Maxakali
Ethnic group of Brazil
The Maxakali are an ethnic group of indigenous people in Brazil.
01Geography and ethnology
The Maxakali live in the districts of Santa Helena de Minas, Bertópolis, Ladainha and Teófilo Otoni in the federal state Minas Gerais. The 400 members of the group live in isolation and poverty. They speak the Maxakalí language, which is one of the Maxakalían languages. This language is notable for having neither nasal nor fricative consonants contrastively. There are mixed marriages these days.
02Mythology
In the Maxakali creation story the creator Topa gave them a tame otter for otter fishing. This would help them to get always something to eat, as long as they do not forget, to give him the three largest fishes that he caught. When the husband of the grand daughter of the otter keeper neglected this rule, the community was punished by a heavy flooding.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Maxakali”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Maxakali dresses - Memorial dos Povos Indígenas - Brasilia - DSC00572.JPG by Daderot, CC0
- Aldeia Verde.jpg by Csandrocampos, Public domain
- Maxakali nets - Memorial dos Povos Indígenas - Brasilia - DSC00573.JPG by Daderot, CC0
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