The Hupda (also known as Hup, Hupd'äh, or Húpd’əh) are an Amazonian Indigenous people who live in Brazil and Colombia. They speak the Hup language.
Residence and neighbors The Hupd'äh people live in the region bordered by the rivers Tiquié and Papuri, tributaries that join the left hand bank of the river Vaupés in the Upper Rio Negro region of the state of Amazonas in Brazil and the Department of Vaupés in Colombia. They are known as part of the Naduhup language family, and have been in contact with the frontiers of colonization since the 18th century. There are records of countless epidemics of measles, smallpox, and influenza, which decimated the population. Currently they are distributed in approximately 35 villages (local groups) estimated at a total of 1500 individuals. The Hupda villages are, in general, close to areas of Tukanoan, Tariana, Tuyuka and Piratapuyo population, populations which speak languages of the Tukanoan language family, living near the banks of the streams and rivers that make up the hydrographic basin of the Vaupés river.
There are other tribes who are part of the Hupd'äh language family in the (Rio) Negro (black) river region. Each tribe has its own language and practically lives in the jungle, on the small streams. Some Yuhup people, for example, live on the streams on the right hand margin of the Tiquié river (Castaño, Samaúma, Cunuri and Ira streams), are fewer in number than the Hupda and barely have contact with them. The Kakua people live on the streams on the left hand side of the Papuri River, in Colombia, and maintain sporadic contact with the Hupda who live on the streams flowing into the Papuri River. Still in Colombia, are the Nukak people on the Guaviri and Enírida rivers. The Dâw people, commonly known as the Kama, are the smallest tribe and are currently about 100 in number; they live around São Gabriel da Cachoeira although their traditional home is on the streams flowing into the Curicuriari River. Finally the Nadëb, in permanent contact with the merchants (regatões), live by extracting natural jungle products on the Jurubaxi and Uneuixi rivers that flow into the right hand side of the Rio Negro river.
The word Makú is not Hup. It probably comes from the Arawak (Baniwa) and means "he who does not have language" or "he who does not have our language". (ma-aku; ma=personal pronoun, aku=language). J. Hill (1986) uses the name "Wakuénai" to designate the five northern dialects of Arawak and translates "Wakuénai" as "people who speak our language" (wa-aku-nai; wa=ours, aku=language, nai=associative suffix). J. Hill differentiates the Kuripaco and Baniwa of Içana from the Maakunai {ma-ku-nai ma=personal pronoun aku=language nai=associative suffix =those who have no language} to designate other groups whose language the Hupda don't understand. In this case, for Baniwa, the Tukanos would also be Maakunai. Judging based on this linguistic aspect, it is possible to confirm the hypothesis of Nimuendajú that the various groups known as the Makú were in the region, living on the banks of the river, before the arrival of the Arawakan, from the North by way of the Cassiquiari channel, and the Tukanos, from the West. In reality, the term Makú is used inaccurately in the whole Rio Negro region, not only among the indigenous peoples but also among the caboclos ( those of mixed European and native origin) and it is being incorporated into the dialects of the inhabitants of São Gabriel. The semantic context of the term has always been associated with forest as opposed to the horticultural Indians like the Tukanoan and the Arawakan. By reason of the geographical location of their villages, the Tukanoan have always been described as Indians-of-the-river while the Makú were described as Indians-of-the-forest.
Relationships with other indigenous groups The Hupd'äh maintain complex and permanent historical relationships with the Tukanoan, Desana, Tuyuka, and Tariano Indigenous peoples of the Vaupés, Tiquié, and Papuri rivers. This peculiar inter-ethnic relationship is part of the traditions of the peoples of this region, and its preservation would likely guarantee the cultural equilibrium of the peoples of the region. The relationship has already been described as symbiotic, asymmetric and hierarchical, or as an employer/employee relationship. The Tukanoan justify their behavior through myths that tell of the origins of the tribes of the region. The Hupda, according to Tukanoan versions of the myths, were the last to come into world. Consequently, they are considered inferior, lowest on the hierarchy of intertribal relations in the Vaupés river basin and, because of this, must perform work deemed inferior, which only the lowest ranking clans in the hierarchy perform.
Language
The Hupd'äh call the Tukanoan "sokw’ät-d’äh," which translates as toucan. They also refer to the Tukanoan as "wóh", "wóh-d’äh". These terms are used generically, with no distinction as to which linguistic group the other person belongs to. The words used by the Hupda to distinguish the other social groups with which they interact are "tëghõih-d’äh" for non-Indians and agents of the national society. Literally it means 'the sound of the burning fire wood' and is those who come from outside, the white men, coming from the East and owning many things. It has been suggested that the name is derived from the sound of a firearm. For missionaries they use the term "páíd’äh", distinguishing them as a separate social category to the tëghõih-d’äh.
