Please, do not
walk, talk, or touch them. Please, do not walk on their sacred land.
Please RESPECT
the TAIRONA-KOGI.
www.santamartainfo.com
Text and photos by: Michael J. Balik, Ph.D.
Philecology Curator and Director
Institute of Economic Botany
The New York Botanical Garden
Bronx, New York 10458-5126
Tairona
- Kogi
The Tairona Indians were a pre-Colombian
civilization in the region of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in the
present-day Magdalena and La Guajira Departments of Colombia, South America
which goes back to the 1st century AD and showed documented growth around the
11th century. The Tairona people formed one of the two principal groups of the
Chibcha and were pushed into sub marginal regions by the Spanish conquest. The
Kogi... the indigenous people who live in the area today, are direct descendants
of the Tairona.
Knowledge sources about the pre-Colombian Tairona civilization are limited to
archaeological findings and a few written references from the Spanish colonial
era. A major city of the Tairona and the archaeological site is today known as
Ciudad Perdida (Spanish for "Lost City"), it was discovered by treasure hunters
in 1975. The Tairona are known to have built terraced platforms... house
foundations, stairs, sewers, tombs, and bridges from stone. Use of pottery and
ornamental/ceremonial purposes was also highly developed.
The Tairona
civilization is most remembered for its distinctive gold work. The earliest
known Tairona gold work has been described for the Neguanje Period (about 300 -
800 AD) and its use within the Tairona society appears to have extended beyond
the elite. The gold artifacts made comprise pendants... lip-plugs... nose
ornaments... necklaces and earrings. Gold cast Tairona figure pendants (known as
"caciques") stand out among the gold works of pre-Colombian America because of
their richness in detail.
The figurines show human subjects... thought to be noblemen or chiefs... in
ornate dresses and with a large animal mask over their face. Many elements of
their body posture (e.g. hands on their hips) and dress shows an aggressive
stance and are interpreted as evidence for the power of the weather and the
bellicose nature of Tairona society.
The tribe known as ‘Los Kogi’ is today's custodians of the Tairona culture. They
have a population of approximate 12,000 people. The Kogi plant crops and live
off the land and prefer not to mix with outsiders. Few Colombians, or those from
the outside worlds, are allowed to enter their mountain. They marry in their
culture and constantly move about from place to place, between their different
abodes spread among the different levels of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.
This is looked upon as taking care of their nutritional needs without abusing
the environment.
The Sierra
Nevada... in the shape of a pyramid... rises from the sunny coasts of the
Caribbean tropics to the chilly, snow-capped peaks that reach a height of 17,000
feet above sea level... all in only 30 horizontal miles. Within just fifty
kilometers, the northern slopes descend from snow capped peaks to the turquoise
waters, tropical jungle shores and coral reefs of the Caribbean Ocean. The area
has every ecosystem in its area of 8,000 sq. miles. You can find coral reefs,
mangroves, arid deserts, rain and cloud forests, and in the higher elevations...
plains and snow-capped peaks with temperatures close to 20 degrees C. The
highest peak is the Pico Simon Bolivar at 5,775 feet.
In 1965archeologists found the remains of a lost Tairona religious center and
called it the "Lost City." It is a three-day hike in dense jungle to witness a
true wonder of the past. It is believed that there are two more lost cities.
These highlands are inhabited by the Gods and spirits of the dead. A universe of
signs and symbols... this territory is a veritable "open book" which is their
bridge to the world and their collective history.
The Kogi believe the Sierra Nevada to be the "Place of Creation" and the "Heart
of the World." They call themselves the Elder Brothers of Humanity and consider
their mission to care for the planet. They understand how the planet works as an
integrated unit rather than the separation of all things in our worlds.
Much like other ancient tribal civilizations that still exist on the planet,
they believe themselves to be the custodians of the planet Earth and to keep
things in balance. They achieve this through meditation where they communicate
with all living things on the planet - humans... animals... plants... rock, etc.
They live in Aluna... an inner world of thought and potential, and from Aluna...
they astral travel or remote view to places both on and off the physical planet.
Their sacred lands are perceived as a metaphysical symbol of cosmic forces
within the whole world... an oracle of the natural balance and health of the
planet.
