Scattered across the turquoise blue waters, the tiny islands of glistening white sand, covered in palm trees and green coconuts, look too perfect to be real. Our Unique World explores distinctive subcultures around the globe in celebration of what makes us different. More than 50, strong, the Gunas still live as their ancestors did, dwelling in small wooden shacks covered with palm leaves, with logs smouldering in the fireplaces and hammocks representing the only furniture.
Guna Yala is extraordinary in many ways: it is an autonomous indigenous territory, and its flag sports a black, left-facing swastika, said to represent the four directions and the creation of the world. But perhaps the most curious tradition in Guna Yala is its natural gender equality β and complete tolerance, if not celebration, of gender fluidity.
For an onlooker like me, there isn't anything unusual about Lisa. Except Lisa was born a boy. Very often, Omeggid will learn a skill that is typically associated with women; for example, most Omeggid living on the islands become masters at crafting the most intricate molas. Diego Madi Dias, an anthropologist and post-doctoral researcher at the University of Sao Paulo, lived among the Guna for more than two years and has seen first-hand that the powerful matriarchal figures in Guna culture are a major influence on the Guna men.
It is mostly males that become transgender women β female transitions to male are extremely rare, but the latter would be equally accepted, she explained. View image of san-blas Walking down the streets on Crab Island, one of the biggest communities in the touristic area of Guna Yala, I notice women everywhere. Contrary to many other Central American countries, Guna women seem more outgoing and chatty: striking up a conversation here is much easier than in the streets of Guatemalan or Nicaraguan villages.
Even the partying here, David said, is done to honour women: the three most important celebrations in the Guna Yala islands are a girl's birth, her puberty and her marriage. The whole community gathers to drink chicha , a strong local beer, to celebrate girlhood and womanhood. With tourism on the rise, the Gunas are beginning to earn money from sources other than their ancestral trades of collecting coconuts, diving for lobster, fishing and farming. Guna women can make a substantial income by selling intricately embroidered molas and winis colourful bracelets made from glass beads.
