PLEASE ROTATE YOUR DEVICE
2019
The Sarayaku territory is not just a physical and geographic space, but also a space within which we can elevate our emotions as we connect with the world of the Supreme Beings.
2016
Jose Miguel Santi holds his daughter Shayanna while bathing in the Sarayakillo River. This tributary, along with the Rotuno River, are particularly clean.
2017
A young man inspects the skin of a javelin, which is being dried to use as a tambourine. Before important celebrations, such as the Uyantza Raymi, the men spend several weeks deep in the jungle, hunting and fishing for the entire community. The community wastes nothing, using every part of the animal for either food, clothing or instruments.
Eriberto Gualinga – Sarayaku
2016
From the moment we are born, we coexist with all beings that form part of the Kawsak Sacha or the Living Forest.
2019
Jose Miguel Santi lights a fire in his kitchen. The majority of homes still use wood stoves, but there are a few families that have decided to buy gas stoves and bring gas cylinders from the city of Puyo.
2017
A pilche with chicha floats on the sacred Rotuno River. Chicha is a traditional drink made from yucca. When preparing chicha, the root is cooked for several hours and then pressed into a type of puré, after which it is chewed and spit out, and finally poured into clay jars covered in leaves for fermentation. Chicha is prepared exclusively by women.
2019
The Amazon Biome is 6.7 million km². It is home to 2.7 million indigenous people, split into 350 ethnic groups with 3000 ancestral territories. Sarayaku is one of them.
2017
A girl holds a coatis with her arms on the second day of the Uyantza Raymi festival. The Hunting Festival is the community’s most important celebration. Four teams compete against each other in a hunt, in which competitors are prohibited from killing endangered species. This celebration was previously held annually, but the community decided to celebrate it only every three years, so that the animals would have more time to reproduce and it would not affect the balance of life in the jungle.
2016
Trees in the jungle are centers of biodiversity that ensure the continuation of life. Some trees have been alive for millennia and these are essential in maintaining the spiritual balance; each member of the community is able to communicate with and connect to them.
Eriberto Gualinga – Jayambi
2015
Portrait of Benhur Viteri during a celebration dedicated to the Pachamama (Mother Earth). This festival occurs every May in honor of the indigenous people’s fight in Ecuador for State recognition of their ancestral lands. This was granted in May of 1992, when thousands of people marched on Quito.
2019
Indigenous peoples account for just 4% of the global population but they protect more than 80% of the world’s biodiversity.
2017
A man plays a piguano (type of flute) on the first day of the Uyantza Raymi festival, while wearing a hat made from the skin and head of a coatis, his hands painted with wituk. The Hunting Festival is the community’s most important celebration. Four teams compete against each other in a hunt, in which competitors are prohibited from killing endangered species. This celebration was previously held annually, but the community decided to celebrate it only every three years, so that the animals would have more time to reproduce and it would not affect the balance of life in the jungle.
2017
The Supreme Being Amazanka is the bearer of wisdom, health, beauty and vital energy. It is also the most important one, respected by all other beings of the Jungle.
2019
The beings Yaku Runa, Yaku Mama, Atakapi, Runa Lagartu, Purawa and Yaku Puma live and travel along the Sarayaku rivers, lakes and waterfalls. They control and maintain the balance and abundance of aquatic life.
