Tribes & Artisans

The Wayuu Community

The Wayuu people’s history starts in the Netherland Antilles and the Amazon around 150 B.C. In the XVI Century European conquistadors from Spain, Portugal, England and other countries, invaded South America.  By this time, the Wayuu tribe was settled in the middle of the Desert of Guajira. Due to the extreme climate conditions of the desert the Wayuu tribe wasn’t discovered and subjugated by the Europeans until the independence of Colombia and Venezuela many years after their arrival in "the new world". 

The desert has been their home until now and they pay their respect to this homeland as the desert allowed them to hide from the conquistadors and keep their traditions and culture intact for many generations. 

This fascinating community still live in small towns or villages called "rancherias" and they speak their own dialect (wayuunaiki). They believe in the meaning of dreams as predictions of the future where spirits from the past speak to the community while they sleep. One of their most traditional activities is weaving, an art that is part of their cultural identity and was inherited from their ancestors. For the Wayuu people, knowing how to weave is a symbol of creativity, intelligence and wisdom, a practice that is passed on from one generation to the next. Through their art of weaving they share their culture, their origins, their migrations, and their history.

"The Wayuu are people from the dessert, children of the sun and wind who have survived for centuries in this dry and inhospitable region. The most recent studies suggest there are around 400,000 Wayuu people." Source: www.belivecolombia.org

                  Source: http://eyesoncolombia.wordpress.com