Wai-wai people
Wai-wai man | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 2,672 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Brazil | 2,502 (2014) |
| Guyana | 170 (2006) |
| Languages | |
| Wai Wai language Various local languages | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity, Animism | |
The Wai-wai (also written Waiwai or Wai Wai) are a Carib-speaking Indigenous people of Guyana and northern Brazil. Their society consists of different lowland forest peoples who have maintained much of their cultural identity with the exception of Christianity which was introduced to them in the late 1950s. They are composed of six smaller ethnic groups, being the Shereo, Parukoto, Mawayana, Tunayana, Katwena, and Taruma.
The Umana Yana in Georgetown, Guyana, takes its name from the Wai-Wai for "meeting place".