When Euaracy awakens
Her rays come to greet us
Showing the day has begun
And it’s time to work.
The Kambeba people’s village
Isn’t just built anyplace
The river determines
Where we can dwell
Imprinting on this space
Our way of seeing, our face.
Our greatest tuxaua, Tururucari, said
The Kambeba, a farming people,
Can never give up planting.
They chose Saint Tomé as their protector
To ensure a good harvest
Taking shelter in this saint.
In Tururucari-Uka village
The houses, arranged in a circle
To easily communicate,
Represent unity.
Made of wood and straw,
They maintain the age-old tradition.
At night Yacy draws near
Calling the people together to teach
What the elders bequeathed us
Through these dances and songs,
Our immaterial culture,
Our ancient heritage.
The sound of the maraca announces
The dance is about to start
In the breath of my cariçu
I begin to pull the sounds
Of the song that lures
The curupira to dance.
Our elders sagely recount
How the Kambeba bear the example
Of a leader who fought for the people
Refusing to let them succumb
To the weapons of the may-tini
Tururucari wouldn’t let our people die out.
Today Tururucari represents
Unity, power, struggle, courage
We don’t know how he looked
But we have an idea of his image
Drawn in the portrait of Uruma
Marking out this new lineage.
Euaracy quando desperta
Seus raios vêm nos saudar
Mostrando que o dia começa
É hora de trabalhar.
A aldeia do povo Kambeba
Não é construída em qualquer lugar
O rio é um fator determinante
Para se poder habitar
Imprimindo nesse espaço
Nossa cara, nosso olhar.
Diz o tuxaua maior,
O Kambeba é povo agricultor
Não se pode deixar de plantar
Escolheu São Tomé como protetor
Para que tivesse boa colheita
Neste santo se apegou.
Na aldeia Tururucari-Uka,
As casas representam união
Ordenadas em forma de círculo
Facilitam a comunicação
Feitas de madeira e palha
Mantendo a antiga tradição.
À noite Yacy se aproxima
Chamando o povo para ensinar
O que os mais velhos deixaram
Manifestado na forma de cantar
Nas danças que representam
A cultura imaterial, nossa herança milenar.
O som do maraká anuncia
A dança vai começar
No sopro do meu cariçu
O som começo a tirar
Do canto que vem trazer
O curupira para dançar.
Contam os mais velhos com sabedoria
Que o Kambeba tem um exemplo a seguir
De um líder que lutou pelo povo
Para não os ver sucumbir
Pelas armas dos may-tini
Tururucari não deixou a etnia se extinguir.
Hoje, Tururucari representa
União, força, luta e coragem
Não se sabe como ele era
Mas se faz uma ideia de sua imagem
Retratado no desenho do indígena Uruma
Marcando essa nova linhagem.
Notes:
cariçu: A wind instrument made of several bamboo tubes, used for rituals and community celebrations
curupira: A forest guardian who takes the form of a boy with flaming red hair and his feet turned backward
Euaracy: Sun goddess in the Tupi language
Kambeba: An Indigenous people whose territory in Brazil is in parts of the middle and upper Solimões River region in Amazonas state, with some Kambeba also living in Tefé municipality, in addition to the Peruvian Amazon (where they’re known as Omágua) and the Ecuadorian Amazon
may-tini: Non-Indigenous people in the Kambeba language
Tururucari: A revered Kambeba leader who fought to defend the Omágua-Kambeba people in the sixteenth century
Tururucari-Uka: House of Tururucari, a metaphor for a power that’s at once spiritual, cultural, and political
tuxaua: A Tupi word for the chief of chiefs, who represents the people when negotiating with other Indigenous peoples or with non-Indigenous people; decisions of the village’s other chiefs have to be approved by him
uka: House (either one family’s dwelling or a collective dwelling)
Uruma: Name of the current tuxaua of Tururucari-Uka village
Yacy: Moon goddess in the Tupi language
Tiffany Higgins is a writer, journalist, translator, and poet. Her work focuses on the Brazilian Amazon, where she was a Fulbright Scholar in 2022. The Pulitzer Rainforest Journalism Fund and the Banff Centre for the Arts have supported her work. She is the author of two collections of poems, and her narrative journalism and poetry have appeared in Granta, Guernica, Poetry, and elsewhere.