As with other indigenous tribes, Kogi society has changed little in the past
five centuries. They survived as a culture because the Kogi focus all their
energy on the life of the mind as opposed to the life of the body or an
individual. Fundamental to that survival is the maintenance of physical
separation from their world and the rest of humanity. They are very protective
of their sacred space and the dense jungle is not kind to tourists.
They worry
about the destruction of the rainforest as well as the planet itself. This area
embraces some of the most biologically diverse tropical rainforests on the
planet. The Kogi are inseparable from the rainforest in which they have lived
since the dawn of time. Through Oracle prophecies and messages with the Spirit,
they are aware of a great change that is coming now to planet Earth. Their
Mountain is dying... symbolizing this transition. Similar to what many other
tribes around the world see is a world that is about to be destroyed by the
misuse of consciousness. Then, they saw the emergence of light consciousness as
part of the process of humanity emerging as a race of beings in higher evolved
light bodies.
This strongly connects with the metaphysical teachings of our times. To
penetrate a 'Kankurua' is to enter into contact with the nine worlds and the
nine states if consciousness that make it up. Some say they have moved beyond
verbal language... using tones to create colorful images in their minds rather
than thoughts expressed as sentences. Some Kogi speak telepathically to each
other.
The Kogi do not see us as 'sleeping' as many of the Hindu and Oriental religions
do. The Kogi see humans as dead, shadows of the energy of what they could be.
This is because they do not have enough life force energy and consciousness to
be classified by them as real people. The Kogi set out to find out why the "Dead
Ones" were still on Earth. As they searched the living... vibrating records of
this reality, they found exactly where and why it had happened. Some of the
"Dead Ones" had become alive, and had created a dream with enough life force to
save the world as we know it. They created a parallel world where life could
continue to grow... a world where the dead could become alive. The Kogi were so
specific to locate exactly who these people were that was creating this change
that had altered the world's destiny.
Kogi Mamas are chosen from birth and spend the first nine years of childhood in
a cave in total darkness learning the ancient secrets of the spiritual world or
Aluna. They are the priests and judges who control Kogi society. All major
decisions and shamanic work are done by Divination. All is the world of Aluna,
so the Mamas see a reflection of the physical world first in the spiritual
world. If Aluna is the Mother, then the Kogi listen to the Mother by divining.
This lost technique if divination is what keeps the Kogi world in balance and
order. The Mamas... as with other spiritual tribal leaders around the world...
are worried that the Younger Brother has not heeded the first warning. If the
Sierra Nevada or the Mother dies, the world will also die.
They use the
coca bush for many things. Myths reveal that it was the Aluna herself who
instituted coca chewing among the Kogi and who gave a lime gourd to her first
son, as a symbolic wife. Other myths tell that coca was originally discovered in
the flowing hair of a young girl who let her father only participate in its use.
An envious and jealous young man transformed himself into a bird and, after
watching the girl bathing in the river, seduced her. When he returned home and
changed back into human shape, he shook his hair and out of it fell two coca
leaves.
Small
plantations of coca shrubs are found near all Kogi settlements, and provide the
men with tender green leaves plucked by the women. All adult men chew the
slightly toasted leaves, adding to the moist wad small portions of lime. Coca
shrubs are planted and tended by the men but the leaves are gathered by the
women. Periodically, the men toast these leaves inside the temple, using for
this a special double-handled pottery vessel. This ritual vessel made by a Kogi
priest can be used only for the toasting of coca leaves.
The coca plant is an integral part of the Kogi way of life, deeply involved with
their traditions, religion, work and medicine. Perhaps the most ancient use of
coca in South America is its employment in shamanistic practices and religious
rituals. The mild mental excitation induced by chewing the coca leaves enables
the shaman to enter more easily into a trance state in which he could
communicate with the spiritual forces of nature and summon them to his aid.
Michael J. Balik, Ph.D.
Philecology Curator and Director
Institute of Economic Botany
The New York Botanical Garden
Bronx, New York 10458-5126
Ceiba Foundation for Tropical Conservation...
Ceiba Foundation for Tropical Conservation
World Rainforest Movement...
World Rainforest Movement
A.C.E.E.R. Foundation...
ACEER - Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research
World Wildlife Foundation...
Endangered Species, Wildlife Conservation, Animal Habitats
Tropical Rainforest Conservation...
Tropical Rainforest Conservation - mongabay.com
