Wayuu Fabrics A Living Legend in Your Hands

Behind the multicolored Wayuu fabrics a thousand stories are hidden and here is one of them.

Wayuu fabrics are famous in many parts of the world for their vibrant colors and unique designs.

Its success has been so great that it has managed to conquer markets such as China and Europe.

The best of all!

It is one of the sources of traditional economy that has been maintained today.

In addition to this, Wayuu artisans are the largest indigenous manufacturing community in the Americas.

The most important thing is that thanks to this work thousands of Wayuu families in Venezuela and Colombia have found an economic livelihood.


The principle of fabrics

However, behind each backpack woven by Wayuu hands lies a fascinating story:

The Wayuu elders say that many years ago in Alta Guajira there lived a hunter named Irunuu who lived with his three sisters.

One day, in the middle of a hunt, he got lost in the mountains. There he meets an orphan girl with a strange appearance. She looked ragged, she felt sorry for her and decided to adopt her. So the two walked to the ranch.

Upon arriving home, the young man is welcomed by his sisters and as the days go by he asks for their help in taking care of the girl while he went hunting.

Irunuu was a very handsome, kind, happy and strong young man. He had the reputation of being one of the best hunters in the Alta.

While her sisters were ugly and arrogant, they also treated the girl badly, secretly from her brother.

On full moon nights that girl turned into a beautiful woman and from her mouth she extracted colored threads and wove beautiful pieces that she gave to the hunter.

So every morning Irunuu mysteriously found all kinds of colorful fabrics hanging in his ranch.

Painting by Guillermo Ojeda Jayariyuu

Spider Woman – Jiet Wale’kerü

The sisters took credit for these works but one night they decided to spy and see who was behind everything.

And so, in front of his eyes, that being emanated threads from his mouth. She was so scared that they fled in fear.

They ran to wake up Irunuu to warn him that those pieces were woven by a monster.

When she was discovered, she transformed into a spider and although Irunuu ran and tried to hug her to stop her, she only had a web left between her hands.

The little girl disappeared among the branches of a tree, then he gave the woven pieces to the Wayuu women so that they could learn the art of weaving.

This is just one of many theories about this wonderful art and what they tell us at birth, I’ll tell it to you as it was told to me.

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