GUARANI INDIANS

THE GUARANI SPEAK TUPEAN LANGUAGE IN PARAGUAY.THIS LANGUAGE IS SPOKEN BY A MAJORITY OF PEOPLE IN PARAGUAY AND SOME PARTS OF ARGENTINA. IT IS AN ELEGANT LANGUAGE.

GUARANI BECAME A WRITTEN LANGUAGE RECENTLY. THEY HAVE ABOUT 260,000 INDIANS! THEIR POPULATION WAS REDUCED BY EUROPEAN BY EUROPEANS. THEIR LANGUAGE WAS ONCE LOOKED DOWN UPON BY THE UPPER CLASS,BUT IT IS NOW REGARDED AS PRIDED. THEIR CHILDREN LEARN GUARANI FROM SCHOOL AND THEIR FRIENDS.

GURANI WAS APPLIED BY JESUITS MISSIONARIES WHO REFER TO THE NATIVES WHO CONVERTED THEM TO CHRISTIANS. CAYUA ARE THOSE WHO REFUSED IT. THE GUARANI IS GIVEN BY THE SPANISH AS WARRIORS.

THEIR EARLY HISTORY IS NOT WELL KNOWN. THEY WERE NOMADIC. THEIR VILLAGES HAD 10 TO 15 FAMILIES . THEIR POPULATION HAD ABOUT 400,000 WHEN EUROPEANS CAME. THEY ATE MANIOC, MAIZE, AND WILD GAME. THEIR MYTHOLOGY IS STILL WIDESPREAD. THEY HAVE FOLKLOREAND NUMEROUS MYTHS. THE CREATION AND DESTRUCTION OF ALL THINGS IS NAMANDU - THE TRUE FATHER. THERE IS A WEREWOLF, A HUMMINGBIRD, GLOW WORMS, BUTTERFLIES, A WOMAN, IRUPE, WHO TURNED INTO A GIANTLILY BECAUSE SHE FELL IN LOVE WITH THE MOON.

ANOTHER MYTH TELLS OF AN OLD MAN WHO SNATCHES CHILDREN AND WRAPS THEM IN CLIMBING PANTS OR DROWNS THEM. THE FIRST GOVERNORE OF THE SPANISH TERRITORY OF GUAYRA INITIATED ENSLAVEMENT OF THE NATIVES. THE TOWN OF SLAVE TRADE WAS SAO PAULE AND INDIANS WERE SOLD. IT WAS A REFUGE FOR CRIMINALS TOO. THE TRIBES ONLY HAD BOWS AND ARROWS TO OPPOSE SLAVE TRADERS. THEY ATTACKED WHOLE MISSIONS WHO WERE GATHERED FOR MASS. IN THE MID 1600'S A FATHER OF THE MISSION BOUGHT 10,000 CATTLE CONVERTED THE NATIVES TO STOCK RAISERS. THE MISSIONS WERE REESTABLISHED. ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION THE MISSION ARMY WITH GUNS DEFEATED THE SPANISH COLONY. BY 1734 SMALLPOX KILLED 30,000 GUARENI.

TODAY THEY STILL PERSIST. AND THEY LIKE ARE DESCENDANTS OF MISSION EXILES AND THEY SPEAK GUARANI LANGUAGE.

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