When two Kogi men meet, they use the customary greeting, which is to exchange handfuls of coca. Generally Kogi Mamo’s don’t have phone number so, it can be a bit tricky . Verbalization of the offerings as “food for the dead”. They always have a certain mistrust when they meet us, and always keep in mind the atrocities that civilians have inflicted on them. Each segment of the lineage is linked to a village and a ceremonial house. According to Cosmo-vision and Kággabba mythology, the social schema of the village is based on the original law, which is the norm of man’s behavior towards nature. The balance For the Kogis, everything is balance and harmony. The ceremony can last until midnight or even later, either in the hut or in the open air. The sea deposits them at night, and they have to pick them up before it takes them up again in the morning. Having seen it in action, however, the level of study remains superficial and of short duration. You're not following me on instagram yet ? The Kogis currently represent 0.66% of Colombia’s indigenous population. Failure to comply with the obligation to provide services may be brought to the attention of the Commissioner, who will raise the case in Nunhué, under the scrutiny of the rest of the men in the community. They tell each other anecdotes, some of which go back centuries ! All consultations are done with Mamos, and many of the decisions are based on their wisdom and knowledge. In the tradition only men have the right to chew Coke. According to the Austrian anthropologist Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff, the Kogi burial is still close to the rite practiced by the Taironas. In order to preserve their traditional way of life, they rarely interact with the modern world or with outside civilization. Kogi clothes are called Yakna, white fabrics that they make themselves. The Mamo in place will generally choose the wisest of children, and the most “concentrated”. The Kogi language belongs to the Chibchan family. Rising to 5775m above sea level, it is the snow-covered peaks of the Sierra Nevada that would have attracted Rodrigo de Bastidas’ crew in 1501 to the Caribbean Colombian coast. [5] In the cave, elder Mamos and the child's mother care for, feed, train, and teach the child to attune to "Aluna" before the boy enters the outside world. Traditionally, men play Gaita, maracas and drums, while women dance with kumuna and kuckui, a kind of rattles attached to the ankles. We must return what we take from mother earth For the Kogis, cutting down a tree is “picking a member of the mother”, hunting an animal, “taking a son from the owner of the animals”. Social organization is also supported by the family unit, conformed by the husband, wife, unmarried children and girls married with their respective husbands. They rub their hands on the opening of the empty shell, and this produces a vibration whose sound is close to Tibetan bowls. Although every life cycle is celebrated, emphasis on burial customs has been of much importance to the Kogi people. Thus, a Moro (Mamo apprentice) knows nothing about nothing. One of the only financial contributions I have seen is through the work of women and the design of fiqué mochilas. The Kogi , or Cogui, or Kágaba, meaning "jaguar" in the Kogi language, are an indigenous ethnic group that live in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains in northern Colombia. Once, when I slept in a native village in the Sierra, I was impressed by the comfort of our hut: there was almost nothing in terms of comfort, except the fire in the center and a few logs of wood to sit on. KOGI, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, … Die Weisheitshüter der Kogi heißen Mamos (bei den Männern) und Sakas (bei den Frauen). Feel free to let me know in the comments below. Brothers-in-law and brothers are preferred, but it can be with neighbours. Brought to a high level of consciousness, their role is to maintain the balance of power in the village but also throughout the world, through songs, meditations and ritual offerings. For the Kággabba, violence is one of the little brothers who know no limits when it comes to exploiting the planet’s resources, they only seek accumulation, as well as to appropriate all that nature has to offer. Les Arhuacos ont une technique totalement différente et utilisent beaucoup la laine. So she has to go back and leave him. Vol. They ended up killing each other (well done for them…). A guide once told me that this house is a kind of metaphor for the land. The child then begins to dance. There are also women priests in the villages. Hier leben die Kogi, heutige Vertreter einer über 4000 Jahre alten Hochkultur. La communauté Kogi est un peuple natif qui habite la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta en Colombie. We will therefore have to go through total destruction, so that there is nothing left. Other censuses go up to 25,000. He had one objective: to build the city of his dreams and to make a civilized conquest without massacres or persecutions. Then came the light. HRAF MS: 323 p. [original: 319 p.] By line: Author's name as appearing in the actual publication Gerardo Reichel-Dolmatoff Although they consider us different, they do not trap their society away from us because there is only one world and one mother. The Taironas were organized in the form of Caciques kingdoms. Water means everything to the Kogi, a true living being, the blood that circulates in the veins. In the process man will be more concerned with preparing the land. 1. Other say “Son of the Jaguar”. The Mochila is a bag used for transporting personal belongings. It thus possesses an incredible variety of endemic species, and is home to 7% of the world’s biodiversity. As the soul of the deceased was still present for several months, the body was buried in the centre of the house in a funeral urn until it left its carnal envelope. Within each pair, one cannot survive without the other. Through