The Satere Mawé tribes live in the region of the mid Amazon River, on the border of the States of Amazonas and Pará. The Andirá-Marau Indigenous Land was demarcated in 1982 and ratified in 1986. With a total area of 788,528 hectares, it is located in the municipalities of Maués, Barreirinha, Parintins, Itaituba and Aveiro, situated in both States.
One might think that a indigenous tribe from the Amazon rainforest wouldn't have any influence on more "civilized" cultures, but Satere Mawé is the inventors of the "Guaraná culture". They domesticated this wild vine and created the processing method, thanks to which Guaraná is now known and consumed all over the world. In South-America people get most of the consumed coffein from Guaraná. Yes, Brazil is the #1 Coffee producing country in the world, but even so, they get more caffeine from Guaraná.
The Satere Mawé tribe harvest what is called "guaraná das terras". This is a wild harvested Guaraná from the rainforest and the quality is quite different from the more inferior qualities harvested on plantation around the city Maués and Bahia.
The areas in which the Sateré-Mawé live are called sítio. In this space each family unit has its residence, where a fire is lit both for cooking and for keeping the residents warm (the fire also serves to congregate the family members around it). In their sítios families also have their kitchen, built halfway between the house and the river, where the men roast guaraná and the women prepare manioc meal. They also have their porto (port), as they call the site on the river or igarapé (small Amazon waterway) where the family members bathe, wash clothes, soak cassava, wash guaraná and land their canoes.
The movie clip on this page show the Satere Mawé initiation rites where the men put their hand in a "glove" filled with Tucanderas (Bullet Ants). They have to do this 20 times to reach the status as a Satere Mawé warrior.
