RadioNacional – Singing in their mother tongue, the original communities of the municipality of Leguízamo will celebrate the International Day of Indigenous Peoples.
Juan Miguel Narvaez Eraso
Harvesting wild yucca, weaving chanchama fiber and speaking in their native language, the Murui Muina people of the municipality of Leguízamo, in lower Putumayo, celebrate the International Day of Indigenous Peoples.
For Braulio Ocainatofe, grandfather of the Murui Muina people, August 9 is the biggest festival that commemorates his territory because he knows that all the original communities come together through the chagra, handicrafts, music and dance.
“While in our homes and malocas we share with our children and grandchildren the food that Mother Nature provides us, we remember the origin of our culture and at the same time we evaluate the processes that allow us to transmit the mother tongue for the preservation of our identity,” he said.
At 77 years of age, Braulio considers that this long journey in his life is not enough to teach children to greet, thank and say goodbye using terms of their native language.
Likewise, he assures that those 7 decades are insufficient to transmit the songs that are sung in the rites that offer Mother Nature and discover the healing powers of Mother Nature.
“I will never get tired of teaching everything that identifies my people and if time does not reach me, I am sure that women will do it as the main life-giving beings. Just as the woman identifies with the sweet yucca, the man compares himself with the tobacco plant,” said grandfather Braulio.
By taking communion with cassava, tobacco and coca, three sacred plants for the Murui Muina people, Braulio ensures that its members will reach the highest level of spirituality.
kind mother earth
In the malocas, the goodness of mother earth is compared to the piety of women, which is why the grandmother of the Murui Muina indigenous people, Monserrat Caimeramuy, argues that they have many gifts to transmit the healing powers of traditional medicine to their children. and their mother tongue.
“We women are prolongers of existence and with our work in no home lacks sweet yucca and yucca brava. In us are the healing powers of medicinal herbs from which we extract the tastiest and most aromatic concoctions to heal all the ills of the soul and body”, she expressed.
At 63 years old, Monserrat Caimeramuy is sure that the only way to prolong the mother tongue of her people in her children is by singing to them and speaking to them from the first moment that they, as life-giving beings, know that the creatures are in their womb.
“If we lose our original language, our identity will be mutilated. Hence the importance that our boys and girls accompany us in the making of chanchama fiber suits, in the elaboration of handicrafts from the thread of the cumare heart and in the preparation of the caguana, the casabe and the fariña”, manifested.
In these processes, Grandma Monserrat considers the presence of minors opportune so that they know how bags and backpacks are woven and at the same time discover the wild fruits and leaves with which they dye these items for personal use.
worldview and nature
Antonia Agreda, accompanist of the National Ministry of Culture in the dissemination and articulation of the Ten-Year Plan for Native Languages of Colombia, assures that the territorial context has a lot to do with the worldview and the way in which indigenous peoples relate to the environment and with the sacred sites that are part of the identity of the original communities of the municipality of Leguízamo, in lower Putumayo.
“When we indigenous peoples refer to Mother Nature, it is because there is a direct relationship with the Pachamama and the different forms of life. The indigenous peoples of the department of Putumayo and other regions of the country are very important for Colombia because they are bearers of knowledge and linguistic traditions that allow the Nation to have other ways of relating”, he stressed.
That is why women are vital for the intergenerational transmission of the word, which is done through the mother and the family. It is in these processes that the indigenous woman, as a giver of life, spreads wisdom and cultural empowerment.
The Murui Muina pay tribute to their people by communing with ‘Mother Nature’ – MiPutumayo.com.co