Guaraní

Richard Reed and John Beierle

Apýtere, Ava, Ava Guaraní, Ava-Katueté, Cainguá, Caaguá, Chiripá, Guaraní, Kaiowá, Kayová, Mbyá, Monteses, Ñandevá, Paí, Paí-Tavyterá

The Guaraní are indigenous to lowland South America, ranging across sub-tropical regions from the Andes to the Atlantic Ocean. The ethnic group is generally identified on the basis of speaking a dialect of the common Guaraní language. Only a portion of these people use the label "Guaraní" to self-identify, however. Others use particular place names, more specific ethnic labels, or simply call themselves Avá ("the people") or Caaguá ("forest dwellers").Despite local ethnic identities, these various groups recognize their commonality with the other Guaraní peoples. Guaraní culture and social organization are closely related to that of the Tupí peoples of the Brazilian coast. The two are often included in a more general Tupí-Guaraní language family.

The Guaraní reside in the forests of South America's southern cone. In total, there are more than 50,000 Guaraní. Most live in over a hundred distinct communities south of the Amazon Basin and east of the Paraguay River. The population is concentrated in the area divided among eastern Paraguay, northern Argentina and western Brazil. In addition, several smaller groups have migrated west and established communities in the Chaco of Paraguay and Bolivia.

The widespread Guaraní peoples share common linguistic heritage. The Guaraní language includes, however, a variety of dialects that differ in intonation, accent and vocabulary. In the seventeenth century, Catholic missionaries used the Guaraní language to communicate with indigenous peoples throughout South America's lowlands.

The Guaraní migrated out of the Amazon Basin onto the Paraná plateau early in their ethnic history. The Tupí-Guaraní groups subsequently moved east to the Atlantic and colonized the coastal regions as far north as the mouth of the Amazon. This demographic expansion brought Guaraní into conflict with the occupants of these new areas and earned the Guaraní a reputation as bellicose conquerors. The inhospitable Chaco impeded settlement west of the Paraguay River, although the Guaraní had some trade with the Inca on the eastern flanks of the Andes.

At the time of the Spanish arrival there were over a million Guaraní in small communities throughout South America's southern cone. First contact with the colonists was amicable, but relations quickly degenerated as the Spanish attempted to force Guaraní into labor and missions. Disease killed many Guaraní and others were assimilated into the colonial system, but some avoided the colonial system by escaping into the vast forests (Service 1954).

The Paraná plateau offered refuge to the Guaraní into the twentieth century. Indigenous communities have retained independence, even as non-Indians arrived to exploit their forests for timber, yerba mate (Ilex Paraguayensis), and essential oils. Rather than being isolated from the larger system, Guaraní have collected and traded forest commodities for manufactured goods.

Historically, most Guaraní resided in large households, comprising extended families of up to a hundred people. The first Spanish encountered these large households under the nominal leadership of influential men. Reports of conflict between Paraguayans and Guaraní in the eighteenth century refer to large buildings surrounded by over a dozen fields. As recently as 1954, Guaraní in Brazil were residing in large households made up of extended families (Watson 1954). Reports of Guaraní settlements since 1954 have all described communities made up of nuclear family households. The nuclear groups are the primary units of residence and production. Nevertheless, Guaraní families generally build their households near close kin, creating local settlements that are called TAPYI. These kin-based groups are important for organizing trading networks and religious activities. Most Guaraní communities comprise several kin groups, each occupying a distinct region. Larger communities made up of several extended family groups, and up to a hundred households, are the administrative units for Guaraní to relate to regional and national bureaucracies.

The Guaraní have a diverse economy that provides abundant production. Although productive activities vary according to local environments, there are three primary activities. The primary productive activity of the Guaraní is gardening. Families plant small plots with manioc, corn, beans, sweet potato, and a variety of other foods. In forested area, gardeners shift plots every three years, building into rotational cycles that move households and communities. Foraging is a second important productive activity of the Guaraní. Gathering, fishing and hunting provide meat throughout the year, and supplement garden production between harvests. Third, the Guaraní gather forest products for sale.

Since the early years of European colonization, the Guaraní have gathered yerba mate, timber and essential oils for sale into international markets. As the Guaraní maintained dependable subsistence production, the cash earned from this economy is important, but not a necessary aspect of the indigenous economy.

The first reports of the Guaraní show they were involved in extensive trading networks with other indigenous groups. Europeans were integrated into these trading networks and Guaraní traded forest goods for machetes, axes and salt. The Guaraní continue to trade in kin networks, as well as market commodities to buy clothes, food and equipment(Reed 1995).

Gender is the primary division of labor in Guaraní society. Women do more domestic work and men do almost all hunting, fishing and commercial gathering. Men and women both labor in gardens, men clear the forest and women maintain crops and harvest production.

Guaraní kin groups use the area surrounding their residences for farming and foraging; kin relations confer the right to use those resources. Guaraní do not recognize permanent tenure over individual plots of land; they recognize a person or group's right to control the fruits of their labor. A couple's garden is their property, but they have only use rights to the land on which they plant it.

