Cashinahua

The Cashinahua, also known as Kashinawa or Haxinahua, are an indigenous people of western Amazonia, living primarily in Peru and Brazil along tributaries of the Amazon River such as the Purus and Juruá rivers. Estimates place their population in the low thousands, with communities concentrated in remote riverine villages.

They speak Cashinahua, a Panoan language, and are part of the broader Panoan ethnolinguistic group. Bilingualism in Spanish or Portuguese is common where contact with outside communities is more frequent.

The Cashinahua have a traditional subsistence base that includes manioc farming, hunting, fishing, and gathering, with shifting cultivation practiced in some areas. Shamanism plays an important role in their ritual life; ayahuasca (locally known as yagé) is used in healing and divination ceremonies led by experienced shamans, often with apprentices. Artistic expression includes weaving, basketry, and featherwork, and ritual contexts frequently feature distinctive hairstyles and body painting.

Since European contact, the Cashinahua have faced pressures from colonization, disease, and loss of Amazonian lands. Many communities now operate within a mixed economy, combining traditional practices with wage labor, and they participate in regional governance and land-rights discussions. Language preservation and cultural continuity programs exist, including bilingual education initiatives and efforts to maintain traditional knowledge and arts.