Fuegians
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Fuegians are the indigenous inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, at the southern tip of South America. In English the term primarily refers to the Yaghan people of Tierra del Fuego. In Spanish it can refer to any person from the archipelago.
The indigenous Fuegians belonged to several tribes including the Ona (Selk'nam), Haush, Yahgan (Yámana), and Alacaluf (Kawésqar). All of these tribes except the Selk'nam lived exclusively in coastal areas and traveled by canoes around the islands of the archipelago. The Selk'nam lived in the interior of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego and lived mainly by hunting guanacos. The Fuegian peoples spoke several distinct languages: both the Kawésqar language and the Yaghan language are considered language isolates, while the Selk'nams spoke a Chon language like the Tehuelches on the mainland.
When Europeans, Chileans and Argentines studied or settled on the islands in the mid-1800s, they brought with them diseases such as measles and smallpox that the Fuegians had no immunity to. The Fuegian population was devastated by the diseases, and their numbers were reduced from several thousand in the 1800s to several hundred in the 1900s <ref name=last>Die letzten Feuerland-Indianer / Ein Naturvolk stirbt aus. (Short article in German, with title “The last Fuegians / An indigenous people becomes extinct”).</ref>. Today, full-blooded native Fuegians number in the single digits.
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Material culture
Although the Fuegians were all hunter-gatherers,<ref>Gusinde 1966, pp. 6–7</ref> their material culture was not homogenous: the big island and the archipelago made two different adaptations possible. Some of the cultures were coast-dwelling, while others were land-oriented.<ref name=Ser-Hun>Service, Elman: The Hunter. Prentice-Hall, 1966.</ref><ref name=ExtAnc>Extinct Ancient Societies Tierra del Fuegians</ref> Neither was restricted to Tierra del Fuego:
- The coast provided fish, sea birds, seals, and sometimes also whales. Yaghans got their sustenance this way. Alacalufs (living in the Strait of Magellan and some islands), and Chonos (living further to the north, on Chilean coasts and archipelagos) were similar.<ref name=Ser-Hun/><ref name=ExtAnc/>
- Selk'nams lived on the inland plain of the big island of Tierra del Fuego, hunting herds of guanaco.<ref name=Ser-Hun/><ref name=ExtAnc/> The material culture had some similarities to that of the (also linguistically related) Tehuelches living outside Tierra del Fuego in the southern plains of Argentina.<ref name=Ser-Hun/><ref>Gusinde 1966, p. 5</ref>
All Fuegian tribes had a nomadic lifestyle, and lacked permanent shelters. The guanaco-hunting Selk'nam made their huts out of stakes, dry sticks, and leather. They broke camp and carried their things with them, and wandered following the hunting and gathering possibilities. The coastal Yamana and Alacaluf also changed their camping places, travelling by canoes.<ref>Gusinde 1966:7</ref>
Mythology
There are some correspondences or putative borrowings between the Yámana and Selknam mythologies.<ref>Gusinde 1966:10</ref> The hummingbird was an animal revered by the Yámanas, and the Taiyin-myth of the Selk'nams presents the culture hero "Taiyin" in the guise of a hummingbird. In both tribes, this is an origin myth explaining the formation of the water system of the archipelago.<ref>Gusinde 1966:175–176</ref> A Yámana myth, "The egoist fox", features a hummingbird as a helper and has some similarities to the Taiyin-myth of the Selk'nam.<ref>Gusinde 1966:183</ref> Similar remarks apply to the myth about the big albatross: it shares identical variants at both tribes.<ref>Gusinde 1966:179</ref> Some examples of myths having shared or similar versions in both tribes:
- the myth about a walrus and his [human] wife;<ref>Gusinde 1966:178</ref>
- the myth about the origin of death.<ref>Gusinde 1966:182</ref>
All three Fuegian tribes had myths about culture heros.<ref>Gusinde 1966:71</ref> Yámanas have dualistic myths about the two Template:IPA-brothers. They act as culture heros, and sometimes stand in an antagonistic relation with each other, introducing opposite laws. Their figures can be compared to the Selk'nam Kwanyip-brothers.<ref>Gusinde 1966:181</ref> In general, the presence of dualistic myths in two compared cultures does not imply relatedness or diffusion necessarily.<ref>Zolotarjov 1980:56</ref>
Also some myths featuring shaman-like figures have similarities in Yámana and Selk'nam tribes.<ref>Gusinde 1966:186</ref>
Shamanism
Both Selk'nam and Yámana had persons filling in shaman-like roles. The Selk'nams believed their Template:IPAs to have supernatural capabilities, e.g. to control weather,<ref>Gusinde 1966:175</ref><ref>About the Ona Indian Culture in Tierra del Fuego</ref>, heal.<ref>Gusinde 1966:67</ref> The figure of Template:IPA appeared in myths, too.<ref>Gusinde 1966:15</ref> The Yámana Template:IPA<ref>Gusinde 1966:156</ref> corresponds to the Selk'nam Template:IPA.<ref>Gusinde 1966:186</ref>
There are myths in both Yámána and Selk'nam tribes about a shaman using his power manifested as a whale. In both examples, the shaman was "dreaming" while achieving this.<ref>Gusinde 1966:64</ref><ref>Gusinde 1966:155</ref>, E.g., the body of the Selk'nam Template:IPA lay undisturbed while it was believed that he travelled and achieved wonderful deeds (e.g. taking revenge on a whole group of peoples),<ref>Gusinde 1966:179</ref> also the Yámana Template:IPA made his similar achievements in dream: killed a whale and lead the dead body to arbitrary places, and transformed himself into a whale as well.<ref>Gusinde 1966:155</ref> In another Selk'nam myth, the Template:IPA could use his power also for transporting whale meat, he could exercise this capability from great distances; meanwhile he could see everything what happened during the transport.<ref>Gusinde 1966:61</ref>
Gender
There is a belief in both the Selk'nam and Yámana tribes that women used to rule over men in ancient times.<ref>Gusinde 1966:181</ref> There are man festivals associated with this belief in both tribes<ref>Gusinde 1966:184</ref>.
