The Kamëntsá are an

indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

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 ...

. They primarily live in the Sibundoy Valley of the

Putumayo Department Putumayo () is a department of Southern Colombia. It is in the south-west of the country, bordering Ecuador and Peru. Its capital is Mocoa. The word ''putumayo'' comes from the Quechua languages. The verb ''p'utuy'' means "to spring forth" ...

in the south of Colombia."Arts and Crafts in Colombia."
''Footprint Travel Guides.'' Accessed 29 Jan 2014.

Name

The Kamëntsá also are known as the Camsá, Camëntsëá, Coche, Kamemtxa, Kamsa, Kamse, Sibundoy, and Sibundoy-Gaché people.

Language

The Camsá language is a

language isolate Language isolates are languages that cannot be classified into larger language families. Korean and Basque are two of the most common examples. Other language isolates include Ainu in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, and Haida in North America. The num ...

, although linguists have tried to connect it to the

Chibchan language 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 in the past. The language is written in the

Latin script The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern Italy ...

Culture

They are known for their carved wooden masks that are worn during ceremonies and festivals. They farm maize, beans, potatoes, and peas, and use a number of different

entheogen Entheogens are psychoactive substances that induce alterations in perception, mood (psychology), mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior for the purposes of engendering spiritual development or otherwiseRätsch, Christian, ''The Encyclop ...

s, including

ayahuasca AyahuascaPronounced as in the UK and in the US. Also occasionally known in English as ''ayaguasca'' (Spanish-derived), ''aioasca'' (Brazilian Portuguese-derived), or as ''yagé'', pronounced or . Etymologically, all forms but ''yagé'' descen ...

(yagé), ''

Brugmansia ''Brugmansia'' is a genus of seven species of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae. They are woody trees or shrubs, with pendulous flowers, and have no spines on their fruit. Their large, fragrant flowers give them their common n ...

'' species, ''

Iochroma fuchsioides ''Iochroma fuchsioides'' is an ''Iochroma'' species found in Ecuador and Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean ...

'' and ''

Desfontainia ''Desfontainia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Columelliaceae, though it was placed formerly in Loganiaceae, Potaliaceae (later subsumed in Gentianaceae), or a family of its own, Desfontainiaceae. The genus was named for the Fre ...

'' in their rituals. Kamëntsá

shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritu ...

s are noted for the number and variety of ''Brugmansia'' cultivars which they have propagated in their gardens of entheogenic plants, and which bear leaves in a wide variety of curiously misshapen forms. One of these cultivars - 'Culebra' ('snake' in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

) proved so aberrant that it was, for a time, actually removed from ''Brugmansia'' and accorded monotypic genus status as Methysticodendron (Greek : 'intoxicating tree'), the full Linnaean binomial of the plant becoming ''Methysticodendron amesianum'' before it was subsumed once more in ''Brugmansia''.Schultes, Richard Evans; Hofmann, Albert (1979). The Botany and Chemistry of Hallucinogens (2nd ed.). Springfield Illinois: Charles C. Thomas

Notable Kamëntsá people

Hugo Jamioy Juagibioy Hugo Jesús Jamioy Juagibioy (born 1971) is a Colombian poet and storyteller. He is an indigenous person from Colombia, who belongs to the Kamëntsa people. Background Jamioy was born in Waman Tabanók (which translated to "Our sacred place o ...

, poet and

indigenous rights Indigenous rights are those rights that exist in recognition of the specific condition of the Indigenous peoples. This includes not only the most basic human rights of physical survival and integrity, but also the rights over their land (includ ...

activist

References

External links

Declaration by the Inga and Kametsa peoples
Colombia Support Network Indigenous peoples in Colombia Indigenous peoples of the Amazon {{SouthAm-ethno-group-stub