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Bororo People

Decent Essays

The Bororo people live in the southernmost areas of the Mato Grosso state in Brazil. The original territory went into Bolivia and parts of Brazil, including some of Goias and the Xingu River. As of 2010, the Bororo people is composed of about 1,570 people in approximately eight villages throughout Mato Grosso. Each village is built of various houses built on a circle with the men’s house (Baito) in the center. To the west of the Baito, the ceremonial court is located. The circularity of the village represents the social space and cosmological universe. After their 7,000-year existence, the Bororo people have lost territory, people, and culture. In the late 1700s, gold and diamond prospectors started entering the Bororo territory. Followed by …show more content…

Men and women both contribute towards the subsistence practice. While men are out hunting and clearing the fields, women are harvesting and collecting in the fields. The Bororo people are matrilineal, they establish kinship through the female line. Separation rates are high among the Bororo people. The social structure of the Bororo indigenous people is divided by kinship, age, and sex. It is made up of dual divisions, clans, and associations which are determined by sex and age. A dual division is most likely made up of four to seven clans. These clans are determined by; their animal or plant ancestors and emblems, the privileges or prohibitions of the technique and style of manufactured objects, and the ceremonies, rites, songs, and proper names of each. These different clans are the ground to the variety of groups and rivalries in South America. Traditionally in the Bororo people, there were three powers; the Boe eimejera, the Bári, and the Aroe Etawarare. The Boe eimejera was the the chief of war, of the village and of the ceremonia. The Bári was the shaman of the spirits and of nature. The Aroe Etawarare was the shaman of the souls of the dead. Now, there are four powers, the traditional three plus the Bae eimejera who is the chief of

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