LETTER TO VERONICA PINHEIRO
Ara pyau, tempo novo
Cristine Takuá
14 de outubro de 2024
Good morning, Veronica
I hope you feel well at this moment when you read my heartfelt words. Here the rain falls lightly and the singing silence of the forest is present.
We met at the Guarani Living School from 6 to 9 October to hold art and thinking creation workshops together with the Selvagem team and the young people and children from my village. We missed you a lot during those days, because your presence always enlivens and illuminates our creations, but I know you were absent because of the beautiful meeting that provided you with enchanting encounters in Ceará. We continue to talk about children, the need to listen carefully and to allow ourselves to keep dreaming.
In the days we've been here, we've concentrated around the fire on a long night of singing and studying; we've started plastering the walls of the study house, the research classroom in the forest, with clay; we've bathed in the waterfall at dawn and produced some art.
Photos: Alice Faria (left and center) e Tania Grillo (right)
After listening to Carlos Papa's ancient narratives, the young people created a canvas called Ara Pyau, the new Guarani time, a moment that we are now experiencing with the arrival of Tupã kuery, the thunders that announced the arrival of the new time. The Selvagem team and I focused on the map of São Paulo's Nhe'ery, the land of Piratininga, where Parana Pines and Queen Palms lived. I'm still writing down the names of places, rivers and streets and their meanings in the language. Many people walk through São Paulo, speak Tupi Guarani and don't even know they're speaking it. Ibirapuera, Anhanguera, Tucuruvi, Jacui Carandiru, Tamanduateí, Tietê, Guayanazes, Tatuapé, and so many other names that, in their meanings, portray the landscape of the Nhe'ery that has been hidden by the concrete cities.
I'm dreaming of organising another workshop soon so that you can be with us and we can organise a canvas with the children, about children's thoughts. I've become increasingly fascinated by the truth of children, their mysteries and surprises.
Children teach through playing and put us to observe the wonders of life in the smallest things. Every day is children's day, they are seeds. It is for them that Nhamandu Mirim, the Sun God, rises every morning to generate life, to warm us and to enlighten us.
This morning I salute the Sun, the children and their enlightened strength, my friend Verô.
Photos: Carlos Papá (left) e Tania Grillo (right)