Pataxó HãHãHãe by Luiz C. Ribeiro

Chief Paulo Titiá checks their Cacao fruit seeds near the village. Cacao fruit seeds is used to obtain income in the open fairs in the towns of Pau-Brasil and Camacã.

The land belonging to the Pataxó Hãhãhãe is very large and families live very dispersed. They are approx. 3 thousand Indians, spread over an area of 54,105 thousand hectares, bordering the municipality of Pau Brasil, Camacan and Itaju do Colônias. To this group belonged the Indian Galdino Jesus dos Santos, who was burned alive while sleeping in a shelter of a bus stop in Brasília, after participating in the demonstrations of the Day of the Indian in 1997, in a crime that shocked Brazil. The crime was committed by five young upper-middle class men from that city. There are many nuclei and the structure is very similar to a rural community. The group's social organization is divided into three or four ethnic groups and six chiefs, but this division is somewhat dispersed, many recent conflicts have caused some demobilization of the collective organization. The community is made up of 3 villages: Caramuru, Bahetá and Panelão, which belongs to the Pataxó Hãhãhãe People. Pataxó Hãhãhãe are made up of the Baenã, Pataxó Hãhãhãe, Kamakã, Tupinambá, Kariri-Sapuyá and Gueren ethnic groups. Inhabitants of the south of Bahia state, the contact history of these groups with non-indigenous populations has been shaped by land expropriations, forced relocations, the transmission of diseases and killings. The land reserved for them by the State in 1926 was invaded and largely converted into private farms. The slow and tortuous process of regaining these lands began in the 1980s only: a successful conclusion still appears to be some way off, with the reserve remaining under judicial consideration. Pataxó Hãhãhãe ancestral land near Pau Brasil, South of Bahia estate.

The land belonging to the Pataxó Hãhãhãe is very large and families live very dispersed. They are approx. 3 thousand Indians, spread over an area of 54,105 thousand hectares, bordering the municipality of Pau Brasil, Camacan and Itaju do Colônias. To this group belonged the Indian Galdino Jesus dos Santos, who was burned alive while sleeping in a shelter of a bus stop in Brasília, after participating in the demonstrations of the Day of the Indian in 1997, in a crime that shocked Brazil. The crime was committed by five young upper-middle class men from that city. There are many nuclei and the structure is very similar to a rural community. The group's social organization is divided into three or four ethnic groups and six chiefs, but this division is somewhat dispersed, many recent conflicts have caused some demobilization of the collective organization. The community is made up of 3 villages: Caramuru, Bahetá and Panelão, which belongs to the Pataxó Hãhãhãe People. Pataxó Hãhãhãe are made up of the Baenã, Pataxó Hãhãhãe, Kamakã, Tupinambá, Kariri-Sapuyá and Gueren ethnic groups. Inhabitants of the south of Bahia state, the contact history of these groups with non-indigenous populations has been shaped by land expropriations, forced relocations, the transmission of diseases and killings. The land reserved for them by the State in 1926 was invaded and largely converted into private farms. The slow and tortuous process of regaining these lands began in the 1980s only: a successful conclusion still appears to be some way off, with the reserve remaining under judicial consideration. Pataxó Hãhãhãe ancestral land near Pau Brasil, South of Bahia estate.

The land belonging to the Pataxó Hãhãhãe is very large and families live very dispersed. They are approx. 3 thousand Indians, spread over an area of 54,105 thousand hectares, bordering the municipality of Pau Brasil, Camacan and Itaju do Colônias. To this group belonged the Indian Galdino Jesus dos Santos, who was burned alive while sleeping in a shelter of a bus stop in Brasília, after participating in the demonstrations of the Day of the Indian in 1997, in a crime that shocked Brazil. The crime was committed by five young upper-middle class men from that city. There are many nuclei and the structure is very similar to a rural community. The group's social organization is divided into three or four ethnic groups and six chiefs, but this division is somewhat dispersed, many recent conflicts have caused some demobilization of the collective organization. The community is made up of 3 villages: Caramuru, Bahetá and Panelão, which belongs to the Pataxó Hãhãhãe People. Pataxó Hãhãhãe are made up of the Baenã, Pataxó Hãhãhãe, Kamakã, Tupinambá, Kariri-Sapuyá and Gueren ethnic groups. Inhabitants of the south of Bahia state, the contact history of these groups with non-indigenous populations has been shaped by land expropriations, forced relocations, the transmission of diseases and killings. The land reserved for them by the State in 1926 was invaded and largely converted into private farms. The slow and tortuous process of regaining these lands began in the 1980s only: a successful conclusion still appears to be some way off, with the reserve remaining under judicial consideration. Pataxó Hãhãhãe ancestral land near Pau Brasil, South of Bahia estate.

