At the time of the discovery of Brazil, the native Brazilians walked around naked. This is how the Portuguese colonizers found them. Costumes and adornments were generally used in rites and celebrations, as they are still used today in many tribes, especially the more isolated ones.

 

The costumes were introduced to the indigenous customs by the Portuguese colonizers. After contact with the so-called “civilization,” the Indians adopted the clothes of the city men.

 

Currently, the clothing of the Indians is related to the climate, nature, its rites and parties. There are tribes that, even though they have adopted the use of clothing, their members remain naked in special solemnities.

 

Because Brazil is a tropical country with a hot climate, most Indians wear little clothing most of the time. Some tribes, which are on the Brazilian border closest to the currents originating in the Andes, wear a kind of gown, the cushmã, woven by indigenous women, in colder periods.

 

The most common garments worn by “uncivilized” Brazilian Indigenous people, or those who have had little contact with society, are the loincloth, the petticoat, or the belts that cover their sex, made from animal feathers, plant leaves, tree barks, seeds, or beads. The latter, highly appreciated, were always exchanged between primitive peoples and colonizers and viajantes (travelers). In the 13th century, Marco Polo was already spreading them throughout Asia, and it was up to the Portuguese and Spanish to spread them among the Amerindians. 

 

In some tribes, since the 19th century, women have worn algodão (cotton) sheets or quilts wrapped around the bust, in a garment similar to a tunic. Generally speaking, clothing for the Indian is not associated with moral aspects.

 

Brazilian Indians wear many adornments and body paintings. The ornaments are made with feathers of birds—such as macaw, hawk, parrot, toucan, guará—and sisal, stones, teeth, nails, claws and beaks of animals and also seeds. Garments are adorned especially with feathers, and usually worn on special occasions, rites and celebrations.

 

The Tupi Indigenous people were the most sophisticated in the art of featherwork. As they soon learned the weaving technique with cotton thread, their adornments were made on cloth bands and nets. Other groups used more fiber braiding or straw frames.

 

Plumes are used in two ways: for gluing feathers to the body and for making and decorating loincloths, headdresses or diadems, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, nasal, lip, and ear ornaments, masks, hair adornments, coifs (type of hat covering the nape), and cloaks.

 

Among the Bororo Indians, diadems made of blue macaw feathers predominate and have become a characteristic style of the group. The Maués prefer feather ornaments with green tones predominating on a red background, and among the Carajás, fan-shaped head ornaments are common.

 

The plumes adornment is a privilege of men. Women usually wear small pieces of feathers glued to the body with resin or viscous milk, forming a kind of mosaic.

 

Dancing is very important to the Indigenous people. They dance when preparing for war and returning from war; to celebrate chief, harvests, the ripening of fruits, a good catch; to mark the puberty of adolescents, or to honor the dead in funeral rituals.

 

During the dances many people wear masks, called dominoes, which cover their entire bodies and serve as a disguise.

 

They are made from vegetable tow the barks and constitute a single piece, except for the sleeves, and are completed with a fringed skirt. On the face part, there is always a horrifying design, with teeth showing, and no holes for the eyes, as the vegetable tow is very porous, allowing vision through the fabric. They are painted with materials commonly used by the Indigenous: pot-bottom soot for the black color, urucum paste for the red, and clay for the orange or yellow color. There are also smaller masks made from gourd shells and buriti straw.

 

The Indigenous find in the three kingdoms of nature—vegetal, animal and mineral—material to make ornaments such as necklaces, bracelets, armbands and earrings. Even without the proper tools, they have spent years carving and drilling stones, such as white quartz and small pebbles; they use birds' teeth, nails, bones, beaks, and feathers; snake ribs; snail shells, beetles’ wings; armadillo tails; seeds of various shapes and colors and types of bamboo and sticks.

 

Indigenous people also incorporate into their accessories any object from the “civilized people” that they find decorative such as metal plates, coins, and even firearm bullets.

 

In addition to the props, body painting is very common among Brazilian Indigenous people which, besides vanity and aesthetics, in some tribes is used as a way to distinguish social groups within a given indigenous society. The material for this painting is dyes of vegetable origin, such as urucum (red); the almost black navy blue coloring achieved with genipap; charcoal powder which is used on the body over a layer of pau-de-leite juice, and limestone from which the white color is extracted.

 

Their bodies are decorated with geometric designs, some complex and very beautiful. The choice of colors for body painting is important because it aims to transmit to the body the joy of vibrant colors.

 

 

Recife, April 27, 2011.

sources consulted

CRULS, Gastão. Hiléia amazônica. 2. ed. São Paulo: Cia. Ed. Nacional, 1955. (Brasiliana, v. 6).

FIGUÊIREDO, Lima. Índios do Brasil. São Paulo: Cia. Ed. Nacional, 1939. (Brasiliana, v. 163).

MOURÃO, Noemia. Arte plumária e máscaras de danças dos índios brasileiros. São Paulo: Artes Gráficas Bradesco, 1971. 

MOURÃO, Noêmia. Índio com viseira feita de plumas de japu, arara, gavião e flocos de penugem branca. Naringueira feitas de pena de gavião real. Grandes brincos, colar e braçadeiras completam o atrativo cerimonial [Pintura neste texto]. In: ______. Arte plumária e máscaras de danças dos índios brasileiros. São Paulo: Artes Gráficas Bradesco, 1971. Estampa 10: Índios Borôro.

 

how to quote this text

GASPAR, Lúcia. Costumes and Adornments of Brazilian Indigenous. In: PESQUISA Escolar. Recife: Fundação Joaquim Nabuco, 2011. Available at: https:https://pesquisaescolar.fundaj.gov.br/en/artigo/costumes-and-adornments-brazilian-indigenous/. Accessed on: month day year. (Ex.: 6 ago. 2020)