How did you start weaving Wayuu bags?

The famous Wayuu bags

These crafts contain great mysticism in their fabric, this is the Wayuu tradition.

There are myths that tell the story of how the weaving of Wayuu bags was born.

The story goes that the spider or Wale’ Kerü was the one who taught the Wayuu woman how to weave.

Wale ‘Kerü was a weaving spider who, when dawn came, already had sashes and hammocks made, and he always made drawings of them before spring.

One night, Wale Keru was visited by a girl who asked him to teach her how to weave.
The spider taught her for several nights and gave her the most original and beautiful designs, after which she disappeared.

Thus, the girl turned into a woman, she emerged from the three-month confinement with the knowledge of the valuable secret of weaving in her hands.

In this way, for as long as the Wayuu people can remember, the girls comply with the ritual of confinement as they develop. There are three months in which they learn from their mother, grandmother and maternal aunts.

They transmit the knowledge and values ​​to be a Wayuu in all its dimensions.

In this way Wayuu women learned to weave and thus Wayuu bags were born and this has been the case since the beginning of time.

The raw material

Wayuu bags are easy to recognize by their colors and designs. They are made with crochet, a knitting technique introduced by Catholic missionaries at the beginning of the 20th century, or with crochet. The production of each piece can take approximately 20 days.

Likewise, the colorful tones of the Wayuu bags are mainly due to the fact that when the colonization period arrived, they were influenced by the Spanish in the use of acrylic threads that came in multiple colors.

It is clear that, before, materials obtained from nature were used: cotton, fique or vegetable fibers that were dyed with roots, bark or fruits. Then the Spanish who tried to conquer these territories brought sheep wool and horsehair. Now the Wayuu weave with industrially processed thread and cotton.
Although they still try to maintain the kanaas or figures that they learned several generations ago.

Did you know that at Wayuu Market you can get your Wayuu bags?

We have a wide portfolio for each of our clients. Each of the products is organized by stores and categories, this way it is easy to view all the items, which will undoubtedly make you show off that special outfit.