Traditional hand woven basketry is an intricate part of the daily life of the Ye’kwana. Men and women weave more than 30 functional and ceremonial baskets from the fibers of plants harvested from the lowland tropical forests in which they live, each creating the baskets that they use. Women weave the wuwa, a large heavily reinforced burden basket that can hold 80-90 lbs. that is used to harvest firewood and the large yuca root that forms the basis of the Ye’kwana diet.
Traditional setu basket
Decorative setu
A second traditional handmade basket is the setu, a round storage basket. The baskets are made with a hemi-epiphyte called minñato (Heteropsis sp.) a vine-like plant that will re-grow after harvesting. It is one of the strongest and most flexible fibers of the forest.
YE’KWANA
Kanwasumi and Medewa Cooperatives – Southern Venezuela
Traditional Wuwa
PROCESS & INNOVATION
Over the past 25 years Ye’kwana women have transformed their traditional woven baskets to finer and more delicate designs, decorating them with the mythical images of legend and coloring them with natural dyes. The women continue to experiment with new designs and a new artistry is evolving. These handmade baskets are favorites in the US home décor market, and women attend invitational folk art festivals and participate in business development and resource management workshops at home and abroad.
MAKING A WUWA
ENVIRONMENT
Learn more about Ye'kwana Natural Resource Management
The Ye’kwana inhabit tributaries of the Orinoco River Basin in southern Venezuela and parts of Brazil. Numbering over 5,000, they live in small villages along the shores of rivers where they hunt, fish and farm. They are known as the People of the River because of their exceptional ability to carve their canoes and navigate the rivers.
These villages are reached by motorized dug-out canoes and may take up to 4 days to reach the furthermost villages. Most of the villages are located above the Falls, and it is necessary to get out of the canoe and carry food, gas, and supplies several miles before getting into another canoe to continue up river.