Yamatume’s upbringing was enveloped in the wisdom and teachings of her parents and grandparents. Initiated into Yawanawá spirituality by her grandfather, pajé Yawarani, Yawatume’s voice carries a depth and resonance that touches the soul.
Residing predominantly at the Yawarani village with her family, she crafts exquisite traditional handworks and actively collaborates with Nani and her husband Utxi to keep the Yawanawá traditions alive.
Together, they impart teachings, conduct sacred ceremonies, offer healing, and share the invaluable Yawanawá traditional knowledge with both the younger generation and visitors to the village. A vital aspect of Yawatume’s work is her commitment to the preservation of the Yawanawá language.
She has 3 children and through her interactions and teachings, she safeguards that the language is passed down to the younger generation, ensuring its continuity. But beyond her many roles, painting emerges as Yawatume’s predominant talent.
She adeptly translates the Yawanawa kênes – the sacred visions and part of the Yawanawá identity – into intricate body and textile artworks, weaving a tapestry of tradition, belief, and history.
Have a look at their website here.
Colloquium Presentation: 29 May 2024
Reconnecting with Ancestral Wisdom: A Conversation with the Yawanawá
Abstract
The Yawanawá come from the Acre region of Brazil, they are renowned for beautiful musical and powerful plant medicine tradition. They are now looking at ways of preserving their native language, once reduced to only fifty native speakers, now expanding again. The three we welcome here are Schaneihu, Yawatume, and Utxi. Shaneihu has been trained by his elders and proficient and providing the medicine of song. Yawatume is also trained by a pajé (shaman) and steeped in the tradition. Her husband, Utxi, is also trained in the musical and medicinal traditions. They will talk and perhaps sing about their medicines, including ‘Uni’, referred to in the lingua franca now as by the cover-all ‘Ayahuasca’ in the West, their relationship the land, and their history with a colonist past.