Tsáchila
Encyclopedia
The Tsáchila people of Ecuador
live in the county of Santo Domingo
in the province of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas.
.
This tradition is believed to have been a paliative measure from a time when the tsachilas were exposed to the ravages of Smallpox
.
A Tsáchila Shaman asked a Spirit to guide them to a cure by ceremony and prayer. They were guided to an Achiote bush. They covered themselves completely with the red juices of the seed-pods and after a few days the mortality in the group was drastically reduced. They are forever grateful to this plant for the protection that it offered to the entire community from Smallpox. The shape of their hair style is fashioned to look like the seed pods.
or Tsáchila language of the Barbacoan
language family.
Men wear horizontally striped cobalt blue/black and white skirts, and the women wear brightly colored horizontally striped skirts.
The spaniards called them "Colorado" (meaning colored red) because they used to cover their entire bodies in the red juices of the achiote
seeds, for prevention against Smallpox, but the Spaniards thought that their skin was indeed their true color.
Their economic activity is limited to harvesting of native tropical products for traditiional medicine, specially the Tagua or Corozo
nuts that are used to manufacture hand-crafts in many communities of Ecuador. They also cultivate tropical fruits including different vatieties of the genus Musa)
, Pineapples, Papayas, Oranges, etc.
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
live in the county of Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo (canton)
Santo Domingo de los Colorados or simply Santo Domingo, is the only canton in the Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas Province. The canton is named after its seat, the town of Santo Domingo. The canton partially occupies the Toachi river basin. The Toachi river flows into the Daule river....
in the province of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas.
Legend of the origin of their ornamentation
Men of this ethnic group are easily distinguishable for an elaborate head decoration that they style by shaving the temporal areas of their heads and shaping the remaining hair into a helmet-like feature with a mixture of grease and [annato] sap/seeds which achioteAchiote
Achiote is a shrub or small tree from the tropical region of the Americas. The name derives from the Nahuatl word for the shrub, achiotl. It is also known as Aploppas, and its original Tupi name urucu. It is cultivated there and in Southeast Asia, where it was introduced by the Spanish in the...
.
This tradition is believed to have been a paliative measure from a time when the tsachilas were exposed to the ravages of Smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
.
A Tsáchila Shaman asked a Spirit to guide them to a cure by ceremony and prayer. They were guided to an Achiote bush. They covered themselves completely with the red juices of the seed-pods and after a few days the mortality in the group was drastically reduced. They are forever grateful to this plant for the protection that it offered to the entire community from Smallpox. The shape of their hair style is fashioned to look like the seed pods.
Present day way of life
They speak the TsafikiTsafiki language
Tsafiki, also known as Tsáchila or Colorado, is a Barbacoan language spoken in Ecuador by ca. 2000 ethnic Tsáchila people....
or Tsáchila language of the Barbacoan
Barbacoan languages
Barbacoan is a language family spoken in Colombia and Ecuador.-Family division:Barboacoan consists of 6 languages:*Northern* Awan...
language family.
Men wear horizontally striped cobalt blue/black and white skirts, and the women wear brightly colored horizontally striped skirts.
The spaniards called them "Colorado" (meaning colored red) because they used to cover their entire bodies in the red juices of the achiote
Achiote
Achiote is a shrub or small tree from the tropical region of the Americas. The name derives from the Nahuatl word for the shrub, achiotl. It is also known as Aploppas, and its original Tupi name urucu. It is cultivated there and in Southeast Asia, where it was introduced by the Spanish in the...
seeds, for prevention against Smallpox, but the Spaniards thought that their skin was indeed their true color.
Historical notes
The largest city of the canton is Santo Domingo de los Colorados and was named after these ethnic group. Most ecuadorians consider the shamans of the Tsachilas holders of secrets of the rain forest and of healing powers that would heal whenever the western medicine had failed, for the most, this country legend was generated by the fame of Abraham Calazacom a tribal chief of the Tsachilas that lead his tribe in the fifties anf sixties.Their economic activity is limited to harvesting of native tropical products for traditiional medicine, specially the Tagua or Corozo
Phytelephas
Phytelephas is a genus containing six species of palms , occurring from southern Panama along the Andes to Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru. They are commonly known as ivory palms, ivory-nut palms or tagua palms; their scientific name means "plant elephant"...
nuts that are used to manufacture hand-crafts in many communities of Ecuador. They also cultivate tropical fruits including different vatieties of the genus Musa)
Musa (genus)
Musa is one of three genera in the family Musaceae; it includes bananas and plantains. There are over 50 species of Musa with a broad variety of uses....
, Pineapples, Papayas, Oranges, etc.
External links
- Profile from CODENPE