The Arhuaco are (with the neighbouring Kogi and Wiwa, or Malayo) one of three peoples whose ancestors were connected to the ancient and advanced Tairona civilisation. Brutally subjugated by Spanish conquistadors in the 16th Century, the survivors retreated into the pyramidal Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta that explode upwards from the Caribbean coast of Colombia. Their homeland – the world’s highest coastal mountain range – comprises every distinct climatic ecosystem in Colombia, from coastal wetlands and equatorial rainforest to alpine tundra and glacial peaks. Declared by Unesco in 1979 as a Biosphere Reserve of Man and Humanity, the mountain range was named as the most irreplaceable ecosystem on Earth by Science journal in 2013. The three communities, who still total about 90,000, according to non-profit organisation Cultural Survival) call themselves the ‘Elder Brothers’ and are ruled by mamos, who maintain an ancient cosmovision (a conscious, cognitive interpretation of the world) based on a worship and custodianship of Mother Nature.
Nearly three miles high on a massif in the far north of Colombia, 18 men and women clamber up a steep, rocky slope. Members of a local indigenous group, the Arhuaco, they are dressed in white tunics, with intricately woven bags slung across their chests, the men’s heads covered by conical white hats symbolic of snowy peaks. They pause near a depression, chests heaving in the thin air, to peer over the edge. Deep inside, flocks of birds swoop around a single, gnarled tree, rivulets of water flowing from its base. The Arhuaco say that when the world was created, they emerged from this very spot. They call it the Mother.
The Arhuaco people, related to the Kogi and Arsario peoples, live in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada in Santa Marta; they comprise about 34,711 people, according to the 2018 DANE census. The Sierra Nevada is the highest coastal region in the world with mountains reaching up to 5,700 metres. The region is almost 12,600 square kilometres and has an extremely varied climate with great biodiversity. As a result, part of the region has been declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO. Arhuaco are also known as Ika and their language is part of the Chibcha family. Arhuaco grow coffee and sugar for their own consumption and participate in small-scale animal husbandry (cattle, goats, pigs and chickens); they also produce coca leaf and use it for medicinal purposes. In order to marry, the man must live and work for his future father-in-law for one or two years. If the marriage does not take place after this period of time the man is given compensation for his labour. The spiritual leader, or mamu, is responsible for solving community legal problems and providing religious counselling. There are 42 separate Arhuaco communities that are consolidated under the Tayrona Indigenous Federation.
Using traditional, regenerative farming methods that protect biodiversity, Arhuaco tribespeople in Colombia cultivate rare sugar from ancient varieties. Using traditional farming methods, the Arhuaco tribespeople cultivate rare handcrafted sugar from ancient sugarcane varieties grown on steep slopes. Heritage varieties of panela sugarcane are planted during the full moon in small, wild-grown organic plots, in accordance with ancestral, regenerative farming methods. Before harvesting, farmers ask for permission from madre tierra, the Spanish term for mother nature. They harvest one plot at a time to avoid drastically disrupting the ecosystem. No modern agricultural machinery is used. Harvesters use a machete to cut down mature sugarcane, avoiding cutting down unripened ones.
The Arhuaco, related to the Kogi and Arsario peoples, live in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada in Santa Marta near the San Sebastián de Rábago and on the river banks of the Sevilla, Aracataca and Fundación The Sierra Nevada is the highest coastal region in the world at almost 12,600 square kilometers, and has an extremely diverse climate with great biodiversity. The Arhuaco are also known as the Ika and their language is part of the Chibcha family. The Arhuaco grow coffee and sugar for their own consumption and participate in small animal husbandry (cattle, goats, pigs, and chicken). In order to marry, the man must live and work for his future father-in-law for one or two years. If the marriage does not take place after this period of time the man is given compensation for his labour. The Arhuaco consider neighbouring communities “little brothers.” The spiritual leader or Mamu, lives separate from family and is responsible for solving community legal problems and providing religious counselling. There are 42 separate Arhuaco communities that are consolidated under the Tayrona Indigenous Federation. In 1982 Arhuaco took action to evict a Roman Catholic mission which was attempting to prohibit use of national dress and language. In 1990 the Colombian military tortured and killed Arhuaco leaders. This unprovoked violence seems to have been generated in response to the activities of the leftist guerrilla group FARC.
The Arhuaco people in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta have fended off incursions by Capuchin missionaries and by the illegal armed groups of Colombia’s long civil conflict. They would prefer to focus on avoiding and repairing damage to Mother Earth. The ways of the Arhuacos were declared intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO in November, along with those of three other Indigenous communities in northern Colombia’s Sierra Nevada — the Kogui, Wiwa and Kankuamo. “Recognition is very important, but it will be much more important that Mother Earth — the space where we exist — be respected and preserved,” said Zarwawiko Torres, an Arhuaco leader. That would include preventing mines and dams on their lands, he said.
The Arhuacos, also referred to less commonly as Ijku, have a substantial and beautiful territory of nearly 500,000 acres (around 200,000 hectares, 2,000 square kilometers or 770 square miles) in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Their territory borders the Colombian departments of Cesar, Magdalena and La Guajira, and they share the Sierra Nevada with three other “brother” tribes descended from the ancient Tayrona culture; the Kankuamo, Kogui and Wiwa tribes. Estimates of the Arhuaco population range between 14,000 and 30,000.
About 100 members of the Arhuaco tribe, who live in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains along Colombia’s Caribbean coast, on Tuesday asked the national government to protect their territories from extractive activities and not to recognize people who have not been selected by the tribe to govern the region. The requests were made at a gathering of indigenous people held on the Plaza de Bolivar in downtown Bogota, where they waved flags and said that they will not abandon the site until the Ivan Duque government grants their requests. Bogota city councilwoman Ati Quigua told EFE that the president acknowledged that a governor of the region who is seeking to give the green light to extractive activities in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta had not been selected by the Arhuaco people. “The ‘mamos’ (spiritual leaders) of the Sierra are asking for respect and for President Duque not to impose a governor that they have not selected or to divide the Arhuaco people with the aim of pushing forward with extractive projects in the Sierra,” said Quigua, who provided no further details about those initiatives.
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