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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
August 23, 2008
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| August 1, 2008 |
The Philosophy of Mother Earth – Mauricio 'Wago' Mendez |
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| Kuna is one of seven indigenous groups living in Panama |
One day a rainbow appeared in the town of the Namaho. In that town lived a mother and her two little children. The rainbow took the boys into the sky, away from their mother. The mother waited for her two children, crying at the front door of her house. Many years passed before another rainbow appeared at her house. The mother saw a man walking towards her from the middle of the rainbow. When the man approached her, he said, “I am your son and I have come back to you”. The mother waited for years for her other son to return. He never did, and she died without seeing him. According to the Kuna, the son that never came back, stayed in another world and built a town there. The brother that returned, started to build a town in his mother’s world. What this means is that every time an indigenous person travels, he leaves a brother behind. This is why the Kuna say all people in the world are brothers. |
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“I have never lived in Japan, but I can feel an energy when I am with you, as if we had met in a past life or seen each other before” – Wago addressing his audience on Peace Boat |
Kuna is the name of one of the many indigenous people of Panama and Colombia. The Kuna mainly live on Panama’s north eastern Caribbean coast, in politically autonomous comarcas or reservations. There are also communities of Kuna people in Panama City, Colon, and in a few small villages in Colombia.
The Kuna have managed to keep their ancestral traditions and culture, while also remaining open to modernization. Today, for example, many Kuna live in Panama City studying in university or working for American companies. Since their 1925 uprising against the central government, the Kuna have gained a significant degree of self-rule, much more than other indigenous peoples of Central America.
Mauricio ‘Wago’ Mendez, a member of the Kuna community and an old friend of Peace Boat, joined part of the voyage to share the poetic philosophy of his ancestors. An artist by profession, he has exhibited his indigenous work and given lectures about Kuna tradition and culture in Panama and the United States. |
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| In the Kuna culture, all aspects of life - economy, nature, philosophy – are integrated and based on nature |
The philosophy of the Kuna centres on their land and their women. Both represent the creators of life. As a result of this belief, culturally the women are of higher status than men. Their voice and their vogue have been represented in the community and many have become community leaders.
The idea of respecting Mother Nature is the historic, underlying psyche for why the Kuna tend to lead a lifestyle based on subsistence living. To the Kuna, chopping a tree is like cutting off the head of Mother Nature. Mining is like cutting off her breasts. The minerals that are mined out, symbolise her milk. The river is her blood and reproductive organs, because the water that comes out of river represents the life that comes out of a mother.
Three months before a women gives birth she starts taking medicinal plants at 5am every day, to aid with dilation. She has to do this facing the star of Venus so the child that is born has the strength of that star. Sometimes women give birth on their knees, in the river. The Kuna believe the first that thing that touches the baby should be sacred, so by kneeling, the baby will fall straight into the arms of Mother Nature. When the baby is born the umbilical chord is cut and planted with the seed of a tree. Both grow together, the person giving life to the tree.
In regards to environmental and social destruction the Earth is facing, Wago described how the Kuna believe the Earth’s umbilical chord starts from the Gulf of Panama and runs up to Greenland. The melting ice in Greenland is an indication that Mother Nature is about to give birth again. However he said that “her pain is very strong and she needs humanity to help her by loving each other and work in unity and not as separate races”. |
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| Wago brought many Molas created by women in his village with him on board |
Wago also held workshops on a type of artwork for which Kuna are famous. Known as ‘molas' (clothing), it is a colourful textile art form made with the techniques of appliqué and reverse appliqué. Mola panels are used to make the blouses of the Kuna women's national dress, which is worn daily by many Kuna women. The art uses a lot of primary colours, and is very strong in symbolism. Every design has a myth behind it, along with a message from nature.
The lyrical beauty of the Kuna’s deep respect for Mother Earth is a philosophy not often heard. Charming, traditional and extremely proud of their ancestral cultures, they have stood up for their beliefs and are now living the life they believe is best for them. After having visited communities throughout the world during the voyage which are being threatened by globalisation, it was inspiring to learn about a group so fiercely independent, and even better to have the opportunity to spend time with a man so closely tied to his ancestors.
Mauricio “Wago” Mendez Profile
A Kuna artist from Panama, 'Wago' Mendez has exhibited his work in Panama and the United States. His pen and ink drawings and watercolours show Kuna women wearing traditional jewellery and colourful appliqué blouses, and Kuna men fishing from dugout canoes. Wago uses the sales from his artwork to help preserve indigenous land and traditional ways of the Kuna. |
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