Woman's Garment, Mola Blouse
date: label: Accession Date
content: 29 Jan 1936
label: Collection Date
content: October 1935
name: label: Collector
content: President Franklin D. Roosevelt
label: Donor Name
content: President Franklin D. Roosevelt
notes: label: Notes
content: From card: "The native name for this garment is "Mola". Consists of short sleeves and yoke of cotton trade cloth to which is attached the body of the waist, which is embellished with pictographic designs produced by applique embroidered strips of various colors. Designs represent bird and animal figures. The applique panels are quilted on to a lining of trade cotton cloth."
label: Notes
content: Mola on front of blouse includes right facing swastika design. Note: in 1925, the Guna revolted against Panamanian suppression of their culture, and were granted autonomy in 1930; the flag they adopted at that time is based on the swastika shape, and remains the official flag of Guna Yala. The swastika is an ancient symbol in Guna culture. It symbolizes the octopus that created the universe; its four tentacles pointing to the four cardinal points, which gave rise to the rainbow, the sun, the moon and the stars.
label: Notes
content: Discussed in text on p. 28 and in footnote 39, p. 28 of Marks, Diana, 2014, "The Kuna Mola: Dress, Politics and Cultural Survival," Dress (The Journal of the Costume Society of America) 40(1):17-30, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/0361211214Z.00000000021. "… the front mola panel includes the swastika as a large filler element and the overall design appears to relate to a Kuna myth. It was given to President Franklin Roosevelt on an official visit to the San Blas in 1935, and I suggest that this particular blouse was chosen as a gift by Kuna representatives to indicate continued appreciation of US support for Kuna autonomy, both from the time of President Theodore Roosevelt early in the century and especially during the Kuna Revolution, ten years earlier. … [This] links the swastika symbol, the emblem on their flag since 1925, with Kuna identity. As displayed by Kuna women when wearing these blouses, the symbol can be interpreted as reinforcing and asserting the autonomy attained by the whole community as a result of the Kuna Revolution."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 26 Jul 2025
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Southeast, Panama, Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: San Blas
label: Culture
content: Tule (Kuna, Guna)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 137405
label: USNM Number
content: E377428-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Blouse