The Guna, are an Indigenous people of
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
and
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
. In the
Guna language
The Kuna language (formerly Cuna, and in the language itself Guna), spoken by the Kuna people of Panama and Colombia, belongs to the Chibchan language family.
History
The Kuna were living in what is now Northern Colombia and the Darién Provin ...
, they call themselves ''Dule'' or ''Tule'', meaning "people", and the name of the language is ''Dulegaya'', literally "people-mouth".
The term was in the language itself spelled ''Kuna'' prior to a 2010 orthographic reform, but the Congreso General de la Nación Gunadule since 2010 has promoted the spelling ''Guna''.
Location
Guna people live in three politically autonomous ''
comarca
A ''comarca'' (, or , or ) is a traditional region or local administrative division found in Portugal, Spain and some of their former colonies, like Brazil, Nicaragua, and Panama. The term is derived from the term ''marca'', meaning a "march, ...
s'' or autonomous reservations in
Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
, and in a few small
village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
s in
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
. There are also communities of Guna people in
Panama City
Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...
,
Colón, and other cities. Most Gunas live on small islands off the coast of the comarca of
Guna Yala
Guna Yala, formerly known as San Blas, is a ''comarca indígena'' (indigenous province) in northeast Panama. Guna Yala is home to the indigenous people known as the Gunas. Its capital is Gaigirgordub. It is bounded on the north by the Cari ...
known as the
San Blas Islands
The San Blas Islands of Panama is an archipelago comprising approximately 365 islands and cays, of which 49 are inhabited. They lie off the north coast of the Isthmus of Panama, east of the Panama Canal. A part of the ''comarca'' (district) Guna ...
. The other two Guna comarcas in Panama are
Kuna de Madugandí
Kuna may refer to:
Places
* Kuna, Idaho, a town in the United States
** Kuna Caves, a lava tube in Idaho
* Kuna Peak, a mountain in California
* , a village in the Orebić municipality, Croatia
* , a village in the Konavle municipality, Croatia ...
and
Kuna de Wargandí
Guna de Wargandí or Wargandí, formerly known as Kuna de Wargandí () is a '' comarca indígena'' (indigenous territory) and corregimiento in Pinogana District, Darién Province, Panama with a population of 1,914 as of 2010. It was created by La ...
. They are Guna-speaking people who once occupied the central region of what is now Panama and the neighboring San Blas Islands and still survive in marginal areas.
Political and social organization
In Guna Yala, each community has its own political organization, led by a ''saila'' (pronounced "sigh-lah"). The saila is customarily both the political and religious leader of the community; he memorizes songs which relate the sacred history of the people, and in turn transmits them to the people. Decisions are made in meetings held in the Onmaked Nega, or Ibeorgun Nega (Congress House or Casa de Congreso), a structure which likewise serves both political and spiritual purposes. In the Onmaked Nega, the saila sings the history, legends, and laws of the Guna, as well as administering the day-to-day political and social affairs. The saila is usually accompanied by one or more ''voceros'' who function as interpreters and counselors for the saila. Because the songs and
oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...
of the Guna are in a higher linguistic register with specialized vocabulary, the saila's recitation will frequently be followed by an explanation and interpretation from one of the voceros in informal Guna language.
Guna families are
matrilinear
Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's lineage – and which can involve the inheritance o ...
and matrilocal, with the groom moving to become part of the bride's family. The groom also takes the last name of the bride.
Today there are 49 communities in
Guna Yala
Guna Yala, formerly known as San Blas, is a ''comarca indígena'' (indigenous province) in northeast Panama. Guna Yala is home to the indigenous people known as the Gunas. Its capital is Gaigirgordub. It is bounded on the north by the Cari ...
. The region as a whole is governed by the Guna General Congress, which is led by three Saila Dummagan ("Great Sailas").
