Xoco

The presence of the Xocó on São Pedro Island dates back at least to the sixteenth century, when Jesuit missionaries were already recording Indigenous populations in the region. In the eighteenth century, Capuchin friars built a chapel and a religious hospice there, deepening contact between the Church and the community. Over the following centuries, land disputes with farmers and squatters pushed the people to the margins of their own history.

In 1979, the Xocó reclaimed São Pedro Island through an organized movement to reoccupy their territory, a milestone the community still celebrates today. In the decades that followed, the territory was officially demarcated, including the village of Caiçara, securing the Xocó Indigenous land as the achievement of a struggle spanning generations.

Community life is guided by two complementary leaders: the chief, responsible for the village’s administrative and material affairs, and the shaman, guardian of sacred rituals. Fishing in the São Francisco River was once the basis of subsistence, but river pollution has pushed many families toward handicrafts as their main source of income.

Historical contact with enslaved Black populations in the region left visible traces in Xocó culture, such as the practice of samba de coco alongside Indigenous traditions. This cultural blending coexists with a deliberate effort to preserve what remains of their original ethnic identity, especially in the face of the loss of their native language.

Traditional spirituality remains alive through rituals such as Toré, a sacred dance marked by distinctive clothing and body painting, and Ouricurí, a more private ceremony that almost disappeared but is being revitalized by the community as part of the reaffirmation of Indigenous identity.

There is also a Roman Catholic presence among the Xocó, inherited from historical contact with Capuchin missions, but this Christian faith coexists with practices of Indigenous and Afro-Brazilian origin without completely replacing them. For most of the people, traditional religious life remains the central foundation of collective identity.

Since the Xocó speak Portuguese in everyday life, having lost their original language, the Bible is already fully accessible to them in the language they use to communicate. The challenge is not translation but a genuine encounter with Scripture: few among the people have direct or regular contact with the biblical text, since the community’s religious life revolves around its own rituals and a modest Catholic presence.

Among the Xocó, ethnic identity is strongly connected to the preservation of traditional rituals such as Toré and Ouricurí, seen as an essential part of the cultural resistance of a people who have already lost their original language. As a result, the Christian faith is often perceived as foreign to this recently reaffirmed identity. Added to this are the community’s geographical isolation and the almost complete absence of evangelical churches working among them.

Pollution in the São Francisco River has harmed fishing, historically central to the people’s subsistence, pushing families toward handicrafts as an alternative source of income that is not always sufficient. There is also a need for access to education and new opportunities that allow the community to adapt to changes around it without losing its identity.

Spiritually, the Xocó people need a living encounter with the gospel and with a Christian community that engages respectfully with their history and culture rather than viewing them as an obstacle to overcome.