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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

I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.
readProverbs 8:17

As many search for hope, pray they will discover materials that will lead them to Jesus and explain the gospel in a way they will resonate with.

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
readJames 4:4

Pray that the lost will be convicted of their friendship with the world, which is hostility toward God, and that they will turn from their sin and embrace the grace and mercy of God through Christ Jesus.

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
readPhilippians 1:6

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be assured that God will complete the good work He has begun in them until the day of Christ's return.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
read1 Corinthians 15:10–11

Pray that God's people will preach the message of Jesus' death and resurrection and that it will spread among the lost through the selfless witness of believers.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguage ▼Religion
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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