Flag
![Flag_of_Kuna_Yala_(1942)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Flag_of_Kuna_Yala_%281942%29.svg)
The Guna flag was adopted after the 1925 rebellion against Panamanian suppression. Horizontal stripes have a proportion of 1:2:1 and the central
swastika
The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. It ...
is an ancestral symbol called Naa Ukuryaa. According to one explanation, it symbolizes the four sides of the world or the origin from which peoples of the world emerged. In another explanation, it symbolises the octopus that created the world, its tentacles pointing to the four cardinal points. Also known as the flag of Guna Yala island today, the flag was used for the
province of San Blas until 2010 and also is used as the Guna ethnic flag. The central stripe, meaning peace and purity, is white on the official flag of the reservation, officially adopted by Guna National Congress, while yellow stripe is used on the ethnic flag (it was introduced on the flag at about 1940). In 1942 the flag was modified with a red ring (representing the traditional Kuna nose-ring) encompassing the center of the swastika because of
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
associations; the ring was later abandoned.
Culture
The Guna are famous for their bright
molas
MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) is an archaeology and built heritage practice and independent charitable company registered with the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA), providing a wide range of professional archaeological service ...
, a colorful textile art form made with the techniques of
appliqué
Appliqué is ornamental needlework in which pieces or patches of fabric in different shapes and patterns are sewn or stuck onto a larger piece to form a picture or pattern. It is commonly used as decoration, especially on garments. The technique ...
and reverse appliqué. Mola panels are used to make the blouses of the Guna women's
national dress
A folk costume (also regional costume, national costume, traditional garment, or traditional regalia) expresses an identity through costume, which is usually associated with a geographic area or a period of time in history. It can also indicat ...
, which is worn daily by many Guna women. ''Mola'' means "clothing" in the Guna language. The Guna word for a ''mola'' blouse is ''Tulemola,'' (or "dulemola") "Guna people's clothing."
Economy
![Dugout in San Blas Islands](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Dugout_in_San_Blas_Islands.jpg)
The economy of
Guna Yala
Guna Yala, formerly known as San Blas, is a ''comarca indígena'' (indigenous province) in northeast Panama. Guna Yala is home to the indigenous people known as the Gunas. Its capital is Gaigirgordub. It is bounded on the north by the Cari ...
is based on agriculture, fishing and the manufacture of clothing with a long tradition of international trade. Plantains, coconuts, and fish form the core of the Guna diet, supplemented with imported foods, a few domestic animals, and wild game.
Coconut
The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family ( Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the ...
s, called ''ogob''
PA: okˑɔβin the Guna language, and lobsters ''skungit''
kuŋkˑitare the most important export products. Migrant labor and the sale of ''
molas
MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) is an archaeology and built heritage practice and independent charitable company registered with the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (CIfA), providing a wide range of professional archaeological service ...
'' provide other sources of income.
The Guna have a long deep rooted history of mercantilism and a longstanding tradition of selling goods through family owned venues. Most imported goods originate from
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
n, Mexican or Chinese ships and are sold in small retail stores owned by Guna people. The Guna have not excised tax when trading goods and place strong emphasis on economic success. This tradition of trade and self-determination has been credited by many as a chief reason the Guna have been able to successfully function independently compared to other indigenous groups.
Guna communities in Panama City are typically made up of migrant laborers and small business owners, although many Guna also migrate to Panama City to sell fish and agricultural products produced by their respective communities. The sale of Mola and other forms of Guna art has become a large part of the Guna peoples economy in recent years and mola vendors can be found in most cities in Panama where they are marketed to both foreigners and Hispano Panamanians. Tourism is now an important part of the economy in the
Carti region Carti or Cartí may refer to:
*Playboi Carti (born 1996), American rapper
*Cartí Sugtupu, one of the Cartí islands off the coast of Panama
*Cartí Airport, airport on Panamanian mainland serving the Cartí islands
See also
*Carty
Carty or Cart ...
, and abandoned goods from the
drug trade provide occasional windfalls.
History
![Panama-Kuna 0610a](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Panama-Kuna_0610a.jpg)
Guna people were living in what is now Northern Colombia and the Darién Province of Panama at the time of the Spanish invasion, and only later began to move westward towards what is now Guna Yala due to a conflict with the Spanish and other indigenous groups. Centuries before the conquest, the Gunas arrived in South America as part of a
Chibchan
The Chibchan languages (also Chibchan, Chibchano) make up a language family indigenous to the Isthmo-Colombian Area, which extends from eastern Honduras to northern Colombia and includes populations of these countries as well as Nicaragua, Costa ...
migration moving east from Central America. At the time of the Spanish invasion, they were living in the region of Uraba and near the borders of what are now
Antioquia and
Caldas.
