Indigenous and Nature: the Reciprocity between the Kaingang People and Nature in the Indigenous Lands Por Fi Gâ, Jamã Tÿ Tãnh and Foxá

Abstract

The Kaingang People currently represent, from a demographic point of view, the largest indigenous people in southern Brazil, with almost thirty thousand individuals. This study aims at analyzing some aspects of the Kaingang Indians and their relationship with nature in the indigenous lands Por Fi Gâ (in Sao Leopoldo, southern Brazil), Jamã Tÿ Tãnh (in Estrela, southern Brazil) and Foxá (in Lajeado, southern Brazil), all located in urban areas in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Fundamental references are authors who study the Kaingang People, their culture and the indigenous perspective considering their relationship with nature, since their own name, Kaingang, means “people from the forest”. Nature is present in the Kaingang collectivity, among which we highlight aspects like nomination of children and rituals, for example, the Kikikói celebration. The Kaingang are connected to nature, they depend on it to maintain their way of being and the continuity of the traditions that are transmitted from generation to generation. For the Kaingang People the earth is understood as the mother of everything that exists in nature, both human and non-human, therefore they maintain reciprocal relations with it even in urban areas.