Rapé Awiry
From: $16.00
Rapé Awiry has a flowery scent and literally smells like being in the middle of the jungle. This green snuff is very opening and deeply subtle.
Rapé Awiry
The Apurinã are also known as the people of the Awiry. This is because the Awiry plant is of great value to them. It’s the main plant their Pajés (shamans) use in diagnosing and healing their people. The Apurinã make their famous green Rapé from this plant. There are no ashes or other herbs used in this snuff.
The Awiry is unfermented and still has its natural green color and can be considered a raw and alive snuff. The Apurinã traditionally inhale this snuff through a bone or a wild bamboo tube. This is different from other indigenous tribes in Brazil who blow their Rapé with either a Kuripe or Tepi.
Known is that Awiry grows close to the rivers banks. It can only be harvested in the dry season when the rivers are low. It grows wild but nowadays some communities also cultivate it. Because of this flooding, this rape can only be made in the dry season and for that reason is quite rare and special, as said before they are starting to cultivate it as well now which makes it more available.
About the Apurinã
The Apurinã language is a member of the Purus branch of the Maipure-Aruak family (Facundes, 1994). The nearest related language is that of the Manchineri, or Piro, who inhabit the upper Purus in Brazil and, in Peru, mainly the lower Urubamba Valley. Scattered over sites close to the banks of the Purus, the Apurinã possess a rich cosmological and ritual universe.
The violence of the two rubber cycles in the Amazon region has heavily affected their history. Today they are still fighting for their rights. With some of their lands still not officially recognized and others constantly invaded by loggers the Apurinã battle is ongoing.
The Apurinã inhabit 27 Indigenous lands at differing stages of the official recognition process. twenty have been fully demarcated and registered. three have been declared to be for their sole use. The Apurinã people are with 9500 members and live very spread out. They live in the states of Acre, Amazonas and Rondônia.
If you like to know more about the Apurinã tribe and culture you can click on this link to a PDF file in Portuguese. The next link is to a PDF in Inglish called “I turn into a pink dolphin” by Pirjo Kristina Vitanen.
Tepi and Kuripe
Have a look at the collection of Tepi and Kuripe. Various styles from different artists are available. 
Tepis receiving blessings from their creators
Handling & Sorting
I sieve this Rapé Awiry and all other snuff coming from my shop through a 120-micron high-grade stainless steel mesh. I also store the Rapé stock dry and in vacuum containers to prolong freshness and quality.
This results in.
- an extremely fine powder.
- a guaranteed consistent fineness
- optimal absorption of the snuff