Alonso de Ojeda
Alonso de Ojeda (; c. 1466 – c. 1515) was a Spanish explorer, governor and conquistador. He travelled through modern-day Guyana, Venezuela, Trinidad, Tobago, Curaçao, Aruba and Colombia. He navigated with Amerigo Vespucci who is famous ...
and
Vasco Núñez de Balboa
Vasco Núñez de Balboa (; c. 1475around January 12–21, 1519) was a Spanish explorer, governor, and conquistador. He is best known for having crossed the Isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean in 1513, becoming the first European to lead an ...
explored the coast of Colombia in 1500 and 1501. They spent the most time in the
Gulf of Urabá
The Gulf of Urabá is a gulf on the northern coast of Colombia. It is part of the Caribbean Sea. It is a long, wide inlet located on the coast of Colombia, close to the connection of the continent to the Isthmus of Panama. The town of Turbo, Co ...
, where they made contact with the Gunas.
In far-eastern Guna Yala, the community of New Caledonia is near the site where Scottish explorers tried, unsuccessfully, to establish a
colony in the "New World". The bankruptcy of the expedition has been cited as one of the motivations of the
1707 Acts of Union.
There is a wide consensus regarding the migrations of Gunas from Colombia and the Darien towards what is now Guna Yala. These migrations were caused partly by wars with the
Catio people
A domestic cat enclosure (or cat cage or catio as a portmanteau of ''cat'' and ''patio'') is either a permanent or a temporary structure intended to confine a cat or multiple cats to a designated space for the cat to experience the outside. Som ...
, but some sources contend that they were mostly due to bad treatment by the Spanish invaders. The Guna themselves attribute their migration to Guna Yala to conflicts with the aboriginal peoples, and their migration to the islands to the excessive mosquito populations on the mainland.
During the first decades of the twentieth century, the Panamanian government attempted to suppress many of the traditional customs. This was bitterly resisted, culminating in a short-lived yet successful revolt in 1925 known as the
Dule Revolution (or "people revolution") – led by Iguaibilikinya Nele Kantule of Ustupu and supported by American adventurer and part-time diplomat
Richard Oglesby Marsh
Richard Oglesby Marsh (1883-1953) was an American engineer, Exploration, explorer, diplomat, and Ethnology, ethnologist. He participated in engineering and ethnological expeditions to Panama and he is known for his participation in the San Blas R ...
– and a treaty in which the Panamanians agreed to give the Guna some degree of cultural autonomy.
The
San Blas Islands
The San Blas Islands of Panama is an archipelago comprising approximately 365 islands and cays, of which 49 are inhabited. They lie off the north coast of the Isthmus of Panama, east of the Panama Canal. A part of the ''comarca'' (district) Guna ...
could be rendered uninhabitable by
sea level rise
Globally, sea levels are rising due to human-caused climate change. Between 1901 and 2018, the globally averaged sea level rose by , or 1–2 mm per year on average.IPCC, 2019Summary for Policymakers InIPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cry ...
in the late 21st century.
Language
![Panama-Kuna 0605a](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Panama-Kuna_0605a.jpg)
The
Guna language
The Kuna language (formerly Cuna, and in the language itself Guna), spoken by the Kuna people of Panama and Colombia, belongs to the Chibchan language family.
History
The Kuna were living in what is now Northern Colombia and the Darién Provin ...
is an
aboriginal American language of the
Chibchan
The Chibchan languages (also Chibchan, Chibchano) make up a language family indigenous to the Isthmo-Colombian Area, which extends from eastern Honduras to northern Colombia and includes populations of these countries as well as Nicaragua, Costa ...
family spoken by 50,000 to 70,000 people. Dulegaya is the primary language of daily life in the ''comarcas,'' and the majority of Guna children speak the language. Although it is relatively viable, Guna is considered an endangered language.
Spanish is also widely used, especially in education and written documents.
