WITOTO INDIANS IN PERU

THEY SPEAK WITOTOAN LANGUAGE AND ABOUT 4000 PEOPLE LIVE IN THIS TRIBE. TODAY THERE ARE ABOUT 8500 FOLKS WHO LIVE ALONG THE PUTAMAYO RIVERS AND THE AMAZON REGION IN COLUMBIA.

OTHER ARITOTOANS ARE BORA AND MARANA. THERE ARE OTHER SUBGROUPS. DURING EARLY
1900'S THEY HAD 15,000 FOLKS HERE. OBSERVERS REPORTED THAT THEY WERE SEPARATED INTO 100 VILLAGES. DURING THE RUBBER BOOM IN THE 1950'S, DISEASES FORCED LABOR AND MIGRATION OF THE POPULATION RAPIDLY FELL TO 7000 TO 8000. THE SURVEYORS FLED TO MARGINAL AREAS. SOME HAVE LOST THEIR ETHNIC IDENTITY.

ALL THE WITOTO HAVE SIMILAR SUBSISTENCE PRACTICES. THEY MOVE EVERY FEW YEARS TO FIND AREAS IN WHICH TO MAKE SWIDDEN GARDENS. THEIR STAPLES ARE SWEET AND BITTER MANIOC, OF WHICH THEY THEY GROW OVER TWENTY VARIETIES. THEY GROW FRUIT TREES, AND PINEAPPLES. THEY PLANT BANANAS, PLANTAINS, YAMS, PAPAYAS, SWEET POTATOES. MANGOS, PEACH PALMS, PEANUTS, CACAO, SUGARCANE, MAIZE, TOBACCO, AND COCA. MEN CLEAR THE FIELDS AND WOMEN PLANT. THEY CONSIDER TWO REPLANTINGS OF MANIOC THE MAXIMUM POSSIBLE FRUIT FROM OTHER TREES ARE HARVESTED. A FAMILY MAY HAVE SIX HARVESTED DIFFERENT CROPS. A PLOT IS FALLOWED FOR TEN TO TWENTY YEARS BEFORE IT IS REUSED. ETHNOBOTANISTS HAVE BEEN STUDYING THE MANAGED FALLOWS OF A GROUP OF BORA LIVING IN PERU AS AN EFFICIENT SYSTEM FOR THE TROPICS. THEY PROCESS MANIOC USING TWO DIFFERENT KINDS OF MANIOC PRESSES. THEY MAKE A TAPIOCA AS WELL AS MANIOC CAKES. THE MEN HUNT SMALL GAME. THEY MAKE TRAPS AND PITFALLS. THEY CATCH PECCARIES, TAPIR, CAPYBARAS, ANTEATERS, DEER, TURTLES, AND MONKEYS.

THE CENTER OF THE WITOTO FAMILY IS THERE CEREMONIAL LIFE. THEIR COMMUNAL LIFE ARE OCTAGONAL WITH A CONICAL ROOF. THEY HAVE SMALLER HOUSES WITHIN THEIR COMPLEX. THE WITOTO HOUSES ARE OF MASCULINE TYPE WITH AN OPENING IN THE ROOF. THEY ARE SYMBOLICALLY LIKE THE EARTH, SKY, MAN AND WOMAN. SOME HOUSES HAVE XYLOPHONES MADE OF LOGS OF VARIOUS SIZES THAT ARE SUSPENDED FROM A WOODEN FRAME. THEY ARE BEATEN TO ANNOUNCE THE BEGINNING OF A CEREMONY. OTHERS SPECIALIZE IN THE PRODUCTION OF TOBACCO OR CACAO AND OTHER RITUALS.

THE WITOTO ORGANIZE THEIR UNITS AND FAMILIES BASED ON PATRILINEAGES. TOGETHER THESE UNITS MAKE UP A VILLAGE WHICH TYPICALLY CONSISTS OF A SINGLE MULTIFAMILY DWELLING. THEY MAY HAVE SEVERAL LARGE COMMUNAL HOUSES. EACH VILLAGE MAY 25 PEOPLE AND OTHERS 500. SEVEN VILLAGE TERRITORY RANGES FROM 80 TO 1600 SQUARE KILOMETERS. SOMETIMES THEY FIGHT WITH A ANGLOS INVADERS. THE HEADMAN INHERITS HIS OFFICE FROM HIS FATHER OR BROTHER. THE WITOTO GROUPS AND EVEN VILLAGES HAVE BEEN AT WAR WITH EACH OTHER TO TAKE PRISONERS. ANOTHER REASON OF WARFARE WAS TO REVENGE SHAMANS WHO CAUSED ILLNESS.

THESE FOLKS WERE ONCE A COMPLEX AND HIERARCHICALLY STRUCTURED SOCIETY. EACH GROUP IS ASSOCIATED WITH A CERTAIN CERTAIN COLOR, ANIMAL AND PLANT. THEY CARE FOR THEIR TOTEM AND THEY TAKE CARE OF THEIR ENVIRONMENT. PEOPLE OF LOW SOCIAL STATUS ARE ASSIGNED ARDUOUS AND TASKS OF COLLECTING FIREWOOD, POUNDING COCOA LEAVES AND THEY LIVE IN SMALL HOUSE IN THE CENTRAL DWELLING.

A WITOT0 ORIGIN MYTH TELLS HOW THE TALKING POLE OF THE PRIMAL TREE WAS INVADED BY WORMS SENT BY THE
"PEOPLE OF THE MOUTH OF THE RIVER" THE WORMS SENT THEM SICKNESS UNTIL THEY BECAME ANGRY. A GREAT WAR ENSUED.

AS LIGHTENING AND THUNDER AIDED THESE PEOPLE THEY WON THE WAR AND ESTABLISHED THE PATTERN THE WITOTO WORE VERY LITTLE CLOTHING. THE MEN WORE A BREECHCLOTH OF BARK CLOTH. WOMEN PUT ON BODY PAINT. TODAY THEY WEAR OUR CLOTHING. THEIR ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES ARE CLOSE TO CEREMONIAL EVENTS. THEY HAVE DOZENS OF RITUALS TO REGULATE THE RELATIONSHIP OF PEOPLE TO THE EARTH. THEY HAVE RITUAL DANCING TO PROMOTE GROWTH AND REPRODUCTION AND WARD OFF A DECEMBER DANCE TO PROVIDE SICKNESS AND DEATH. THEY HAVE A DECEMBER DANCE TO PROVIDE GOOD FISHING AND BOUNTY. IT REAFFIRMS ALLIANCES AND EXCHANGES INFORMATION. IN THE 1990'S MANY WITOTO ARE THREATENED WITH THE LOSS OF THEIR CULTURE AND THEIR ECONOMIC BASE AS MORE ANGLOS ENTERED. THEY RAISE CATTLE AND THEIR AGRICULTURE HAS RESULTED IN DEFORESTATION, LOSS OF SOIL, FERTILITY, AND POLLUTION OF RIVERS. THE WITOTO HAVE BEGUN TO REORGANIZE TO REAFFIRM THEIR CULTURAL IDENTITY AND RECLAIM THEIR TRADITIONAL TERRITORY. THE COLOMBIAN AGENCY HAS SET ASIDE SEVERAL RESERVATIONS FOR THE WITOTO.

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