also believe that all living things, including plants, animals, and water, have protective spirits, and that malevolent spirits also exist.

MAJOR HOLIDAYS

The Guaranís do not make clear-cut divisions between secular and religious occasions. Most feasts and celebrations have a religious character, and even harvest festivals include sacred rituals.

RITES OF PASSAGE

It is thought that the moment of conception of a child is revealed to the parents in dreams. The Guaranís who believe in reincarnation think that a person who has died can reveal that he or she will reincarnate in a particular body. A pregnant woman follows strict dietary rules, eating some special foods and avoiding others.

After a child is born, both the father and the mother are in a critical state known as aku. The father participates sympathetically in the birth pains of the mother, expressing his suffering, and after the child is born the father retires to his hammock for a time, avoiding all magic rites that might be considered harmful to the child, because it is his duty to protect the child. He has to maintain a strict diet and avoid hunting. The mother of the child avoids all heavy work for a time. Among some Guaranís, the shaman has to determine from what part of the sky the child's soul originated and give the child a special name.

When a boy becomes an adolescent he undergoes initiation rites in seclusion with a group, under the direction of the shaman. His lower lip is perforated with a piece of wood. He follows a strict diet based on corn for several days. Afterwards he can use adult words and adult ways of addressing people. During the initiation rites, the boy is instructed in appropriate behavior, which includes guidance on working hard, refraining from harming others, being moderate in his habits, not drinking excessively, and never beating his wife.

When a girl reaches adolescence she is secluded for a time under the care of female relatives. Her mother gives her guidance on her future marriage.

Guaranís are allowed informal marriages that are, in effect, a trial period. The young man takes the girl to his parents' house to live there for a time, without formal marriage ceremonies. If he wishes to marry her, he approaches his future father-in-law for permission. The father of the girl is mainly an intermediary, but it is the mother who can object if she feels the match is unsuitable. When a couple forms a family, they are expected to raise their children with kindness and tolerance, and not to hit the children.

Burial rites still include aspects that are closely guarded secrets. Traditionally, the Guaraní were buried in large pottery jars that were then covered with a bowl. The funeral urns were then buried. Today, they are buried in a folded position directly in the ground or they are laid out in a hollowed-out tree trunk with their possessions. Some are buried under the ground inside the hut itself, which is then immediately abandoned. It is thought by some Guaranís that the earthly soul wanders, whereas the divine soul goes either to the land of darkness or to the Land Without Evil. Many Paraguayan Guaranís bury their dead in the bush. Then, the dead person's house is burned. The mention of his or her name becomes taboo.

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS

Traditional greetings to visitors obliged the female hosts to wail and mourn, reciting the admirable deeds of the visitor's dead relatives. The guest had to cover his or her face with the hands and show appropriate expressions of sorrow, such as crying. Some of these traditional greetings have fallen into disuse.

There are particular celebrations among some groups, particularly the Chiripás, which offer young people a way of getting to know each other and that constitute dating rituals. These celebrations are known as kotyú. These are ritual dances that allude to important myths, but at the same time allow young men to dance with young women and to express their love. During the kotyú dances, both formal and friendly or even romantic greetings are exchanged. León Cadogan and Alfredo López Austin, who made a special study of Guaraní songs and literature, report that an official who came to investigate the condition of a particular Guaraní group was greeted in this way during the dance:

An inhabitant from faraway lands do I see. Oh bird!
In truth, I see, oh bird, an inhabitant from faraway lands!

This was a greeting to girls during a kotyú described by Cadogan and López Austin:

Let us, my sisters, give a brotherly greeting,
Oh spotless maidens,
around the Great House
near the Golden Grasses.

LIVING CONDITIONS

War and conquest decimated the Guaranís, and the process of intermarriage over centuries also created the modern Paraguayan nation. Even after the end of the Spanish colonial period, smallpox proved a deadly disease that wiped out many communities. The various transition periods from one type of lifestyle to another, with painful phases of adaptation, have never been particularly orderly but rather cruel and often sudden; therefore, many hardships have affected the health of the Guaranís. In general, those living in traditional ways in remote forest or jungle areas have knowledge of medicinal plants that are effective in a wide range of conditions, such as certain infections, stomach conditions, and snakebites.

At the time of the European arrival, Guaranís inhabited villages formed by communal houses going from 10 to 15 families. These people were united by their common interest and language. Because of their kinship structure, Guaranís tended to form tribal groups developing a particular dialect. It is estimated that they numbered 400,000 people when they were first encountered by Europeans.

