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The Lost
Known for his quiet dignity, he pledged to protect the environment and sell the fitness of his people. He died of coronavirus.
By Michael Astor
This obituary is part of a series of other people who died in the coronavirus pandemic. Learn more about others here.
Aritana Yawalapiti is a living bulwark that opposes the destruction of indigenous culture in Brazil. Known for his quiet dignity, he is a master in the non-violent resolution of conflicts between other indigenous and non-native tribes.
He worked to protect the lands of his people in the Amazon from hunters, loggers and ranchers. But he impossed impotently to the last invader: Covid-19.
Mr. Yawalapiti died of the disease on August 5 at a hospital in Goiania, Brazil, about 400 miles southeast of his home on the local land of Xingu. He’s 71. His niece Kuiai-Yawalapiti showed death.
Yawalapiti’s brother, Matariw, and his niece Nhapukalo have also died of Covid-19 in recent weeks, and other parents have conducted tests. 22,000 had tested until mid-August.
As the grandson of two leaders and the son of a master shaman, Mr. Yawalapiti was born to lead, but he imposed respect beyond his pedigree. Powerful, he stood out to himself as a huka-huka wrestling champion, with the reputation of never losing a match. He spoke at least 4 indigenous languages in addition to Portuguese and was considered the leader of the leaders among the upper Xingu tribes.
The tribes of the region are characterized by their kuarup, an elaborate ritual in honor of the dead. Yawalapiti’s photographs, richly painted and feathered, participating in the kuarup made him one of Brazil’s best-known indigenous leaders. In 1978, his life was founded by the telenovela “Aritana”.
As a young man, Yawalapiti helped create the 6.5 million-acre Xingu indigenous land, in partnership with the Villas-Boes brothers, pioneers of indigenous defenders who learned during a government expedition in the 1940s that the devastating effects on that touch. with the fashion society had been taking in remote Amazonian tribes.
When the reservation was established in 1961, settlers were just beginning to make their way through the area. Today, Xingu, home to 7,000 indigenous people from 16 tribes, is roughly the only strip of forest left in the state of Mato Grosso, in Portuguese for “thick forest.”
Mr. Yawalapiti, who, like many Brazilian Indians, used his tribe’s call as his supercavo, was born on July 15, 1949. His father, Kanato Yawalapiti, a master shaman, and his mother, Tepori Kaymura, also a tribal leader.
After spending five years in criminals taking orders from the elderly, the leader Mr. Yawalapiti at the age of 19 has committed to covering the land and the surrounding area and promoting physical fitness and schooling among his people.
His survivors come with three young men from his first marriage, Tapi, Tepori and Walako; his wife, Sakassiru Yawalapiti; its 8 young people, Kamushu, Tsumulu, Nawan, Tsus, Mira, Ala, Lumbé and Paul; 24 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.
Mr. Yawalapiti’s death was a blow to the tribe, as he was one of the 3 elders who spoke his local language fluently.
“I didn’t need the tongue to die, ” said her niece, Ms. Yawalapiti.”That’s why he sent his son Tapi to Brasília for examination at the university, to maintain the language.It’s his dream.”
Ella Tapi would take her lead position.
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