The art of weaving is one of the oldest and most perfected arts in Colombia. The wide variety in the different regions, with different fibres and techniques, is proof of our great riches in this field and of our multicultural reality. Their different uses and social, symbolic and magical functions come from ancestral times and are passed down from generation to generation.
Weaving is an act of creation, a way to deploy one’s thoughts, an art that maintains and reinforces personal, family and social relationships. Weaving is a task used to represent elements of their daily lives, express their mythological thought, remember the past, and honour their values and cultural identities.
The Wayuu is the largest ethnic group in Colombia, an indigenous community that inhabits the La Guajira peninsula, on the Caribbean coast, between Colombia and Venezuela. The Wayúu are a people of the desert, of sun and wind who have survived for centuries in this dry and inhospitable region.
One of their most traditional activities is weaving, a task which is a part of their cultural identity and an inheritance from their ancestors.
Mochilas (knapsacks) are closely related with the Wayuus form of life as weaving is an art to express, a symbol of creativity and wisdom.
Their pieces are characterized by the representation of beautiful shapes that symbolize elements of nature (animals, plants, paths etc... or abstract shapes).
The traditional designs include flowers and geometric symbols using very strong colours. The more complex the shape, the piece becomes more valuable.
Wale'Keru, The spinning spider: Wayuu myth about the origins of weaving
The Wayuu believe that weaving is an art they learnt from Wale’Keru. The legend says that Wale’Keru lost her mother when she was very young and unfortunately she was left in her father’s sisters’ care, who only treated her well when he was around.
Like all Wayuu men, her father spent a lot of time outside home, and when young she was the object of mistreatment: during the day she worked at domestic tasks and at night she was forced to sleep in the ashes in the kitchen.
One day, when he woke up, Wale’Keru’s father found a beautiful woven cloth beside his hammock. Wanting to give thanks, he asked who had made it and his sisters told him it had been them. After this, Wale’Keru’s father would find a new woven cloth every morning.
One night, wondering what his daughter did at night, he walked to the place where the girl would retire to at the end of each day, and he was deeply surprised to find that the mysterious and skilful weaver was his small daughter. A little before dawn, Wale’Keru’s father, who had hidden from his daughter, pained because of the lack of attention he had been giving her, decided to talk to her and ask for forgiveness, with the bad luck that, when seen, Wale’Keru turned into a spider and ran away from home forever.
