During my recent trip to Panama, I was surprised to learn that 25% of the country’s territory is comprised of semi-autonomous indigenous regions called comarcas. And three of the comarcas belong to the Guna people (aka Kuna or Cuna). Guna women are easily recognized by their brightly colored clothing and the colorful bead sleeves they were on their forearms and calves. Of the three Guna comarcas, Guna Yala is the best known as home of the unspoiled archipelago called the San Blas Islands. (Watch for an upcoming article about my sailing charter there.) But you’re likely to spot Guna women, in particular, throughout Panama—selling molas, a traditional art form now popular with tourists and collectors.
Be sure to see the photo gallery at the end of this article.
Who Are the Guna People?
The Guna are a matriarchal society—men take their wives’ names and move in with their wives’ families. There are about 62,000 Guna living in Panama, chiefly on the comarcas. About 1,300 more live in small villages in nearby Colombia.
After Panama declared independence from Colombia in 1903, it took steps to control and modernize indigenous communities. Notably, Panama tried to eradicate Guna women’s traditional form of dress. But the Guna people resisted and eventually rebelled in 1925. Ultimately, the Guna agreed to end the fight for independence. In exchange, Panama promised to honor and preserve Guna culture. The establishment of self-governing comarcas stemmed from that agreement.
What is a Mola?
In the Guna language, mola means shirt or blouse. The name refers to the colorfully and intricately designed cloth panels that Guna women sew onto opposite sides of their tops. Look closely. You’ll see the two panels always share the same theme. But the multi-layered textiles are so unique that visitors wanted to buy them. Now the molas by themselves are considered works of art and widely available for purchase.
Each mola consists of several layers of cloth placed one atop the other and sewn together by hand. Each layer is a different color. Then complex designs are cut into the upper layers to reveal the underlying colors in intricate shapes and patterns. The technique is called “reverse appliqué.” Additional needlework finishes the edges.
The mola traditional art form has been passed down through generations. Mothers start teaching the complex process to their daughters at the age of eight.
Mola Designs
The most traditional mola patterns contain multiple parallel lines—either straight or curved— that symbolize spiritual themes or Guna folklore and mythology. Patterns later evolved to include plants, animals, the sun, the ocean, and other features of daily life. More recently, the Guna expanded their designs to include even brighter colors and new imagery popular with tourists. Importantly, Guna girls are taught the patterns in order of oldest to newest. They cannot progress to a later style until they’ve mastered the earlier one.
Winis – Guna Bead Wraps
In addition to molas, Guna women wear traditional bead wraps called winis on their forearms and calves. The winis are designed to keep evil spirits away. But the wraps are not bracelets. They’re actually single strands of beads tied in place by an expert, one at a time, until the length of each forearm and each calf is covered. The result is a custom fit “sleeve” that gets replaced about every two months. Each one is a work of art in itself. Guna girls first begin to wear winis as a rite of passage at age fifteen.
The molas and winis were targeted for eradication by the Panamanian government prior to the Guna rebellion of 1925. After the peace agreement, wearing them became a point of pride—and resilience.
Where to Buy Mola Traditional Art
Molas are still produced by hand by Guna women. You can watch them work—sometimes in their traditional homes—on any of the three Guna comarcas, including in the San Blas Islands.
In Panama City, I counted a dozen Guna women selling molas each day along the entire stretch of Paseo Esteban Huertas—a waterfront promenade at the far southeastern edge of Casco Antiguo. Prices here ranged from $15-$60 per mola, with $20 being most common. The complexity of the design determines the cost. But they’re a bargain at any price when you consider each mola takes at least a couple of weeks and sometimes months to finish.
Meet Martina
I visited each artist along the promenade but finally bought my mola from Martina, who sells her work from a table in Plaza Carlos V, at the corner of Avenida A and Calle 2 Oeste not far from the promenade. Martina is a grandmother who left the comarca for Panama City. She explained that Guna children on the comarca stop school at Grade 6 and then go to work, usually in the farming, fishing, or tourism industry. In fact, all tourism in the San Blas Islands is administered by the Guna people.
But Martina wanted her grandchildren to continue their education and have a wider range of career choices. So she brought them with her to the capital, where she and two other Guna women sell their molas to pay for the children’s extended schooling.
Like most Guna people, Martina speaks her native language and Spanish. She proudly told me she won second place during a nationwide mola contest. Participants were given just 10 hours to produce their best work, and the mola she created is now on display at the Museo de Mola—just blocks from where she sells her art.
Mola Museum (Museo de Mola)
The Museo de Mola is located in a two-story building at the corner of Calle José D. de la Obaldía and Calle 8 Oeste in Panama City’s Casco Antiguo. Its permanent collection includes about 200 molas, with displays in English that educate visitors about the history, meaning, and process of making the mola traditional art.
The museum is closed on Mondays but open from 10:00-16:30 Tuesday through Friday and 10:00-17:00 on weekends. And it’s free. Allow about 45-60 minutes to walk through the museum. To visit the museum’s website, click here.
Final Thoughts
The Guna people have survived in their native land for centuries, resilient in the face of outside forces that threatened to extinguish their culture. Today, the ocean on which they’ve relied for generations is rising and eroding their ancestral home in the San Blas Islands. But the mola traditional art form—which uses symbols to record the Guna’s history, worldview, and way of life—may well be the one cultural element that bridges the past and future and helps to sustain the Gunas’ fragile economy.
While in Panama, be sure to see the canal— and my separate article with interesting facts about the famous waterway and tips for planning your visit.
