In the beginning there was no light and only Nápiruli, the Creator, could see through the darkness. First he made Dzuuli, his younger brother. The creation of men and women came next, followed by that of the world, light, land, water, plants, and animals. Nápiruli made the seeds of each plant: one of yucca, one of pineapple, one of sugarcane, and one of plantain. Then he taught the women to plant, to harvest, and to weave the catumare, the magical basket used for collecting and transporting food.

The Baniwa language belongs to the Arawak linguistic family and is closely related to the language of the Bare, Tsase, Warekena, and the Wakuénai. It is spoken by approximately two thousand people scattered throughout Venezuela, Colombia, and Brazil. Like other ethnic groups of the Río Negro region, the Baniwa suffered greatly from exploitation by the rubber industry early this century. Their numbers were diminished and their culture transformed. Today the remaining Baniwa live in Maroa, capital of the department of Casiquiare in the Venezuelan state of Amazonas, and in Colombia, near the Caño Aquio and the Isana River. The region’s history of violence also spurred migration toward San Fernando de Atabapo, San Carlos de Río Negro, Santa Rosa, Puerto Ayacucho and the Xié River in Brazil. The progressive abandonment of their ancestral ways of life has made the Baniwa increasingly dependent on industrial products. Today, many people buy even traditional foods like manioc and cassava from criollos, sometimes at very high prices. Although market foods make up the bulk of the Baniwa diet, they do hunt, gather, and fish according to cycles of rain and drought. However, since most Baniwa children attend criollo schools, it is often difficult to coordinate these collective activities with the school year calendar. For hunting monkeys and birds like the toucan, the Baniwa make blowpipes as well as bows and arrows with bone arrowheads. They also use bows and arrows to fish. As their traditions have disappeared, so has much of their material culture. Although in the past they had been skilled in pottery and basket-making, with very few exceptions, these crafts have not been passed on to new generations. The few families who still work in basketry make esteras, guapas, sebucanes, mapires, catumares, and sopladores, the ventilators used to stoke fires. These crafts are made with the tirite, mamure, moriche, and cucurito fibers. Chiquichique fibers are used to make the small brooms used to spread flour when making cassava. Although they spin cotton, the Baniwa do not make their own hammocks, as they prefer to purchase ones made of cloth in Colombia. Among the musical instruments still played are the yupurutú, whistles made with the stems of mabe palm and the walking sticks, which they use to keep the rhythm of the dance during the Dabacurí festival. When hit against the ground, the sticks make a drum-like sound. Acculturation and assimilation have not meant a complete loss of ancient mythology.Their Creator Nápiruli (Iñápirrikúli) is a deity also honored by other Arawak groups of Southern Venezuela and Colombia. The Baniwa belief system has much in common with the Tsase, Warekena, Wakuénai, and Bare peoples. Like the Bare, the Baniwa attribute the humid and cold climactic changes in the southwest state of Amazonas to magical and religious forces. The Áparo, short men who carry thunder and lightning over their backs, are responsible for the climate. The Áparo are Mawali, or malignant spirits. They navigate the turbulent and dark waters of the Guainía and Río Negro in tiny curiaras unseen by human eyes, bringing rain, wind, and fog. They soar over rivers during the rainy season, and, if seen, knock over the humans’ curiaras, sinking the fishing tools to the bottom of the river. Despite the fear that the Áparo evoke, the Baniwa, nonetheless, venture out into the rivers, like their forebears, in search of sustenance. References Oscar González Ñáñez, Orígenes del mundo según los baniva, Venezuela Misionera, Caracas, 1970. Robin Michael Wright, History and Religion of the Baniwa Peoples of the Upper Rio Negro Valley, Michigan, 1981.