MAYORUNA AMAZON TRIBE - MISSIONARY SHORT-TERM TRIP

 MARK AND I HAVE SUPPORTED THIS MINISTRY TO THE AMAZON FOR YEARS. 
If you, a church group, or your church would like to become short-term missionaries to the Mayoruna Tribe in the Amazon, please contact this website to inquire about trips/costs:

Amazon Expeditions Home Page
http://amazonxpeditions.com/

Christ for the Nations Bible College from Dallas Texas is doing a trip to the Amazon on:
May 15 - June 5, 2012

These pictures reflect the Medical Clinic that Amazon Expeditions sets up when they take these trips to the Amazon people.

This video is about Amazon Xpeditions Missionary Trips

Please see this page for the dates and costs:  http://amazonxpeditions.com/category/trips/

READ BELOW about the Mayoruna Tribe within the Amazon:

(This was what happened and what was in the most current newsletter that I received on November 15, 2011)  I am typing this to share with you from the latest newsletter that I received.  This will be exactly as the wrote in their current newsletter and not me personally:)

The last night we spent in San Antonio, Brazil at Clauber's home, the team from Ohio had opportunity to... pray for MOSES and to omission him to the Gospel ministry into THE 'VALLEY". (The Valley of the Amazon).

We have been training Moses, from the Mayuruna Tribe, during the last three years, now he is ready to evangelize his own people among many villages in the jungle.

We have purchased a large canoe and a new "peque-peque" motor, plenty of fuel, food, and lots of Christian literature to be distributed along these remote villages along unchartered rivers.

Moses work is to visit each village on those rivers, to spend one day on each village and share with the people what it means for him to have salvation in Jesus Christ. Then he will share literature in Spanish or Portuguese languages and make arrangements to visit them again and start a Bible study once a month.

Next day Moses will go to the next village and repeat the process. We expect him to start fifteen different Bible studies and by the end of 2012 to establish at least ten churches in 'THE VALLEY".

At the same time we continue making trips to build the orphanage and install other water purification systems, reaching other villages rom the other tribes.

Thank you for praying for Moses and for investing in his ministry. He needs $200 each month for his personal expenses and $300 each month for his "peque-puque's" fuel. May the Lord bless you.

I will post a picture of Moses later...
This is the HISTORY and who the Mayoruna Amazon Tribe is (posted below)...

Please prayerfully consider becoming involved, your church youth group, or your church).  

The Mayoruna live in widely scattered groups along the Rio Javari, which over much of its course marks the boundary between Brazil and Peru. On the Brazilian side there are several small settlements with a total population of about 250 on the upper Javari. Across the river on the Peruvian side, the Mayoruna villages, with a total population of approximately 350, are between the Javari and its tributary, the Río Galvez. In 1978, after a clash between Mayoruna factions, about 100 Mayoruna migrated far downriver and founded a new settlement some 80 kilometers above the confluence of the Javari with the Solimoes. There are believed to be uncontacted groups of Mayoruna living in the regions of both the upper and lower Javari.

The Mayoruna speak a language of the Panoan Family; only a few speak Spanish or Portuguese fluently. "Mayoruna" is apparently a name of Quechua origin, derived from the words for "river" ( mayo ) and "people" ( runa ). It was applied in colonial times to several groups similar in language and appearance that were in contact with Spanish Jesuit missions on the Solimões, Huallaga, and Ucayali rivers. Some settled at these missions, whose populations, however, were often reduced by epidemics and mass desertions. After the Jesuits left in 1769, the missions were taken over by Franciscans, and, although some Mayoruna remained settled, others became hostile, gaining a reputation as fierce nomadic cannibals who made it impossible for Whites to explore the stretches of the Javari they controlled. In 1866 the Mayoruna attacked members of the boundary commission surveying the frontier between Peru and Brazil.

Uncontacted Amazon Tribe: First ever aerial footage

At the time of the rubber boom, Peruvian and Brazilian rubber tappers moved into the Javari region. Little is known of the Mayoruna during this period; they may have retreated to the headwaters of tributaries on the Peruvian side. The account of an elderly Mayoruna indicates that they were intent on avoiding contact. After this man's father was killed around 1920 in a fight with hunters of animal skins, some of his group, which was then living on the upper Río Galvez in Peru, left to explore the vicinity of the Bio Pardo, a tributary of the Curuçá in Brazil. After some months, five men returned, relating that they had found a region without Whites and where there was plenty of game. The rest of the exploring party had remained there to clear fields and build houses. The entire group then made the long migration of over 240 kilometers, carrying with them maize seeds, banana shoots, and manioc stalks to plant in the new gardens. When they arrived after three months of travel, they found that the manioc stalks had dried up and were useless. A few young men took a canoe and paddled downriver until they came upon the homestead of a settler, from whose garden they stole fresh manioc stalks for planting.

