Arara of Mato Grosso

Peaceful contact between the Arara of the Aripuanã and rubber tappers took place around 1928 to 1932, when the people became part of the region's latex extraction economy. During this period, some members of the community adopted the surname of one of the men in charge of the rubber estate, a sign of how deeply their relationship with rubber tappers shaped the group's identity.

The decline of the rubber industry in the 1970s brought years of land loss and instability. The people organized to claim their traditional territory, an effort that led to the official demarcation of their Indigenous land in 1996, a milestone that secured the families' continued presence along the Aripuanã River.

Families are spread across small villages along the Aripuanã River, some with only a few families and others bringing together five or more households. Slash-and-burn farming supports the cultivation of cassava, corn and beans, supplemented by hunting, fishing in the river and gathering Brazil nuts and other forest products.

Teaching, community health work and Brazil nut gathering provide part of their cash income, alongside activities connected to the road that crosses their territory. Schools, health clinics and water systems are already part of village life, reflecting a balance between tradition and growing contact with the surrounding area.

Traditional Arara spirituality rests on the belief that invisible forces permeate the world and influence health, safety and success in daily life. Practices passed down by the elders seek guidance and protection in the face of these forces. This knowledge is handed down from generation to generation within the villages, shaping how the people face illness, danger and the uncertainties of everyday life.

For most families, this traditional worldview remains their main framework for understanding the world, although there is already a small Christian presence among the Arara of the Aripuanã, including people who have heard about Jesus Christ and begun to consider his message in relation to the faith inherited from their elders.

There is no record of portions of Scripture translated into the traditional Arara language, which now has no fluent speakers in everyday village life. Contact with the Word, when it occurs, takes place in Portuguese, the language that already dominates communication among families and with neighbors from nearby towns.

Oral tradition still shapes much of the transmission of knowledge between generations, and there is no indication that the Bible has reached the villages in a form suited to local circumstances, whether in audio or text, in the language the people actually use today.

Arara identity is deeply connected to traditional cosmology, ritual practices passed down by the elders and their ties to the territory along the Aripuanã River. Contact with Christianity has so far been sporadic, and the villages’ geographical remoteness, combined with the small number of families, means that a local Christian community or accessible biblical material is rarely part of the people’s daily lives.

The small number of families and the remoteness of the villages make it urgent to strengthen existing infrastructure, such as schools and health clinics, and to ensure that their territory remains protected. There is also a need to value the traditional language and customs as contact with Portuguese and the way of life of neighboring towns increases.

Spiritually, the small Christian presence already found among the Arara of the Aripuanã still needs ongoing support and a more firmly established faith community that shares the gospel with respect for the people’s identity and culture.