Guaraní kin groups are organized through bilateral descent; kin relations do not emphasize either the father or the mother's side. Extended families comprise all descendants of a progenitor, with the strength of ties diminishing as the common relative becomes increasingly distant. The extent of these relations is logically infinite. But an individual's kin relations are limited by social memory and the extent to which that person activates his or her membership in a specific descent group.

Guaraní kinship terminology corresponds to that labeled "Tupian" (Wagley and Galvao: 1946). All relatives of one's own generation are categorized in terms of one's own siblings. Males and females distinguish older siblings from younger ones of the same sex, and have a single term to define opposite sex siblings. Parents' same sex siblings are referred to by terms that derive from that of the parent. Parents cross-sex siblings are more clearly distinguished. In the past, Guaraní men possibly married their sisters' daughters. While kinship terminology clearly creates a distinction that would be useful in this, research finds little evidence of the practice.

Guaraní do not recognize strict marriage prescriptions, but proscribe marriage with close kin, specifically the progeny of parents' siblings. Marriage is not an act or ceremony, but a process that begins tentatively and progresses slowly. A young man often joins his new partner in the home of her parents and is expected to help her male kin. In the longer term, the permanence of a couple's marriage is best judged by the labor they invest in a house, garden and children.

Nuclear groups form the primary domestic unit in Guaraní society. Couples construct their own houses and plant their own fields, for the benefit of themselves and their children. Nuclear families are also the primary unit for the consumption of both subsistence and commercial goods. Nuclear families are the primary domestic unit, but they are not isolated. Guaraní families live near kin and maintain extensive networks that share labor and production with relatives.

Although Guaraní nuclear families maintain independent residences, the lineage group is the traditional Guaraní household. The large Guaraní households have been dispersed by disease, slavers, wage labor and commercial involvement.

The lack of permanent property among most Guaraní limits the need for general inheritance rules.

The nuclear family acts as the primary arena of socialization, with both mother and father sharing rights over children and responsibility for their care.

Guaraní communities are defined by kinship relations.Ties between parents and children, siblings and cousins become the structure for allocating rights, responsibilities and authority. Villages usually include ten to twenty-five closely related households who join under the religious guidance of an older member of the community. While kinship allocates the right to settle with a group, it does not define the group with which an individual or family will reside. The composition of a kin group is defined as nuclear families assert their rights to live with one of the several kin groups in which they can claim membership. Claims to residence change in response to a variety of factors. This structure of extensive kin networks permits group membership to remain unchanged as members shift residence between kin groups.

It is important to distinguish Guaraní communities from the kin-based groups of which they are constituted. Collections of households linked by kinship form semi-isolated social units within the larger indigenous communities. These kin groups vary in size, status and power. The ability to mobilize nuclear families through kin lines determines the group's power in community politics.

Guaraní political structures are organized around kin leaders who legitimize their authority through religious knowledge. Religious leaders integrate Guaraní communities as social entities with distinct ethnic identities. Religious ceremony is a primary arena for the legitimization and reinforcement of political claims of leadership.

A leader exercises influence by counsel, example and religious ritual. He does not, however, retain control over the productive resources of the nuclear families. Leadership is an extension of the non-coercive influence that develops between juniors and seniors within kin groups. Rather than assert power over individuals or make decisions for the group, the leader offers advice to individuals, factions and the community.

Guaraní cosmology is organized around an axis that runs from east to west, following the sun across the sky. The sun rises every morning from a heavenly realm known as The Land Without Evil. After its daily trek across the sky, the sun sets each night in a sacred domain in the west. It is basic to the Guaraní world view that the world is headed to destruction. It is believed that the earth was destroyed in the distant past and, although it has been recreated, it exists only until a final cataclysm (Clastres 1995).

Guaraní recognize a variety of deities, but the primary god is male evident in sun and a parallel feminine deity is manifest in the moon. The arrival of these gods on earth is the central Guaraní creation story. A secondary set of Guaraní deities are the twin sons of this couple. The stories of these boys share much with the mythology of twins common throughout lowland South America.

Individuals receive religious power in chants while asleep. A religious leader must be also able to translate private inspiration into counsel and direction for neighbors and relatives. Knowledge of the supernatural provides clear guidelines for personal comportment.

Religious ceremony is usually performed at night in the house of the religious leader. Under direction of the leader, the entire community sings and dances in front of a small cross built facing east. Men accompany the song with gourd rattles and women beat bamboo logs against the ground. The annual religious cycle reaches its apex at the time of the new corn harvest, when infants are named and initiated into the group.

All adult Guaraní administer basic plant remedies. Religious leaders often combine an increased knowledge of the supernatural with specialized knowledge of herbal curing, developing a reputation as powerful healers.

Guaraní leave the body of a deceased relative on a funeral pyre for a year before interring the remains in a large ceramic vessel. At death, an individual's soul travels the "Tapir's Path," defined by the Milky Way, through the sky to a sacred realm in either the east or west.

Documents referred to in this section are included in the eHRAF collection and are referenced by author, date of publication, and eHRAF document number.

