Cultural Recovery and Documentation of the Tapayuna Kajkhwakratxi-j Festivals and Rituals: KUKWAJ - The Monkey Festival

The Tapayuna people live on the fringes of the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest and face the challenge of maintaining their traditions and preventing their culture from fading.

A forced relocation of the entire community in 1979 reduced the Tapayuna to 10% of their original numbers and weakened their social and governance structures.

Our grantee Associao Indgena Tapayuna (AIT) is developing an oral history and cultural revival project of the Tapayuna rituals to recover traditions that have been lost.

The social reconnection and strengthening of identity will serve as a critical base for grassroots development and psychosocial health for Tapayuna youth.

The Tapayuna youth will lead the activities by engaging with the elders that still remember the traditional rituals that were a significant part of their culture.The IAF supports community-led solutions to community wellbeing and health.This small grant is part of a cohort of Indigenous organizations based across Brazil that aim to support their communities and promote spaces for exchange and learning among different ethnicities facing complex challenges.