This group lived undisturbed for forty years, until Protestant missionaries of the Summer Institute of Linguistics attempted to contact them. The missionaries' planes began to make low flights over the Mayoruna village, dropping presents such as knives, cooking pots, and cloth. At first the villagers refused to touch these things, pushing them into the river with sticks or burning them. The missionaries persisted, however, and on a day when the headman was away, some villagers, overcome by curiosity, gathered the presents.

Beginning in the early 1960s, the Mayoruna increasingly came into contact and conflict with Peruvians and Brazilians who were opening roads for logging and rubber tapping. There were killings on both sides, and the Mayoruna kidnapped several White women. The missionaries' efforts also continued, and eventually two women missionaries were able to live with a Mayoruna group and study their language. Through emissaries from contacted groups, they persuaded the Pardo group to move nearer to Peru, but in 1969 the Mayoruna again dispersed, some rejecting contact and returning to isolation.

The Mayoruna live in large communal houses, rectangular in shape, with an entrance at each end. The walls are built of vertical bamboo posts, and the palm-leaf roof has overhanging eaves. In the interior there are eating and storage areas, an enclosed sleeping area, and a separate cooking place for each wife. At the doorway of each house the Mayoruna display monkey skulls mounted on poles and bones of the game animals they have killed. These bones give clues to the prevalence of game, as the more smoke-darkened the bones the longer since the animal was killed, whereas the bones of more recently killed animals are white.

Mayoruna women seldom marry outside the tribe, except for those who are kidnapped, sometimes as children. The Mayoruna and other groups often steal children, including Whites, whom they adopt and raise as members of the tribe. A young husband lives with his wife's family for a period of time, and nowadays, as well as working for his father-in-law, he is expected to bring presents such as radios, wristwatches, and rifles, which confer high prestige among the Mayoruna, to his wife's parents. Preferred marriage is with a cross cousin, either matrilateral or patrilateral.

A boy receives his name from his father's father or from his father's father's brothers, either biological or classificatory. Girls' names are inherited from the mother's mother or from sisters of the mother's mother. A girl child was traditionally betrothed at birth to a small boy, which imposed on the boy's parents important responsibilities toward her; they were expected to provide the future bride with food up to the age of marriage, generally at puberty.

Although it is known that the Mayoruna on the Brazilian side have shamans in their villages, little is known to outsiders about their shamanistic practices, nor has Mayoruna cosmology been studied.

Hunting has always been a very important factor in Mayoruna subsistence, and movement in search of game probably contributed to their nomadism. Present-day Mayoruna hunt with bows and arrows, a practice they learned from the neighboring Marubo. The Mayoruna formerly used the blowgun, but for unknown reasons they have abandoned it. Women accompany hunting parties, helping with the pursuit of game and carrying the animals. Meat is distributed according to well-defined rules, and the meat of certain kinds of animals cannot be consumed at the same meal as that of certain other kinds. A hunter never eats the game that he himself killed. Fishing is a dry-season activity, and collective fishing parties may produce large quantities of fish, which the Mayoruna preserve by smoking. They also gather a number of different wild fruits.

The Mayoruna practice slash-and-burn agriculture, preferring dark soils on high ground. Their fields average 300 meters by 100 meters in size. Men plant manioc and maize, and women plant bananas and most minor crops except tobacco. Besides their staples, the Mayoruna grow yams, sweet potatoes, sugarcane,barbasco (fish poison), arrow canes, cotton, achiote (for skin paint), and other plants. The missionaries have introduced citrus fruits, rice, mangoes, and cacao. Women harvest maize, and men weed the gardens. The owner of the crop is the family that planted the field, but men invite other men to help them weed in exchange for some of the produce of the field. Before the Mayoruna let a field go fallow, they dig up the rest of the manioc tubers and make flour from them. The plot is then no longer weeded, but they return to pick the fruit from trees they have planted.

All Mayoruna—men, women, and children—have a line tattooed around the lips and across the cheeks to each ear. The tatoo instrument is a sharp fish bone. They also make small perforations across the upper lip and sometimes in the nostrils, into which they stick bristles. These "jaguar whiskers" give the face a feline look that is fundamental to the Mayoruna image. Faces are painted with achiote and cord anklets and wristlets are worn. All Mayoruna women make hammocks for their close relatives, and they also make pots to store water and to cook meat and sweet manioc.

The Mayoruna have occasionally worked for Whites as skin hunters or loggers, but they are still little involved in the regional economy. On the Brazilian side, the Mayoruna at one government Indian post have cut and sold timber through the intermediary of the Indian agent, using the proceeds to buy salt, kerosene, batteries, clothing, tools, and other Western goods to which they have become accustomed.

The health of the Mayoruna is probably now suffering less than that of most other recently contacted groups because, on both the Brazilian and Peruvian sides of the border, they have received some immunizations. A recent census of the Brazilian settlements shows that more than 65 percent of the population is estimated to be under 20 years old. This indicates that the population is growing rapidly, but the lack of people over 50 suggests that epidemic diseases must have taken a heavy toll in former years. On the Brazilian side of the border, the project for the Javari Indian Park, with a proposed area of over 80,000 square kilometers will, if carried out, provide land for the Mayoruna as well as for a number of other Amazonian groups.

