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THE PEMÓN INDIAN PEOPLE
Content:
The Pemón People of Venezuela
Social Organization
Pemon Language
Economy
Religious Beliefs
Traditions
THE PEMON INDIAN PEOPLE.
The Pemón are a Venezuelan indigenous ethnic group established in the Canaima National Park; in its sectors Lagoon of Canaima; who are subdivided into the Kamarakotos and those who live in the Km 88 area, called Arekuna; those of the Gran Sabana, Taurepang and those of the western zone of the Essequibo, called Akawaio. In the north of Brazil, on the border with Venezuela, there is also a small Pemón group.
The word Pemón, means "person" o "people". It is used to name its members, and therefore; differentiate them from whites and other ethnicities. As we said before, they are four groups, whose only distinction is the dialect:
- Arekuna, located on the banks of the Aponwao River north of the Pemón territory;
- Taurepán south in an east-west direction of the Maurak River;
- Kamarokoto in the northwest region and the lower Caroní River. Everyone preserves the language and culture of their ancestors.
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION.
The basic unit of organization of the Pemón community is the family, marriage being the fundamental key to its formation and in which all members have blood ties. After the wedding, the couple preferably settles in the wife's family home.
They are grouped in communities, nowadays, there are 8 settlements:
-
La Paragua
-
Kamarata
-
Urimán
-
Kuyuní
-
Yuruaní-Kavanayén
-
Santa Elena
-
Ikabarú
-
Wonkén
Each of them has a leader, captain (teberü) or cacique, who is responsible for advising the members of the tribe in case of disagreements, but does not impose solutions, which implies that the Pemón population is cooperative, democratic and equitable.
Photograph taken by T. Koch Grünberg of four of his load-carriers on his expedition from Roraima to the Orinoco in 1912
PEMON LANGUAGE.
The original language is Pemón, a language of the Caribbean linguistic family that has three mutually understandable dialect variants corresponding to the groups:
- Taurepan
- Arekuna
- Kamarakoto
- Akawaio
Some basic words of the Pemon language:
wakü-pe medán? (How are you? / Good morning!)
Iná (yes, fine)
aké (no, bad)
anoik a yesek? (What is your name?)
wakü (beautiful)
kaikusé warande- medai (you look like a tiger)
anaká (come here)
ECONOMY.
The Pemón economy is based on agriculture, hunting, fishing and tourism. The main crop is cassava, both bitter and sweet. However, they also have small plantations of cob (corn), ocumo, yams, bananas and some fruits and vegetables. The cultivation of cotton is of great importance for the ethnic group, being used to make hammocks that are also made with the fiber of the moriche palm (Mauritia flexuosa).
On the other hand, the production of ceramics, clay vessels and plant fiber baskets by Pemón women constitutes an important source of income. Hunting and fishing are carried out on a small scale, only for community consumption, using ancestral traps and shotguns, bows and hooks.
RELIGIOUS BELIEFS.
The Pemón ethnic group does not worship or pray exclusively to particular idols, they do not believe in a single supreme and creative being, but they worship nature and have a mythological wealth around them.
Their belief system is based on the nature-body-mythology triad (Tarén or shamanic songs). The Pemón believe that all living beings (men, animals and plants) have a soul and that the "enek" live in the jungle and the tepuis, spiritual beings who are enemies of man, whom they fear and respect.
Nowadays, due to Christianization and transculturalization, there are many believing communities subdivided into Protestant Christian religions.
The Shaman is the indigenous person in charge of maintaining a friendly relationship with spiritual beings, since they are powerful and can bring good or evil to their community. It is said that shamans are chosen by the spirits of nature and then by the elders, who transmit to them the mysterious teachings so that they do not die and are maintained over time.
Dancing and singing are very important in their culture, performed in healing and purification rituals. One of them is the Tarén, a shamanic song that has magical powers to cure diseases and free people from all kinds of evils. The shaman's apprentice must learn them and at the same time know their natural and spiritual environment, the poisonous plants, the foreign medicinal properties, especially kumi, a species of reed whose root is used as a magical remedy. Tarén can also be used to harm a person; It is a type of indigenous witchcraft.
The sacred symbol for the Pemón people and that has a direct relationship with the Tarén is the Kueka Stone or Grandmother Kueka, which represents the forbidden union of a young Pemón with a young Macuchíes who married and fled secretly, but Makunaima, the Pemón God , went after them and condemned them to be embraced forever, turning them into stone.
Currently there are communities that have converted to the Catholic religion and the Seventh-day Adventist Church, as we have already mentioned above; However, these Christian beliefs have not been able to eradicate the ancestors considered mysterious and individual.
Photograph taken with Pemón indigenous people with the Kueka Stone that represents great spiritual value.
TRADITIONS.
When the Pemón dies, he is buried with his hammock and personal effects. If the community does not know the causes of death or suspects a strange illness, they prefer to leave the place and look for another settlement.
For marriages (wedding) it is customary for the Pemón groom to take his hammock to his in-laws' house, having made the relationship public, and serve the bride for one or two years. In ancient times; generally, the newlyweds were blood cousins, this having been one of the Pemón rules.
When the Pemón dies, he is buried with his hammock and personal effects. If the community does not know the causes of death or suspects a strange illness, they prefer to leave the place and look for another settlement.
Among the causes of death is the Kanaimö (Canaima), which is an evil spirit that represents the Pemón nemesis.
The Housing.
The typical Pemón house is a round hut with a conical roof (from their ancestors) or a rectangular hut with a gable roof (introduced by the colonizers). The walls in both cases are made of bahareque (a mixture of mud, clay and straw with a structure of wooden sticks), palm roof, clay floor, one or two doors and some windows.
Their means of transportation, for long trips, is along the mighty rivers in canoes or "curiaras" that they themselves build with the wood of tall and resistant trees.
The Dressing.
The ancestral costume of the Pemon people is the Guayuco. Nowadays it is still used only for ceremonies, but its original design has changed: men wear a modern guayuco made up of two rectangular pieces of cloth attached to the waist, thus covering the front and back lower part. The woman, at the same time, wears a skirt and a piece that covers her breasts or her long tunic.
Both suits are red. They wear face and body paint, necklaces of natural beads such as peony seeds, and a feather crown.
Currently, members of the ethnic group adopt the use of modern clothing such as dresses, skirts, pants and shirts, and they also make sandals.
Food.
The diet of the Pemón indigenous people is based on yucca, with which they prepare, among others, yuca, a very fine arepa, and kachiri, a fermented drink with a high alcohol content that they drink in rituals and community festivals.
Another traditional dish is the popular spicy Tumá soup, prepared with abrosá, a type of spinach, and cumache, the spicy juice extracted from yare, the poisonous nectar of cassava cooked for hours.
Pemón woman with typical costume. Kavak, Kamarata Valley- Canaima
Pemón "Porteador" carrying load in his "Guayare" -, Gran Sabana
House made of palms, conical-shaped mud walls, called "Churuata" in the Kukenán River, Gran Sabana
Pemón woman resting after a day of work carrying load in her "Guayare"
Indigenous Community of Paraitepuy de Roraima (1,200 meters above sea level) - Gran Sabana
Yuca (Manihot esculenta) is the main food of the Pemon indigenous people.