YUKPA INDIAN

YUPKA MEANS "TAME PEOPLE". THEY HAVE MANY SUBGROUPS. THEY LIVE IN THE MOUNTAINS OF COLUMBIA AND VENEZUELA. THEIR POPULATION IS 3400 FOLKS. FORTY NINE COMMUNITIES ARE IN THEIR REGION. THEY SPEAK A CARIB LANGUAGE.

SINCE PREHISTORIC TIMES THE YUKPA HAVE INHABITED THE SIERRA DE PERYA. ANCESTORS OF THE YUKPA FORMED A CARIB MIGRATION ACROSS NORTHERN SOUTH AMERICA AND THIS DATE MAY HAVE BEEN ABOUT 4500 B.P. SOME RESEARCHERS BELIEVE THAT YUKPA DOES NOT EXCEED 10 CENTURIES. THEY REACHED HOMELAND BY 1000 B.P.

THEY HAVE FOLK TALES ABOUT HOW THEY ENCOUNTERED AND DEFEATED THE WANAPSA, THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS OF THE MOUNTAINS. IN EARLY 1500'S WESTERNERS CONTACTED THEM. THEY WERE LOKING FOR FABLED CITY OF GOLD. THE YUKPA MOVED INTO THE MOUNTAINS. MISSIONARY EFFORTS WERE NOT VERY SUCCESSFUL. BY 1900'S THEY WERE IN CONTINUOUS CONTACT WITH SETTLERS. UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF THE MISSIONARIES THEY MOVED SETTLEMENTS CLOSER TO ROLLING HILLS AND MOUNTAINS. IN THE LAST THIRTY OR FORTY YEARS THEY HAVE HAD SIGNIFICANT CHANGESTO THEIR SETTLMENT PATTERNS. SOME HAVE MOVED TO THE HAMLETS OF 2 - 3 HOUSES AND LARGER COMMUNITIES OF 20 HOUSES. MANY MEN AND WOMEN WORK OUTSIDE OF THE MOUNTAINSON LARGE DAIRY RANCHES. HERE THEY STAY FOR WEEKS BEFORE RETURNING TO THEIR FAMILIES.THE MORE AGRICULTURALISTS WHO PLANTED MAIZE, BEANS, AND SQUASHES, THAT ADDED TO THE EXISTING CROPS . THEY USE SLASH AND BURN AND HAVE ADDED COFFEE FOR SALE IN LOCAL MARKETS MARKETS. TODAY THEY RELY LESS ON GATHERING AND HUNTING AND FISHING BECAUSE RESOURCES ARE DEPLETING. TRADITIONALLY THEY DID LITTLE TRADING.

BOTH MEN AND WOMEN DO AGRICULTURE. MEN DO HEAVIER LABOR AND WOMEN DO MORE FOOD PREPARATION. WOMEN WORK IN HARVESTING AND WEEDING. SOME WOMEN ARE DOMESTIC SERVANTS. THE MEN BECOME CATTLE HERDERS AND MILKERS FOR LOCAL DAIRY FARMERS.

THE PATTERN OF LAND TENURE IS BASED ON THE RESULT OF GENERATIONS OF PASSING OWNERSHIP. BOTH MEN AND WOMEN MAY OWN LAND. THEY HAVE ZONA INDIGENA THAT IS RESERVED FOR THE SOLE USE OF INHABITNTS. MUCH OF THE REMAINDER OF THE SIERRA IS A NATIONAL PARK. ELDERS PLAY A LARGE ROLE IN CHILD RAISING AND STORY TELLING. THEIR RELIGION WAS ANIMISTIC IN NATURE. SUPERNATURAL POWERS WERE IN PLANTS AND THE ANIMAL WORLD. THEIR CREATOR HELPED ANIMALS TO CREATE THE FIRST COUPLE. ALL YUKPA ARE FROM THIS FIRST COUPLE. MYTHIC ANIMLS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEY MYTHIC ANIMALS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THOUGHTS -THE WORLD WAS TWO FLAT DISKS THAT CIRCLED THE TWO SUNS.

THEY BELIEVE THAT THEY ARE DWARFS IN THE UNDERGROUND. BY 1950 CATHOLICISM BEGAN TO CATHOLICISM BEGAN TO IN CATHOLICISM BEGAN TO INTEGRATE INTO THEIR RELIGION. BY 1950 CATHOLICSM BEGAN TO INTEGRATE INTO THEIR RELIGION. BY 1990 ALL UTOPIA ARE OUTSIDE OF THE MOUNTAINS, BUT THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND THE RELIGION. IN A FEW TRADITIONAL YUKPA SETTLEMENTS THERE ARE SHAMANS WHO WHO GUIDE COMMUNITIES THROUGH IMPORTANT RITUALS. THEIR CEREMONIES MARK LIFE CHANGES BIRTH, PUBERTY, MARRIAGE, AND DEATH. DURING THEIR CEREMONIES THEY SING SPECIFIC SONGS AND LEAD DANCES. THEIR RELIGION IS IMPORTANT TO THEM. THEIR SONGS ARE COMPLEX. THEY HAVE INSTALLED TATTOOES ON FACE AND ARMS. THEY WEAVE SIMPLE DESIGNS INTO THEIR BASKETS.

SICKNESS IS EXPLAINED BY REFERENCE TO THE SUPERNATURAL. PEOPLE . PEOPLE WITH MEDICAL PLANT KNOWLEDGE ARE KNOWN AS TUANOS. THESES SHAMANS HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF MEDICINAL PLANT REMEDIES AND THROUGH METAPHYSICS THEY CONTROL AND CAN EFFECT REMEDIES.

AFTER DEATH THEY BURY PEOPLE IN A BURIAL HUT, ALONG WITH SOME POSESSIONS. THEY REACH THE AFTERWORLD AND ARE GUIDED BY KOPECHO, THE MATERIAL FROG.

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