The Enawenê-Nawê people live in the basin of the Juruena River in the southern Amazon rainforest. They perform the Yaõkwa ritual every year during the drought period to honour the Yakairiti spirits, thereby ensuring cosmic and social order for the different clans.

The ritual links local biodiversity to a complex, symbolic cosmology that connects the different but inseparable domains of society—⁠—culture and nature. It is integrated into their everyday activities over the course of seven months during which the clans alternate responsibilities: one group embarks on fishing expeditions throughout the area while another prepares offerings of rock salt, fish, and ritual food for the spirits, and performs music and dance.

Yaõkwa combines knowledge of agriculture, food processing, handicrafts (costumes, tools, and musical instruments), and the construction of houses and fishing dams for its performance.