Waorani people

Waorani
Total population
	approx. 2,500(various post-2001 est.)
Regions with significant populations
	Waorani settlements:approx. 4,000.Nomadic"uncontacted":Tagaeri,Taromenane,Huiñatare,andOñamenane:approx. 250.
Languages
	Waorani,Spanish
Religion
	Animism,Christianity
Related ethnic groups
	Kichwa,Shuar,Achuar,Siona,Secoya,Shiwiar,Záparo,Cofán

TheWaorani,Waodani,orHuaorani,also known as theWaos,are anIndigenous peoplefrom the Amazonian Region ofEcuador(Napo,Orellana,andPastaza Provinces) who have marked differences from other ethnic groups from Ecuador. The alternate nameAucais a pejorativeexonymused by the neighboringQuechuanatives, and commonly adopted by Spanish-speakers as well.Auca(awqainQuechua) means 'savage'.

They comprise almost 4,000 inhabitants and speak theWaorani language,also known asHuoarani,Wao,SapelaandAuca,a linguisticisolatethat is not known to be related to any other language.

Their ancestral lands are located between theCurarayandNaporivers, about 50 miles (80 km) south ofEl Coca.These homelands—approximately 120 miles (190 km) wide and 75 to 100 miles (120 to 160 km) from north to south—are threatened byoilexploration andillegal loggingpractices. In the past, Huaorani were able to protect their culture and lands from bothindigenousenemies and settlers by force of arms.

In the last 40 years, they have shifted from a hunting and gathering society to living mostly in permanent forest settlements. As many as five communities—theTagaeri,theHuiñatare,theOñamenane,and two groups of theTaromenane—have rejected all contact with the outside world and continue to move into more isolated areas.^{[not verified in body]}

Etymology

The wordWaorani(plural ofWao'person') means 'humans' or 'men' inWao.Before the mid 20th century, it included only those kin associated with the speaker. Others in the ethnic group were calledWaodoni,while outsiders were and are known by the derogatory termCowodi.This structure duplicates thein-group/out-groupnaming conventions used by many peoples. It reflects a period of traumatic conflict with outsiders during the 19th and early 20th centuryrubber boom/oil exploration.^{[citation needed]}

The nameWaorani(or the alternative English spellingWaodani) represents a transliteration by English-speakingmissionary linguists.The phonetic equivalent used by Spanish-speakers isHuaorani(reflecting the absence ofwin Spanish spelling). The sounds represented by the English and Spanish lettersdandrareallophonesin theWaorani language(also known as Sabela, Wao Terero, and pejoratively known asAuca).^[1]

Tribal subgroups

The Waorani are subdivided into the Toñampare, Quenahueno, Tihueno, Quihuaro, Damuintaro, Zapino, Tigüino, Huamuno, Dayuno, Quehueruno, Garzacocha (río Yasuní), Quemperi (río Cononaco) Mima, Caruhue (río Cononaco) andTagaeri.^[2]^[3]

First encounter, as told by Scott Wallace

According to journalist Scott Wallace, American missionaries in Ecuador attempted to contact the Waorani in the 1950s with airdropped gifts. When they attempted to land a small airplane and contact the tribe, six Waorani tribesmen killed them with spears.^[4]^[5]

Culture

Worldview

In traditionalanimistWaorani worldview, there is no distinction between the physical andspiritual worlds,and spirits are present throughout the world. The Waorani once believed that the entire world was a forest (and used the same word,ömë,for both). TheOriente'srainforest remains the essential basis of their physical and cultural survival. For them, the forest is home, while the outside world is considered unsafe.^{[citation needed]}

In short, as one Waorani put it, "The rivers and trees are our life."^[6]In all its specificities, the forest is woven into each Waorani life and conceptions of the world. They have remarkably detailed knowledge of its geography and ecology.^{[citation needed]}

