Pekã Rasu Yawanawá

Archetype

Creator of spaces. Guardian of the Yawaraní legacy and Yawanawá spirituality.

Role

Medicine man. Guardian of sacred ceremony space.

Personal Journey

My name is Pekã Rasu Yawanawá (Valdemir Vicente Brandao), and I was born in 1970. I am one of the spiritual leaders of Aldeia Yawaraní of the indigenous territory of Rio Gregório in Acre. I am the oldest son of the great pajé Yawaraní and one of his last three students.

My muká diet, a powerful initiation of the Yawanawá spiritual path, lasted for one year with the privation of foods such as red meat, sugar, pure water, sexual intercourse, and spending long periods of isolation in the forest. This was a moment of deep clarification for my path and life mission.

My father passed away just right after I had finalized my dieta. After this event, my life transformed, I decided to dedicate myself to the study of medicine, to the continuation of Yawanawá spiritual traditions, to ceremonies and healing; dedicating my life to spirituality and to the culture of my people.

The choice to continue my path gave me the chance to continue the lineage, cultivating the study of medicines, songs, and prayers with the contribution of my family, creating incredible beautiful ceremonies and chanting together for the healing of the many participants.

In 2023 I opened to the prayers (vana) for the spiritual practice of the diet (samakei), following the call of the mission that my father has left me as a legacy. I keep reconnecting each day deeper and deeper with the sacrality of this work, investing all my resources in the family and the spiritual mission and creating the Pekã Rasu space.

Pekã Rasu is a spiritual centre with a healing plant garden inside the Amazon forest, 10 minutes away from Yawaraní by boat. A place where participants can go into retreats and solitude, a space for spiritual practice, initiations, and sacred diets, where spiritual practitioners have a great chance to reconnect with nature.

About Yawanawá indigenous people

“Yawanawá” means “the people of the wild boar”. They are an indigenous community of around 1,500 people who live in nine villages along the Gregório River in the state of Acre, deep in the Brazilian Amazon. Unlike other Amazonian groups scattered across different locations, Yawanawá people are unique because they all live in the same territory and speak the same language. They call themselves “wild boar people” because, as a people, they are always together. They are a pack when they hunt and in life in general.

Their living is still based mainly on hunting and fishing. In the dry season, fishing trips are organised in which almost the whole community participates and transform into important social events –“food festivals”, as the Yawanawá describe them. They use various plant poisons, which, once put in the water, cause the fish to rise to the surface, making their capture easier. During the rainy season, when large animals leave clear tracks, hunting becomes one of the primary alimentation sources.

According to the Brazilian Socio-Environmental Institute, the essential foods obtained from the swiddens are yuca, corn and banana. Other produce is also cultivated through agroforest culture activities, such as rice, sweet potato, papaya, pineapple and sugarcane.

Their social organisation is based on matrilocal residency (matrilocality), a strong family structure that holds together the villages’ economies and socially supports all its members. Their traditional buildings are circular and made of wood and straw. They have no separation, and the fire is placed in the middle.

In the 16th century, the Yawanawá’s first contact with Western Society took place under the leadership of their ancestor Antonio Luís Pekuti. It was a period marked by atrocities against their people, including enslavement by rubber barons.

They only had regular contact with other Brazilians two generations ago when rubber farmers ventured north searching for land and free labour. They survived for centuries by working in plantations. When the price of rubber tanked in the mid-20th century, they started to commercialise annatto, a spiky fruit with seeds that produce red dye used in lipstick, eyeshadows and bronzers.

In the 1980s, cacique (chief) Biraci Nixiwaka Brazil led his people in the fight to recognise their native territories, and the Yawanawá became the first indigenous people to obtain the official rights to their lands in the state of Acre.

In 2006, the Yawanawá became the first tribe to consecrate a female shaman, Hushahu Yawanawá. Their leader, Raimundo Luiz (Tuíkuru), authorised it, supported by the legendary eldest pajé Tatá Yawanawá.

Although today, the most known aspect of Yawanawá shamanism is healing, in the past, the pajé’s (shaman) functions were more varied and touched upon other aspects of culture, such as warfare and hunting. The traditional healing rituals are the “uni”, their most sacred drink, most commonly known as Ayahuasca and “rumê” (Rapé), a traditional way to use tobacco mixed with ashes from the bark of the Tsunu tree.

Other relevant Yawanawá medicines are kapum (kambó), shared in traditional rituals and ceremonies of spiritual purification, regeneration, body cleansing, and healing; Sananga, made from the bark of the root of Tabernaemontana genus and used to open the third eye and inner vision and illuminate subconscious mind patterns; and Sepá, an incense made with the sap of a tree used to protect and clear the space from negative energies, usually in ceremonies.

One of the most arresting features of Yawanawá art is the diversity of body paint designs, or kênes, extensively used in the Mariri festival. The most commonly used dyes are urucum (annatto), a red pigment made from the seeds of the Bixa orellana plant, and genipapo, which produces a dark blue or black pigment. Both are derived from protecting seeds and are sometimes combined with a fragrant resin to help fix the dyes to the skin.

Yawanawás are specialists in the technique of arts and crafts, chanting, and the art of playing music, translating traditional stories into a modern interpretation. Their songs tell stories of connection to the land, reverence for the spirits, and the resilience of Indigenous communities in the face of contemporary challenges. Their music is usually composed of voice, guitars and drums.