Indigenous Crafts

INDIGENOUS CRAFTS
"Crafts are activities, skills or empirical techniques,

traditionally practiced by the people, through which, with
artistic intention or elements, objects are created or
produced to fulfill any utilitarian function, or they are
adorned or decorated with the same or different material,
performing manual labor individually or in small groups,
usually family members, and infusing in typical
characters or styles, generally consistent with those
predominant in the traditional culture of the community."
The different types of indigenous crafts manifest

themselves as true works of art. The traditional ancestral
ways have not been lost and have been kept alive
among these peoples. Among the types of indigenous
crafts or ethnographic objects are; basketry or hard
fabrics, soft fabrics (chinchorros, hammocks, bags, baby
carriers, dresses and guayucos) and their looms, pottery
or ceramics, wood carvings, body ornaments, hunting
and fishing instruments, musical instruments, etc.
As far as basket weaving is concerned, it is the type
of craft that presents the greatest variety. All ethnic
groups make them. These are made in different
shapes, sizes and colors. Its manufacture is based
on leaves of different types of palms: moriche,
cumare, seje, cucurito, chiquichique, etc.
Every decoration has its meaning, related to the life

of the users, its sacredness, its mythology. The
symbolism extends to maps of the home inserted in
its environment.
Regarding ceramics, it is of great antiquity. In the regions
of Manapiare (Corobal), Atabapo (Nericagua), on islands
of the Orinoco River, in the Bajo Orinoco (Barrancas and
Saladero), in Culebra, very close to Puerto Ayacucho and
in other places, archaeological sites of this type have
been found. artistic manifestation that dates back to pre-
Hispanic times.
As for the decoration of the ceramics, these are closely

linked to the symbology of the social organization and
mythology of the ethnic group that made them.
Another indigenous artisanal expression is traditional

musical instruments of which we can find more than 100
types.
These are very characteristic within all ethnicities. They are used in their religious
healing ceremonies and in various celebrations.
Another artisanal manifestation is body ornaments. Among these we find the

pintaderas. These are made from a circular or rectangular piece of wood carved
with a different design according to its future use and function. These are
impregnated on the carved side of the seal with paints from onoto and caraña.
They are then applied to the body.
Wood carvings are another craft expression that we can find in the Amazon.
Among these we have benches (made in the shape of animals), household wax,
ritual objects, bongos and curiaras, canaletes, pylons, etc.
Wayuu Crafts
Bags or Backpacks: shoulder bags or bags made of Colombian threads with

various motifs alluding to the life of the community. The reasons can be pre-
established in the orders.
Chinchorros or Wayúu Hammocks: The Wayúu hammocks or chinchorros are

hanging beds where the Wayúu rests, sleeps, talks, attends to visitors, works on
weaving, procreates and brings children into the world. The hammocks are made
with compact fabrics and the hammocks with loose fabrics. Made entirely by hand.
The pieces that make it up are: The Central Body, the Cabuyera, the Handle or
Handle and the fringe. The Cabuyera is tied to the headboard, has great color and
is rich in drawings. It is woven on fork looms and requires a lot of work time. All the
models displayed in our catalog are completely original.
Hats: Palm leaf hats, made by Wayúu men. Suitable for days of intense sun.
Blankets: Beautiful blankets used by women on a daily basis. Practical for many
occasions. Various reasons.
Guaireñas or Alpargatas: Footwear made to withstand long days in the sand.

Male and female models.
The Weaves and their importance The kanas is the highest expression of the
wuayúu weaving, it is a very ancient art, probably originated in the high Guajira, it
consists of a weaving of beautiful and stylized geometric figures, which represent
elements of the natural environment that surrounds daily life. of wuayúu. The more
complex the figures are, the greater value the piece acquires and the greater the
prestige it achieves, it is woven on a fork loom. Each kana has a name and
meaning.
The chinchorro and the hammock are the fundamental fabrics of the Wuayúu
culture. They are the hanging beds where the wuayúu rests, although the
hammock and the hammock have the same function, textileally they have marked
differences, the first is elastic and made of loose fabric and the second is heavy
and compact, it is made of a palletized fabric.
The hammocks and hammocks are made manually. Once the central body is
finished, the other pieces are woven separately: the rope, the handle or handle,
and the fringe. The rope is tied to the headboard, the fringe is a long and narrow
strip that hangs from the side edges of the hammock body.
The shei is a funerary blanket in which the deceased are wrapped and buried. Its
shape is more or less heavy rectangular, it has great color and is rich in kana
drawings.
Si'ira is the long and narrow sash that is part of the male guayuco.
Mantalaju, is the sash that goes over the saddle and is tied to the saddle and girth.
Atula is a complex thread braiding technique that requires a lot of skill and
concentration.
The backpack, what you walk with, is never missing from Wayúu clothing, it is
crocheted or crocheted, with maguey fiber and cotton. There are several types of
backpack: Susuchon, which has the name hanging from the sash, one on each
side of the guayuco.
Susu, daily the medium-sized backpack that the Wayúu carries everywhere
Ainacajatu, a large backpack where the woman carries the hammock, clothes and
other things necessary for travel.
Kapatera, the man's large backpack, is a kind of cylindrical tube, with two mouths
and closing cords that are also used as hanging racks.
Kattowi, a very resistant and multi-purpose mesh backpack, to transport pots,