The more traditional groups continue to live a sustainable lifestyle that satisfies their simple and basic needs, such as food and shelter. Some live mainly apart from a cash economy and without surpluses. In some cases there is an active trade in basic implements for hunting, fishing, or cooking. This has led to the disappearance of clay pots, which are now replaced by aluminum ones that have been exchanged for other items. Fishing hooks, which the Guaranís used to make for themselves out of wood, have been replaced by metal ones.

The traditional extended family unit, which was part of a clan of as many as 50 or 60 families, required the construction of large houses with screened-off sections inside the house and a large communal area. During the Spanish colonial period, disapproval of this method of living on the part of state and religious authorities gradually compelled the Guaranís to abandon this mode of living, and single family huts with thatched roofs began to replace the traditional spacious houses.

The Guaranís in Paraguay live along streams and use bamboo rafts or occasionally canoes for transport. In some jungle areas they can trek for long distances on foot, especially during hunting expeditions. The Guaranís in parts of Brazil use dugout canoes for transport.

FAMILY LIFE

The traditional extended family unit demanded a cooperative style of living under the authority of the head of the clan. Generally, Guaranís lived in small groups of large rectangular houses built around a square plaza or courtyard. Today in many areas these houses have been replaced by small individual family units. Even traditional hammocks have been replaced by sleeping mats or platform beds, which are probably less comfortable and practical. Although the Guaranís have never recognized a central authority, the disappearance of their traditional large clan houses in most areas has also undermined the family structure with its shared tasks and support systems.

Some marriage customs are changing, with young people having more say in the choice of marriage partners. In earlier times, child betrothals were sometimes practiced. Chiefs also had several wives in earlier times, although this is no longer the case.

Some Guaranís keep dogs that are prized as hunting companions, particularly in jungle areas where the jaguar is still hunted. They keep chickens and other farm animals in some areas.

CLOTHING

Guaranís who live on protected reservations in parts of northern Argentina and Paraguay have adopted the clothing of the rural Mestizo peasant farmers, with plain shirts and trousers, and a cloak or poncho. In remote areas of Brazil, some of the Guaranís still wear traditional ornaments and very little else. Originally they wore no clothing but used strands of women's hair around their legs in bands as protective ornaments; the lower lip was pierced. In some cases, a type of loincloth was worn by men. In remote areas, the women still wear black body paint and the men wear black and red body paint. Ear ornaments of shell or gold are still worn by some Guaranís.

FOOD

The whole community participates in clearing land to grow crops in communities that still live in the traditional style. When the soil is exhausted, the community moves on. While this traditional method is still in use in some areas, in other places the Guaranís have become more settled. The staple foods are cassava and corn. Sweet potatoes and beans, pumpkins, and tropical fruits, such as bananas and papayas, are also grown. Peanuts provide protein, and sugarcane is a delicacy. In the forests, wild honey is sometimes collected.

Chipas are corn-flour cakes, and the Guaranís also wrap corn dough in leaves and cook the parcels under ashes; this is called auimi atucupé. Cassava is often roasted or boiled.

EDUCATION

The Jesuits provided the first schools for the Guaranís. After the demise of the Jesuit missions, many Guaranís became monteses, taking refuge in remote areas and reverting to earlier lifestyles. Others went to work as salaried peasants on plantations; some went into the towns to find work and continued the process of assimilation. Those that remain today in remote areas, such as some of the Brazilian Guaranís, do not wish to adapt to the prevailing Western lifestyle, nor to provide their children with the schooling that will eventually mean the end of their independent existence.

CULTURAL HERITAGE

Much of the music, dancing, songs, and poems of the Guaranís, as well as some of their prayers, legends, and myths, are the means by which they have managed to preserve important aspects of their culture. Some of their songs and poems have made their way into the popular culture of the Paraguayans. Some groups, such as the Mbayás, have preserved many of their legends and stories. All of these, for the Guaranís who still live a more traditional life, form part of an integral whole and are woven into their daily life and activities. Traditional instruments include drums, rattles, and flutes. Sometimes important ethical and social instructions are given in the form of short plays that are performed in front of children in a village.

WORK

Guaranís farm, hunt, and fish. Some Guaranís are also bee-keepers. In areas where there is still game, they hunt the tapir, the anteater, and the jaguar, as well as the agouti. They do not hunt birds with blowpipes and darts, as do many other tribes who live in the tropical rainforests. Instead, they capture parrots by lassoing them with a small noose attached to the end of a pole.

