ANEKKE MENIRE

There, on the other side of the river. Piercing eyes looked at me curiously behind the mask, with stories about their ancestors painted with dye on their skin. I could almost hear the sound of their hearts beating in unison, beating together, shining under the moon itself. 

Because that is what they are: daughters of the moon. 

Grandmothers, daughters and granddaughters

who preserve their tradition, their history, their land.

Because they are the real protectors of life. 

They are the “menire”, the indigenous women of the Amazon.

The river connected all these tribes, leaving a trail in its wake that told their story and spoke of their fight. 
El río conectaba todas esas tribus,
dejando a su paso un reguero que hablaba de su historia, de su lucha.
Y allí, rodeada por ellas, pronto entendí su conexión con la tribu, con su hogar, con su historia.
And there, surrounded by them, I soon understood their connection with the tribe, their home, their history. It was all there, surrounding me. It was in the 4 elements of Mother Nature: the earth, the fire, the water and the air. It was in our veins, flowing with the force of the river. It was in the stories told around a campfire, where we were family.  
But it is also in their tradition, in the craftwork. They are connected by an invisible thread through a song that guides them, in this process in which their souls unite to produce handmade shapes called “kene”. 
And I travelled through their history. That of each tribe, each woman who carried the banner of the fight for the Amazon. That of their fight to protect their home, their customs, their history. 
Y viajé por su historia. La de cada tribu, cada mujer que llevaba por bandera la lucha por el Amazonas. La de su lucha por proteger su hogar, sus costumbres, su historia.
And I became part of them, another member of the tribe. I was a guardian wearing a tribal mask, discovering all the nuances hidden in each shape drawn on the skin. We were a reflection in the river that painted out the word “people”. We were power. We were courage. 

I was an artisan connected to their magic souls, weaving a little bit of their tradition with my hands, enticing their ancestors.


And, with their traditional shapes, I created new tales about these female warriors, about how their words were painted in colours, about how their shapes were also mine now. 

Because their fight is mine too. Because their home, the Amazon, is mine now as well.
Because the Amazon has a woman’s name.