The land belonging to the Pataxó Hãhãhãe is very large and families live very dispersed. They are approx. 3 thousand Indians, spread over an area of 54,105 thousand hectares, bordering the municipality of Pau Brasil, Camacan and Itaju do Colônias. To this group belonged the Indian Galdino Jesus dos Santos, who was burned alive while sleeping in a shelter of a bus stop in Brasília, after participating in the demonstrations of the Day of the Indian in 1997, in a crime that shocked Brazil. The crime was committed by five young upper-middle class men from that city. There are many nuclei and the structure is very similar to a rural community. The group's social organization is divided into three or four ethnic groups and six chiefs, but this division is somewhat dispersed, many recent conflicts have caused some demobilization of the collective organization. The community is made up of 3 villages: Caramuru, Bahetá and Panelão, which belongs to the Pataxó Hãhãhãe People. Pataxó Hãhãhãe are made up of the Baenã, Pataxó Hãhãhãe, Kamakã, Tupinambá, Kariri-Sapuyá and Gueren ethnic groups. Inhabitants of the south of Bahia state, the contact history of these groups with non-indigenous populations has been shaped by land expropriations, forced relocations, the transmission of diseases and killings. The land reserved for them by the State in 1926 was invaded and largely converted into private farms. The slow and tortuous process of regaining these lands began in the 1980s only: a successful conclusion still appears to be some way off, with the reserve remaining under judicial consideration. Pataxó Hãhãhãe ancestral land near Pau Brasil, South of Bahia estate. Pau Brasil, South of Bahia estate, the Rio da Prata river once a clean source of water for the Pataxo now receives dejects of the growing city.

Pau Brasil, South of Bahia estate, the Rio da Prata river once a clean source of water for the Pataxo now receives dejects of the growing city.

Pataxó Hãhãhã AHIAV - Associacao Hahaha e indigena de Agua Vermelha near Pau Brasil, South of Bahia estate. Pataxó HáHáHãe faces now a diversity of indigenous ethnic groups that today live in the villages - Pataxós, Cariris, Tupinambás and Bahenas - that aggravate the land problems, because costumes and tribal differences generate tensions.

Small earthly gifts for supernatural entities deemed to be beneficial is seen at the Associacao Hahaha e indigena de Agua Vermelha near Pau Brasil.

Urucum, is the fruit of the annatto or urucueiro (Bixa orellana), grove of the family of bixáceas, native in tropical America, that reaches the height of up to six meters. It has large light green leaves and pink flowers with many stamens. Its fruits are capsules armed with malleable spines, which turn red when they are ripe. Then they open and reveal small seeds arranged in series, from thirty to fifty per fruit, wrapped in red aryl.

Fábio Titiá, uma liderança dos Pataxós HãHãHãe prepares Urucum paint for a Tore.

Urucum, is the fruit of the annatto or urucueiro (Bixa orellana), grove of the family of bixáceas, native in tropical America, that reaches the height of up to six meters. It has large light green leaves and pink flowers with many stamens. Its fruits are capsules armed with malleable spines, which turn red when they are ripe. Then they open and reveal small seeds arranged in series, from thirty to fifty per fruit, wrapped in red aryl. Fábio Titiá, uma liderança dos Pataxós HãHãHãe prepares Urucum paint for a Tore.

Fábio Titiá, uma liderança dos Pataxós HãHãHãe paints his son face with Urucum paint before a Tore.

Paulo Titiá, uma liderança dos Pataxós HãHãHãe paints his son face with Urucum paint before a Tore.

Fábio Titiá, uma liderança dos Pataxós HãHãHãe paints a nephew's face with Urucum paint before a Tore.

Fábio Titiá, uma liderança dos Pataxós HãHãHãe paints a nephew's face with Urucum paint before a Tore.

A young female Pataxó HãHãHãe with a painted face with Urucum before a Tore.

The ‘Toré dance’ heavily evokes a ritual present today among many indigenous peoples in the northeast and east of Brazil. Members of the village dance a Toré Sunday morning, men leaning slightly forwards advance and form a circle, some behind the others, singing hoi!hoi!hê! hê! he! while one man accompanies the melody with the sound of an instrument, alternating between loud and soft.

