Jivaroan Peoples

Jivaroan peoples refers to groups of indigenous peoples in the headwaters of the Marañon River and its tributaries, in northern Peru and eastern Ecuador. These groups identify speakers of distinct languages of the language family of the same name.

The Jivaro people are famous for their head-hunting raids and shrinking the heads from these raids. These head-hunting raids usually occur once a year in one particular Jivaro neighborhood. These raiding parties usually only attack one homestead per raid, killing the men, spearing the older women to death, and taking younger women as their brides. Once the heads have been collected they are shrank by cutting the skull vertically and removing the skull and jaw bone. Then, the head is boiled and later mixed with hot gravel and sand, shrinking the head to the size of a large orange. The head is sewed up along with the lips, which are blackened with charcoal.

Jivaro religion usually involves a god and goddess. The Jivaro god, Tsungi, which is the god of shamanism. The Jivaro goddess, Nungui, refers to mother earth. Nungui is described as being a short and large woman, dressed in a black dress. According to Jivaro belief, if Nungui dances in a woman's garden, this will produce a productive garden during the harvest seasons.

Jivaro also engage in hunting activities. These activities usually involve both a man and his wife hunting with a blow gun and poisoned dart, dabbed with the poisonous plant curare, which stops the heart beat of the animal. Jivaro usually hunt for monkeys and birds, but they do not rely on hunting as their primary food source. Hunting is primarily a time for a man and woman to have sexual intercourse with one another.