The term "mer'ah" means "from the east" or "from below" contrasting "pör'ah," which means "from the west" or "from above" always using the river as a reference. These terms are also used in relation to directions of travel. An individual will always explain the location of individual groups in this way, without ever defining a boundary, be it linguistic or territorial, as all Hupda consider themselves brothers and part of the same Hup world. They may even say that others talk differently. It may simply be a case of different accent or a few words of the vocabulary.
Culture and nuclear family The Hupd'äh, as hunters, know the forest intimately and do not work in agriculture, which their neighbors do extensively. They are scattered among more than 20 clans. Each of the clans shares a common ancestry and a set of rituals specific to each clan. Marriages are made between clans, as a marriage inside a clan is considered to be incestuous. The married man can live, most commonly, in his father's local group or in his father-in-law's local group. And as all the clans native to the Alto Rio Negro area practice Dabucuri and celebrate Jurupari, the Hupda maintain their own kapi-vaiyá.
The hearth group, "kakah", is the smallest unit of production and consumption, and can be made up of a nuclear family; it may also include additional persons (mothers-in-law, orphaned nephews, widowed uncles) making it into an extended family. There is no ideal group size, and numbers vary enormously between one local group and another. A hearth group is significantly autonomous, is generally the social unit, which visits other local groups, and is the most mobile part of the local group. The general rule is that the hearth group be self-sufficient and, to that end, each hearth group generally contains two adults, a man and a woman, almost always married to each other. Two couples are never part of the same hearth group while the minimum number of people in a hearth group is two.
Hayám - the local group The Hupda live in small villages. The local group is normally known as a "hayam" although there are in fact three other ways it may be named. These terms are related to the local geography: "-deh," which means "stream" "-nuh" (head), the source of the stream "-buk" indicates the group stays in a clearing
A local group is completely autonomous and, may join another group or split itself between two others. This may cause its transit around relations to be seriously modified from one year to the next. There is no fixed village or camp. The local group is described by reference to the sources of the streams on which it where they live for a particular period. Some groups may reside in one location for years and still give the impression that they are only there temporarily. The names given to these locations are the names of the small streams where they draw water.
These local groups ["hayám"] can contain from 15 to more than 50 people and generally each group comprises members of one or two clans. Some villages with more than this number of inhabitants because of the work of missionaries. Each local group is made up of several hearth groups. These hearth groups are smallest unit of production and consumption, and are usually made up of a nuclear family and, in some cases, those who have joined it. The local groups were based at the sources of the small streams, tributaries to Papuri, Japu and Tiquié rivers. The members of a local group wandered within a certain perimeter, always using as reference one of the streams; they did not however migrate beyond this specific territory. When they leave the territories, for a predetermined length of time, it is to hunt or visit the villages of their in-laws. These visits are periodic and are important to the regeneration of the renewable resources of the area where the local groups have established their villages. Frequently a hearth group may, during the year, move from one local group to another and stay for long or short periods of time. In fact, these long visits to other villages are common, and someone is always visiting a group. The mobility of the Hupda is impressive for their knowledge of all the existing trails {tíw hup} and where each local group is based.
In each local group there is an elderly male member who is considered the leader. He generally knows the history of the ancestors of the clan. These men are not always the chiefs (yo’òm ih), also called captain (capitão) in the local Portuguese dialect, and who are, in many cases, chosen to deal with missionaries and other agents. The captains of the local groups are the intermediaries between the non-Indians and the Hupda world. Frequently they need to be able to interpret clearly, for the local group, the ideas and concepts of the missionaries and other agents of the national society who pass through the villages. The job is not easy.
Lineage and clans The Hupda social groups are based on unilinear descent, with patrilinear clans, and dispersed in exogamic units. The term clan is being used to describe the basic unit of Hupda society. The Hupda clan does not have a very specific geographical area/location as is found with the Tukanoan clans. The clan is a grouping that gathers members with a common ancestor.
Within the concept of Hupda life and the dynamics of social interaction, the clan is of less importance than the local group as it is difficult to identify a local group with a specific clan. It is in the local group that the idea of brotherhood and a concept of territoriality is developed. The concept of territoriality is important to social interactions between the different local groups. The geographic area inhabited by a local group indicates the sense of belonging to a local group but not to a clan. The dabucuri celebrations ("pä’") take place between local groups and not different clans. The clans interact as "yawám", those with a common ancestor, or "kót", those directly related to each other. Within the clans sharing a common ancestor a hierarchy exists from the most senior, "ó", to the most junior, "púy". In some larger clans, like for example the "Sokw’ätnohk’ödtëh" from the middle of the Tiquié river, there are several lines of patrilinear descent while all the members consider themselves descended from a common ancestor. These relationships cannot be illustrated in their genealogies by the members of the clans.