Catamaran

DISCOVER THE MATRIARCHAL CULTURE AND ANCESTRAL TRADITIONS OF SAN-BLAS DURING YOUR VACATION

Welcome in Guna yala (known as San-Blas islands) if you ask yourself what can look like a matriarchal community, you should meet the Kuna people. Let me introduce you to one of the few feminist societies of this planet: San Blas.
Kuna people is at the beginning a mix between Mayas and Indians of Amazonia. With the arrival of the European inviders they moved from the jungle to the San-Blas islands where they established themselves. They are a matriarchal society. It s may be cliche but it s a fact than their women society is a lot more open minded than the classical patriarchal one.
First of all, people of Guna Yala have no idea about what is feminism or matriarchal society, they just live like that since ever. Women never had to fight to have a place and live in real harmony with Male and nature. Women are free to make up, shave or not, wear traditional clothes or not, and breastfeeding where they want because the traditional way of life Kuna, protect them from the sexualization of the women body.

KUNA THIRD GENDER

As open minded persons, the San-Blas people also let the kids free to choose their gender without any pression. So it’s common to see the ones that the Kunas call Omeggid,  what literally mean “like a woman” in the village. This men wear clothes, act and work like the other women of the kuna community. Most of the time male become female, the inverse is really rare, but when it happens, the Guna Yala community accept it the same way.
What we call ‘third gender’ is just completely normal in San-Blas. When a boy show tendencies to act as a women, the family naturally accepts and allows him to grow up as he want. Most of the time they do sewing Molas as work and as the others women, they take decisions. You have to understand that It’s not about tolerance, cause tolerance mean that something is not normal, it’s just about being who you wanted to be. And it’s interesting to see this from our American and European point of view, because the Guna Yala people live it really naturally, when the third gender always bring polemics in our societies. This acceptation is a specificity of San Blas and it’s not the same in Panama.

How to make Molas Click here!

OPEN MINDED KUNA RELIGION

As the Albinism (San Blas is the highest rate of albinism in the world and albinos people are sacred for Kunas), the third gender also have a specific place in Guna mythology, Wigudum was a leader and also one of the three children of God, and was half men and half women. Hunting the day time and sawing the evening. It’s important to understand that for GunaYala people Fishing and hunting is considered as the same value than cooking sewing or looking after children: the Gunas do not consider what we call women’s labour to be less important and it’s an important step for equality. (If you want to read more about tradition in San-Blas you can read our article on GunaYala way of life and kuna culture)

ANCESTRAL GUNA YALA WAY OF LIFE

So, the women decide for almost everything but are rarely chef or politics. They let this kind of work to men. They prefer working the extraordinary art of sewing Molas (that also, what bring the better income in the family) when a man become an husband, he move from his parent house to the one of his wife, most of the time the men are fisherman and sale their fishing to the tourists to bring back money home, even before the arrival of tourism they were doing the same with pirates and other boats coming from europe. When the couple have their first childs, they raise them in respect of tradition and if the baby is a little girl the whole village make a big ceremony to celebrate the venue of a new women in the community, an other really important Kuna ceremony is also made when a girl pass from teenager to adult, and at the death of the mother, the heritage of land and house will be share between the daughters of the couple. If you want to learn more about Kuna people, traditions of Guna Yala and albinism in San Blas islands you can read our article about the Kuna culture and their history, you will learn more interesting fact about this surprising community before to visit them.