Introduction / History

The Karaja are an indigenous people living along the Araguaia River, Brazil. Their villages are carefully planned, with houses, cemeteries, and ritual spaces following cultural symbolism.

What Are Their Lives Like?

Karajas are organized upriver, midriver, and downriver, reflecting symbolic and social structures tied to their myths, rituals, and daily life.They plant maize, manioc, potatoes, bananas, watermelon, yams, peanuts, and beans, and they also collect wild fruits.Both men and women make baskets. Women also make ceramic art in many forms.Karajas also engage in fishing, hunting, and seasonal rituals, often connected to the river and forest cycles.

What Are Their Beliefs?

Their myths cover a wide range of topics: the origins of the Karaja, agriculture, animals, celestial bodies, rain, warrior women, and contact with whites. These myths are often connected to social and ritual life, including gender roles, marriage, shamanism, political power, illness, and kinship.

What Are Their Needs?

Like most tribes, they need support from the government regarding land rights and access to education and healthcare.

Prayer Items

Pray for open hearts so they can see the Holy Spirit in every part of nature, revealing the Creator.Pray for followers of Christ among the Karajas to mature and eagerly spread the gospel to other indigenous people.Pray for barriers to be broken so Jesus can be the center of this tribe.

Scripture Prayers for the Karaja in Brazil.

References

https://pib.socioambiental.org/pt/Povo:Karaj%C3%A1