At a ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, the 1.8-meter-long cloak, which is composed of 4,000 red feathers from the scarlet ibis bird, was formally displayed. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was present.
The cloak, which has been on display in Copenhagen since 1689, was seized from the Tupinambá tribe during the Portuguese colonial period.
Its return, according to indigenous elders, emphasizes how crucial it is to mark the boundaries of their ancestral areas in order to preserve their customs.
With drums and pipes full of medicinal plants, a group of 200 Tupinambá people set up camp outside the structure, eager to see the priceless cloak.
Yakuy Tupinambá took a bus from the eastern Olivenca municipality more than 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) away to view the garment.
“I had both joy and sadness.” A cross between birth and death,” he stated to the news agency.
Sussu Arana Morubyxada Tupinambá, an indigenous chief, remarked, “Our ancestors say that when they [the Europeans] took it away, our village was left without a north.”
Numerous sacred capes worn by the Tupinambá people that have endured for hundreds of years are still on exhibit in museums throughout Europe.