The ‘Toré dance’ heavily evokes a ritual present today among many indigenous peoples in the northeast and east of Brazil. Members of the village dance a Toré Sunday morning men leaning slightly forwards advance and form a circle, some behind the others, singing hoi!hoi!hê! hê! he! while one man accompanies the melody with the sound of an instrument, alternating between loud and soft.

The ‘Toré dance’ heavily evokes a ritual present today among many indigenous peoples in the northeast and east of Brazil. Members of the village dance a Toré Sunday morning men leaning slightly forwards advance and form a circle, some behind the others, singing hoi!hoi!hê! hê! he! while one man accompanies the melody with the sound of an instrument, alternating between loud and soft.

The ‘Toré dance’ heavily evokes a ritual present today among many indigenous peoples in the northeast and east of Brazil. Members of the village dance a Toré Sunday morning men leaning slightly forwards advance and form a circle, some behind the others, singing hoi!hoi!hê! hê! he! while one man accompanies the melody with the sound of an instrument, alternating between loud and soft.

The ‘Toré dance’ heavily evokes a ritual present today among many indigenous peoples in the northeast and east of Brazil. Members of the village dance a Toré Sunday morning men leaning slightly forwards advance and form a circle, some behind the others, singing hoi!hoi!hê! hê! he! while one man accompanies the melody with the sound of an instrument, alternating between loud and soft. In the end they pray for supernatural entities deemed to be beneficial.

A curious child checks the gifts left to Gods after the Tore.

The village cat sleeps as the Pataxós HãHãHãe's pray.

An village elderly remove some manioc from his small plantation. Subsistence agriculture, part of which is used to obtain income in the open fairs in the towns of Pau-Brasil and Camacã, today comprises their main productive activity, followed by cattle ranching and commercial cacao crops.

An village elderly remove some manioc from his small plantation. Subsistence agriculture, part of which is used to obtain income in the open fairs in the towns of Pau-Brasil and Camacã and today comprises their main productive activity, followed by cattle ranching and commercial cacao crops.

Cacao fruit is seen near the village. Subsistence agriculture, part of which is used to obtain income in the open fairs in the towns of Pau-Brasil and Camacã. The cacao producing areas have a high economic value, making them more coveted, and sometimes the focus of intense territorial disputes.

A village youngster proudly shows a Cacao fruit near the village. The cacao producing areas have a high economic value, making them more coveted, and sometimes the focus of intense territorial disputes.

A village youngster work on drying Cacao fruit seeds near the village. The cacao producing areas have a high economic value, making them more coveted, and sometimes the focus of intense territorial disputes.

A young Pataxó HãHãHãe covers his face with a basket.

Matriarc Maura Titiá washes dishes after a Sunday family meal.

Paulo Titiá, uma liderança dos Pataxós HãHãHãe photographed outside the Associação HãHãHãe e indigena de Agua Vermelha near Pau Brasil, South of Bahia estate.

A young female Pataxó HãHãHãe photographed outside the Associação HãHãHãe e indigena de Agua Vermelha near Pau Brasil, South of Bahia estate.

Pataxó HãHãHãe photographed outside the Associação HãHãHãe e indigena de Agua Vermelha near Pau Brasil, South of Bahia estate.

Pieces of old pottery are often found while they work on their ancestral land.

Pataxó-Hãhãhãe tribe members uses computers donated by the Thydêwá ONG to teach tribe members the use of computers to seek a dialog between indigenous people and to document and show the world their struggle.

Paulo Titiá, a lider of the Pataxós HãHãHãe uses a computers donated by the Thydêwá ONG to teach tribe members to use computers to seek a dialog between indigenous people in Brazil and to document and their struggle.

Pataxó-Hãhãhãe tribe members uses computers donated by the Thydêwá ONG to teach tribe members to use computers and social media to seek a dialog between indigenous people and to document and show the world their struggle.

Pataxó-Hãhãhãe tribe members receives new computers donated by the Thydêwá ONG to teach tribe members to use computers and social media to seek a dialog between indigenous people and to document and show the world their struggle.

The Funai offices sits abandoned in Pau Brasil, Pataxós Ha-hã-hãe and indigenous people who live in the São Lucas, Paraíso and Milagrosa village denounce many difficulties with the lack of health care, education, basic sanitation and water, problems aggravated by the lack of definition of their lands.

The Funai offices sits abandoned in Pau Brasil, Pataxós Ha-hã-hãe and indigenous people who live in the São Lucas, Paraíso and Milagrosa village denounce many difficulties with the lack of health care, education, basic sanitation and water, problems aggravated by the lack of definition of their lands.

Luiz C. Ribeiro

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