Yaokwa, the Enawene Nawe people's ritual for the maintenance of social and cosmic order

Overview

The Enawene Nawe people live in the basin of the Juruena River in the southern Amazon rainforest. They perform the Yaokwa ritual every year during the drought period to honour the Yakairiti spirits, thereby ensuring cosmic and social order for the different clans. The ritual links local biodiversity to a complex, symbolic cosmology that connects the different but inseparable domains of society, culture and nature. It is integrated into their everyday activities over the course of seven months during which the clans alternate responsibilities: one group embarks on fishing expeditions throughout the area while another prepares offerings of rock salt, fish and ritual food for the spirits, and performs music and dance. The ritual combines knowledge of agriculture, food processing, handicrafts (costumes, tools and musical instruments) and the construction of houses and fishing dams. Yaokwa...

This record is imported from the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage public dataset as discovery metadata. ARED has not independently verified community authority, access protocols or local naming beyond the source record.

Community and Authority

Communities: Brazil
Languages: Not specified in UNESCO dataset
Cultural territories: Brazil
Countries: Brazil

How the System Works

Music, Performance and Oral Literature Material Culture, Design and Technology Food, Agriculture and Seasonal Practice Ceremony, Spirituality and Cosmology Ways of Knowing and Knowledge Transmission

Sources and Evidence

Imported from UNESCO DataHub dataset ich001. Field-level provenance is retained in the record metadata.

UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage ListsDataset

Open original source record

Field-Level Provenance

title: UNESCO DataHub field title_en
preferredTitle: UNESCO DataHub field title_fr
summary: UNESCO DataHub field description_en
type: UNESCO DataHub fields type_of_element_en and type_acronym
countries: UNESCO DataHub field countries, ISO codes resolved with ISO-3166 regional metadata
categories: ARED category inference from UNESCO concepts_primary_names, concepts_secondary_names and title
relationships: UNESCO concepts_primary_names, concepts_secondary_names, type fields and World Heritage links
sourceUrl: UNESCO DataHub field http_url_en
rights: UNESCO DataHub dataset metadata license and license_url

Original Source Metadata

uuid55c1b1b4-2ae8-46b5-9a30-ce558db6b056

ich_public_ref521

inscription_year2011

title_enYaokwa, the Enawene Nawe people's ritual for the maintenance of social and cosmic order

title_frLe Yaokwa, rituel du peuple Enawene Nawe pour le maintien de l’ordre social et cosmique

type_of_element_enUrgent Safeguarding List

type_acronymUSL

countriesBR

http_url_enhttps://ich.unesco.org/en/USL/00521

concepts_primary_namesRituals, Social inclusion

concepts_secondary_namesAnimism, Architecture, Beverages, Clans, Cosmology, Costumes, Dance, Food preparation, Handicrafts, Historical reenactment, Instrumental music, Mythology, Offering, Shamanism, Veneration of the dead, Vocal music, Woodwind instruments

main_image_urlhttps://ich.unesco.org/img/photo/thumb/03815-LRG.jpg

main_image_caption_enNot supplied

main_image_copyrightIPHAN, 2008

main_image_authorRodrigo Petrela

videos

images[object Object], [object Object], [object Object]

Why This Record Is Credible

This public record is connected to 1 source and has been labelled Source Supported. ARED separates evidence sources from cultural authority so users can see both provenance and review limits.

Cultural Access

Use this as public discovery metadata only. It does not replace community authority or local access protocols.

Relationships

Rituals Social inclusion Animism Architecture Beverages Clans Cosmology Costumes Dance Food preparation UNESCO urgent safeguarding list

Review and Corrections

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