Hunting supplies a major part of the Waorani diet and is of cultural significance. Before a hunting or fishing party ensues, the communityshamanwill often pray for a day to ensure its success. Traditionally, the creatures hunted weremonkeys,birds, and wildpeccaries,as there was an extensive collection of hunting and eating taboos, for example prohibiting the consumption ofdeer,on the grounds that deer eyes look similar to human eyes. Neither land-based predators nor birds of prey are hunted. While a joyful activity, hunting has ethical ramifications: "The Guarani [Waorani] must kill animals to live, but they believed dead animal spirits live on and must be placated or else do harm in angry retribution."^[7]To counterbalance the offense of hunting, a shaman demonstrated respect through the ritual preparation of the poison,curare,used in blow darts. Hunting with such darts is not considered killing, but retrieving, essentially a kind of harvesting from the trees.^[8]^{[page needed]}

Huaorani men and women inOrellana Province

Plants, especially trees, continue to hold an important interest for the Waorani. Their store of botanical knowledge is extensive, ranging from knowledge of materials topoisonstohallucinogensto medicines. They also relate plants to their own experiences, particularly that of growing. Certain kinds of tree are consideredauspiciousby the Waorani.Canopy trees,with their distinctly colored young leaves and striking transformation as they mature to towering giants, are "admired for their solitary character... as well as for their profuse entanglement" with other plants. Other significant trees are the pioneer species of thepeach palm(used for making spears and blowguns, as well as for fruit), and fast-growingbalsawood, used for ceremonial purposes. Peach palm trees are associated with past settlements and the ancestors who live there.^[9]^{[page needed]}

Shamanicethnomedicineuses theayahuascabeverage^[10]and a newly identified mushroom (Dictyonema huaorani) with the analogous substance ofPsilocybegenus.^[11]^[12]

As with many peoples, the Waorani maintain a strong in-group/out-group distinction, betweenWaorani(people who arekin),Waoroni(others in their culture who are unrelated) andCowodi.The use of Waorani as a term for their entire culture emerged in the last fifty years in a process ofethnogenesis.This was accelerated by the creation of ONHAE, a radio service, and a soccer league.^{[citation needed]}

The Waorani notion of time is particularly oriented to the present, with few obligations extending backwards or forwards in time. Their one word for future times,baane,also means 'tomorrow'.^[13]^{[page needed]}

Weapons

The main hunting weapon is theblowgun.These weapons are typically from 3 to 4 meters long. The arrows used are dipped incurarepoison, which paralyzes the muscles of the animal with which it is hit, so that it cannot breathe.Kapokfluff is used to create an air-tight seal, by twisting the fibers around the end of the dart or arrow. With the introduction of Western technology in the 20th century, many Waorani now use rifles for hunting.^{[citation needed]}

Land rights

In 1990, the Waorani won the rights to the Waorani Ethnic Reserve, constituting 6,125.60 km²(2,365.11 sq mi). The protected status ofYasuní National Park,which overlaps with the Waorani reserve, provides some measure of environmental protection. In August 2023, Ecuadorians approved a referendum to stop oil drilling in the Park.^[14]

References

^Elson, Benjamin, ed. (1962).Ecuadorian Indian Languages(PDF).Vol. I. Mexico, D.F.: University of Oklahoma, Summer Institute of Linguistics. pp. 8–9.
^"WAORANI / huaorani / wao / waodani / amazonia, ecuador".www.waorani.com.
^"Interlanguage and beyond".buenosairesherald.com.
^Scott Wallace,The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Lost Tribes,First Edition, Crown Publishers, United States, 2011, p. 228
^"Collection 599 Ephemera of the 'Auca' Incident,"Archives of Wheaton College. Retrieved Feb. 24, 2024.
^Kane 1995,p. 1999.
^Seamans 1996.
^Rival 2002.
^Rival 1993.
^Wierucka, Aleksandra (2012),"The changing understanding of the Huaorani shaman's art"(PDF),Anthropological Notebooks,18(3), SI: Drustvo Antropologov: 47–56,retrievedFebruary 15,2015.
^Schmull, Michaela; et al. (2014),"Dictyonema huaorani (Agaricales: Hygrophoraceae), a new lichenized basidiomycete from Amazonian Ecuador with presumed hallucinogenic properties",The Bryologist,117(4), Bio one: 386–94,doi:10.1639/0007-2745-117.4.386,S2CID 84084929,retrievedFebruary 15,2015.
^New psychedelic species of lichen discovered: Dictyonema huaorani,Psychedelic frontier, Feb 3, 2015.
^Rival 2002,p. 47.
^"Perspective | Ecuador's Waorani people living under the exploitation of the oil industry".Washington Post.2024-05-30.Retrieved2024-05-31.

