• News of this people

• Carta da Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Pantanal e Região
  
  01/02/2010
• Governo garante alimentação a 15 mil famílias indígenas há mais de um ano e meio
  
  13/01/2010
• Índios de MS vão a Brasilia reclamar de decreto
  
  12/01/2010

• Inhabited lands

• Kadiwéu

Kadiwéu

Art

The fine body designs made by the Kadiwéu are one of the most notable forms of their artistic expression. Skilled painters cover faces with minute symmetric designs, drawn with a paint obtained from a mixture of genipap juice plus powdered charcoal and applied with a fine sliver of wood or bamboo. In the past, body painting marked the difference between nobles, warriors and captives.

Kadiwéu women produce equally beautiful items of pottery: vases of various sizes and shapes, plates also of various sizes and depths, animals, and wall decorations, among other creative pieces. Each woman decorates these items with distinct patterns, adhering to a rich but fixed repertoire of forms completed with varying colours. The raw material for their work derives from special clay pits, which contain clay of an ideal consistency and tonality for making durable pottery. The pigments for the painting are acquired from sands of a wide variety of tones, while some of the details are varnished with holywood tree resin.

Kadiwéu art is also expressed in the songs of the older women, in the music of the flute and drum players, and in the collective dances.