With the beating of drums and pipes filled with medicinal herbs, the Tupinamba people of Brazil are counting down the final hours of a 335-year wait for the official return of a sacred cloak taken in colonial times.
The highly symbolic artifact, held at the National Museum of Denmark since 1689, will be presented in Rio de Janeiro in a ceremony to be attended by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday.
The return of the ceremonial cloak is part of diplomatic efforts by Brazil’s government to recover other Indigenous objects from museums in France, Japan, and elsewhere.
Measuring just under 1.8 meters (6 feet) high and featuring red feathers of the scarlet ibis bird, the cloak arrived back in Rio in early July, where it is being stored at the national museum.
“I felt sadness and joy. A mixture between being born and dying,” said Yakuy Tupinamba, who …