The Pumé people (or Yaruro) are a Circum-Caribbean indigenous people, native to the ecoregion of Llanos in Venezuela, located west of the Orinoco River. to refer to the Pumé and is still commonly used in Venezuela. The term has been used by neighboring indigenous groups such as the Guahibo, Hiwi, and Chiricoa, who likely are the source of this name adopted by the Spanish. "Yaruro" probably derives from the verb "yoro" in the Pumé language, that means "to give". The term "Yaruro" is pejorative, referring to requests for material goods or food from outsiders perceived as wealthy by the Pumé, and its meaning can be glossed in American English as the "Gimmees". The people refer to themselves as the Pumé (meaning "real human") which also serves as the name of their language. "Yaruro" has been replaced by "Pumé" in most anthropological literature and by some Venezuelan government use that is sensitive to indigenous issues. They have historically also been known by other names such as Llaruro, Yaruru, and Yuapín people. although it is considered a language isolate. Some good linguistic research has been published on the Pumé language. It is widely spoken by the Pumé people today, especially among Savanna Pumé who are primarily monolingual. Most River Pumé populations have at least some members, primarily men, who are bilingual in Spanish and Pumé. Portions of the Bible were translated into Pumé in 1999. They live in small brush shade structures during the dry season, and more robust structures thatched with palm leaves during the wet seasons. In addition to these two major seasonal moves, the Pumé make temporary camps for fishing, raw material collection, and to stage the moves to their primary wet and dry season camps. River Pumé were formerly slightly nomadic (although not as much as the Savanna Pumé), but currently are sedentary. Many River Pumé now construct more hybrid forms of architecture combining traditional and Criollo-influenced materials and designs.
Subsistence
thumb|River Pumé men, dry season camp (Plate 12 from Petrullo, 1939)|alt=
The Savanna Pumé are primarily hunter-gatherers who subsist on distinctly different diets during each of the dry and wet seasons. The River Pumé are horticulturalists who also practice some fishing, hunting and wild plant collection. Men very infrequently obtain larger game such as capybara, deer, anteaters, or caimans. Both sexes also perform some garden work that brings in complementary manioc as a dietary supplement without reducing their foraging for wild plants. but is very uncommon today, possibly because of over-exploitation during the last 200 years. The dry season also offers opportunities for bird hunting and capture of small numbers of turtles and tortoises. River Pumé have less seasonal variation in their diet. They rely more on a diversity of cultivated crops, can fish year round in the major rivers, hunt and gather some foods, and may work in wage labor jobs for the local Criollos. River Pumé successfully raise small numbers of chickens and pigs, Items such as cooking pots, steel knives, machetes, shovels, and used clothing are the primary outside goods obtained by the Savanna Pumé through trade. Other desired market items include matches, tobacco, nylon hammocks, whetstones, and other tools. Bicycles first became common in 2006. Given the economic difficulties in Venezuela, it is unclear whether the Savanna Pumé even have the minimal access seen in the early 2000s to some of these goods. Some River Pumé communities are the beneficiaries of government programs that include some provisioning with manufactured products.
Savanna Pumé construct their houses primarily from materials collected in the llanos; wood, palm leaf thatch, and vines used to tie together the house framework. Moriche palms (Mauritia flexuosa) are the critical resource needed for palm thatch, roofing material, as well as other significant technologies. The River Pumé primarily use fibers from macanilla palms (Astrocaryum jauri).
Men's subsistence technology, at least for Savanna Pumé, uses bows and arrows Although western style dress is common among all Savanna and especially River Pumé, among savanna dwellers some traditional elements of women's clothing have persisted and some older men recently still eschewed pants in favor of loincloths. Even nicknames are not used. All Pumé people have Christian names used to interact with the local Criollo population, or given to them by the Venezuelan government for census or other administrative purposes, but they do not use them among themselves. These names may rarely be used when referencing people from distant communities where kin terms do not precisely identify a person. Spanish names used by Savanna Pumé often change throughout childhood and some adults' names also vary during their lifespan. Spanish names are sometimes used when speaking to or about children below the age of approximately 14, primarily because kin terms may not specifically identify particular young people. The Pumé use a Dravidian form of Dakota-Iroquois kinship classification. Pumé girls work less than girls in comparable hunter-gatherer populations, allowing them to potentially spend more calories on growth rather than on foraging effort, and thus reach sexual maturity at a younger age. This may lengthen their reproductive lifespan, compensating for their shorter life expectancy and their high infant and later childhood mortality rates.
Marriage involves no formal ceremony, exchange of goods, or overt negotiations among adults. It simply consists of establishing co-habitation by the couple. There is some influence of parents on choice of marriage partners, but it is a very flexible system.
A small percentage of men have more than one wife, who are usually sisters (sororal polygyny). They are rhythmically and melodically complex compositions. Men accompany the dance with rattles, the only musical instrument used by the Pumé. Dances can involve healing events for particular individuals suffering from physical diseases and psychological distress (depression, grief, frustration). Dances can also lead to trance-states by the dance leader or other individuals. Trances involve possession by spirits or deceased Pumé individuals. The possessed individual speaks through those personages to the community as a whole or to particular individuals about events of current concern to the camp or person singled out for contact. No food is consumed during dances, but prodigious amounts of tobacco are smoked by men, women, and children. Men also take hallucinogenic snuff in group bouts during the dance (Anadenanthera peregrina) and sometimes chew a second hallucinogen (Banisteriopsis caapi). All Pumé have experienced changes in many areas of their life, especially during the 20th century.