Unique tribes of the world-Tribalogy#09 Huaorani Tribe of Ecuador

The Huaorani or Waorani tribe is a small community of indigenous people living in the Amazonian region of Ecuador, South America. The total population of Huaorani people ranges from 2000-4000 and they speak a very distinct and unique language called Huaorani language. The language is unique in a sense that it has no relationship with any other language of the world because of the lack of contact of Huaorani people with the outside world till the 1950s.
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Source: https://www.jimmynelson.com/people/huaorani

Sub-tribes

The Huaorani tribe is divided into the following sub-tribes:

Zapino, Toñampare, Huamuno, Tihueno, Quenahueno, Quihuaro, Tigüino,Dayuno, Damuintaro, Quehueruno, Garzacocha, Caruhue, Quemperi Mima and Tagaeri.

Though a majority of the sub-tribes have established a peaceful relationship with the outside world yet some of them have revolted against the decision. The revolting sub-tribes have left their other tribe members and have gone into hiding in the deeper forests to resist outside influences.

Origin

There is no written history of how the Huaorani tribe originated but they are believed to be living in the forests of Ecuador for ages. It was the decade of the 1940s when Huaorani first came into contact with outside humans when the workers were drilling to explore oil reserves in the area. The workers were killed by the Huaorani tribes on the pretext that they are an existential threat to the tribe. As already discussed, it was the decade of the 1950s when a peaceful contact established with the Huaorani community.

Religion

Most of the Huaorani people believe in Animism whereas some tribe has converted to Christianity after their contact with the world. According to these people, every natural thing in the world including trees have a spirit which inhabits their forest. The Huaorani people believe that it was a couple of Eagle and Jaguar from which the whole humankind originated and thus they keep these two creatures in a high esteem. The pipe which the tribe members use to hunt monkeys and other animals are also considered sacred since it helps these people in getting food.

The Huaorani tribe also believes in the afterlife and their concept of the afterlife is that there is a huge serpent in the path towards Heaven. The dead should overcome Serpent in order to reach the Heaven. Any person failing in this struggle returns back to the earth in the form of an animal. The members of the Tribe thus sometimes hesitate to eat most of the animals since they believe that these are their dead tribe members.

Code of Conduct

Hunting

Hunting is a very important part of the Huaorani life. Children at a very young age like even 6 to 7 years start hunting and finding their own food instead of relying on their elders.

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Polygamy

The Huaorani tribe follows the tradition of Polygamy i-e the male has the freedom to marry more than one females.

Endogamy

The marriages take place within the same tribe.

Use of weapons

The members of the tribe use spears and blowgun as a weapon and a hunting tool. The blowgun and the arrows are dipped in the poison. Due to the poison, the animals become unconscious which provide Huaoranis to capture them.

Praying before hunting

Before leaving for hunting, the community members gather at a place and pray for their success in their mission. Those who capture animals return back as heroes of the family and community.

Music

The Huaorani people mostly sings Hammock songs without using any type of instrument since they lack any proper musical instrument.

Clothes

The Huaorani tribe always remain semi-nude and even fully nude. The traditional dress of the Huaorani tribe is called Kome which consists of strings of wild cotton wrapped around the waist of females. The same strings are used by the males to cover their head instead.
Both the sexes keep long hair and pierce their earlobes. Both of these things are considered a sort of fashion in the Huaorani society.

Ceremonies

The Huaorani life is mostly devoid of ceremonies except the wedding and ear-piercing ceremony. On both of these occasions, the Huaorani people sing different songs and share food with each other. The Huaorani people also has a very important religious ceremony of taking Ayahuasca in which they go into a semi-conscious state and communicate with spirits.

Tribal Traits

Independence

The Children become independent of their elders at a very early age and start hunting at an age of like 6 to 7.

Resistance to outside influences

The Huaorani tribe has always resisted any modern invasion into their territory. They even killed 5 workers of an oil exploration company because they considered the exploration a threat to their way of life.

Friendly people

Though they mostly resist outside influences yet they are very friendly to any outsider who has not the intention to disturb their way of tribal life.

Living in shelters

The Huaorani people live in shelters made of leaves they get from the forests.

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Tribal distinction

Huaorani people always maintain a tribal distinction with three basic categories. The close relatives are called “ Waodani”, other tribal members are called “ Waodoni” and outsiders are called “ Cowodi”.

Food

The Huaorani people mostly get their food from hunting. They hunt monkeys, birds, and other creatures by using a blowpipe made from Kapok tree.These blowguns are approximately 5 meters long and 12-15 heavy with curate vine and secretions of dart frogs serving as a poison to hunt down the prey.

List Of Other Unique Tribes