ACORDAR DO DIA

Cristine Takuá

15 de agosto de 2024

Drawing: Israel Maxakali

CANTO DO POVO DE UM LUGAR [SINGING OF THE PEOPLE FROM SOMEWHERE]

(Música de Caetano Veloso traduzida para Maxakali)

Every day the Sun comes up

And we all sing to the Sun of each day

By late afternoon the earth goes golden

And we all cry the end of the afternoon

When at night, the moon is gentle

And we all dance worshipping the night

TIKMÛ’ÛN KUTEX HÃM PUXET TU

Mãyõn yã hãm tup pip ma xupep

Hakmû tuk kutex mõkumak hãmtup pip ma

Mõnãm tûmnãg tu yã nãm te hãm’atã nãhã

Iîg mûg potaha ãmãxãgnãg yî

Mãyõnhex ãmniy pipma nõgtap

Yîg mû ãte hãm yãg ûmõg me’ex ãmnîyhã

Art: Isael Maxakali

In the soft mist that surrounds the dawn, children, young people, grandmas and adults mingle in a melody of laughter, songs and the telling of dreams. The smoke from the campfire, together with the little fire that makes the coffee or heats the water for the mate herb, is present. Birds sing and enchant the moments that we experience at each new moment as the day wakes up.

The Sun is considered to be an usher and a creator, a source of life and energy, a sacred being who warms and illuminates us with radiant layers, encouraging us to walk the path of longings and challenges. Each people, in their ancestral memory, names the Sun in their own way: the Guarani name the Sun Kuaray or Nhamandu, when referring to their divinity. The Maxakali, Mãyõn. The Baniwa, Kamoi and the Huni Kuï, Bari.

Foto: Cadu Castro, aldeia Rio Silveira

Many wise elders say that the Sun rises every day only because of the precious presence of little children here on Earth. It is for children, according to them, that the sacred Sun still comes, regardless of so many human contradictions.

Today, many people grow up fearing the Sun, always thinking about climate change and the global warming, but they don't remember, when they wake up and at dusk, to revere the Sun. Since childhood, indigenous peoples have been taught to honour and revere the Sun, the moon and all the entities of the sky and the Earth, the visible and the invisible ones. And immersed in this poetics of resistance, each one, in their own way, aims to follow the footsteps of their ancestors with respect, delicacy and beauty.

Drawing: Jose Vhera Guarani

NHAMANDU TENONDE
Our First Sun God

Nhamandu tenonde

Oyvarapy py

Imba’ekuaa gui

Onhembojera

Pytuymã mbyte gui

Nhanderu

Nhamandu tenonde

Tenonde

Photo: Cris Takuá