A group of Kuna girls. Ladies in Kuna culture receive their formal name at the onset of puberty

Keeping their culture alive

Nobody knows for sure when they arrived in Panama from South America, but by the 16th century, they had already occupied the 360 islands known today as the San Blas archipelago, pushed towards the Caribbean coast by enemy Native American tribes and the Spanish conquistadors.

The Kuna are a nation within a nation which has struggled for centuries to keep its culture and traditions alive. During the colonial period, they joined European corsairs and pirates in a number of successful attacks against the Spanish, who had vowed to eliminate them. As the Spanish empire dwindled, they became entrenched in the regions of present-day Darién and San Blas, in Panama, and western Colombia, which granted them lands and legal recognition towards the end of the 19th century.

Panama, which back then was a Colombian province, declared independence in 1903 and ignored the agreements, although most of the Kuna population was on the Panamanian side of the border, a fact that made many inhabitants of San Blas side with the Colombian government just as Panamanian authorities sought to "civilize" the Kuna.

A Kuna dance troupe performing in Panama City

Resentments reached a climax in 1925, when Richard O. Marsh, a Canadian adventurer, motivated the Kuna to declare independence from Panama by creating the "Republic of Tule". A peace treaty was later signed, and the Kuna agreed to acknowledge Panamanian sovereignty only after the "wagas" (the non-Kuna) granted them a good measure of autonomy.

Today, Panamanian auth-orities rarely interfere with Kuna government and have created three special comarcas (autonomous territories) for them. Known as a culture based on equal treatment for men and women, an egalitarian barter economy and their colorful molas (reverse appliqué creations famous around the world) the Kuna are a tourist attraction in their own right, and their traditionally-dressed women are an important element of Panama's urban scene, offering their handicraft at the city's main tourist venues.

Kuna traditional dances have been incorporated in the shows of a number of establishments, such as Restaurante Tinajas (tel.263-7890), Restaurante Al Tambor de la Alegría, in Amador (tel.314-3380) and Mi Pueblito tourist center, which offers folklore performances on weekends