The Shuar native people of Ecuador

The Shuar or Jíbaros are an indigenous nation of Ecuador and Peru, living in the provinces of Orellana, Pastaza, Morona, Santiago and Zamora Chichipe of Ecuador, and Loreto in Perú. The total population is about 120,000.

The economy is based mainly on the itinerant horticulture of tubers, complemented by hunting, fishing and the collection of fruits and insects. They used the slash and burn cultivation system. They cultivated cassava, "Chinese potato", sweet potato, peanut, corn, chonta palm and banana. The care of the plot and also the collection, the preparation of the chicha and the kitchen correspond to the woman; hunting and fishing for man.

At present, most of the traditional hunting territory is being replaced by grassland for livestock, which has resulted in the progressive depletion of land and reduced land availability. This has caused the implantation of a sedentary settlement pattern, which is causing changes in its socioeconomic system.

In recent years, for the Shuar of Ecuador, the main threat is the affectation of their territories by the expansion of the oil frontier, mining, and for many experts REDD + type projects(1) which they think would be violating their ancestral rights to use its forests

Traditionally the settlement was dispersed, zoned according to kinship relations. They are currently integrated into the administrative political structure of the Shuar Federation, and other organizations such as FINAE, OSHE, FIPSE, CISAE. There are several units called "centers", linked around a communal area, which is the square where services such as school, health center chapel, playgrounds and social gathering place operate. Its territory is delimited by the number of families that make up and is recognized by the authorities.

Beliefs

Shuar mythology is linked to nature and the laws of the Universe, and manifests itself in a wide range of higher beings related to phenomena such as the creation of the world, life, death, and diseases. The main ones are Etsa who personifies good in the fight against evil Iwia, who are always in continuous struggle to overcome each other; Shakaimde the strength and ability for male work; Tsunki, being primordial of water, brings health; Nunkui causes the fertility of the farm and the woman.

In the cultivation of the garden, they gave the power of plant growth to Nunkui, who was also in charge of teaching the Shuar woman to sow. But it is necessary to specify the power of Nunkui through rites, bringing to the present the creative forces, so that the farm yields its fruits. They believe in the jungle full of spirits living in the waterfalls or on the banks of the rivers.

The great spiritual world of the Shuar is repetitive. They do not believe that the human being has an end. They believe that after being born and fulfilling their life, they do not reach a permanent state with death but that their spirit, Arútam, is received by another human being who can be their son or grandson, who again fulfills another life cycle, thus in indefinitely

The Arútam is considered as a key spirit for men, because they believe it gives them more power and strength. They think that whoever owns an Arútam can only die of contagious diseases. Children begin to look for this spirit in the jungle from the age of six. In the culture of the jungle, the elements of Nature guide the lives of its inhabitants.

Chonta palm, its ripe fruit, represents the myth of the Uwi. This signals the season of abundance in the jungle. In the harvest of its fruits rituals are celebrated with prayers to Uwi. They ask that ferment chicha de chonta, give fertility to animals, plants and vitality to man. The Shaman, called Uwishin, is a kind of mediating priest with the supernatural world and at the same time is a political leader. The sequence of day and night in the mythology of the Shuar relate it to victory.

The Shuar people of Ecuador are an indigenous tribe living in the tropical rainforests, lowlands and savannas of the country. There are different groups of Shuar: the Achu Shuar who reside in the wet lowlands that stretch along the Andes from Ecuador into Peru; the Muraiya Shuar who prefer the Andes foothills; and those who remain in the tropical forests located high in the Andes Mountains. Their traditional rituals have become legendary and their culture is fascinating.

The Shuar and Europeans first met during the sixteenth century. The Europeans found them to be semi-nomadic, residing in casual groups without political leadership. Each household lived independently and consisted of a husband, his two wives and unmarried children. Once a child got married he or she was to leave the home immediately. Strangely enough, the men were in charge of weaving clothing and hunting, while woman were responsible for the gardens and fields. When it came to feuds and war, both men and woman stood side by side.

Upon meeting the Spanish, the Shuar were peaceful. However, when the Spaniards tried to force the Shuar to pay tax, they responded with violence and drove them out in 1599. By the twentieth century, however, the tribes were modernized, with the establishment of the Shuar Federation to represent their interests.

During the nineteenth century, the Muraiya Shuar made headlines for their war trophies. The Tsantsa they created became known to the world as shrunken heads. The Shuar’s reasoning behind the shrunken heads was not as war trophies per say, but they believed that the shrunken head held the soul of the victim and would give them the power to control their daughters and wives. As these women cultivated the land, the men believed that their ancestors would bestow good crops on them. Edmundo Bielawski was the only one to ever get footage of a shrinking head ceremony in 1961.

Peaceful trade relations were made through Catholic Jesuits and in 1935 a Shuar Reserve was created by the Ecuadorian Government. Missionaries began educating the Shuar in Christianity and agriculture, discouraging the shrunken head tradition and warfare. Today, the Shuar are involved in politics and serve in the Ecuadorian army where they are still respected as elite warriors, often being selected for specialized units,
(1) REDD-type projects, see in the following article of the blog:
http://daniloanton-en.blogspot.com/search/label/Carbon%20colonialism