deep concentration, symbolic offerings, and divination, the Mamos believe they support the balance of harmony and creativity in the world. Members of … She started thinking, and she designed the world in the dark. The breathtaking mountains of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast of Colombia are the sacred ancestral lands of four Indigenous Peoples: the Kogi, Arhuaco, Wiwa, and Kankuamo. From the age of 5, the child is taken to the sacred sites of the Upper Sierra Nevada, where he learns to meditate on the natural and spiritual world. We do not even realize that capturing water is putting nature at risk, so innocent and natural does this daily act of drinking tap water seem to us. I then ask my host: “But since you have already seen chairs, tables, beds, why don’t you build some for your houses? The Kogis are one of the peoples who have best preserved their traditions over time. Indeed, on the coast, everything has to be paid for… However, the Kogi Indians know how to skillfully use the differences in altitude to obtain harvests at different times of the year. Official DIAN figures in 2005 showed that only about 9,000 indigenous Kogis still live in the mountains. The Kogi all wear only pure white clothing. Selected male children are taken from birth and put in a dark cave for the first nine years of their lives to begin this training. Some Kogis think we’re going to have to go to the apocalypse, our madness of destruction will not stop. Los kogui son un pueblo originario de Colombia, que habitan en la vertiente norte de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta en los valles de los ríos Don Diego, Palomino, San Miguel y Río Ancho. The Kággabbas live in small villages called Kuibulos. Through music, they simulate the sounds produced by the sea, rivers and animals. I was therefore extremely fortunate to be allowed into their territory, to spend time navigating their lands, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. They are thus permanently in a state of advanced consciousness. On the drawing below, we can well imagine their diet: Ancestrally, they cultivated potatoes, cassava, malanga, sweet potatoes, corn, beans, beans, etc… Not to mention the Coca leaf, an energy and spiritual food. TaironaTrust : English foundation created following the film “Aluna” directed by Alan Ereira. Title: The Kogi: a tribe of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia. The Kogis are mainly Exogamous, and must find their wives outside the group. She conceived us as ideas. Indeed, the act of dancing is often a connection between the earth and the cosmos. The 2 extremities seen on the roof are also a metaphor for the 2 sacred peaks of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. This page was last edited on 16 February 2021, at 13:02. Instead, there is a mosaic of farming communities, organized around villages and ceremonial centers, each led by the dominant figure of an indigenous priest. When there are hurricanes, droughts, or famines around the world it is said that they are the cause of human failure to keep the world in h… On the whole planet and in all cultures there are sacred places. It plays a central role in daily life, and is a way of socializing. Thus, men are the owners of land and livestock, and women are the owners of houses. A complex of more than 250 terraces in the heart of the Sierra Nevada. I guess it is a bit hard to contact them. Then come the major and minor cabos (Seishua) who also ensure that the village remains attentive to the demands of the superiors. Since the Taironas, Coca is a food, because of its high vitamin and mineral content, but it is also a spiritual food. Divination and concentration also occur in these temples. Their culture has continued since the Pre-Columbian era. Then he places it in a mochila in which the leaves are located and shakes the bag so as not to burn the leaves. The men also continuously chew coca leaves, a tradition followed by many indigenous tribes to connect them to the natural world. In this one would exist 9 worlds, each with its own land and inhabitants. Celle en fiqué est d’usage courant, tandis que celle en coton, sera porté en signe d’élégance ou par les personnes importantes. That’s what protects the Kogis. Mother Goddess, the creator of the universe and mankind, created the cosmic egg. I don’t really know much about this point. Cotton would have the ability to store thoughts like a USB key It happens that if a man behaves badly or has lost his values, the Mamo will ask him to undo all his clothes and redo them completely, in order to meditate, and re-consign positive thoughts in his new tunic. Because of this, the Kogi have built the structure of the ceremonial house as a replica of the cosmos. the necklaces have meanings: according to the colors of the stones. Get this from a library! The word zapatear comes from the word zapatos (shoes), and has its full meaning with indigenous cultures. It is the highest coastal mountain in the world: barely 40km separates the sea from its snow-covered peaks, which rise to 5775m. The medical system is an important aspect of daily use. Only the Mamos can play an instrument called kuiguma, made with a morrocoyo shell. Her answer was simple. It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of José de los Santos Sauna Limaco, fourth Cabildo of the Organización Gondawindúa Tayrona, which acts for indigenous rights in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and represents Kogi interests in particular before the Colombian state. Many geologists describe it as “a miniature copy of the entire planet”. When they are little, they already have all the long hair and the same toga. Published By: Original publisher Bogota: Editorial Iqueima. The women pick, card, and spin wool and cotton while men do the weaving of the cloth. But the conquistadores drove the tribes high up into the mountain, w… CAFÉ KOGI, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Kolumbien. 