Amazon ormanlarının derinliklerinde yaşayan Piraha kabilesi, dünyanın en mutlu insanları olarak kabul ediliyor. Bu kabilenin mutlu olmasının sebebi ise konuştukları dilde geçmiş ve gelecek kavramlarının olmamasıdır. Modern hayattan soyutlanmış bir hayat süren aşiretler, sadece anlık bir zaman diliminde yaşarlar. Uzun bir uykuyu tehlikeli görüyorlar ve stresin ne olduğunu anlamıyorlar. Bu özellikler, modern insanların onları anlamasını çok zorlaştırıyor.
The person who helped us learn about the Piraha tribe is Daniel Everett, a former missionary and anthropologist with whom he lived for many years and who finally devoted much of his life to studying them. Daniel Everett went to the Amazons in 1977 to study the Piraha tribe. Initially, the tribesmen did not welcome him, but later agreed to communicate with him. Daniel, who went to the Pirahas to teach them about life, finally came to the conclusion that these people are the happiest people in the world. And years later, he realized that he had to learn from them, not the other way around.
Life of the Piraha Tribe
The settlement of the Piraha tribe is 400 km from the city of Porto Velho (Brazil). A 4-day boat trip is required to reach this place. The Piraha people have been subjected to many difficulties and impositions over time, but they have never been separated from their own culture. They have made it a way of life to be content with what they have achieved without needing the blessings of the modern world.
The Piraha people, a small tribe of hunters and gatherers, live on the banks of the Amazon River. Their population is between 300 and 400. They do enough work to meet their imperative needs and want to have fun and chat for the rest of their time. There is no hierarchy and they do not hold special occasions or ceremonies. They live in perfect harmony with nature.
The Piraha people do not harm any animals except the ones they hunt and share the food they collect equally. Their language doesn’t have an alphabet, so they don’t have a scriptable language. They make sounds, whistles, and occasionally imitate animals and other sounds in nature. They are so adept at this that they can drive away monkeys and summon eagles.
The Reason They Are The Happiest People In The World
The reason why the Piraha tribe is considered the happiest people in the world; First of all, they don’t stress over unimportant things. Piraha culture is based on living “here and now”. His language has only the present tense. Because they think that only what is happening now is the only important thing that can be passed on to others. Words like “century”, “time” and “history” are meaningless to them. Almost none of the pirahas remember their grandparents. Mothers do not tell tales to their children, and the tribe does not tell stories. Collective memory is formed only by the personal experience of the oldest living member of the tribe.
The concept of number also does not exist for Pirahas. Quantity is allocated only on the basis of whether it is sufficient or not. They do not know how many fish a kilo of fish or 6 fish is. For them there is “few fish” or “many fish”. If there’s enough of something, the number doesn’t matter.
The Piraha tribe do not understand concepts such as anger, resentment, guilt and shame. This culture has no religion or understanding of God, nor does they need it. They are not interested in the achievements of modern civilization and do not understand the lifestyle of modern people. However, they started to wear clothes and use aluminum kitchen utensils, thread, matches and fishing gear.
In the Piraha tribes, everyone is equal and there is no such thing as a social hierarchy. For this reason, there are no negative behaviors such as jealousy, anger, theft, conspiracy or intrigue among them. Nor are there any courtesy rules like “Thank you”, “Sorry” or “You’re welcome”. Pirahas do not understand why people need such formalities and treat each other warmly, without unnecessary acts of kindness.
