THE CUSTOMARY USE OF COCOA BY THE KUNA INDIANS
 THE SPIRITUAL WORLD
 THE MATERIAL WORLD
The Cacao Tree
THE FRUIT OF THE CACAO TREE
THE CULTURAL, SPIRITUAL AND DIETARY IMPORTANCE
OF COCOA
Cocoa plays a very important role in ceremonies
and it is also used in all sorts of different ways in
every day life.
All the plants, all the animals and all objects are
beings with which the Kuna live in the universe.
For the Kuna Indians, the universe is divided into
two: the spiritual world and the material world.
The Cultural, Spiritual and Dietary Importance of
Cocoa
The fruit of the cacao tree is totally integrated in
the Kuna cosmology.
It is reputed to be one of the first plants that the
creator sent to Earth and was invested with great
powers and spiritual strength in order to make the
lives of the Kuna Indians more comfortable.
The use of cocoa as a medicine
The use of cocoa as a medicine
All the healing practices carried out by the
INADULED, medical herbalists, are accompanied
by invocations to the Gods using cocoa beans.
When the INADULED visit a patient, they sing
songs about cocoa (CIA-IGALA) and make lots of
smoke by roasting cocoa beans in a ceramic bowl
called CIA-NALA.
A Kuna woman drinking cocoa just
before giving birth.
A cocoa drink is reputed to purify infants and keep them in good health.
The use of cocoa during pregnancy and childbirth
Cocoa plays an important role in making childbirth easier and it helps to avoid complications.
The future mother drinks her cocoa at four o’clock
in the morning facing east.
Birth is reputed to be quicker and easier and the
child in better health because of the cocoa in his
blood (CIAGUA).
The use of cocoa during the puberty
ceremonies of maiden Kuna girls.
The use of cocoa during the puberty ceremony
The puberty ceremony of a young Kuna girl takes place
when she has her first period. The ceremony lasts for 4
days.
After these 4 days, the body of the maiden girl is painted
using a drink made from a cocoa pod that has been cut
from a tree celebrated according to the rites described
below and called JAGUA.
In order to earn the right to be called JAGUA, the person
who collects the JAGUA takes his CIANAR or ritual
ceramic bowl to the cacao tree, burns 8 cocoa beans in it
and surrounds the tree with the smoke.
The use of cocoa for cutting hair.
The use of cocoa during the ceremony of cutting
hair
A young Kuna has her hair cut during an
important ceremony that lasts for 3 days.
During these 3 days great celebrations are held,
bathed in chicha.
During these 3 days, the smoke that is obtained by
burning cocoa beans protects against dangers,
curses and unfortunate happenings.
The use of cocoa when searching for
KAMMU (flute)
The use of cocoa when searching for
KAMMU
The traditional Kuna flute is able to communicate
with the ocean and to pacify it, to appease
earthquakes and bad spirits.
In order to collect the bamboo that is necessary to
make the flute, the Kuna have to travel far to the
only place where the bamboo grows.
Once they have arrived, the person designated to
cut down the bamboo has to burn 8 cocoa beans in
order to obtain stalks of the best quality.
The use of cocoa to prevent illness.
The use of cocoa at the start of an epidemic or
when people are sick
The start of an illness or an epidemic will be
treated by an ABSOGUET (the person who speaks)
during a ceremony that lasts for 8 days.
The ABSOGUET enters into a trance and the
wooden statuettes, which represent the good
spirits, take him to the place where the demon who
started the epidemic lives.
By using the smoke obtained from burning cocoa,
he can capture the demon and try to keep him in
his house, thereby reducing the epidemic.
Cocoa butter made from achiote (rocou)
MADUN (made with cocoa and ripe
banana)
The use of cocoa when someone has died
The use of cocoa at burials
The use of cocoa when someone has died and
after burial
When a Kuna is born, cocoa helps to revive the
new-born and when a Kuna dies cocoa is used to
direct his spirit to heaven.
Cocoa is used when someone has died to protect
the family and the members of the community
against illness.
When the undertaker comes back from the sacred
mountain, he burns cocoa again, but this time
mixed with garlic.