Jagua fruits destined for body adornment are harvested when they are unripe and very firm. Traditionally the seeds from the fruit are ground up and the liquid is then used to paint directly onto the skin. The exact process varies from place to place, sometimes the juice is heated, so that some of the liquid evaporates making the remaining liquid thicker and so easier to paint with.

The fruiting trees grow abundantly throughout Central & South America. Like many trees in Amazonia, the Jagua tree bears fruit on a continuous cycle, so there is usually a fruiting tree nearby. However there are also main seasons where the fruits are abundant – this season varies from region to region, for example the main season in Peru finishes in April/May when the rains start, whereas in some parts of Brazil, the main season is in June.

Traditional Jagua Tattoos are applied for lots of different reasons: traditional patterns are applied for ceremonial and festive occasions, protection from sunburn and insects such as sandflies. Different indigenous peoples incorporate specific patterns into their designs to reflect significant aspects of their culture. Below is an extract from a report looking at some of the traditional aspects of life of the Kadiwéu people. The entire document is a very interesting read, to view it in its entirety please Click Here, the report is in Portuguese, so you may have to use a translation site to read the entire document.

The Kadiwéu tattooing
In the case of the Kadiwéu, inhabitants of a vast area in Murtinho Port, in the border with Paraguay, the main ability is the art of the corporal painting and the ceramics that enchanted some explorers and researchers, as Italian Guido Boggiani, in the end of the century XIX and the etnólogo Claude Lévi-Strauss in the decade of 30. Darcy Ribeiro, that lived enters the Kadiwéu in the decade of 40, classified the variety of styles of the abstract drawings and the painting standards of face and body of the Kadiwéu as “the most elaborated artistic manifestation of the American indians”.

The indian Kadiwéu Ramona Soares drawing with jenipapo,
in the city of Bodoquena-MS. Photo: Guto Pascoal.

No one can say exactly how long Jagua Body painting has been carried out by the indigenous people of the Amazon and Chocó rainforests. A lot of the tribes are very remote and are still completely cut off from ‘Western Civilisation’. However as the world becomes a smaller place, there are now indigenous people who have opened up their worlds to us. For example, the Wounan & Emberra of Panama and Colombia, the Bakairi of Brazil and the Kadiewéu of Paraguay.

It is apparent however that the Jagua Body Painting Tradition is an old one, it goes back as long as people can remember. Passed down through the generations, different tribes have different techniques for preparing their paint, different tools and methods of application and many varied reasons and occasions for applying it and of course they also have different designs and patterns to symbolize and capture different aspects of their cultures.