The Sateré-Mawé community of Y'Apyrehyt: Ritual and health on the urban outskirts of Manaus

Abstract

The Y'Apyrehyt community, one of three belonging to the Sateré-Mawé indigenous people found on the outskirts of Manaus, is located in a former nature reserve, the Parque das Seringueiras. The community comprises 67 people, adults and children, who live from the income obtained from tourists paying to seethe Tucandeira Ant Ritual and from the sale of craftwork. Even with the Magic Oar-the puratin or poratig-displayed at the entrance to the community, only the Tucandeira Ant Ritual remains alive today. The process of attributing new meanings to this ritual has involved both an aesthetic dimension, evinced in its artistic choreography, and its commercialization.