Botocudo

The term Botocudo is used to describe multiple unrelated societies that resisted Portuguese colonialism in present-day Brazil and retained the practice of wearing wooden ear and lip plugs (Skoggard, 2020:1). This entry focuses on ethnographic evidence that reconstructs the life of the Naknenuk subtribe of the Krén, a Botocudo group inhabiting the upper Rio Mucuri around 1884 (Nimuendajú, 1946:97). Krén religion is characterized by a belief in multiple (up to six) souls, one of which resides in the body and dies alongside it, and the presence of a host of supernatural beings known as tokón or marét that dwell in the sky. The marét have a chief, who functions essentially as a supreme high god. Shamans (who are often also chiefs) have the ability to communicate with the marét, and through them the supreme high god, and do so frequently as part of medicinal practices (Skoggard, 2020:3). For the Krén Botocudo, religious beliefs were inseparable from almost all aspects of social and political life. Therefore, this entry considers the religious group to be coterminous with the society at large.