mucuras filled with water.
Weaving for the Wuayúu people is more than a cultural practice and inheritance
from their ancestors. For the Wayúu it is a way of conceiving and expressing life as
they feel and want it. An art thought out and enjoyed. The observation of its
innumerable tissues allows them to read the spirit that guides their action and
thought.
Crafts of the Indigenous People of the Amazonas State
The pottery
There are very few indigenous people who preserve the pottery tradition, such as
the Yanomami, who until very recently manufactured some vessels, such as the
traditional "hapoca", which is a simple bell-shaped pot without any type of
decoration, handles or legs that they used for cooking. It was the men who made it
with white clay using the rolling and smoothing method and burning it on open fire
pyres.
Textile
While the Indian women are in meditation as if absent, facing a vast world of
reeds, vines and roots, with very few instruments, they are capable of creating
cords and ropes, such is the case of the indigenous women of Río Negro who use
the chiquichique Leopoldina piassaba; body adornment cords, used to tie the
waist, arms, calves, legs and buttocks; Even today, they make the so-called
“Amazonian belts” like the “wao” of the Yanomami, with which they tie the penis to
a rope of cotton threads that surrounds the waist.
Among the few garments that are still woven in Amazonas are the guayucos made
with cotton threads, which vary in size and shape according to the ethnic group,
such as the “ramopotima”, a Yanomami feminine guayuco whose back is a bundle
of ropes. of cotton that forms an arch over the buttocks, and the previous one
made with a series of threads that fall like fringes over the pubis.
The Ye'kuana weave a type of apron that young women use in the rite of passage
from childhood to adolescence, called “muwaaju”, this presents an interesting
adaptation of non-native materials such as mostacilla, woven on a loom in the
shape of arch, which is built with two pieces of thick rattan tied tightly at the ends,
so that the arched side can maintain the necessary tension required by a warp in
whose weft small glass beads, colored blue, white and red, are inserted. , mostly.
The loom and spindle are also used by the Ye'kuanas in the weaving of cotton
bands that indigenous women use to carry children while they carry out their daily
activities.
As for the chinchorros, a hanging object of indigenous origin designed for sleep,
rest, love and death. The Yanomami make them rudimentary with a stripped
bundle of the mamure vine Hetoropsis spruceana. The Guahibos work with the
fiber of the cumare palm.
INTRODUCTION
When talking about the crafts of the indigenous people, we must know their real
ancient cultural experience, this is always a determinant of the needs of the
community in its subsistence, social and religious-festival projection. Their fight for
survival, their life in small communities and their magical religious feeling did not
favor "a creation", but conditioned an imitative adaptation. The utilitarian use of raw
materials predominated, with the indigenous people showing great skill; There was
no shortage of aesthetic stimuli: expressive-festival observation, identifying
symbolism with the natural and the surrounding supernatural, and man's natural
inclination towards "the beautiful"; However, also in this aspect it revealed an
aesthetic "utilitarianism", giving rise to a certain highly patterned uniformity of the
craftsmanship and the decorative ornamentation itself.
CONCLUSION
1. Indigenous manufacturing was always a "task" within the community;

Everyone, women and men, fulfilled these "tasks" to satisfy the needs of the
domestic-family groups.
2. The "caraguata" net work, pottery, double thread braiding, weaving, basket
weaving - except among the Mbyá-Guaraníes, were tasks specific to
women; the uniform guidelines were obvious; However, the manufacturers -
within uniformity - also followed their "competitive" instinct, manifesting itself
basically in the combination of ornamental motifs; It was a way of individual
expression "of prestige and capacity" within the guidelines.
3. Work in wood, stone, metal, shell, bone, pyrography and feather ornaments
corresponded to man; In feather crafts the competitive tendency was
evident from the social and aesthetic-expressive point of view; On the other
hand, when working with wood, stone or metal, "individuals" emerged who
stood out for their skill, and these tasks were not generalized within the
community.

Indigenous Crafts

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INDIGENOUS CRAFTS

"Crafts are activities, skills or empirical techniques,

The different types of indigenous crafts manifest

Every decoration has its meaning, related to the life

As for the decoration of the ceramics, these are closely

Another indigenous artisanal expression is traditional

Another artisanal manifestation is body ornaments. Among these we find the

Bags or Backpacks: shoulder bags or bags made of Colombian threads with

Chinchorros or Wayúu Hammocks: The Wayúu hammocks or chinchorros are

Guaireñas or Alpargatas: Footwear made to withstand long days in the sand.

Kattowi, a very resistant and multi-purpose mesh backpack, to transport pots,

Crafts of the Indigenous People of the Amazonas State

1. Indigenous manufacturing was always a "task" within the community;

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