Emberá People of Panama

The Emberá live in the Darien rainforest of Panama. Their culture is largely intact living much today as their ancestors did when the Europeans first came to the Americas. There are no roads in this rainforest. Piraguas, dugout canoes, are their transportation and the rivers are their highways. The Emberá live in stilt houses with palm leaves for their roof and a notched log for the ladder to get up to the floor. They hunt, fish and raise crops in the forest.

They are famed for their mask and basket weaving. They use the gifts of the rainforest for everything they need: stilt homes, medicines, food and canoes. They use leaves for weaving and pods, leaves and bark for colorful dyes. The dying process is painstakingly tedious and often requires weeks of perseverance to obtain a particular color. The woman imagines the shape, design, and colors in her mind before she weaves the intricate, complex mask or basket. Many of the men are carvers in cocobolo wood. Their artistry is outstanding.

They asked me to record their stories of long ago that have never been written down. They want a book of the stories in Emberá, Spanish and English. I go upstream by dugout canoe on Rio Sambu to listen to and record the old storytellers. I have video-taped 89 stories on over a dozen trips so far. We have found an Emberá artist to illustrate the stories. I buy and then sell their baskets and masks to make money to pay the artist and the translator for his important trilingual work that I cannot do. More than that, I will be able to publish their book of stories from the sale of their beautiful art. This was their hope. To see the Emberá go to Gallery.