More Revolution and a Little Chica

The next morning we went to the Congresso, the largest hut on the island where the Kuna hold their weekly community meetings. It was packed to the brim with Kuna in traditional dress. Today was the adult reenactment of the Revolution with Kuna dressed as Panamanian Police yelling and harassing a group of Kuna in the center of the hut. All the actors take their roles quite seriously and we had a shotgun pushed in front of our faces by a screaming “policeman” (made a believer out of me). Many of the young children were quite frightened as policemen yelled and beat the Kuna laying on the ground and had to be consoled by their mothers. With the hundreds of Kuna’s packed into the small space and the screaming, crying, wailing, and such it was quite an emotional experience for everyone. We eventually crept out the back for a break and took a walk trough the now almost deserted village.

Five chiefs of the village watch the ceremony from a raised platform. Albinos are somewhat common in Kuna Yala due to the small indigenous population.

Act 3 was about to start in the central square, with the caciques or chiefs seated on an elevated platform overlooking the square resplendent in their Sunday best ties, dress shirts, and Panama hats. All around the perimeter of the square were groups of Kuna, from older women in traditional dress to younger Kuna girls in tight jeans and “Juicy” tops with the smart phones recording the activity. There were also lots of young Kuna children, with the 6 year olds carrying the babies on their hips. This is fairly common among the Kuna, with the younger children having full time childcare responsibilities.

These "actors" represent a peaceful Kuna family in their village.

Also around the perimeter were small banana tree covered huts with Kuna doing traditional activities. These represented the Kuna villages for purposes of the play. Act 3 began with the traditional dance, followed by Kuna “actors” portraying daily Kuna activities which we soon disrupted by the Panamanian police.

Our guide, Ferdinand, warned us he plays "a very very bad man."

Here the Kuna rebel, under the leadership of Juan Fernadez, and kill the Panamanian police chief.

Using foam batons the police brutally beat the Kuna with the “wacks” resounding throughout the village. Again, it was quite brutal and realistic — no one pulled any punches that I saw — and disturbing for the young children. For the older kids there were giggles and smirks. The beatings went on for over an hour and eventually the Kuna surrounded the police chief and beat him to death. With everyone cheering Juan Fernandez, a group gathered up the dead police chief, carried him down to the dock, and threw him in the water. It was disturbing to know that 90 years this exact act took place exactly where we stood. Very sobering for all of us to think about what these peaceful people where forced to endure.

All the cruisers took a break for lunch back on the boats then returned around 2:00 pm for the highlight of the day, the Chica Ceremony.  We were invited into the large Congresso hut which was full to the brim with Kuna, men on one side and women on the other. The Chica Ceremony is to celebrate the coming of age a young Kuna girls, ranging from 11 to 13 years old. Our guide invited us (men first then women) to the side of the room where the mother of the Chica girl gave us a coconut shell with water to rinse our mouths, then next to her the Chica girl, whose body was painted in dark purple dye to protect her from the spirits, used a small gourd to fill a larger bowl with the chica, a fermented sugar cane drink with a taste similar to a flat wine. We had to drink the entire bowl standing in front of her, then retire back to the men’s bench where from that point forward men would bring a huge bowl of chica and refill our coconut shells.

Photographs are not permitted during the sacred Chica ceremony so I had to sneak this one when no one was looking.

I lasted through about three rounds, big drinker that I am, but everyone else kept drinking into the wee hours of the night. The idea is that the Kuna use the ceremony to prepare their body to receive a new spirit. The idea is to get into a sort of stupor so the new spirit can enter your body. Two groups of chiefs sat at each end and two lower level chiefs (with a necklace of what looks like pan flutes) alternate bringing them bowls of chica and blowing smoke from a short, fat pipe, into their faces. The same routine goes on at the women’s end, with the Chica girl's family doing the honors.  The mood is initially quiet and somber, with occasional dances or pan flute playing. The ceremony goes on into the wee hours when I imagine everyone is almost passed out (but with a new spirit, hopefully). No photos are allowed during the Chica ceremony but the above narrative should give you a good idea of the mood.

We spent the rest of the day roaming the village with Phil and Monica from Miss Molly, looking at the five-room school house a one end of the island, and the restored grassy area (with help of the German foundation) at the other end. The experience gave us a much better understanding of the Kuna culture and a feeling of what their everyday life must be like, certainly not that far removed from their lives hundreds of years ago.