Since the Yanomanö have no shoes or clothing, walking entails certain kinds of risks. Men can rarely go more than an hour without someone stopping suddenly, cursing, and sitting down to dig a thorn out of his foot with the tip of his arrow point. So, while their feet are hardened, walking in the streams and through muddy terrain softens the callouses so that thorns can get deeply imbedded. Snakebite is another hazard and eventually all Yanomanö get bitten by snakes at least once in their life. Some are fatal, causing death, while other are not. With this in their mind, they try to keep their gardens and paths weeded. The abandoned gardens seem to attract snakes because they attract rodents. Because of this, one must, “use extreme caution in measuring and mapping old gardens,” (Chagnon, 48). The inhabitants have become familiar with the seasons. They mostly travel between villages from September through March, the dry season, and not during the wet season because substantial portions of the trail are under water and small lakes replace the swampy lowlands.
For this reason, it is very important for the Yanomanö to choose the correct location in which to settle. Sometimes their site enables them to live in the jungle. To begin with, all house construction materials are collected from the jungle and the permanent house (also the central plaza), which they construct, is called the shabono. Lots of planning and cooperation is necessary to build a village and many days of work is also required. Nonetheless, the shabono only lasts for about two years or so because the leaves begin to leak or the roofing becomes infested with roaches, spiders, and other insects. In order to get rid of them, the shabono must be burnt to the ground.
Usually if a shabono is being reconstructed after burning the old one, the location might be either on the same spot or a few yards away. If they were to choose a new location, they might take into consideration their enemies and allies and the suitability of the land for gardening. Elevation and temperature affects the village construction and sometimes the wind can be so destructive that it blows the leaves off the shabono and it will rip the roof off and blow the whole thing into the jungle.
Nevertheless, finding a good place to settle in is not the only problem that the yanomanös face. They also have to be aware of their hunting, gathering, fishing, and horticultural approaches of getting food for their survival. The jungle provides abundant varieties of plant and animal food for the yanomanös. Some groups can live entirely off the wild foods in their environment. While they go camping, they depend heavily on wild foods and they tend to time their trip too coincide with the ripening of wild fruits. A range of insects, fish, larvae, tadpoles, and freshwater crabs are eaten with gusto and are highly prized. Fish is also taken in considerable abundance in certain seasons and now they are becoming increasingly important in the diet for those yanomanö who have access to fishing equipment.
The Yanomanö also exploit vegetables and it consists of the fruits of several species of palm, fruits of several hardwoods, brazil nuts, tubers, seed pods or the feral ‘banana’, and a host of lesser items. The inhabitants usually go hunting for fruit and they also have an ingenious gathering technique while in the process of collecting fat pal-pith grubs. They like to hunt for armadillos and if they ever come across seeing a bee’s nest, they would drop everything and focus on catching the nest to get some of the tasty sweet honey that they have always desired.
Apart from hunting, the natives also garden. In most areas, about 80% to 90% of the food eaten by the yanomanö is from their gardens. They are always aware of the potentials and suitability of the regions they hunt as future village and garden sites and their land for a new site should not be heavily covered with low, thorny brush because it is difficult to clear and burn that location.
People, like the Yanomanös, are known as hunter-gatherers. They typically hunt and gather a wide range of plant and animal life. The Yanomanös are considered to be people that rely on nature to make their living in order for them to survive. Nonetheless, sometimes villages change their way of living because some start to depend on food product or on food producers. Acculturation and diffusion has caused some societies to change because of the influence of other ‘ideas’ from other societies. However, the Yanomanös are now considered to be inhabitants that are ‘unique’ because of their adopted custom. They have followed their traditions and they have proven for generations that they can live without any cash under a self-sufficient system.
