Karankawa People - Cannibalism

Cannibalism

According to some sources, the Karankawa practiced ritual cannibalism of blood enemies, in common with other coastal tribes of Texas and Louisiana. In 1768, a Spanish priest wrote an account of the Karankawa ritual ceremonies. He portrayed the Karankawa as believing that eating the captive's flesh would transfer the captive's power and strength to those who consumed him. The natives tied a captive to a stake. While dancing around him, they would dart in, slice off a piece of flesh and roast it in front of the victim in a prepared campfire. Then they would devour it.

However, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, a Spanish conquistador who lived among the Karankawa for several years in the 1530s made no mention of cannibalism. To the contrary, Cabeza De Vaca acknowledged that he and his fellow Spanish conquistadors committed acts of cannibalism on their own dead to stay alive after shipwrecking off Galveston Bay. The Karankawa (or possibly the Atakapa) people were shocked at the Spanish cannibalism which they found to be repugnant. Most of the later accounts of Karankawa cannibalism are second or third-hand.

Some recent authors have suggested that the Karankawa were mistaken for the Atakapa (Atakapan or Attakapan) people, Gulf Coast tribes whose lands stretched from Galveston Bay to Bayou Teche and Vermilion Bay in Louisiana. The Atakapa people were known for their body tattoos and cannibalism by at least some of their sub-tribes.