PEOPLE IN PANAMA

8 GRADERS TOPIC

Previous Knowledge: Getting previous information

Directions: Listen and answer these questions according to your knowledge regarding the topic.

*What are ethnic groups?

*Are there many ethnic groups in Panama?

*Mention the name of some of them

*Write them on the board

Achievement:

Through the study of this information, you will be able to recognize different ethnic groups from Panama and their way of living to determine the importance of them in the Panamanian Culture.

Panama owns a central position. As a result, the country presents a mixture of ethnic diversity.

It is important to mention that our population is a mixture of different ethnic groups such as Caucasian, Indians and Blacks.

There are two groups of Black people, the Afro-colonial group and the Afro-Antillean. Furthermore, people from other cultural roots such as Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Hebrew, Hindu, Greek, Colombian, and others, form part of our cultural heritage.

In Panama there are three major native groups: Gunas, Ngobe-Buglé, and Emberá-Wounaan.

The ethnic group that owns more habitants is Ngobe-Buglé. All these groups preserve their native language but many of this groups also speak Spanish.

Ethnic Groups in Panama

GUNAS

The vast majority of Guna Indians LIVE in the San Blas Islands .

Occupations

Gunas practice agriculture.

They plant corn, plantains, bananas, cacao, coconuts and other products.

They practice Fishing and hunting.

Slash-and-burn farming.

They sale hand-sewn items (molas).

Rearing of hens and pigs.

Handycrafts

women are dedicated to make hammocks, molas and belts.

men make baskets, hats, fans and they do wood carving.

women wear skirts and shirts with molas knotted at the waist.

The mola is a traditional form of textile art made. Molas are sewn textile panels with complex designs and multiple layers.

Men wear plain colored shirts, trousers and hats.

Housing and transportation

Their homes are built with straw and they are hut shaped.

Their means of transportation are canoes, boats and by foot.

CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS

They practice monogamy. The

marriage is arranged by

parents.

The night festival or "inna-Mutiki" is a feast in order to celebrate a wedding or a new marriage.

Ngöbe-BugléThe Ngobe Bugle are compromised

of two seperate ethni-linguistic groups (The Ngobe and the

Bugle). 

It was formed in 1997 with lands

from the provinces of:

Bocas del Toro,Chiriqui.

Veraguas.

Ngobe Bugle Ngobe’s capital is Chichica

and it owns 7 districts: Besiko (Soloy) Kankintú (Bisira) Kusapín

(Kusapín) Mirono (Hato Pilón)

OCCUPATIONS

Animals’ domestication Fishing Wood carving Hunting Rearing of pigs Ngobe men carry out an agriculture of subsistence

based on slash and burn techniques and produce corn.

Handycrafts

The "chacara" is a type of woven bag made by

the women that displays their numerous

ancestral legends, mimicing the skin and colors of their animals and the landscape of the Comarca.   These bags are made using

fibres from the pita and cabuya plants. 

"chaquiras" - a type of beaded necklac and   "naguas" which are the traditional dresses worn by the women and girls.

The naguas are very colorful and beautiful and the hand-sown work is

inspired by the jagged shapes and vivid colors of the Ngobe-Bugle mountains

and forests.

HOUSING AND TRANSPORTATION

The majority of the Ngobe-Bugle live in small communities or villages.

Some houses are round and other rectangular.

Their way of transport is by foot, by horse or canoes.

COSTUMES AND TRADITIONS

They preserve traditions like

balsería.

Balsería is a game with sticks of balsa.

They practice the polygamy.

Embera–Wounaan

It is a semi-nomadic indigenous people in Panama, living in the province of Darien at the shores of the Chucunaque,Sambu, Tuira Rivers and its water ways. They are divided

in two main groups: Chocoe-Wounaan . Chocoe-Embera .

OCCUPATIONS

Hunting Agriculture Fishing Ceramics Basket makers Wood carving

The calabash tree is important to the Embera, who scoop out the tree's

gourds for cups and bowls, as well as spoons.

THEY still hunt with snares, blow guns, bows and arrows, as well as

firearms.

HOUSING AND TRANSPORTATION

Their houses are raised off the ground about

eight feet. The houses stand on large posts set in the ground, and have thatched roof made from

palm fronds.

They use canoes and horses as

mean of transport.

COSTUMES AND TRADITIONS

The Chocó people practice polygamy and live in family

units.

Everyone in the village pitches in to

work at harvest time. If one hunter gets a

larger animal such as a tapir (macho de

monte), everybody in the village shares the

meat.

The women wear brightly colored cloth wrapped at the waist as a skirt. Except when

in towns, the women do not cover their torsos, and wear long, straight black hair.

The children go naked until puberty, and no one wears shoes.

They paint their bodies with a dye made from Genipa americana, the berry of a

species of genip tree.

The men sport "bowl cut" hair styles, and when not in towns, still wear nothing but a

minimal loin cloth. 

LEARNING ACTIVITIES:1.COMPARATIVE CHART

Create a comparative chart about the main characteristics of the ethnic groups learned in class.

ETHNIC GROUP

LOCATION HOUSING TRANSPORTATION HANDYCRAFTS

CLOTHING

2. TEAM-WORK Make grups of three students and pick up one of the ethnic

groups.

Look up for different illustrations about occupations, costumes and traditions, handycrafsts, housing and transportation and location.

Create a mini bulleting board with all the information and present it to the class orally.