Wounaan And Embera Tribes

Emberá–Wounaanformerly known as the Choco Indians

Kylie Cloutier, Hunter Burgtorf, and Connor McNamara

HistoryThe Emberá tribe does not have a written history.

They originated in Columbia in the 1600’s. The Emberá began settling in Darièn around the late 18th century. In the 1940’s, the Wounaan tribe had entered Panama. In the mid 20th century, the tribes lives were altered dramatically when they were introduced to the western products that brought

them into cash economies.

OrganizationDress:

women wear colorful clothes from the waist down with flowers on their heads and necklaces. Men wear loincloths.

Government: Their government is political and administrative, with general chiefs as maximum authority

and sahilas for each village.

Sources of income: The Emberá community do small scale farming which includes growing rice, yucca, oranges,

mangoes, and cocoa.

Besides farming, their main source of income is handicrafts, which everyone in the village produces.

“We all make the handicrafts as all of us are artisans, men and women alike,” said the head of the Emberá proudly.

Religion

Shamanism is their religion which is based on invisible forces called jai. Jai is the essence of things, natural phenomena, animals and people. They belong to nature and only the shaman can see and control them.

Ewandama is the good god, the creator and Tiauru is the evil opponent.

Family Life and StructureChildren learn traditions and economic skills through apprenticeship alongside theirparents and grandparents. When the children are under the age of ten, they shadow

their parents during the chores, but when they turn ten they start contributing themselves. High schools are non-existent.

Marriage: Originally, men sometimes had more than one wife but today, monogamy is highly encouraged. When divorce occurs, children generally stay with the mother.

Housing: Generally, six or seven people live in a household together. Which includes couples and their offspring.

Farming/HuntingOriginally, the semi-nomadic forest dweller’s, the Emberá and Wounaan, were known as hunter-gatherers. They hunted with

blowpipes and poisonous darts--a technique that is still in practice today in Colombia. In addition to hunting, people also set traps for

rodents and birds. The most common targets for hunters were deer, wild boar, coati-mundi, gneke, etc.

A significant part of their diet came from the collection of jungle plants, fruit, heart of palm, roots and tubers. Also, one of their sources of

income comes from small scale farming.

Communication

The Emberá tribe belongs to the Paezan language family.

Their native language contains thirty percent cognates . They combined the two languages 800 – 1200 years ago.

After they diverged, their spoken languages became unintelligible to indigenous Wounaan and Emberá.

War/Soldiers

The Emberá, are warriors whereas the Wounaan are artists. The Emberá, used to be enemies with Kuna, but they now have found unity rather than division when they are addressing problems that they have in common. the emberá have expressed an interest in wanting to go to war with Cuna, Burumiá, Chanco, Idabaez, Suruco, Waunana, and Orocomira tribes.

EvidenceThe women of the tribe create beautiful ceramics. They also weave and make very useful household items. Today, they

weave these items and sell them to tourists. Men make spears and

points from palm wood. Like the women, they also create useful

household items such as kitchen utensils, benches, and stools.

Legendshttp://www.sitepal.com/ttswidgetdemo?mId=31725649.3

Euandama is the body of the sun. He married the moon and had many children, all of which were black. One day, the children, his wife, and him went to the Bahia Solano

located on Columbia’s Pacific Coast. Euandama then created a large lagoon and filled it with milk. After, the children were then ordered to bathe in the lagoon. The

children soon learned that by bathing in the lagoon, their skin became white. There was not enough milk by the time others came, so they only turned brown. The last group that arrived, did not get there soon enough and their was only a small amount of milk left in puddles. Because of the lack of milk, they could only wash their

hands and feet. Which left them more white than the rest of their bodies.

Citationhttp://www.folkart.com/swenty/logo-basket.jpg

-http://cache4.asset-cache.net/xc/86855748.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=A7634A0C7C88C3035B047169254681F1E30A760B0D811297

http://www.panart.com/people/benardino2.jpghttp://www.reganimages.com/images/embera.jpg

http://andarpanama.com/susan/images/stories/el1.jpghttp://farm4.static.flickr.com/3331/3413513189_ca257b4319.jpg

http://richarddetrich.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/embera-nikki-150.jpghttp://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_10/issue_12/images/Embera_6.jpg

http://casabalboapanama.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/panama-embera-l.jpghttp://emberatour.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/embera_tribe.jpg

Wikipedia. Comhttp://www.panama1.com/imagenes/panama/Darien/embera002.jpg

http://www.nativeplanet.org/indigenous/emberahttp://www.colombia.travel/es/images/stories/turistainternacional/comunidad/blogs/aleyda-rodriguez/waunana.jpg

http://www.colormedivine2.com/Beautiful_abstract%20copy.jpghttp://www.everyculture.com/Middle-America-Caribbean/Ember-and-Wounaan.html

http://www.everyculture.com/South-America/Ember-Orientation.html http://www.everyculture.com/South-America/Ember-Orientation.html

http://raisingcolombiankids.blogspot.com/2009/10/indigenous-groups-of-pacific-and.html http://assets.panda.org/img/panamakids_249548.jpg

http://www.columbiariverimages.com/Images/pacific_ocean_beards_hollow_2005.jpg