1 st November 06 - Virginia Paterson
“Siwok crafts, South American Indians”
This was a whistle stop tour of many years missionary service of Virginia (left) supporting her doctor husband whilst raising three children in a remote part of northern Argentina in the 1960's under basically primitive (by western culture) living conditions, no running water, no electricity, no central heating (apart from locally collected wood) or phones. Yet providing the only medical services at that time to the indigenous Indianan folk, over a vast area where sometimes the doctors visit was only once a year!
During the 70s the government began to improve their medical service with the provision of small hospitals in the area.
Virginia took us through many slides covering almost a 40 year period, but starting in the south in the capital Buenos Aires (small map below) about 1,600 kilometres from Salta (region shown in red on map left) the main city of the region where they were located, well that was after at least another six hours drive in a Jeep over terrible roads, mud in the wet season and dry sandy grit in the hot weather , a bit of a shock for a nice lady who had taught at Cheltenham Ladies College, but being married to a missionary doctor can bring discomforts!
Whilst we were shown pictures of the capital Buenos Aires, Virginia preferred life in the north!. To many Argentines, their capital city is synonymous with the country itself, and indeed 40% of the population live in the city's massive, sprawling suburbs.
Buenos Aires is situated on the banks of the Río de la Plata in the Federal Capital district, and not, as one would expect, in Buenos Aires province. A city transported from its European parent, its compact and regular centre is reminiscent of Paris, but its tree-lined avenues and frequent plazas have a beguiling, faded elegance.
We then moved northwards towards the Iguazu: "Big Water" in the Guaraní language. With an impressive set of pictures, we saw the waterfalls of this place are a colossal wonder that must be experienced lived and enjoyed with our five senses. They consist of 275 falls with a height of up to 70 metres. You can go on exciting boat rides above or under the cascades ( but as Virginia said not ideal with young children) and walk along the paths appreciating some of the typical animals (many shown) of the subtropical forest.
In the center of the South American subcontinent exists the second largest geographic area after the Amazonian forest, it’s called the Gran Chaco, sometimes called the “green desert” due to it’s low rainfall (400-500mm per year) it’s salty ground water and it’s very defined, to summer, rainfall. (No rain from April to September). Due to its continental climate, we have extreme temperatures in the Chaco, below freezing in winter and over 45c in summer.
Misión Chaqueña, where the crafts are made, is situated on the banks of the Bermejo River, 350km NE from colonial Salta city. It was founded at the beginning of the 20 century by Anglican missionaries on land donated by the Leach family. On this land lived these Amerindian communities since time immemorial, the Wichí.
This is the area where Virginia expanded with a series of slides, far beyond this web page, so look out for more presentations to Probus Clubs and see the full series, below are some of the myths and subsequent products that will support the Wichí people and Virginia brought a wide selection.
The man is making a figure out of wood - part of their subsistence lifestyle is selling these artisan products, and the woman is making a bag out of chaguar, a plant found in the Chaco. They are beautiful objects, and the people are very talented.
But if you failed to purchase at this meeting and you would like to support them, then visit either of these two following links to web sites that offer this facility.
http://www.siwok.com/ or http://www.siwok.org.uk/index.html or to find out more
Crafts developed in this place have had a strong influence on many other communities in a large area of 50,000 square km. From the south of Bolivia, all down the Pilcomayo River to the east and into Formosa province nearby. Official health surveys state that Misión Chaqueña malnutrition levels for children up to 2 years old are the lowest in all of Salta Province.
The Wichí Indians have lived in the Chaco forest of northern Argentina for thousands of years, hunting and gathering to survive. Recently, the trees in their forests have been cut down to make way for agricultural development and their traditional way of life is threatened. The Wichí are fighting to save their way of life and have begun using their traditional woodworking skills to generate income.
Siwok is the Wichí word for woodpecker which has become the symbol of the Wichí woodcarvers.
These are the Siwok crafts made from a variety of tropical scented woods from northern Argentina which are used in the production of these carvings
The Grey Heron (The Kiápop). There were two little brothers that had been left alone by their parents. One night, being afraid of the darkness, they sheltered up a tree. Then, one brother went down and the other stayed up because he was afraid to go down. He kept repeating: "I am afraid to go down." All of a sudden, he was transformed into a Kiápop and his song is still heard at night (cui, cui, cui). It means I am afraid to go down.
The Woodpecker (The Siwok) A man named Siwok wanted to catch Lewo (the rainbow) which was a serpent that lived in a deep lagoon. One morning he went to catch Lewo but was swallowed all of a sudden by the serpent. Who was looking from above at what was happening was Ifwala, the sun, who immediately dried the lagoon to save Siwok. Lewo disappeared with the sun’s heat but Siwok’s spirit was left and that went to live in a woodpecker that was flying by.
The Cardinal (The Wosachut) Once upon a time, there were men called Wosachut. They liked to play "pim-pim", which is dance done with a drum, and they also liked to sing. They sang really nice songs. They always got together and played pim-pim, and sang and when their songs were over they fell on the floor and laughed. But Tokwaj (a main character in the Wichi mythology) decided that they shouldn't walk the earth so happily, and that they should have wings, and they should fly. So, Tokwah transformed them into cardinals. These birds, when they stop singing, they fly straight down to the earth and play on the ground, reminding us that they once were Wosachut.
The Toucan (The Toúk) Toúk was a shy man who loved to eat corn wherever he was. People thought he was a funny man and started laughing at him. Toúk didn't like that and asked Ahatah (a mythical character) to have him transformed. Ahatah fulfilled his wishes and Toúk was transformed into a bird. It was a bird that nobody had seen before and people started calling it toucan, because it had an enormous beak that resembled the corn that Toúk used to eat.
ASOCIANA (Acompanamiento SOCial de la Iglesia Anglicana en el Norte Argentina) a part of the Anglican Church (Northern Argentina dioceses) which works alongside the indigenous communities in four broad project areas:
Land and Resources: Working especially to secure legal land titles for the two hundred communities in the Chaco Saltena.
Education: Working towards securing bilingual education (in their indigenous language of Wichí along with Spanish, rather than just Spanish).
Economy: The honey project in particular, which promotes a small-scale and sustainable industry to supplement their subsistence lifestyle.
Health: Supporting doctors for the region as well as training health workers and nurses in as many communities as possible, this was covered in depth by Virginia over a time scale illustrating the newer facilities offered by the government but still varied and well stretched for the Wichí and other indigenous tribes in the north.
The nature of ASOCIANA’s work also provided many struggles. Many people in the south are incredibly ignorant of the indigenous communities in the North and of their rich and diverse lifestyles
This was a lecture well outside of our memberships knowledge although at least three members had visited Argentina, the problems of the indigenous tribes and their subsistence lifestyle gave a real understanding of world poverty and deprivation. After a short number of questions due to our allocated time slot at Bourne Hall running out, the members showed their genuine appreciation in our customary way.
Thanks Virginia
