Plastic cave made in Spain keeps Amazonian culture alive

It is not yet dawn in Ulupuwene, an Indigenous village in the Brazilian Amazon, but the Wauja people have already risen to prepare for the festive day ahead.

- Constance Malleret

The sound of clarinet-like instruments floats across the village, on the banks of the Batovi River, as women sweep the earthen floor between the thatched traditional houses.

Men paint their bodies with charcoal and bright-red achiote seeds. As the sun rises over the rainforest, men, women and children all meet in the village centre to sing and dance.

The Wauja people are performing ritual dances all day to mark the inauguration of a lifesize replica of a sacred cave called Kamukuwaká, which is being housed in the first Indigenous museum in the Xingu region. The Wauja people hope this unique resource will help to preserve their cultural heritage and keep traditions alive for future generationsas well as draw attention to the threats their land faces from the climate crisis and local extractive industries.

"This here is an instrument that will show our strength, our struggle and our unity with other Xingu people," said the chief of Ulupuwene, Elewoká Waurá.