Trumai


The Trumai are an indigenous people of Brazil. They currently reside within the Xingu Indigenous Park, in the state of Mato Grosso. They have a population of 258 in 2014. They were 97 in 2011 and 120 in 2006, up from a low of 26 in 1966.

Background

The Trumai are one of the last groups to have settled on the upper Xingu River, moving there in the 19th century from the region between the Xingu and Araguaia Rivers, as a result of attacks from another people. They currently live in four villages in the Xingu Indigenous Park, Terra Preta, Boa Esperança, Steinen and Terra Nova, situated halfway from the Leonardo Villas-Bôas Post and the Diauarum Indigenous Post, where some families also live.
The Trumai are one of the ethnicities included in the standard cross-cultural sample.
They are considered the ones who introduced the jawari ritual, that is, along with the kwarup, one of the most important inter-tribal festivals in the Upper Xingu cultural complex.

Subsistence

The Trumai are farmers, growing primarily manioc, peppers, and beans.

Language

The Trumai language is not closely related to other languages, and it is considered a language isolate. It is severely endangered, as children are becoming native speakers of Awetï, Suyá, or Portuguese.