Weaving Words in the Sierra Nevada: the Arhuaco community and the Truth Commission

In this post, Rafael Quintero narrates his experience of joining Arhuaco elders and members of the Colombian Truth Commission as they ‘weave words’ in a ritual reading of part of the Truth Commission’s report. This post is translated and abridged; see the original article in Spanish here.

A ritual reading takes place with Arhuaco elders and members of the Colombian Truth Commission. Photograph: Claudia Gaitan

It’s November 2022. At least 50 people, including authorities, members of the Arhuaco indigenous community and special guests, are gathered in the Kankurwa (sacred temple) of Nabusímake in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada to listen to a ritual reading of parts of the report 'When the Birds Didn’t Sing', a compilation of the voices of victims of Colombia’s armed conflict produced by the Truth Commission.

Ritual readings like this one have taken place in schools, communities, libraries and towns across Colombia. Attendees come together in a closed, dark and silent space. They listen to natural sounds and songs of the areas covered in the report, and hear selected fragments of testimony read aloud. The objective is to bring people closer to each other and to nature.

Work for 'When the Birds Didn’t Sing' began in 2021 when Commissioner Alejandro Castillejo and his team approached the mamos – indigenous community elders and bearers of ancestral wisdom - of the Sierra Nevada in search of guidance for their work. The mamos articulated the two mandates around which the report is built. 

First, the fundamental question that the report addresses: what would happen if the trees, the earth, the birds and the rivers were asked how they suffered the war? In the report, we hear the voices of the men and women victims of war, but also - in the words of Castillejo - we learn “how nature changed; how it expressed its pain; how the mangroves, when growing, revealed that there were dead people under their waters; how the trees and the earth suffered.” 

Second, the report should be the starting point from which to "begin to weave words", a fundamental principle of the Arhuaco community. That is, there must always be fluid dialogue, without limit or time, between communities to understand and solve life’s most important issues. First listen, then build.

Photograph: Claudia Gaitan

 Waiting

This reading took place in the Kankurwa in the ancestral site of Nabusímake, the Arhuaco community’s most sacred place, an isolated spot deep in the wilderness, access to which is only granted with the express permission of the community’s elders. It is in the Kankurwa that traditional rituals and important community meetings are held. It is where everything or nothing happens, according to the will of the mamos. In this place, time - or rather, rush - does not exist. Everything is done calmly and quietly, listening to nature, as they say.

That cloudy Sunday at four in the afternoon, silence predominates. There are no leaves blowing in the wind, no birds singing. Just the soft scraping of the poporos* where coca leaf is prepared, and the occasional conversation in a low voice in Iku, the Arhuaco language. Around the Kankurwa, the men chew their sacred toasted coca leaf while the women and girls weave large and small backpacks. It is almost five in the afternoon and there is no sign of the elder mamos. Without them, the ritual reading cannot begin. “They are gathered talking; we have to wait”, announces the mamoRafael.

About an hour later, the elders show up. There are six of them, led by Cuncha.  They slowly sit down on a mound of stones that make up a small altar. Cuncha addresses the visitors in his language. After he leads a ritual centred on food consumption, the ritual reading of the Truth Commission report begins. “This will be a dialogue without limits, without time, as it should be”, says Cuncha. With that, words began to be woven in the Sierra.

Understand, Respect and Contribute: three pillars for peace building

During ritual readings, stories are shared from other regions, not from the place where the reading is taking place. In this case, word was brought from the Amazon. Testimonies were heard not only about the war, but about how nature and the ancestors suffered from the conflicts. These testimonies were preceded by fifteen minutes of sounds: songs, birds, flowing water, wind, the buzzing of insects and animals of all kinds filled the silence with force in the midst of a darkness broken only by the yellowish glow of candlelight. The voices of the victims, narrated with force and feeling, resounded. 

Two hours later, the reading ends. The mamos speak. “We understand and we get the message. We know that, even if we do things differently, our task is the same”, says Cuncha. He is referring to the mission of safeguarding the earth and the elements, and seeking concrete actions to protect and restore nature. For the Arhuaco community, the concept of ‘war’ as such does not exist, but disrespecting Mother Earth causes a profound imbalance that could be equated with conflict. “When the value of the elements is not understood, respect is lost for them. And, by losing respect for them, that war is waged", Cuncha emphasises.Before peace can truly be discussed, there must be clarity and agreement about the value of the beings of the earth. “Our task is to understand nature,” Cuncha states. Understanding generates respect, and respect leads to carrying out concrete actions, he says; only then can we achieve peace.

*Metal receptacles where coca leaf is prepared for the coca leaf chewing ritual known as mambeo.