The World Indigenous Games are a multi-sport event involving indigenous athletes that will be first staged in 2015. The Games are governed by the Inter Tribal Council, a Brazilian indigenous peoples NGO that has staged Brazil’s national Indigenous Games since 1996. The first edition of the Games will be held in Palmas, Brazil, in 2015.
The Games are expected to be held intermittently thereafter, and will feature competitive sports and non-competitive demonstration events.
First World Indigenous Games started in Brazil on 23 October 2015 in the northern Brazilian city of Palmas. The game will end on 31 October 2015.The games are a multi-sport event involving indigenous athletes has around 2000 athletes participating from many indigenous ethnic groups and 30 countries like Ethiopia, Mongolia, Brazil, Australia, Russia, the Philippines, Ethiopia and New Zealand.
The participants on 22 October 2015 took part in a traditional fire lighting ceremony in Palmas’s central square and danced at the ceremony in traditional outfits.
Sports included in the games are archery, spear tossing, canoeing and a race through the forest. Besides, there will be non-competitive events showcasing the many different traditions of indigenous ethnic groups involved, such as a football-style game called xikunahity in which the ball is controlled only with the head. It is played in the Matto Gross region of Brazil.