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The Canela of Brazil

The Canela of Brazil, numbering approximately 2,600 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an Eastern Timbira people of Brazil's Maranhao state comprising three related groups who live in circular villages facing a central plaza, pacified in 1814 and granted formal land rights by FUNAI between 1971 and 1978. They mostly adhere to Animism and Canela is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Canela

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Latin American and Caribbean Peoples
Country: Brazil
People Cluster: South American Indigenous
Primary Language(s): Canela (ram)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 2,600
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG016797
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Pray for the Canela of Brazil

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

60%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Canela
Language Family: Nuclear-Macro-Je

100%
%
Canela Speakers

Media Resources in Canela:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Canela:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1990 Liga Biblica do Brasil✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Canela bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Canela are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Canela:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Canela of Brazil

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
readPsalm 51:1

Give thanks to God that He is able to forgive all the sins people might commit, and pray that many who don't yet know this will hear the good news and turn to Him for mercy.

For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.
readPsalm 57:10

Pray that God will work, even in the hearts of hard-to-reach people, and that they will rejoice in His steadfast love and faithfulness.

But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.
read1 Peter 3:15

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will always be prepared to share the reason for the hope that they have in Jesus with gentleness and respect.

There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.
readMark 7:15

Pray for Christians to take any opportunity to share the hope of Jesus with lost people here, praying they will be wise like Jesus as they share the truth about what can defile people and what can make them clean.

Canela Across Countries (ROP3 - 101873) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
CanelaPG016797CanelaBrazil2,600No Longer UnreachedCanelaAnimism

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

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