The Guaranís are able fishers and still shoot fish with bows and arrows in some areas. They also use traps in the form of baskets or nets made of fiber. Fish provides an important source of protein in their diet.

SPORTS

Sports really begin as the games that children play. Guaraní children especially enjoy wrestling and racing. They also play variations of tug-of-war. Some studies report that the ancient Itat'n group of Guaranís played games with rubber balls. Adults still play a game with a shuttlecock made out of corn. The aim is to throw it at each other and try to keep it in the air as long as possible.

ENTERTAINMENT AND RECREATION

Guaranís have always enjoyed celebrations and feasting on those happy occasions, such as the return from a successful hunt, that call for them. Usually, they will celebrate with generous quantities of a fermented drink called chicha, often made from corn. A good harvest and a good fishing expedition are also occasions for celebration.

FOLK ART, CRAFTS, AND HOBBIES

Baskets are woven from pindo palm fibers, and some are made out of twilled fabrics made of tacuarembó. Much of the fine pottery that archaeologists have found in various ancient Guaraní settlements is no longer made by the Guaranís. Some of the Paraguayan Guaranís make skin bags from leather. Some still make their own bows and arrows and carve dugout canoes from a single trunk of wood. They also spin cotton using a vertical loom with a circular warp. The cloth is usually white, with brown and black stripes. They also make their own flutes, sometimes from bamboo. They make beads and thread them into necklaces.

SOCIAL PROBLEMS

The social problems of the Guaranís differ, depending on whether they live on the few remaining reservations or reducciones in Paraguay and northern Argentina, or whether they live in the tropical forests of the Brazilian-Paraguayan border areas. In the latter case, they resent the incursions of the Europeans and cling to their traditional way of life. To maintain their simple, sustainable lifestyle, they need to live in small, scattered settlements, often ranging over a wide area to make use of the slash-and-burn agricultural methods that require them to move on when the soil has been exhausted, to find good hunting grounds, and to move on after burials. This lifestyle clashes with the needs of ranchers and poor farmers hungry for land, and with prospectors who want to try their luck in areas that have not previously been settled by non-Indians.

On the reservations, the problems relate to economic limitations and poor prospects for sustaining cultural and economic independence.

GENDER ISSUES

With the loss of territory, Guaraní women have lost their space to plant, rear domestic animals, and produce medicinal plants. The disappearance of the forest has also caused a lack of raw materials used in making utensils and crafts, which in the case of the Guaraní people is an activity mainly carried out by women. The loss of biodiversity has meant the loss of a considerable number of medicines derived from forest plants, roots, and animals. Guaraní women, who had previously used herbs to stimulate or to reduce fertility, have lost of their right to family planning as the necessary plants are harder to find and grow. Without the ecosystems that ensured the continuation of the way of life for these traditional peoples, the masculine role, within the family and the community, has been undermined. Some Guaraní men have turned to alcoholism and domestic violence.

Even though Guaraní society was polygamist when the Spaniards arrived to the Amazonian jungle, today marriages tend to be monogamous. Divorce is a right of Guaraní women, who has only to communicate to his partner that she is leaving him to end the marriage.

Guaraní women currently live in poor conditions, reflected in their high illiteracy rates, low school enrollment rates, poor access to health care, and significant levels of poverty, which have led them to migrate to urban centers to become maids, daily workers, nannies, and cooks, where they are even more vulnerable to multiple forms of discrimination. However, Guaraní women that have chosen to stay in their villages have recently begun to form organizations, devoted to the production of crafts and recovering knowledge and use of medicinal herbs, in order to resist the white man's invasion of their territory and culture.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cadogan, León, and Alfredo López Austin. La Literatura de los Guaraníes. Mexico: Editorial Joaquín Mortiz, 1970.

Izquierdo, José Ros, ed. Los indígenas olvidados: los guaraníchiriguayos urbanos y peri-urbanos en Santa Cruz de la Sierra. La Paz, Bolivia: Universidad Autónoma Gabriel René Moreno, Facultad de Humanidades: CEDURE: Fundación PIEB, 2003.

Oliveira, Marilda Oliveira de. Identidade e interculturalidade: história e arte guarani. Santa Maria: Editora UFSM, 2004.

Schaden, Egon. Aspectos fundamentais da cultura guaraní. Asunción: Universidad Católica, 1998.

Steward, Julian Haynes, ed. A Handbook of South American Indians. New York: Cooper Square, 1963.

Various bulletins, Survival International, London.

—revised by C. Vergara