Kuna culture

The Kuna, or Cuna, is the most prominent indigenous population in Panama, around 50,000 Kuna in Panama and Colombia. Most Kunas live on small islands off the northern coast of Panama known as the San Blas islands. They speak Kuna (the name of the language in Kuna is Dulegaya) as well as Spanish. Today there are 49 communities in the San Blas islands, each with its own political organization, governed collectively under the Kuna General Congress.

Kuna are famous for their art, particularly bright patterned textiles made with a reverse applique technique called molas. The Kuna have maintained successful tourism, retail sales, agriculture, and trade, which is much of the reason why they have been able to function independently compared to other indigenous groups. The hammock is central to Kuna culture; Kuna are born in hammocks, live in hammocks, and are even buried in their hammocks.

Spirituality, or the Kuna Cosmos, play a vital role in every detail of life, particularly in gender roles, even in creative expression. According to author Mari Lyn Salvador in The Art of Being Kuna, “…each element has its spiritual dimension and its place in Great Father’s plan for his people, and each task is carried out with expressive creativity and aesthetic discernment. In the Kuna Cosmos, everything in the world, whether natural, cultural, or spiritual, is divided by gender, and almost every specific kind of verbal or visual art belongs either to males or females but no to both.”

The Kuna have worked to be politically autonomous from Panamanian government. Ever since colonization Spanish colonization, Kuna resisted Spanish attempts to missionize and subdue them for more than 200 years. They are protective of their lands believing strongly in the preservation of nature and “the Great Mother’s” land. During the first decades of the twentieth century, the Panamanian government attempted to suppress many of the traditional customs. Kuna revolted in 1925 known as the Tule Revolution. A peace treaty established that the Panamanian government would protect the customs of the Kuna, in return that the Kuna abided by the formal education system of Panama on the islands.

This history of segregation, independence, and desire to remain autonomous is reflected in the national dance and song of Panama. As a reflection of these tensions between the Panamanian government and culture against the Kuna culture and politics, Kuna cultural influences and their significance in Panamanian heritage is not preserved or represented in tamborito. Dimaris Bergeron stated that “the Kuna and Panamanians don’t have anything in common. We have our own ways. They have their traditions and we have ours.”