Read more: Mayoruna - http://www.everyculture.com/South-America/Mayoruna.html#ixzz1e0ioQRR5

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T he Mayoruna (sometimes spelled Mayuruna) Indians (also called the Matsés, not to be confused with the Matis) of Brazil and Peru practice a unique native ceremony involving the use of a poison obtained from the skin of a frog. Phyllomedusa bicolor, an arboreal dart frog, commonly found in the canopy of the Amazonian rainforest, excretes a toxin from its skin that the Mayoruna inject into their bodies. Although the poison frog ceremony has probably been practiced for hundreds of years by the Mayoruna and Matis tribes, it is only recently that scientists have become aware of it and have begun to study the chemical components of the toxin and its effects on humans. While not as well-known as the hallucinogenic plant Ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis caapi), some of the chemicals found in the poison frog toxin may prove of medicinal use with a number of brain malfunctions, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and clinical depression. Experiments involving this toxin are opening up new areas of research involving brain functions.  Why do the Mayoruna Indians inject this frog poison into their bodies? The answer to this question is complex and you need to study the Mayoruna culture to truly understand their fascination with the toxin and the ceremony. This poison dart frog is known by Panoan-speaking Indians (Mayoruna, Matis, Korubo, and Marubo) as “hunting magic.” The Mayoruna believe that the toxin increases ones endurance and strength, making them invincible hunters. Additionally, they give it to individuals that are perceived as lazy, believing it will make them better workers. Almost immediately after taking the poison, one experiences a rapid heartbeat, vomiting and incontinence, and later one enters a dream-like state. After awakening from a deep sleep, the Indians say one can hunt for long periods without feeling hungry or tired, and that their hunting arrows always hit their prey. Some have remarked that taking frog poison is similar to getting high, but in reverse. First you get a hangover (vomiting) and later you feel euphoria.  I first experienced this ceremony when I traveled with my Canadian friend Jason to the Yavarí Valley which occupies the frontier of Peru with Brazil. Jason and I visited a Mayoruna tribe maloca (long house) near the Yavarí River where we witnessed and participated in the ceremony. At the Mayorunamaloca we met Tchampicassi, a beautiful teenage Mayoruna girl. Shortly after arriving I asked her to boil some water for us as we had run out of drinking water. While the water was being heated, she showed me some of the plants in her garden. She showed me a plant they call “Awaka” which she explained they use to kill fish. Next she showed me a poisonous plant that she said some Mayoruna women use to kill their husbands. Shortly after, she brought me the boiled water. The water was muddy and murky, and after viewing the collection of poisonous plants in her garden, I just couldn’t bring myself to drink it and went the whole day without water. Tchampicassi is a natural blonde, which is not unusual among the Mayoruna. It seems that until recently, the Mayoruna kidnapped white women and integrated them into their tribe. Using my camcorder mounted on a tripod, I filmed Tchampicassi injecting frog poison for the first time in her life. At the beginning of the ceremony, she was cheerful and laughing. I watched as her mother used a stick from a fire to burn two points on her abdomen. Next the frog poison mixed with human saliva (to activate it) was applied to the wounds. Within a few minutes, the formerly bubbly teenager, drifted-off into another world. To truly appreciate how frog poison is used by indigenous Amazonians, you need to view my Matis videos that are available on DVD and instant download.  My friend Jason also participated in the ceremony. First he drank a type of chicha that was bright orange. Next he snorted a tobacco mixture (nu-nu) that was blown into his nose by one of the Mayoruna. Three small points were burned on his arm. After peeling off the outer skin layer, the poison frog mixture was applied. Within several minutes his heart rate accelerated and his body and mind responded to the toxin in a manner that could only be described as intense. Although not hallucinogenic in the sense that LSD or ayahuasca is, my friend experience a dream-like state and later euphoria. Jason said that his perception of the world changed and he would never see things the same after this experience. Later that night, I remember one of our group teasing Jason that the frog toxin was changing him and that his face was beginning to resemble a frog. Cheerful and cordial as always, Jason smiled and winked at me and I could see that o5r friend that had made the comment had missed something; my friend Jason had dared to explore a world few outsiders ever see – not the realm of the frog, but the world of the Mayoruna.  If you would like to learn how you can meet theMatsés-Mayoruna and find out how you can help them preserve their culture, please contact me atdjpantone@amazon-indians.org.  Extraordinaryvideos of the Matis tribe are available.   Additionally, if you are interested in authentic Matsés bows and arrows, hammocks or other crafts, please contact handicrafts@amazon-indians.org.  For more information about the Matsés-Mayoruna Indians, please visit www.amazon-indians.org/matses.  In addition, please view the documentary films of my expeditions to the Matis Indians which are available on video.  The author, Dr. Dan James Pantone, is the editor of Amazon-Indians and an ecologist currently working with the Movement in the Amazon for Tribal Subsistence and Economic Sustainability (MATSES), a NGO that is helping indigenous people so that they themselves can preserve their culture and lands in a sustainable and independent manner.

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