1. Each village contains a large hut called a "nuhue" or temple where only men are allowed. Thanks a lot for your comment When only mens are invited to these meetings, the mothers take the chidlren and teach them the music and dances during hours, like the humming bird dance, or the dance of the water. We must not believe that the Kogis will welcome us with open arms into their society, quite the contrary, the less they see us the better they are. He is the one who will authorize or not this union. What the viewer does not realize is that the funerary customs have philosophic concepts and deeper underlying meanings beyond the dimension of the western world. When two men meet, a handful of leaves are exchanged as a sign of mutual respect. Lebensjahr in der Dunkelheit. Men gather and help each other to build houses. Kogi music is characterized by a monotonous and repetitive sound, a song to nature. Then comes the meetings during the night in the Nunkhue. Rodrigo de Bastidas who, despite what is said, had fallen in love with culture and maintained friendly relations with the local population. [7] In turn they contacted the same filmmaker twenty years later to give one final message. And from there came all the first spiritual beings, creators of the Kogi world: Sukui, Seyankua, Kajantana, Seinekun, Duguenavi and Seraira. In the "nuhue" many things are discussed and decisions are made. According to Reichel-Dolmatoff, following the Spanish conquest, coastal groups were partially acculturated, but others, such as Guanebucán, and Matúna (kurcha-túxe) also fled to the mountains of the Sierra. It was seen as an offering to be improved by man. As a result, a Kogi will not plant seeds, cut down a tree, divert a stream of water for irrigation, build a house, harvest fruit, or hunt an animal without consulting the Mamo, who will not only indicate the spirit in which authorization should be sought, but also the precise place in which the payment rite should be made, in order to obtain authorization. Learning the history and sciences of the civil world undoubtedly influences the behaviour of this new generation that is today in a certain dilemma: that of remaining in the tradition of their village, and the temptation to go and see what is happening elsewhere. Colombia has long been the world capital of this drug and its production has had devastating consequences for the indigenous population. Some say that the pool site in Tayrona Park was created by the natives to create a pool and fish more easily. Wild is not who lives in nature, 84% of Kogis still speak the native language, which shows a high level of cultural conservation The Mamos speak the 3 languages of Sierra Nevada. The word Tairona would come from Tairo which means “Goldsmith” or “foundry” in the indigenous language. For the Taironas the passage to death was also considered as a great journey, during which it would pass several tolls. They only come back to the village for the days of meetings at Mamu’s request. Defender la biodiversidad en la Sierra Nevada del Caribe, como nos gusta llamar a la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta - Colombia, da la oportunidad de descubrir una comunidad prehispánica auténtica no aculturada que aún subsiste, valorar su coherencia para aprender de sus saberes respetando sus leyes. For a boy, the gift of the first poporo marks his rite of passage to adulthood. This sacred domain was then almost uninhabited. Kogis are also known as Kogis, kouguian, kogi, cogui, cogui, and kággabba. Les femmes portent une tunique blanche avec une épaule dégagée, et portent de jolis colliers de perles multicolores. Placing of offerings at the sides, the center and the top of the burial pit. In a desperate attempt to prevent further ecological catastrophe and destruction, the Kogi Mamos broke their silence and allowed a small BBC film crew into their isolated mountaintop civilization to hear their message and warning to Younger Brother. Ignored from the civil world until the years 70, the Lost city or. Although the languages of the Sierra belong to the same linguistic family, the natives have difficulty understanding each other. From then on, what the Kogis nicknamed “La Noche” began, the dark side seized Colombia. In the years since, the Kogi have remained in their home in the mountains, which allows them to escape the worst effects of colonisation and aids them in preserving their traditional way of life.[3]. The Kogi use this dualistic notion to elaborate on a number of earthly divides: man/woman, male/female, heat/cold, light/dark, and right/left. She conceived us as ideas. The indigenous people of the Sierra believe that Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is connected to the whole planet through its sacred places. To celebrate their union, the Mamo will give it 2 quartz to which it will transmit good energies by orations and spiritual songs. Relationships were rather friendly in the early years. Clothing for men consists of a tunic and simple pants tied with a string at the waist. This isolation has allowed them to be less influenced by the civil world than other cultures. In the Kággabba vision, the territory is delimited by the sacred sites that surround the Sierra Nevada and form an invisible “black line” that separates them from the civilian territory. (See article “un Gran related de Amor“). The social organization was already very developed, and each community played a different role in society. Then the child learns by listening, by listening spiritually, the knowledge comes to him from Aluna. Unfortunately, following the annihilation of the culture by the settlers, these craft techniques have completely disappeared from the current indigenous culture. If we take Everest from the base of its plateau, the Sierra Nevada is higher. Music is a way of transmitting stories and visions. Since their return near the colony lands, they have started to grow ripe crops and Lulo, which