Isolated and protected in vast tracts of dense Amazonian rainforest, they dwell in around communal huts called malacos, have no written language, wear little or no clothing and use poison-tipped arrows to hunt wild boar and birds.
The Yanomami have become famous in anthropological literature because some anthropologists have stated they have an innate violent nature.
The custom of ash eating is a fundamental part of the religious life of the Yanomami Indians. As a consequence of the fear of losing one’s soul in the case that the body is not burned and the ash is not eaten by relatives, the practice of ash eating is extremely important for the afterlife of this Indian group.
Yanomami speak a language that is not clearly related to neighboring languages; they lack a gene that is almost universally found among other indigenous Americans; and they are the only horticulturist in the region who grow plantains as their staple crops.
Yanomami tribe
