The Baka live in interesting houses made out of Tilipi leaves. They look like green igloos! The women make these temporary houses. First they bend small saplings into the shape of a dome. Then they slit the stems of the Tilipi leaves so they can weave a water proof roof to go over the stick frame.
The Baka travel in small family sized groups during the rainy season. They return to their villages in the dry season. They travel in the rainy season because they can find more food. The Baka eat all different things like berries, nuts, fish, termties, and honey. The men are usually the ones to go hunting for the food. Some of the plants they eat are poisonous. If they are poisonous, they drain them out in the lake and the fish die from the poison and come to the surface.Then they eat the fish and plant.
The men get honey from the trees. The women carry their babies with them as they catch fish or gather vegetables and grubs. They also eat termites which taste like raw eggs.
The Baka have some interesting medicines that we learned about. One medicine is used to make aches and pains go away. That is made out of leaves. Another medicine is for the women. It is to help her have a baby. That is what an old woman told a young woman. The last medicine is for boys. It is to make them grow and get stronger.
The Baka don't care for other tribes' villages. They only go to another tribe's village to trade the meat they have killed for fruits and vegetables. Most of the time the other tribe is a farming tribe. The Baka don't trust the other village's drinking water, that is one reason why they don't like to go there.
The Yanomamo tribe lives in South America. To be more exact, in the northwest
part of Brazil, and the southeastern part of Venezuela. The Yanomamo are
a fiercely independent war-like people. They are reported to have
had no contact with the outside world until the late 1940's. Their
current population is estimated at 20,000 people. Their existence
was threatened by an influx of thousands of Brazilian gold prospectors,
in the late 1980's, who found themselves in the tribes' territories.
Some of the tribe was killed. In 1991, the Brazilian and Venezuelan
governments set aside a huge area of land for this tribe. This was made
into the tribe's homeland, to hopefully help save them from extinction.
The Yanomamo hunt many animals. They hunt mostly jaguars, ocelots, tigers,
and some other of the jungle rulers. The Yanomamo tribe loves monkey meat.
They eat squirrels, spiders, and Howler monkeys. They also hunt for
some of the animals like deer, birds, and some other mammals that prowl
the rain forest.
The Yanomamo tribe eats a big variety of food. They eat fruits, meats from
animals they hunt, and nuts. Some specific foods they eat are bananas,
plum fruit, honey, berries, and many other foods they gather. When
they kill the bird and cat meat, they use all the animal to make instruments,
blankets, and clothes.
People of the Yanomamo Indian tribe have many different spiritual and religious
beliefs. The people traditionally believe in plant and animals spirits.
There are good ones and bad ones. They also believe in mythological
beings in human form. People in the tribe called SHAMANS are
believed to be able to make amazing contact with the supernatural, and
cure illnesses thought to be caused by different kinds of sorcery.
The Yanomamo tribe have very small villages. They consist of two
or more small, unrelated patrilineages. They usually exchange women in
marriage. Enemy tribes have nothing to do with exchanging women in
marriage. Chronic warfare among groups has conditioned the tribe's settlement
areas and patterns. People that were once allies sometimes become
enemies, causing groups to have disagreements. The Yanomamo Indians
are amazing!
