Chief Matsini Yawanawá at AUREA: A Message From the Guardians of the Forest

Chief Matsini Yawanawá came to the AUREA II stage in Miami in feathers and red urucum paint, with his family beside him, and said the sentence that reframed everything that followed it: "We are not the owners of the forest; we are the guardians of the forest." Then he asked the room for help.

He is a leader of the Yawanawá, an indigenous people of the Brazilian Amazon, and he came as part of a delegation representing the forest and the people who live inside it. The conversation was conducted through an interpreter, so the English quoted here reaches you through that relay: the phrasing belongs to the translation, the meaning belongs to him.

What Chief Matsini means by calling the Yawanawá guardians of the forest

Guardianship, in his account, is inherited work rather than a claim of possession. "We are not the owners of the forest; we are the guardians of the forest, just as our ancestors guarded the forest to keep it alive. Today, our mission is also to protect the forest."

That distinction carries weight for him because ownership is exactly the logic pressing in on the territory. He described a forest that is being read as property to be cleared, mined and grazed, and a people whose standing rests on having kept it alive across generations instead of on a deed. He also linked the survival of the forest to the survival of the people in it. "Keeping the forest alive is a hope for the world as well."

What Chief Matsini says is happening to the Amazon right now

He named deforestation, illegal mining and cattle ranching as the pressures his people are living under, and said the damage is no longer contained by the boundaries drawn on maps. Not all indigenous peoples sit inside demarcated territories, he said, and not all of the forest is protected.

His account widened from there. He described impact on the water and the land as well as the trees, with mining, fires and harmed rivers running together into one pattern. He referred to the prophecies of spiritual men among his people, and said that in that reading the spirits are in motion in response. His own summary of the difficulty was plain: the groups driving the destruction are more powerful than his people can confront alone, which is why he has taken to speaking outside the forest at all. "The forest is not only a concern for us, the indigenous peoples, but also a concern for the planet."

Why Chief Matsini says the decision to travel was not his own

He was direct that the trip to Miami was not a strategy. "We didn't choose this as spiritual leaders; we have this as a message and a mission, also as instrument. We are not acting according to our desires or our will, but we are instruments to carry the message to the world."

He extended the same framing to whatever comes next. "We don't have choices about where we go; it's the spirits, it's destiny that is bringing us here. So, we didn't plan this, we didn't ask for this, but we are simply on a mission, and we are here." Other countries may follow, he said, and he is waiting for that calling rather than booking it.

Why Yawanawá songs are inherited rather than newly written

The songs the delegation sang in Miami are not compositions. "We are never creating music. We are never creating a new song now," he said. The songs were sung by the first men who lived on Earth, by his people, and every generation that has carried one since has left something in it.

His explanation of why that matters is cumulative. "Each generation that sang the song has left a certain strength in it," he said, so that a song arrives in the present loaded with everyone who has ever sung it. He described what those earlier singers were doing when they sang: giving thanks for life, for family, for peace, for a forest that had not yet been invaded. He also gave the condition attached. "If you are angry, you can't sing; if you are sick, you can't sing. If you're suffering, you can't sing." Singing, in his account, is what a people does when it is in a state to give thanks, and the energy in it moves to whoever is in the room. He was describing his own people's inheritance, and he did not offer it as a practice for anyone else to pick up.

What Chief Matsini said about the strength of Yawanawá women

He was unusually precise on this point, and he corrected the framing mid-sentence. Women are not an addition to the men of the Yawanawá. "Women are not a complement, they are a part of us."

He said that among the Yawanawá today women are becoming stronger than the men, because women are claiming their voice, their words, their work and their music, and that the community is actively encouraging it. He gave a concrete test from ceremony. If only the men are singing, he said, it does not sound good; the women have to sing louder than the men, and that is what brings the energy and the unity. "We can't do something alone; we have to have the participation of women." His conclusion was that the strength cannot be split into parts. It has to be strong together.

What the red urucum paint and the headdress feathers signify

The red paint comes from urucum, and in his account it carries protection. "When we are painting, it's a bad spirit; when it sees a painted face, it doesn't stay close, it leaves." He was clear that it is not worn constantly. It is worn for gatherings of the peoples and for ceremony, and it also marks joy, represents the strength of the plants, and can belong to a particular kind of diet.

The feathers mark position. The ones he wore came from his lineage: his grandfather was a great leader, his father was a leader, and he is a leader now. They stand for two things at once, he said, leadership and spiritual study, and someone who sees them knows immediately where the wearer stands among the people. Other feathers in the group belonged to students who are training to become future leaders and who already carry a symbol for it. His reason for wearing all of it on a stage in Miami was about respect rather than costume. "If you were to present today in front of the highest authority in the United States, you wouldn't do it any old way; you would put your best foot forward."

What Chief Matsini asked of the people in the room

He asked for protection and for help, and he said plainly why he was asking strangers. "We alone cannot do this." What he asked for was recognition that the forest is a planetary concern, and that the people who have kept it alive are outmatched by the interests now moving against it.

The second thing he asked for was attention to the message itself, carried the way he carried it. Asked about the joy in the singing, he agreed that the joy is the correct vehicle. "Singing represents peace, even within many difficult situations." He closed with thanks for the room, for the trust and for the space to speak, and the delegation left the stage the way they had arrived, singing.

Watch the full talk above.

Frequently asked questions

Who are the Yawanawá?

An indigenous people of the Brazilian Amazon. Chief Matsini Yawanawá described a community that holds itself responsible for keeping the forest alive across generations, that sings songs inherited rather than composed, and that is currently facing deforestation, illegal mining and cattle ranching on and around its territory. He came to AUREA II in Miami with family members as part of a delegation carrying that message outward.

What did Chief Matsini Yawanawá ask people outside the Amazon to do?

He asked for help and for protection, and he said directly that his people cannot hold the line alone against the groups driving the destruction. He framed the Amazon as a planetary concern rather than an indigenous one, naming deforestation, illegal mining, ranching, fires and harmed rivers. His request was that people outside the forest carry the awareness, and treat the forest and the people inside it as connected.

Why does he say the Yawanawá never write new songs?

Because in his account the songs already exist and are passed down. He said the songs were sung by the first men who lived on Earth and that every generation since has left strength in them, so a song carries the accumulated force of everyone who has ever sung it. He also said singing requires a certain condition: anger, sickness or suffering closes it off, while thanksgiving opens it.

What is urucum and why do the Yawanawá paint with it?

Urucum is the red plant pigment on the faces in the video. Chief Matsini said a painted face turns bad spirits away, and that it is worn for gatherings of the peoples and for ceremony rather than every day. He also connected it to joy, to the strength of the plants, to certain diets, and to presenting oneself well before both the spiritual force and other people.

What do the feathers in his headdress mean?

Position among the people. Chief Matsini said his feathers come from his lineage, through a grandfather and father who were both leaders, and that they signify two things together: leadership and spiritual study. Anyone who sees them knows the wearer holds a role. Others in the delegation wore feathers marking them as students training toward future leadership, already carrying the symbol for what they are becoming.