ARHUACOS
Arhuacos’ Mochilas are also known as traditional bags, virgin wool bags or goat hair bags. The Arhuacos’ bags are made by hand by the Arhuaco indigenous people settled in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in the north of Colombia. It is important to note that to make these types of handcrafted bags, the goat is not harmed, but rather it is sheared to extract the hair.
Through weaving, women express their worldview and philosophy of nature. The arhuaca bag, more than an object, represents an extension of the womb of each woman and of the universal mother earth. When an Arhuaco hangs their bag on their shoulders, they also support their entire community, as a symbol of cultural identity.
The figures and patterns in the Arhuaca bags express the worldview of the tribe through figures of animals or plants, as well as the nature of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.
MATERIALS
The materials used for production are cotton, wool and fique (natural fiber that grow in the leaves of plants in the genus Furcraua).
While cotton and fique have been used for centuries, wool was brought to them by Catholic missionaries who arrived to the Sierra at the end of the 18th century. They obtain the majority of the wool from their own sheep in the production of their mochilas.
The way of weaving the mochila is developed in a spiral, according to the symbol of the creation of the world made by Kaku Serankwa (the father of the Sierra.
