Before Nápiruli created the world, the bee-men and the bird-men fought for control. Kuwai, the Creator, came to the human realm to bring order to chaos. He expanded the territories and gave light to the world. With the help of his relatives, he taught the Warekena about food, music, technology, daily life, religion, and the customs that distinguish the sexes.

The Warekena consider themselves descendents of the picure, their sacred animal; thus their name, which means “grandchildren of the picure.” The Warekena at one time belonged to a larger social group made up of the Tariana, Bare, Tsase, and Wakuénai. As a result, their language and culture is extraordinarily similar. Known for their facility with languages, Warekena often are fluent in three or four indigenous tongues as well as Spanish, Portuguese, and Yeral, a French dialect. Many also speak the Baniwa language, a culture with whom they share many traits. Not surprising, in this process of acculturation, the Warekena’s own language has become almost extinct. Their population is contained mostly in the Wayanapi and Guzmán Blanco communities, near the Guanía-Río Negro, and along the San Miguel or Itini-Wini channel. Many Warekena families migrated toward the Orinoco, the Atabapo, and Puerto Ayacucho as a result of colonization and exploitation by rubber traders. This long history of contact with missionaries, rubber traders, merchants, slaveholders, and colonizers has had devastating effects on Warekena culture. Among those enslaved for rubber extraction were shamans, the men charged with keeping the tradition and memory of the past alive. As these holy men died they took with them the secret practices and sacred ceremonies of their culture. Today the Warekena visit neighboring Wakuénai shamans in the Guainía in an effort to revive some of the traditions. One such revival is the ceremony in which youths are initiated into the teachings of the Creator Nápiruli, who taught the people the essence of being Warekena. Young men prepare for this rite of passage by painting their bodies with a red vegetable resin called chica, which symbolizes the blood of Nápiruli. Nápiruli also taught the Warekena the techniques, designs, and colors for basket making and pottery. According to tradition, the cultural hero, Mjumpe Numana, deposited clay for their pottery into the rivers. For this reason, the pottery of the Warekena is intimately linked to the magical-religious beliefs that govern its production. Warakena pots were decorated with a glaze made of soft clay mixed with vegetable resins that made them waterproof. Although some pottery is still produced, the introduction of metal pots and plastic and aluminum utensils has meant the gradual disappearance of the craft. The Warekena do, however, maintain the tradition of making guapas and manares, the latter used for processing foods from the bitter yucca. They also make baskets used for carrying goods. The Warekena use chiquichique fibers to make large brooms for domestic chores and smaller ones used to spread yucca flour over the budare while preparing cassava and manioc. This same fiber has become the basis of a changing economy for the Warekena. In recent years the Warekena have become increasingly dependent on criollo merchants to whom they sell the fiber. Although criollos have introduced a wage economy, the Warekena do not always work for money. Instead, in exchange for the fiber, they receive "advances" of industrial products: outboard motors for boats, cloth, canned goods, bait, ammunition, sugar, coffee, salt, powdered milk, liquor and soap. These goods are "charged" to an account that indigenous producers rarely are able to pay off, which often leaves them indebted to the traders for life. In order to survive, they supplement market activities with subsistence agriculture. Like other groups, they practice slash-and-burn agriculture. Their conucos, which are kept in a manner similar to other ethnic groups in the region, are found near the San Miguel channel. During the dry season they fish, using cacures, fishing traps, and nets woven with cumare fiber. Although less known for their nautical skills than the Ye'kuana, the Warekena are nonetheless able navigators and makers of curiaras. References Natalia Díaz Peña, Aproximaciones a la estética primitiva en la etnia Warekena, IDEA, Caracas, 1995. Omar González Ñáñez, Mitología Guarequena, Monte Avila Editores, Caracas, 1980.