Zoe (tribe)

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The Zo'e (also known as Zo'é or the Marrying tribe or Zoe tribe) are a native tribe in Brazil. They are a Tupi group of the Cuminapanema people.[1] All Zoe wear the poturu, a wooden plug piercing the bottom lip. The Zo'e have a tradition where new fathers have the backs of their calves cut with the 'tooth of a small rodent'.

The marriage rituals of the Zo'e are complex and not fully understood. It is not known how many wives or husbands one is allowed to have. Usually one woman has several husbands, one or more of whom may be "learning husbands"; young men learning how to be good spouses, in exchange for hunting for the rest of the family.

"In the state of Para, Northern Brazil, in one of the last still largely unexplored rainforests in the world, a new tribe, the Zoe, was recently contacted. They live between the Amazon River and the country of Surinam. The Zoe are part of the tupi linguistic group. Little is known about them. They are semi-nomadic hunters and gatherers. Their favorite prey is monkey, which is plentiful in the region during the dry season. During the rainy season, the Zo'e rely on a root plant called manioc, which must be processed into flour to avoid its poisonous properties."[2]