Honoring Earth Day: A Visit from Arassari Pataxó Inspires Environmental Reflection

Before we learn how to speak, we need to learn how to listen.

Arassari Pataxó

 

 

In celebration of Earth Day, St. Thomas had the privilege of welcoming a remarkable guest: Arassari Pataxó, a leader, educator, and environmental advocate from the Pataxó community in the Barra Velha Territory of Bahia, Brazil. His visit on Tuesday, April 22, 2025 brought our entire school together for a morning assembly filled with meaningful stories, cultural insights, and a powerful call to care for our planet—not just once a year, but every day.

Arassari, who spoke through a translator in both his Indigenous language and Portuguese, was chosen by the elders of his community to travel the world and share the wisdom, resilience, and sustainable practices of his people. His mission, captured in his project Indigenous Day Is Every Day, is to champion Indigenous rights and raise environmental awareness through education.

During the assembly, Arassari reminded students that the Amazon Rainforest is thriving not by chance, but because of the many Indigenous communities who live within it and protect it as the “guardians of the forest.” He emphasized that the planet’s well-being depends on each person’s consciousness and daily habits, from minimizing use of plastics like straws, to how we breathe and listen to the world around us.

At the heart of Arassari’s message were four foundational teachings, or “books”, that guide the education of children in his tribe—teachings that reflect a holistic approach to learning:

1. Hand-Eye Coordination: Arassari explained that young children begin their education by shaping small clay animal figures. This hands-on practice strengthens motor skills and also serves as a gateway to understanding the natural world—how animals live, what they eat, and how they reproduce.
    
2. Listening: Listening is both a safety skill and a path to wisdom. Arassari demonstrated how children learn to distinguish different bird calls through instruments that mimic their sounds, helping them tune into their environment. Listening is also a way of honoring others and remaining attuned to the rhythm of the forest.
    
3. Breathing: Arassari shared that breath is one of the most powerful tools we possess. He led the entire assembly in a calming breathing exercise, underscoring how breathwork supports emotional regulation, mindfulness, and connection with nature.
    
4. Concentration, Attention, and Focus: Using a simple and interactive stick-catching activity, Arassari demonstrated the importance of developing mental focus and perseverance. As our school counselor, Mrs. B, noted after taking a turn to try catching the stick, “It’s hard at first, but if I kept practicing, I think I could do it.” Our student and faculty participants then took another turn to try catching the stick, which was successful this time for many of the participants. This lesson teaches that success comes from effort and that setbacks are invitations to keep trying.
    

These four “books” serve as the foundation for lifelong learning in Arassari’s community, and offered our school community a fresh and powerful lens through which to reflect on our own growth. His tribe’s holistic educational philosophy deeply resonated with our mission at St. Thomas of Educating the Whole Child—a commitment we live out daily through rigorous academics, spiritual formation grounded in our inclusive Episcopal values, physical development, and social-emotional growth. Just as the Pataxó children learn through nature, relationship, and self-awareness, our students learn in ways that integrate mind, body, and spirit.

The presentation concluded with a thoughtful Q&A session where we had the opportunity to learn more about Arassari’s life and traditions:

• His feathered headpiece symbolizes equality, unity, and central respect for Mother Nature; feathers along each side are all the same size to represent equality of each member of his tribe, the seam that connects these feathers represents unity, and largest red feather in the center of the headpiece represents reverence and respect to Mother Nature above all else.
   
• His face paint and tattoos mirror the markings of the macaw bird, representing wisdom.
   
• His diet includes mainly fish stew, root vegetables like yucca, corn, and beans.
   
• His community is surrounded by trees and rivers, which was partially damaged by fires and logging. His community is actively replanting, with 30,000 trees already in place as part of a 120,000-tree reforestation effort.
   
• His home is made of mud and palm leaves, with hammocks serving as his only furniture. “But really,” he said, “all of Mother Nature is our home.”
   
• His favorite thing about life in the jungle? The happiness of simply living: clean air, starry skies, and harmony with the earth.

Arassari’s visit enriched our Earth Day celebrations and deepened our collective understanding of sustainability, Indigenous knowledge, and the role each of us can play in protecting our planet. His presence reminded us that Earth Day isn’t a once-a-year event, but a lifelong commitment to respect, reflection, and responsibility.

We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to host Arassari Pataxó at St. Thomas; our entire school community will carry his message forward in our hearts, habits, and hopes for the future.