are endemic to Colombia. On a cosmic level, the sun separates the universe into two hemispheres: the east/west and consequently a right/left. Only men can enter Nunkhue – it is here that village affairs are discussed and tradition is passed on. These natural opposites are a way of keeping balance in society, or in “harmony” (Yuluka). Ils se surnomment eux même les « Grands frères » et pensent avoir une connaissance et une perception mystique supérieure aux autres. In the small territory of the Sierra Nevada there are already differences in accents and words between some valleys. Many Kogi marriages are arranged by Mamos to ensure the most fruitful communities. In der Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta kommen einige endemische, das heißt nur dort vorkommende Tierarten vor. 12 beautiful photos of Lost City Trek to inspire your next hike, 20 best Pictures of Tayrona Park Colombia (2020), 21 ideas to make pictures of Cartagena (2021). Fishing Before the arrival of the Spaniards, it seems that the Taironas were fishing a little. Questions may be asked about the right to education imposed on these communities, whose knowledge has been transmitted orally for centuries. They have thus lived a few more centuries without having any contact with civilization. He must follow a very special diet. A mochila woven by an ancestral know-how, made of entirely natural fibre, should be worth a fortune! ", From the Heart of The World: Elder Brother's Warning, Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress, "Justin.tv - Link TV - Chat with Alan Ereira, director of 'From the Heart of the World, Kogis Indians of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, "Learning and adaptation as conservation practices in resilient traditional socio-ecological systems: The Elder Brothers of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta", National Geographic article on the Indians of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, TEDtalks, Wade Davis on endangered cultures, http://tairona.myzen.co.uk/index.php/culture/kogi_religion_and_cosmology/, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kogi_people&oldid=1007096425, Short description is different from Wikidata, "Related ethnic groups" needing confirmation, Articles using infobox ethnic group with image parameters, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Photographer living near the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta for 4 years, I have had the privilege of sharing extraordinary moments with this unique culture. They consider us as children. The Sierra Nevada would have surfaced more than 300 million years ago, while the much younger Andes Mountain Range would have been barely 15 million years old. Each of these cities had a main cacique who led the minor caciques of the surrounding villages. Before the Spanish conquistadors arrived, the Tairona were forced to move into the highlands when the Caribs invaded around 1000 CE. Indeed, at the Santa Marta Gold Museum, there are magnificent statuettes of great finesse made by the taironas. Following this concept, the Kogi have structured the ceremonial houses and sacred offering sites into four quadrants. Traditional Kogi religion is closely related to the structure of the cosmic universe that exists in dualistic expressions. In Kogi cosmology, they have added three dimensions to the standard N/S/E/W: Zenith, Nadir and the Center. Indeed, for the Kággabba people, the Sierra is Sé Nenulang – the physical and spiritual universe with all its components. He is assisted by a secretary ( Takina, who generally is Mamo himself). But coca is also cultivated by non-indigenous settlers as a raw material for cocaine. The universe for the Kogis is conceived in a symmetrical way like a coil of yarn, whose central disc limits the 2 Cosmic parts. Creating us in thought. It is indeed much faster than pruning by hand, and it brings in good harvests in the first few years. The terraces were then occupied by the Taironas houses. Eating this offering has a close relationship with sexual intercourse. This is a training course of a minimum duration of 18 years. Each Kuibulo also has 2 “Nunkhue” or “Cansamarías”, which are the main huts dedicated to meetings. I also invite you to watch this magnificent video “Voice of the Sacred Mountains” made in 2018 on the occasion of the struggles against the mining projects in the Sierra Nevada. In the case of good(right)/evil(left), the Kogi believe committing a sin once in a while serves as a justification for the existence of good. The Taironas made statuettes using the lost wax technique, which made it possible to have relics in volume with great finesse in detail. In these places, offerings, consultations and collections of materials for ritual use are carried out. It is the Mamo who will decide when the child is ready for Poporo, according to his level of maturity. First settled in the calm waters of Gaira, Rodrigo de Bastidas founded one of the first cities in Latin America 24 years later: Santa Marta. Properties acquired to date for the Kogi along the Línea Negra in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, together consolidating Jaba Tañiwashkaka. Then they are crushed to obtain the powder of the poporo After chewing, the remaining shell dust, mixed with saliva, is deposited on the neck of the poporo and eventually becomes a thick neck over time. Hi Helena, Poporo is the identity card for every man. The best way to help them would then be to let them live in peace and help them through the foundations. 50 km von der Küste entfernt. Die Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta im Norden Kolumbiens ist eine einzigartige Bergkette nördlich der Anden. In the lower floors of the Sierra, the Colombian government has provided infirmaries. Originally among the Kogi Indians, there is no socio-political organization involving a centralized authority, nor a supra-community organization on a given territory.