Peruvian Amazon, Siekopaai community of Wuajoya. July 6, 2022
«Below is a text by Yadira Ocoguaje, Siekopaai ceramist from the community of Siekoya Remolino in Ecuador, and organizer of the ancestral ceramists meeting in the Wuajoya community in Peru, an activity that strengthens community ties and culture»
“According to grandmothers, once upon a time there was a girl whose mother was an expert ceramist, but she and her husband died, and the girl grew up with her uncle… this girl grew up and when she was a young woman she went to the river and saw that some ladies were collecting clay to do pottery, the young woman approached to see what they were doing, but these ladies made fun of her and smeared her face and body with mud, leaving the young woman on the shore crying, disconsolate… then, from the bottom of the river emerged a figure of a woman who said to the young woman: ‘do not cry, I am your mother who has come to give you the best clay, the ladies only took the droppings of the oko-yai (water jaguar), take this clay, run to the tree of wewe (Jacaranda copaia) and under its shade I will teach you how to make pots, potsherds, ornaments’…after teaching her daughter, the lady returned to the river and became oko-yai.”
– Legend of the Siekopaai culture, (Interpretation and compilation: Yadira Ocoguaje, 2022).
Our ancestors taught us to coexist with the forest and to use everything that this environment offers us. The forest, our beloved jungle, offers us: food, shelter, medicine; from the forest we obtain all the necessary materials to guarantee our good life (De’oye Paiye). Of all the materials that allow us to make utensils, our Siekopaai ceramics (Soto Tëowëose’e) played an important role in our cultural development, although our ancestors had a lot of food available, it could not be processed or cooked. It was from the development of our own ceramics that food began to be processed. But it would take some time to realize the enormous importance of clay utensils for the development of our people and their culture. This is when these simple utensils began to be decorated and painted, capturing our symbology and worldview there. The first Siekopaai healers cooked our master plant, the yaje, in clay pots.
Hasta hace algunos años los Siekopaai obteníamos nuestros alimentos y todos los materiales únicamente del monte, nuestras vasijas, tiestos, ollas de cerámica siempre estuvieron a nuestro lado. En la actualidad nuestras formas de vida han tomado un nuevo rumbo, hoy usamos nuevos materiales y utensilios, los cuales han llegado con el desarrollo de actividades industriales que se asientan en nuestros territorios.
La vida actual en nuestras comunidades ha provocado que dejemos en un rincón la elaboración de nuestra cerámica propia, por suerte todavía están con nosotras nuestras sabias abuelitas, en sus corazones y manos todavía está viva la cerámica Siekopaai. Cómo jóvenes orgullosos de nuestra raíz y de nuestro presente, no vamos a permitir que esa flama de sabiduría se extinga.
Para trabajar en el fortalecimiento del exclusivo arte de la cerámica Seikopaai trabajamos con la Fundación Raíz-Ecuador y logramos el auspicio del programa Beyond Lagartococha colegio British School de Quito (BSQ), así desarrollamos y ejecutamos el encuentro cultural de cerámica ancestral Siekopia, el mismo que consistió en llevar a un grupo de jóvenes y ancianos de la comunidad Siekoya Remolino, asentada en el río Aguarico, provincia de Sucumbíos en la Amazonía ecuatoriana, hasta la comunidad Siekoya de Wuajoya en la Amazonía peruana, fue un viaje largo lleno de emociones y lluvia, sabíamos que en Wuajoya encontraríamos a nuestras familias, y a las sabias abuelas que saben mucho de cerámica. Wuajoya es el centro de origen de los Siekopaai, por eso decidimos hacer ahí este encuentro por la enorme carga histórica y simbólica que ella representa para todos los Siekopaai.
For two days, boys, girls, youth, men, women, grandmothers and grandfathers shared our time preparing clay, burning and sifting bark from the yasó tree (Licania apetala), grinding paints, molding cua’koro (pots) yurupë (water vessels ), sokotë’ki (potsherds), etc., everything in an intimate, unique environment. We knew that we were face to face with our origin, past and present. The men who accompanied us, in order not to be left behind, also exploited their skills and dedicated themselves to making maró (crowns). The breaks during this meeting we enjoyed eating our typical food, and talking with our relatives whom we do not see often. In the meeting, while we worked the clay and created various figures, we took the opportunity to sing our traditional songs, which fed our hearts. This feeling pushed us to concentrate and make unique and beautiful pieces. In this meeting we had a lot of fun, we learned, we perfected our techniques; after two days the meeting was coming to an end. That afternoon we burned and baked the ceramics, we ate our last meal as a large family, and at night, all the people of the community thanked us for this activity and promised us to continue holding meetings like this. Now it’s up to the people of Wuajoya to go to Siekoya Remolino, to continue molding our pottery.
I am happy to contribute in any way so that ceramics becomes an activity that is always practiced in our communities. The important thing now is to find more allies to sponsor these meetings and initiatives, as well as searching for a market for the sale of our ceramic pieces. The funds that we would obtain from the sale of our pottery can serve enormously so that our women can attend to aspects of education and health of themselves and their families.
Without a doubt, the value of cultural conservation of this initiative is enormous, but the value of conservation of our nature is also reflected in this attractive initiative, we know that to work with clay we depend on keeping the banks of the rivers in good condition, with native vegetation . We use some plant resources that we must replenish, so we are proposing a reforestation plan for our basins and estuaries.
Stay tuned for updates and new stories about our pottery and activities to preserve our culture and our forest, see you soon.
Text: Yadira Ocoguaje®, Siekopaai culture and gender Technician