In Bahia, indigenous sisters promote tourism in the reserve – 04/19/2023 – Tourism

Just over 12 kilometers from the center of Porto Seguro, Bahia, the three sisters Nitynawã, Jandaya and Nayara Pataxó have transformed the village where they live into a place not only of resistance, but also of preservation and dissemination of the culture of their people.

In the Pataxó indigenous reserve of Jaqueira live about 30 families of this ethnic group. It is there that tourists are received for a cultural immersion in which they can learn from the history of the Pataxó to tasting the fish baked in taioba leaves.

“The reserve was created so that we could show that we are, we were born and we will die Pataxó. Ethnotourism helps us a lot, including fighting for our rights”, says Nitynawã.

According to her, today it is women who make the decisions. “This construction was not an easy process. In the beginning, not even the indigenous authorities accepted a matriarchal village, but we showed our strength and changed that reality.”

The 827-hectare area of ​​Atlantic Forest where the reserve is located was being illegally exploited for logging in 1997, when the three sisters decided to stop their nomadic life and set up home there.

The three are daughters of Taquara, 103, a survivor of an attack that took place in 1951 in another village in Porto Seguro, Barra Velha, which caused the Pataxó people to disperse across southern Bahia. Because of this, for many years, the family lived in the woods of Porto Seguro.

After getting the land regularized in 1998, they had the idea of ​​developing an ethnotourism project, which gave rise to the Pataxó da Jaqueira Institute.

In recent years, the focus of the institute has been on offering a type of tourism that allows visitors not only to get to know the space, but also to learn about the ethnicity.

The first step in the project began with Nayara and Jandaya who, with the help of other indigenous people, managed to translate the songs and other rituals from Portuguese into Patxohã, the Pataxó language. Today, more than 6,000 words in this language have already been catalogued.

At the entrance to the reserve, tourists are welcomed by indigenous people who begin to tell the story of their people. Before arriving at the kijemes, the houses built with rammed earth and mud where the families live, visitors pass through an area of ​​Atlantic forest and are introduced to species such as pau-brasil, amescla and imbiriba.

The walk along the Lagoa Seca trail, in which indigenous people accompany the groups using sacred props, already begins the immersion.

Sitting in a circle, inside the community spaces, tourists watch and participate in dance rituals and also listen to stories told by indigenous leaders.

In addition to the three sisters, the Pataxó indigenous culture is also shared by other young leaders, such as the reserve’s digital influencer, Suhyasun Pataxó, 26.

“Our stories are alive. Our props represent the struggle that our elders faced every day. The headdress is not a fantasy, it represents the entire hierarchy of a people”, says Suhyasun.

With a degree in chemistry, the native researched at the university on the reserve’s breeding species and the potential for their sustainable use. The use of this and other plants is something that shaman Imburé, 76, who prepares teas and blesses visitors, also knows well.

“I grew up learning everything about the forest and how it can help my people’s physical and spiritual health,” says the shaman. “When we receive visitors, we try to share this knowledge with them, so that they learn about herbs, teas, seeds, but also so that they discover that it is very important to take care of nature as it takes care of all of us.”

About two years ago, the reserve saw the construction of more kijemes. This time it was not to receive new indigenous families, but so that tourists could spend more days in the place. Because of this, it is currently possible to spend from a few hours to weeks in the reserve.

Incidentally, it is even possible to participate in a kãdemãvey ceremony, the indigenous wedding. But, for those who want to get married there, there are special rules.

Those involved need to go through several preparations, including a test in which the groom needs to carry a log with the same weight as the bride. If he knocks the log down, she doesn’t marry.

Nitynawã, one of the sisters, remembers hungry days when three eggs were the only food. “It was what we had, but we didn’t want to give up. And look at everything we’ve built. I cry, I get emotional thinking that today we have a school with our language here and that 25 young people from our village are taught higher.”