Two groups of men descend the unpaved road at a rapid, rocking gait. Under the intense midday sun, each carries the three-meters-long trunk of a buriti palm tree, weighing at least a hundred kilos. One man carries the trunk for some meters before another takes his place.
When a big chief dies on the Xingu indigenous reservation, its tribes gather for a unique funeral ritual called the Kuarup. Wearing body paint and bird feathers, they join in ceremonial dances, combat and feasts to celebrate life, death and rebirth.
By Ueslei Marcelino XINGU INDIGENOUS PARK, Brazil (Reuters) - When a big chief dies on the Xingu indigenous reservation, its tribes gather for a unique funeral ritual called the Kuarup. Wearing body paint and bird feathers, they join in ceremonial dances, combat and feasts to celebrate life, death and rebirth. The loss of Chief Aritana of the Yawalapiti people to COVID-19 in August has shaken the Xingu, leaving its tribes without a strong leader and able negotiator to unite them against mounting pressures on Brazil s agricultural frontier, which has advanced across the Cerrado savanna and into the Amazon rainforest. Besieged by illegal loggers, cattle ranchers, soy farmers and even gold miners, the Xingu communities face growing degradation of their natural habitat and the challenge of preserving its rich biodiversity for future generations, says Aritana s son and likely successor, Tapi Yawalapiti. We are not united today. The Xingu no longer has someone who can organize all the chiefs