Health
The Guna have been shown to have a low average
blood pressure
Blood pressure (BP) is the pressure of circulating blood against the walls of blood vessels. Most of this pressure results from the heart pumping blood through the circulatory system. When used without qualification, the term "blood pressure" r ...
(B.P., 110/70
mm Hg
A millimetre of mercury is a manometric unit of pressure, formerly defined as the extra pressure generated by a column of mercury one millimetre high, and currently defined as exactly pascals. It is denoted mmHg or mm Hg.
Although not an S ...
), and, do not experience the age-related increase in blood pressure that is common in Western society. Death rates from
cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, h ...
(C.V.D.) and
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
– the #1 and #2 causes of death in the U.S. – are low in the Guna. Between 2000 and 2004 on the mainland of Panama, for every 100,000 residents, 119 died from C.V.D. and 74 died from cancer; in contrast, per 100,000 Guna, these death rates were 8 for C.V.D. and 4 for cancer.
Albinism
Guna people have a high incidence rate of
albinism
Albinism is the congenital absence of melanin in an animal or plant resulting in white hair, feathers, scales and skin and pink or blue eyes. Individuals with the condition are referred to as albino.
Varied use and interpretation of the term ...
,
which led to their nickname of "
White Indians
White Amazonian Indians or White Indians is a term first applied to sightings or encounters with mysterious white skinned natives of the Amazon Rainforest from the 16th century by Spanish missionaries. These encounters and tales sparked Percy Faw ...
" in the early 1900s. In Guna philosophy, albinos (or "sipu") were given a special place and are considered a special race of people.
They have the specific duty of defending the Moon against a
dragon
A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...
which tries to eat it on occasion during a
Lunar eclipse
A lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon moves into the Earth's shadow. Such alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six months, during the full moon phase, when the Moon's orbital plane is closest to the plane of the Earth ...
, and only they are allowed to go outside on the night of a Lunar eclipse and to use specially made bows and arrows to shoot down the dragon.
References
Further reading
* Alí, Maurizio. 2010:
En estado de sitio: los kuna en Urabá. Vida cotidiana de una comunidad indígena en una zona de conflicto. Universidad de Los Andes, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Departamento de Antropología. Bogotá: Uniandes. .
* James Howe. ''The Kuna Gathering: Contemporary Village Politics in Panama''. Wheatmark (2002). .
* Keeler, Clyde E. ''Secrets of the Cuna earthmother: a comparative study of ancient religions''. Exposition Press, 1960.
* Erland Nordenskiöld et al. ''An Historical and Ethnological Survey of the Cuna Indians''. AMS Press (1979). .
* López, Delio; Pérez, Julio; López Archibaldo; López, Ateliano. "Igargan Cantos, la cosmovisión kuna y la biodiversidad marina. The Kuna cosmovision and their marine biodiversity." CODESTA (2007). OCLC Number 221707552. 9789962000761
* Mari L. Salvador et al. ''The Art of Being Kuna: Layers of Meaning Among the Kuna of Panama''. University of Washington Press, 2002. .
* Muller, Scott; Solis, Rogeliano; Castillo, Geodisio; Castillo, Bernal; Andreve, Jorge; Castillo, Arcadio. "Biodiversity and Tourism, The Case for the Sustainable Use of the Marine Resources of Guna Yala, Panama." German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Protection and Nuclear Safety (BMU), 2003. https://www.cbd.int/doc/case-studies/tour/cs-tour-pa-01-en.pdf
* Joel Sherzer. ''Kuna Ways of Speaking: An Ethnographic Perspective''. Wheatmark, 2001. .
* Joel Sherzer. ''Verbal Art in San Blas: Kuna Culture Through Its Discourses''. University of New Mexico Press, 1998. .
* Joel Sherzer et al. ''Stories, Myths, Chants, and Songs of the Kuna Indians''. University of Texas Press (2003). .
* Karin Elaine Tice. ''Kuna Crafts, Gender, and the Global Economy''. University of Texas Press (1995). .
* Jorge Ventocilla et al. ''Plants and Animals in the Life of the Kuna''. University of Texas Press, 1995. .
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guna People
Circum-Caribbean tribes
Ethnic groups in Panama
Indigenous peoples of Central America
Indigenous peoples in Colombia