Warriors of the Amazon

Student Handout

Community Values

People in many cultures have very different ways of observing life-cycle events, such as birth, entry into adulthood, and marriage. However, many of the values and reasons behind these events are very similar, such as mourning for the dead. The NOVA program you just watched, "Warriors of the Amazon," presents a view of daily life and special events in the Yanomami culture. As you observed the villagers preparing for and conducting the feast, performing healing ceremonies, caring for their children, and holding a funeral, what did you notice about their cultural values and rituals? Follow the directions below to organize your observations—as well as to organize observations of your own culture.

Procedure

1. In the first part of the chart, record your observations of the Yanomami people's behaviors, values, and rituals that involved family members (in family section), members of the entire village (in community section), and all of the Yanomami people (in culture section).

2. Using the guidelines in step #1, record your observations of your own culture in the second part of the chart.

3. Compare the observations you recorded of both cultures. What are the similarities and differences? After comparing the two cultures, do you have any additional speculations about the Yanomami people?