Literature

Kane, Joe (1995),Savages,Alfred A. Knopf,ISBN 0-679-41191-7
Man, John (1982).Jungle Nomads of Ecuador: The Waorani.Time-Life Books. ISBN 7054 07047
Rival, Laura (1993), "The Growth of Family Trees: Understanding Huaorani Perceptions of the Forest",Man,28(December): 635–52,doi:10.2307/2803990,JSTOR 2803990.
Rival, Laura (2002),Trekking through History. The Huaorani of Amazonian Ecuador,New York: Columbia University Press,ISBN 978-0-231-11845-3.
Rival, Laura M (2016).Huaorani transformations in twenty-first-century Ecuador: treks into the future of time.Tucson: University of Arizona Press.ISBN 978-0-8165-0119-9.
Robarchek, Clayton; Robarchek, Carole (2008) [2002],Waorani: the Contexts of Violence and War,Mason,Ohio:Cengage Learning,ISBN 978-0-15-503797-7.
Seamans, Joe (1996),"The Last Shaman",Nova,PBS.
Wierucka, Aleksandra (2015).Huaorani of the western snippet.New York: Palgrave MacMillan.ISBN 978-1-137-53987-8.
Lawrence Ziegler-Otero ( 2004),Resistance in an Amazonian Community; Huaorani Organizing against the Global Economy.Berghahn Books, New York,ISBN 1-57181-448-5

External links

End of the spear,archived fromthe originalon 2015-03-03.A film about the missionaries who were killed by the Waodani.
Acclaimed documentary about the Huaorani community near Yasuni.

[1] Elson, Benjamin, ed. (1962).Ecuadorian Indian Languages(PDF).Vol. I. Mexico, D.F.: University of Oklahoma, Summer Institute of Linguistics. pp. 8–9.

[2] "WAORANI / huaorani / wao / waodani / amazonia, ecuador".www.waorani.com.

[3] "Interlanguage and beyond".buenosairesherald.com.

[4] Scott Wallace,The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Lost Tribes,First Edition, Crown Publishers, United States, 2011, p. 228

[5] "Collection 599 Ephemera of the 'Auca' Incident,"Archives of Wheaton College. Retrieved Feb. 24, 2024.

[FOOTNOTEKane19951999-6] Kane 1995,p. 1999.

[FOOTNOTESeamans1996-7] Seamans 1996.

[FOOTNOTERival2002-8] Rival 2002.

[FOOTNOTERival1993-9] Rival 1993.

[10] Wierucka, Aleksandra (2012),"The changing understanding of the Huaorani shaman's art"(PDF),Anthropological Notebooks,18(3), SI: Drustvo Antropologov: 47–56,retrievedFebruary 15,2015.

[11] Schmull, Michaela; et al. (2014),"Dictyonema huaorani (Agaricales: Hygrophoraceae), a new lichenized basidiomycete from Amazonian Ecuador with presumed hallucinogenic properties",The Bryologist,117(4), Bio one: 386–94,doi:10.1639/0007-2745-117.4.386,S2CID 84084929,retrievedFebruary 15,2015.

[12] New psychedelic species of lichen discovered: Dictyonema huaorani,Psychedelic frontier, Feb 3, 2015.

[FOOTNOTERival200247-13] Rival 2002,p. 47.

[14] "Perspective | Ecuador's Waorani people living under the exploitation of the oil industry".Washington Post.2024-05-30.Retrieved2024-05-31.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

v t e Ancestry and ethnicity in Ecuador
Indigenous	Awa-Kwaiker Canelos-Quichua Cañari Chachi Cholo pescador Cofán Huaorani Tagaeri Jivaroan Achuar Aguaruna Huambisa Shuar Maina Quichua Panzaleo Quijos-Quichua Otavalo Puruhá Sápara Secoya Siona Taromenane Teteté Tsáchila
Non-Indigenous	African Americans European Italians Mestizos Uruguayans Croatians Lebanese Jews
Ecuador portal