Huka-Huka Wrestling in the Amazon


  • Photographer
    Ezra Shaw
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Company/Studios
    Getty Images
  • Date of Photograph
    May 2013
  • Technical Info
    Canon EOS-1D X

A tradition that is unique to the tribes that live in Xingu National Park in the Amazon of Brazil is a type of wrestling known as huka-huka wrestling. Huka-huka starts with the athletes facing each other before they begin rotating clockwise while imitating the grunting of the jaguar. They then kneel onto the ground and shake hands with their opponent.  At that point they reach out and cling onto each other and begin wrestling. To win the match, you can either lift both feet of the opponent off the ground, flip him onto his back or circle around him so you are holding on to his back. The men and the boys of the Kamayura tribe wrestle almost every day of the week. Wrestlers start to gather in the center of the village in the middle of the afternoon and wrestle for about an hour before they go back to doing their chores before dinner.

You can create multiple entries, and pay for them at the same time.
Just go to your History, and select multiple entries that you would like to pay for.