Groups of Yanomami live in villages usually consisting of their children and extended families. Villages vary in size, but usually contain between 50 and 400 people. In this largely communal system, the entire village lives under a common roof called the
shabono.
Shabonos have a characteristic oval shape, with open grounds in the center measuring an average of . The
shabono shelter constitutes the perimeter of the village, if it has not been fortified with
palisades. Under the roof, divisions exist marked only by support posts, partitioning individual houses and spaces.
Shabonos are built from raw materials from the surrounding rainforest, such as leaves, vines, and tree trunks. They are susceptible to heavy damage from rains, winds, and insect
infestation. As a result, new
shabonos are constructed every 4 to 6 years. The Yanomami can be classified as foraging horticulturalists, depending heavily on
rainforest resources; they use
slash-and-burn horticulture, grow
bananas, gather fruit, and hunt animals and fish. Crops compose up to 75% of the calories in the Yanomami diet. Protein is supplied by wild resources obtained through gathering, hunting, and fishing. When the soil becomes exhausted, Yanomami frequently move to avoid areas that have become overused, a practice known as
shifting cultivation. Children stay close to their mothers when young; most of the childrearing is done by women. Yanomami groups are a famous example of the approximately 50 documented societies that openly accept
polyandry, though
polygyny among Amazonian tribes has also been observed. Many unions are monogamous. Polygamous families consist of a large patrifocal family unit based on one man, and smaller matrifocal subfamilies: each woman's family unit, composed of the woman and her children. Life in the village is centered around the small, matrilocal family unit, whereas the larger patrilocal unit has more political importance beyond the village. Men of the Yanomami are said to commit significant intervals of bride service living with their in-laws, and
levirate or
sororate marriage might be practiced in the event of the death of a spouse. The Yanomami are known as hunters, fishers, and horticulturists. The women cultivate
cooking plantains and
cassava in gardens as their main crops. Men do the heavy work of clearing areas of forest for the gardens. Another food source for the Yanomami is
grubs. Often the Yanomami will cut down palms in order to facilitate the growth of grubs. The traditional Yanomami diet is very low in edible salt. Their
blood pressure is characteristically among the lowest of any demographic group. For this reason, the Yanomami have been the subject of studies seeking to link
hypertension to
sodium consumption.
Rituals are a very important part of Yanomami culture. The Yanomami celebrate a good harvest with a big feast to which nearby villages are invited. The Yanomami village members gather large amounts of food, which helps to maintain good relations with their neighbors. They also decorate their bodies with feathers and flowers. During the feast, the Yanomami eat a lot, and the women dance and sing late into the night.
Hallucinogens or
entheogens, known as
yakoana or
ebene, are used by Yanomami
shamans as part of healing rituals for members of the community who are ill.
Yakoana also refers to the tree from which it is derived,
Virola elongata.
Yopo, derived from a different plant with hallucinogenic effects (
Anadenanthera peregrina), is usually cultivated in the garden by the shaman. The
Xamatari also mix the powdered bark of
Virola elongata with the powdered seeds of
yopo to create the drug
ebene. The drugs facilitate communication with the
hekura, spirits that are believed to govern many aspects of the physical world. Women do not engage in this practice, known as
shapuri. In daily conversation, no reference may be made to a dead person except on the annual "day of remembrance", when the ashes of the dead are consumed and people recall the lives of their deceased relatives. This tradition is meant to strengthen the Yanomami people and keep the spirit of that individual alive. Infanticide is also noted amongst the Yanomami for reasons of disability, adultery, and rape. The women are responsible for many domestic duties and chores, excluding
hunting and killing game for food. Although the women do not hunt, they do work in the gardens and gather fruits,
tubers, nuts and other wild foodstuffs. The garden plots are sectioned off by family, and grow
bananas, plantains,
sugarcane,
mangoes,
sweet potatoes,
papayas,
cassava,
maize, and other
crops. Yanomami women cultivate until the gardens are no longer fertile, and then move their plots. Women are expected to carry of crops on their backs during harvesting, using bark straps and woven
baskets. In the mornings, while the men are off hunting, the women and young children go off in search of
termite nests and other grubs, which will later be roasted at the family hearths. The women also pursue
frogs,
terrestrial crabs, or
caterpillars, or even look for vines that can be woven into baskets. While some women gather these small sources of food, other women go off and fish for several hours during the day. The women also
prepare cassava, shredding the roots and expressing the
toxic juice, then roasting the flour to make flat cakes (known in Spanish as
casabe), which they cook over a small pile of coals.
Yanomami women are expected to take responsibility for the children, who are expected to help their mothers with domestic chores from a very young age, and mothers rely very much on help from their daughters. Boys typically become the responsibility of the male members of the community after about age 8. Using small strings of
bark and
roots, Yanomami women weave and decorate baskets. They use these baskets to carry plants, crops, and food to bring back to the
shabono. ==Female puberty and menstruation==