We created this campaign to raise funds to carry out our ritual, which takes place every year-end, and due to the pandemic, economic issues became difficult in Brazil.

Guarani religious activities are assiduous and frequent, with practices of chants, prayers and dances that, depending on the location, situation or circumstances, are performed daily, starting at nightfall and lasting for several hours. Rituals are conducted by the ñanderu who are religious leaders and guides; they contemplate common needs such as harvesting the fields, absence or excess of rain.

Among the Kaiowa, two ceremonies stand out: the avati kyry (new, green corn) and the mitãpepy or kunumi pepy (held in several communities in Paraguay; in Brazil only one community maintains it). The first is celebrated at the time of young plants and the main reference is the avati morotĩ (white corn), a sacred plant that governs its agricultural and religious calendar.Weeks of work and involvement of many families to prepare the kãguy or chicha and the placefor the ceremony, precede its realization. Kãguy is a fermented drink, made in the seceremonies with white corn (but also from cassava, sweet potatoes or sugar cane) and prepared by women.

The following night the kyry avati ceremony continues with more profane singing and dancing, the kotyhu and the guahu, throughout the community and by the many visitors who participate in the ceremony.

The ceremony itself, conducted by a religious leader, begins at sunset and ends at dawn the next day. This shaman must know the mborahéi puku or “long chant”, whose verses, which are not repeated, cannot be interrupted once the ceremony has begun. With each verse sung by the ñanderu, the community repeats it, always accompanied by the mbaraka made and used by men and the takuapu used by women. At dawn, when the mborahéi puku (long corner) is finished, there is the baptism of the harvest (cassava, sugarcane, pumpkin, sweet potato, corn, etc.), which remained deposited on the altar. The following night the kyry avati ceremony continues with more profane singing and dancing, the kotyhu and the guahu, throughout the community and by the many visitors who participate in the ceremony.