The Kamëntšá people () are

indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. They primarily live in the

Sibundoy Valley Sibundoy (Kamëntsá: Tabanok "village") is a town and municipality in the Putumayo Department of the Republic of Colombia. The town existed well before the Spanish came in 1534. The Inca, under Huayna Cápac, conquered the local Kamëntsá peo ...

of the

Putumayo Department Putumayo () is a departments of Colombia, 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'' ...

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

Name

The name is rendered variously as Kamëntšá, Camsá, Camëntsëá, Coche, Kamemtxa, Kamsa, Kamse, Sibundoy, and Sibundoy-Gaché.

Language

The

Kamëntšá language Kamëntšá, commonly rendered Camsá or Sibundoy in old sources,Handbook of South American Indians is a language isolate and native language of the Kamëntšá people who primarily inhabit the Sibundoy Valley of the Putumayo Department in the ...

is a

language isolate A language isolate is a language that has no demonstrable genetic relationship with any other languages. Basque in Europe, Ainu and Burushaski in Asia, Sandawe in Africa, Haida and Zuni in North America, Kanoê in South America, and Tiwi ...

, although linguists have tried to connect it to the

Chibchan language The Chibchan languages (also known as 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 the Roman script, is a 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 Magna Graecia. The Gree ...

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 used in spiritual and religious contexts to induce altered states of consciousness. Hallucinogens such as the psilocybin found in so-called "magic" mushrooms have been used in sacred contexts since ancie ...

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'' and '' Desfontainia'' in their rituals. Kamëntšá

shaman Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...

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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

) 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''.

Gallery

Kamëntšá People

File:Baile Kämentsá.jpg, Kamëntšá dancers File:Tejido como memoria material.jpg,

Weaver Weaver or Weavers may refer to: Activities * A person who engages in weaving fabric Animals * Various birds of the family Ploceidae * Crevice weaver spider family * Orb-weaver spider family * Weever (or weever-fish) Arts and entertainmen ...

creating traditional textile on a

loom A loom is a device used to weaving, weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the Warp (weaving), warp threads under tension (mechanics), tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of ...

File:Cuentas Kämentsá.jpg, Craftsperson threading traditional beadwork File:Talla en madera en el parque de Sibundoy 1.jpg , Woodcarving of Kamëntšá in traditional costume in the Parque de

Sibundoy Sibundoy (Kamëntsá: Tabanok "village") is a town and municipality in the Putumayo Department of the Republic of Colombia. The town existed well before the Spanish came in 1534. The Inca, under Huayna Cápac, conquered the local Kamëntsá peo ...

File:Talla en madera en el parque de Sibundoy 2.jpg, Woodcarving of Kamëntšá mythological beings, Parque de Sibundoy File:Luis Albeiro Maldonado Monsalve.jpg, Luis Albeiro Maldonado Monsalve,

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of Sibundoy

Entheogenic plants of the Kamëntšá

During the long period of relative isolation, a great variety of curious cultivated plants were brought into the ibundoy
Valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...
. Some are of scant importance today and may never have enjoyed a wide appreciation among the Valley’s inhabitants. Others, the predominant food, medicinal and
narcotic The term narcotic (, from ancient Greek ναρκῶ ''narkō'', "I make numb") originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties. In the United States, it has since become associated with opiates ...
plants, have come to assume very great importance in the economic and social life of the natives.
Certain plants, known nowhere else, have evolved in the Valley under the influences of cultivation. Such has come to pass with the Tree ''Datura'' [=''
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 ...
]'' drugs.

Melvin L. Bristol 1969

Debasement of Sibundoy Indian culture is a sad and logical result of national development and is a model for the erosion of traditional life throughout South America. Not long ago, the Valley of Sibundoy had some of the most interesting uses of psychoactive and medicinal plants in the world. Today,
alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...
is replacing the ceremonial use of safer drugs. Weil, Andrew, ''The Marriage of the Sun and Moon: a quest for unity in consciousness'', pub. Houghton Mifflin Company 1980 ISBN 0-395-25723-9 Chapter 11 ''In the Land of Yagé'', p. 129.

Andrew Weil Andrew Thomas Weil (, born June 8, 1942) is an American celebrity doctor who advocates for integrative medicine. Early life and education Weil was born in Philadelphia, on June 8, 1942,The editors of EB (2015). "Andrew Weil, American Physici ...
1980

File:Methysticodendron amesianum (now Brugmansia x candida ( B. aurea ?) var. ‘Culebra’ ) Kew.jpg, ''Brugmansia × candida'' var. 'Culebra',

Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1759, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...

File:Brugmansia candida Pers. (AM AK305675-2).jpg, Conventional form of '' Brugmansia × candida'' File:Brugmansia aurea Stock.jpg, Conventional form of ''

Brugmansia aurea ''Brugmansia aurea'', the golden angel's trumpet, is a species of flowering plant in the nightshade family Solanaceae, endemic to Ecuador. Since March 2014, it has been listed as Extinct in the Wild by the IUCN but before that, it was listed as ...

'' File:Iochroma fuchsioides.jpg, '' Iochroma fuchsioides'',

San Francisco Botanical Garden The San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum (formerly Strybing Arboretum) is located in San Francisco, California, San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Its 55 acres (22.3 ha) represents nearly 9,000 different kinds of plants from around ...

File:Banisteriopsis caapi floreciendo.jpg, ''

Banisteriopsis caapi ''Banisteriopsis caapi'', also known as, caapi, soul vine, yagé (yage), or ayahuasca (the latter of which also refers to the psychedelic decoction made with the vine and a plant source of dimethyltryptamine) is a South American liana of the fam ...

'', principal ingredient of

File:Hojas del yagé (Diplopterys cabrerana).jpg, '' Diplopterys cabrerana'': jointly the most important ayahuasca additive File:Hojas de chacruna (Psychotria viridis).jpg, ''

Psychotria viridis ''Psychotria viridis'', also known as ''chacruna'', ''chacrona'', or ''chaqruy'' in the Quechua languages, is a perennial, shrubby flowering plant in the coffee family Rubiaceae. It is a close relative of ''Psychotria carthagenensis'' (a.k.a. ''s ...

'': jointly the most important ayahuasca additive File:Tetrapterys methystica seedling.jpg, Seedling of '' Glicophyllum stylopterum'' (formerly known as (i.a.) ''Tetrapterys methystica'') File:Desfontainia spinosa - Flickr - peganum.jpg, ''

Desfontainia spinosa ''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 Fr ...

'': ‘borrachera del paramo’

Notable Kamëntšá people

* Hugo Jamioy Juagibioy, poet and indigenous rights 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