A MEETING AROUND THE FIRE
Cristine Takuá
4 December 2025
I have learned from the Guarani elder women
that fire is a serious and sacred matter.
Grandma Fire and Grandpa Fire sustain
and hold the Earth firm and warm.
The earth feeds and shelters us.
Fire, with their ancestral power,
illuminates us and dispels all evil.
For a long time I dreamed of experiencing an encounter with the Guarani, Maxakali, and Huni Kuin praying people. In 2017, I had a very profound dream that gave me guidance to organize this great prayer. When I woke up from this dream, I reflected on the messages and started finding ways to make it happen. Years passed, the pandemic came, then changes in life, and I saw the Living Schools blossom. Eight years after that dream, today, coordinating the Living Schools project under the guidance of Anna Dantes, with the Selvagem Association and the collective of each Living School, we have managed to make this possibility of exchange sprout. In October, after the Living School House artistic residencywe came with the Living Schools delegations to Rio Silveira Village, my home.
Those were truly enchanting days, when we were able to walk in the forest and share experiences, challenges, and dreams with my Maxakali relatives who came with Isael and Sueli: Mamei, Isabelinha, and some children; the Huni Kuin family, in the presence of Professor Dua Busë and his partner Netë, José Maia Yube and his sister Ayani; the Guarani people from the community; the distinguished presence of Professor Francisco Baniwa, as well as my friend and partner in dreams Veronica Pinheiro and Daniel, from the Selvagem team. We roasted fish, played the flute, admired the Karaja Ambá mountain, and even saw the sea.
One of the most profound and meaningful exchanges during this gathering was the circle around the fire at the Opy, our prayer house in the middle of the forest. We all went there at the end of the day, and before the sun went down, we were all gathered around the sacred fire waiting for the ceremony to begin. For several years now, Papá and I have been taking care of the prayer house and performing spiritual ceremonies to heal, animate the spirit, and also to treat some young people with alcoholism problems. Sometimes we consecrate the medicine of the Moã'i vine, as we call the teacher of the forest. In recent years, we have been doing a lot of exchanges with my Maxakali relatives to strengthen the body and spirit, so that we can then heal the earth. The Living School practice has also been active in teaching this dialogue with the teacher plants and seeking to heal the wounds that the colonial process left in many of us. Isael Maxakali and pajé Mamei speak of medicine as a yamiy, like taking a spirit vine. Many teachings have blossomed in these studies late into the night.
But at this gathering, we experienced something even more special, because we were in the presence of Master Dua Busë, teacher of the sacred songs taught by the boa constrictor. And also Netë, who served Moã’i with me to everyone present. There were about 30 of us in the small Opy, but we spent the whole night there, the children dreaming and us in concentration, singing, listening to stories, and receiving messages from the Yuxibu, the Yamiyxop, and Nhanderu. A very special presence who accompanied us as we gathered around the fire was Professor Francisco Baniwa, who told the stories of the Rio Negro with great depth. It was very moving to listen to Francisco that night and feel how much that encounter would strengthen him and give strength to him and his entire family.
The night was long, with many sensitive processes and a lot of emotion. When the day dawned and Sun began to shine again, everyone got up to pay homage to the Sun and the forest, who had welcomed us throughout the night. Little by little, we returned to my house to rest. In the middle of the next day, we received a visit from Nastassja Martin, her daughter, and Idjahure, who came to accompany the exchange experiences with the Living Schools.
During the days that followed, we roasted fish and listened to many stories from the shaman Mamei Maxakali, the shaman Dua Busë Huni Kuin, the xamoi Carlos Papá, and Professor Francisco Baniwa. Each one said “fish,” “watermelon,” “banana,” and “stone” in their own language. We exchanged words, dreams, and lots of laughter.
Long live the Living Schools, that keep beating in our hearts and minds, awakening memories and sparking the energy that springs from excitement, through the care and affection of allowing ourselves to be wild with each new dawn.
