ABSTRACT
March 16, 1997. It was a hot summer afternoon when a crowd gathered in front of a building of unconspicuous appearance in Carpina, Pernambuco, in the Brazilian Northeast region. Indians from Northeast Brazil and the Eastern states of Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo, regions that were among the fi rst to be invaded by the Portuguese in the 16th century, made up the group. Indigenous societies have been subject to a centuries-long process of sociocultural blurring and “integration” with the colonial (and later national) society. One could not tell the difference, in terms of appearance, between any of those Indians present and the local non-Indians-except for the display of occasional feathers, in adornments dutifully copied from Amazonian models.
