These walking sticks are made as symbols of authority used by the local chiefs.



Cuna men fill several important social roles. One group are called the Saylas. These are the local village and island chiefs. They are responsible for settling disputes, discussing, plans, and making decisions which affect the day-to-day lives of their people. They are a bit like city commissioners.



A Cuna council meeting is depicted in this mola. The men meet nightly in the local council hut to discuss matters of importance. The meetings are open, and people wander in and out, listen to one issue or other, perhaps make some comment

Another social role of importance is the Kantule, the chanting historian. The history and tradition fo the Cuna are oral, and the Kantule is a popular attraction at these lantern lighted meetings. The Cuna are fond of both alcohol and marijuana, and they get pretty mellow and the words flow eloquently and beautifully.



This man is one of the Neles, the seers who have great understanding of the spirit world. The Cuna believe that the spirit of God is everywhere, and that all things have their own individual spiritual natures. Spirits come in all kinds, and some are good and beneficial to the Cuna, and others are evil or mischievous. Since all spirits have the power to help or harm, to cure or kill, these spirits must be coaxed, or avoided.. or tricked, or propitiated by whatever means fit the situation. This belief is the basis of both their religion and their medicine. In addition to having an extensive knowledge of herbal medicine, these Neles create ritual dolls called UCHU, like the one this man is holding.

Ritual performed on the Uchu is supposed to help the person represented by the doll. A family can end up with a whole collection of these in the family medicine chest. On the islands far to the north, Haiti and Jamaica, a similar practice is called voodoo.



Spiritual subjects are used for many molas. The funeral boat is a popular theme, and the Cuna seem to delight in dreaming up monsters and demons.



Christian imagery is also one of the most popular of recent themes. Much of Christianity supports their own views. The prophets they recognize as Neles. Jesus was none other than Ibeorgun, the human manifestation of Tiolele, the spirit of the son of God, who came to earth to give the Cuna the way to live correctly.



When a person dies, his soul takes the form of a bird which follows the soulboat on its journey from the earthly world to the skyworld. This idea is very similar to some found in Egyptian theology.



The Cuna have a very natural and optimistic viewpoint on death. Immortality of the soul is taken for granted, and death is merely a step in its progress.



This death mola seems particularly uplifting. Only a person very sure that death is all right could go around wearing pictures of the dead still having hearts, and beckoning, and of skeletons embracing in the grave.



This mola depicts one of the Cuna myths, the story of Achu Simutupalet, the dragon who eats the moon. According to the story, the dragon comes once a month to eat the moon, and would devour it completely every time if it were not for the intervention of the Moon Children.

These special people are given the important ceremonial duty of going up onto the rooftops once a month and shooting a spiritual arrow into the night sky. The spirit of the arrow strikes the dragon and drives it away, leaving a remnant of the moon to heal itself by hiding behind the sun.



The Moon Children are identified by a singular characteristic -- they are all albino. The Cuna have the highest incidence of albinism in the world, so high that they have created this special place in their society for them. The albinos are also significant for another reason: since they cannot go out into the sun to work, the albino men sometimes take on the lifestyle of women, and are the only males who ever make molas.



Is she an artist? Her work is a highly stylized mirror of her world, a mirror which reflects only what catches her attention, her own unique viewpoint and statement about life as she sees it. We have seen in her molas descriptions of every part of Cuna life.

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CONTINUE