Contacts between Yámana and Selk'nam
The principal differences in language, habitat, and adaptation techniques did not promote contacts, although eastern Yámana groups had exchange contacts with the Selk'nam.<ref>Gusinde 1966, p. 10</ref>
Language
The languages spoken by the Fuegians are all extinct, with the exception of the Yaghan language and Kawesqar. The Selk'nam language was related to the Tehuelche language and belonged to the Chon family of languages.
Modern history
The name "Tierra del Fuego" may refer to the fact that both Selk'nam and Yamana had their fires burn in front of their huts (or in the hut). In Magellan's time Fuegians were more numerous, and the light and smoke of their fires presented an impressive sight if seen from a ship or another island.<ref name=Itsz-Nap>Rudolf Itsz: Napköve / Néprajzi elbeszélések. Móra Könyvkiadó, Budapest, 1979. Hungarian translation from the original: Р.Ф. Итс: Камень солнца. Издательство «Детская Литература», Ленинград, 1974.</ref> Yamanas also used fire to send messages by smoke signals, for instance if a whale drifted ashore.<ref>Gusinde 1966, pp. 137–139, 186</ref> The large amount of meat required notification of many people, so that it would not decay.<ref name=Itsz-Nap/> They might also have used smoke signals on other occasions, but it is possible that Magellan saw the smokes or lights of natural phenomena.<ref>The Patagonian Canoe. Extracts from the following book. E. Lucas Bridges: Uttermost Part of the Earth. Indians of Tierra del Fuego. 1949, reprinted by Dover Publications, Inc (New York, 1988).</ref>
Both Selk'nams and Yámanas were decimated by diseases brought in by colonization.<ref name=Itsz-Nap/>
Research
Anthropologists Pater Martin Gusinde and Anne Chapman have studied the Fuegians. They came literally at the last possible moment to preserve the memory of these cultures. In a retrospective way, a maybe unintended metaphoric connotation could be attributed to the words of the Fuegians, who called Pater Martin Gusinde the “shadow-catcher” while the anthropologist was busy making photographs on their life — since then, this life became literally a shadow <ref name=last/>.
External links
Bibliography, linking many online documents in various languages:
English:
- Extinct Ancient Societies Tierra del Fuegians
- Indians page of homepage of Museo Maritiomo de Ushuaia
German:
- Dr Wilhelm Koppers: Unter Feuerland-Indianern. Strecker und Schröder, Stuttgart, 1924. (A whole book online. In German. Title means: “Among Fuegians”.)
- Die letzten Feuerland-Indianer / Ein Naturvolk stirbt aus. (Short article in German, with title “The last Fuegians / An indigenous people becomes extinct”)
- Feuerland — Geschichten vom Ende der Welt. (“Tierra del Fuego — stories from the end of the world”. Link collection with small articles. In German.)
Spanish
- Cosmología y chamanismo en Patagonia by Beatriz Carbonell. See abstract in English.
Shaman-like figures (Selk'nam /xon/, Yámana /jekamuʃ/):
- About the Ona Indian Culture in Tierra del Fuego
- Rituals and beliefs of the Yámana, mentioning “yekamush”
- Template:Es icon Cosmología y chamanismo en Patagonia by Beatriz Carbonell. See abstract in English.
See also
References
- Gusinde, Martin: Nordwind—Südwind. Mythen und Märchen der Feuerlandindianer. E. Röth, Kassel, 1966.
- Hoppál, Mihály (ed.): A Tejút fiai. Tanulmányok a finnugor népek hitvilágáról. Európa Könyvkiadó, Budapest, 1980.
- Itsz, Rudolf: Napköve. Néprajzi elbeszélések. Móra Könyvkiadó, Budapest, 1979. Hungarian translation of the original Russian book (Р.Ф. Итс: Камень солнца. Издательство «Детская Литература», Ленинград, 1974.)
- Service, Elman: The Hunter. Prentice-Hall, 1966.
- Zolotarjov, A.M.: Társadalomszervezet és dualisztikus teremtésmítoszok Szibériában. In: Hoppál 1980:29–58