The Guaraní file consists of nine documents: two are translations from the Portuguese (Schaden 1962, no. 2, and V. Watson 1944, no. 4); one from the German (Hanke 1956, no. 1); and the remaining six are in English. The time span of coverage for these works ranges from approximately the fifteenth century to the early 1990s. The general focus of the file is rather diffuse ranging from southern Brazil, southern Mato Grosso, Paraguay, and the border areas of Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. The best general coverage of all Guaraní groups is that found in Métraux (1948, no. 5), which is based on a wide range of secondary source material including many historical records. Schaden's material (1962, no.2) concentrates on the Guaraní subgroups of Mbyá Ñandevá, and Kayová; Hanke (1956, no. 1) and the Watsons (J. Watson, 1952, no. 3; V. Watson, 1944, no. 4; J. Watson, 1945, no. 6), focus their attention on the Cayua (Kaiowá). The specific location of th e Watson's fieldwork centers on the village of Taquapir. The more recent studies by Clastres (1995, no. 7), and Ganson (1994, no. 8), deal primarily with the historical Guaraní population in Paraguay and the mission areas on the borders of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. Reed's work on the Chiripá of Paraguay (1981-1984) is an exploration of the various social and economic factors which has permitted this group to maintain their own distinct culture and society even after many years of contact with the dominant Paraguayan society. Major subject coverage in this file is on acculturation in various forms -- in terms of the Guaraní economy, religion, material culture, community and family structure, music, and folklore (all represented to varying degrees in the works of Hanke, Schaden, and the Watsons).

For more detailed information on the content of the individual works in this file, see the abstracts in the citations preceding each document.

The culture summary was written by Richard Reed in April 1997. The synopsis and indexing notes were written by John Beierle in May 1997. The Human Relations Area Files wishes to acknowledge with thanks the assistance of Richard Reed in the selection of documents for inclusion in the Guaraní file.

• ALCALDES -- constables -- category 625

• ANGUÊRY -- the soul after death -- category 775

• ASSOCIAI[unavailable] DE PARCIALIDADES INDÍGENAS -- category 664

• ATS Ý YGUÁ --a part of the soul representing the animal character of the person -- category 774

• AYVU -- one of the components of the soul -- category 774

• CABILDANTES -- category 632

• CABILDO -- town council (introduced by the Spanish); headed by an Indian CORREGIDOR -- category 632

• CACICAZGOS -- hereditary chiefdoms -- category 631

• CACIQUE -- under Spanish rule, a community head -- category 622

• CAPATACES -- Chiripá crew bosses -- category 466

• CAPITÃ0 -- captain, chief, leader concerned with civil affairs and appointed by the SERVIÇODEPROTEÇÃO A0S INDIOS -- category 624

• CAUDILLOS -- patrons or bosses -- category 466

• CONFRADÍAS -- religious brotherhoods -- category 794

• COTY-GUAZU -- cloistering of women -- category 562

• ENCOMIENDA -- category 466

• HECHICERIA -- witchcraft -- category 754

• JANGADEROS -- yerba gatherers -- 464, 272

• KANGUIJ[unavailable] -- an alcoholic drink made from corn -- category 273

• KARAI -- prophets -- category 792

• Land without Evil -- categories 772, 775

• MARACAS -- calabashes carved in the shape of a human head; also used as musical instruments -- categories 778, 534

• MAYORDOMO -- category 624

• ÑANDERU (Ñ ANDESY) -- the third level of shamans attained by men and women -- category 756

• ÑBO'É -- religious ceremonies -- category 796

• ÑEE -- see AYVU

• NIMONGARAI -- the most important feast of the Apapocuva-Guaraní -- categories 796, 553

• PAÍ (ÑANDERÚ) -- chief / priest, (doctor-sorcerer) -- categories 622, 756

• PAJE -- shamans -- category 756

• PATRONES -- mestizos who contract for Chiripá labor and buy their products for resale -- categories 563, 439

• PORAÉ -- meditative chants; also shamans -- categories 533 and 756

• PORAHÊ I -- prayers -- categories 778, 782

• REGIDORES -- administrative aides -- category 624

• SARGENTOS -- members of the political bureaucracy with military/police powers -- categories 624, 625, 701

• TAMOÍ -- religious leaders -- categories 756, 554

• TEKOA -- settlements -- category 621

• YERBA MATÉ -- a stimulent tea -- category 272

• YVYMARANE'Y -- see Land without Evil

• YVYRÁÍDJÁ -- assistants to the PAÍ -- category 624

Clastres, Helen. The Land Without Evil: Tupi-Guaraní Propetism. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1995

Reed, Richard. Prophets of Agro-forestry. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1993

Service, Elman. Spanish-Guaraní relations in early colonial Paraguay. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1954

Wagley, Charles and Eduardo Galvao. O parentesco Tupí-Guaraní. Boletim do Museu Nacional 6. Rio de Janeiro, 1946

Watson, James. Cayua culture change: a study in acculturation and methodology. American Anthropologist 54(2):1-144