page_title: Wayuu people
section_title: Lifestyle
hierarchical_section_title: Wayuu people / Lifestyle
caption_attribution_description: Foto de una ranchería Wayúu en el Cabo de la Vela (Colombia). aproximadamente a las 7:00 de la mañana con una camara Genius DV611.
context_page_description: Wayuu is an Indigenous American ethnic group of the Guajira Peninsula in northernmost part of Colombia and northwest Venezuela. The Wayuu language is part of the Maipuran language family.
context_section_description: A traditional Wayuu settlement is made up of five or six houses that made up caseríos or rancherías. Each ranchería is named after a plant, animal or geographic place. A territory that contains many rancherias is named after the mother's last name; that is, society is matrilineal. The Wayuu congregated in rancherias are usually isolated and far from each other to avoid mixing their goat herds.
  The typical house is a small structure called a piichi or miichi, generally divided into two rooms with hammocks to sleep in and keep personal belongings such purses or mochilas of acrylic fiber and ceramics to keep water.
  Wayuu culture is known for making Wayuu bags or mochilas. There are many styles of mochilas. A susu is a backpack typically 20 cm-30 cm wide and 35 cm high, used to store personal and work items. Characteristic for the fabrics are the decorating patterns inspired by nature and what the culture sees around.
  Living quarters are either rectangular or semi-circular. Close to the main house is a common area called a luma or enramada, similar to a living room but almost in the open. Built of six pillars with a flat roof, it is used for everyday duties and to attend to visitors and business activities. Family members hang their hammocks there for the noon nap.
  Traditionally, the walls are made of yotojoro – a wattle and daub of mud, hay and dried canes, but some Wayuu now use more modern construction with cement and other materials. The preferred material for roofing and yotojoro wood is the dagger cactus (Stenocereus griseus), which the Wayuu call yosú. The word yotojoro originally referred to the cane-like inner wood of the yosú cactus. This plant is used for many other purposes: it is planted to create living fences around pastures; young shoots are fed to goats; the fruit (iguaraya) is similar to pitahaya and is a popular food among the Wayuu. Because the demand for yosú as food and wood is seasonal, at times there is little fruit, building material or even cuttings for fences. It has thus been proposed to develop techniques for the Wayuu to cultivate it. Due to varying supply of yosú wood for construction, other plants are also used, including trupillo or turpío (Prosopis juliflora), jattá (Haematoxylum brasiletto), kapchip (Capparis zeylanica) and kayush (Peruvian Apple Cactus, Cereus repandus).
caption: A Wayuu rancheria
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