Jíbaro (Peru)

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It is impossible to speak about the Peruvian rainforest and its different tribes, without mentioning the one that most attracts the civilized world's attention by its peculiarity of reducing their victims' heads: the tribe of the Jíbaros. Most of them do not practise this ancient custom anymore. But even now, it is still said that there are people who practise it, in the deepest part of the north, impenetrable rainforest.

The jíbaros split themselves into several different tribes who are declared enemies between them who, although they fear each other, do not waste the opportunity to destroyed themselves with such a big cruelty.

An innate quality of the jíbaros is that of hiding from the other tribes and also hiding their movements to try to cheat the others. For this reason people affirm that jíbaros rarely pass two times by the same place.

In their appearance, jíbaros do not differ much from the other natives, although they don't have many tattoos and they are not lovers of the adornments that characterize the other tribes. The adornment they use the most is the toucan's feather, which is a demonstration of their ability in the use of the blowpipe, since it is very difficult to hunt this class of birds.

Another typical occupation of the jíbaros is the textile. Although women are the ones who spin, men are the ones who weave the clothes they use as garments.

But what distinguished them from the other tribes was their hobby to cut their enemies' heads and make them extraordinarily tiny, by means of a procedure that has been investigated by specialists.

Today such practice is almost extinguished. With the exception of the tribes of the aucas. They think it is a pride to have the biggest number of tiny heads, which they usually wear like necklaces in their holidays.