In the Brazilian Mekranoti tribe, women interact with men only on the principle of barter (5 photos)

The Mekranoti are a group of several hundred (relatively) little-studied Brazilian Indians living in the forests of southern Pará (a state in northern Brazil).





As in pre-contact times, the traditional way of life of these Indians was based on farming, hunting and fishing.

However, this tribe is unusual in that they have an unusual tradition in which a man can only “be” with a woman when he gives her a special gift.

First, a short excursion: what kind of tribe is this?



After paying an exorbitant sum to the only pilot willing to fly into the largely unexplored reaches of the Amazon rainforest, Gustav Versweaver boarded a light plane in a small town in Brazil and set out in search of the village of the Brazilian Mekranoti tribe.

Without even a return ticket, the young Belgian anthropologist was finally on his way to realizing his dream. He had been waiting for years for the opportunity to study one of the most remote peoples on earth. Having reached the tribe, he established contact with them and decided to live among them for exactly 3 years.

Returning home, Versweaver wrote a whole book about the traditions of the Mekranoti Indians, so only thanks to his works we can learn a lot of interesting things about this people.

Mekranoti live in a small village



The small village of Mekranoti is located deep in the Amazon forest of northern Brazil, filled with stinging ants, scorpions, snakes and poisonous caterpillars.

The staple food of the Indians is sweet potatoes, which are planted exclusively by women. However, in everyday life the Indians also engage in hunting and fishing.

Mekranoti usually hunt small animals: monkeys, turtles, armadillos. On very rare occasions, hunters encounter herds of peccaries (wild boars) or tapirs.

And the men of Mekranoti have to hunt big game all the time for a rather funny reason



The Mekranoti Indians are unusual in having an existing tradition of sexual barter, where unmarried women are obliged to provide sexual services to the men of the community in exchange for gifts of beads, meat, animal skins and other items of value.

And the younger and more beautiful the woman, the more valuable gifts she demands from the man in exchange for marriage or the opportunity to spend the night with her in a remote place from the village on a special bed made of stems.



Because of this, many young men (really) have to give women meat and fish, and the more meat, the better for him.

And in order to get the opportunity to get married, many young men are ready to risk their lives by going on a jaguar hunt in order to bring his skin to his woman, to prove to her his courage and readiness to conceive a strong child.

But with all this, such women have a lower social status in the tribe due to the fact that they expect gifts, food and jewelry from men in exchange for their bodies, and do not contribute to the food and prosperity of the tribe.