PEOPLE OF ENNAKA
The Ette Ennaka people, ancestral inhabitants of the Magdalena region, were formerly known as Chimilas, part of the Great Chimila Nation. According to historians, this nation extended through various regions of the current Colombian Caribbean.
Around 1,614 people identify as belonging to the Ette Ennaka people. However, 37.5% of them live outside their traditional settlements, dispersed in other areas.
The language, Ette taara (language of the people), belongs to the Chibchan linguistic family. Although it was repressed in the past, when indigenous inhabitants feared speaking it in public due to violence against everything indigenous, ethno-education programs are now being implemented, and children are also instructed in their native language.
COSMOGONY
In the cosmology of the Ette Ennaka people, the Cosmos is composed of different layers, which are reduced through destructive cycles marked by cataclysms. Thus, at regular intervals, parts of what exists are destroyed, ushering in new eras of history. For the Ette Ennaka people, the war against the Spanish, which brought them to the brink of extinction, represents one of these periods of destruction, characterized by violence, disorder, and decadence. Dreams and the very act of dreaming have a fundamental social and cultural function for the Ette Ennaka people. Through their cosmological knowledge, they collectively interpret and analyze dreams, and by daily remembering, narrating, and interpreting their dream visions, they transmit their knowledge and keep their culture alive.
For the Ette Ennaka people, dreaming means perceiving reality in a profound way, in a privileged and fundamental manner.
During the colonial period, according to tradition, the last Upar (chief/shaman) of the Ette Ennaka surrendered to the Spanish, declaring himself the sole survivor, leaving the people hidden in a cave. After this event, the population dispersed, but the culture remained alive in every Ette Ennaka individual.
MEMBERSHIP CARDS
The work to develop artisanal production focuses on the revival of traditional techniques, such as the use of the spindle, and on experimentation with natural dyes for the production of Biikrasaapi (bags), associated with the female image. In fact, the Ette Ennaka mochila (bag) will always have a clearly marked center, the starting point of the weaving, with a noticeable "pom-pom" shaped navel. This represents the female womb. The main material for creating the garments is cotton, which was widely cultivated in the region in the past, and gave the clothing its characteristic color, between white and beige.
Today, textile work represents an opportunity for economic independence for women and the community.
JOB
The economy is based on horticulture, hunting, and fishing, supplemented by the raising of domestic animals and birds. However, its participation in the regional economy is so integrated that it is difficult to discuss its own horticulture in isolation. It is common for indigenous populations to become day laborers on large estates, performing the heaviest tasks of felling and clearing forests for both agro-industrial activities and livestock farming. Agricultural work is shared between men and women. Men are responsible for felling, burning, planting, and clearing, while women handle harvesting. In addition to agricultural activities, fishing, hunting, and the production of handicrafts such as backpacks and hammocks are undertaken, but the primary productive activity of indigenous people is wage labor.
Their lands, known since the conquest as "Chimilas lands," have been frequently impacted by the expansion of cattle ranches, the extraction of bananas, African palm, and Tolú balsam, as well as the discovery of oil fields in the first half of the 20th century.
Sources: ONIC, DANE.
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