Kogi Relationships

The way the Kogi relate to each other and to nature is very different from our own understanding. Their use and of gold within the culture is also particularly interesting.

The Kogi people are descendants of the Tairona culture, which flourished before the times of the Spanish conquest. The Tairona were an advanced civilisation which built many stone structures and pathways in the jungles. They made many gold objects which they would hang from trees and around their necks. They lived similarly to modern-day Kogi.

In the years since, the Kogi have remained in their home in the mountains, which allows them to escape the worst effects of colonisation and aids them in preserving their traditional way of life.

  • Gold

    Tairona gold work combines a technical mastery of casting with a fine love of detail. Most gold work belongs to the final centuries before the Spanish Conquest, but some goes back to the sixth and seventh centuries AD. The Tairona attitude to gold is different from ours. Gold was seen as a gift to be enhanced by man’s skill. It could be shaped into an ornament but had to be returned to its source. Gold pieces were hung on trees as offerings. Gold was considered to carry the mystery of life from Aluna into matter.

  • The World

    ‘The World is like a person. Robbing tombs, stealing its gold, it will die. We don’t take out the earth’s gold. We know that it is there, but we do not take it. We know from our divinations that the advice of the mother is not to take the gold. We know where it is, but we decide only to make offerings to it. All our gold pieces and stone beads should live in pots but now they are scattered. Imagine if you were thrown out of your home and had to sleep outside…..Younger brother does not think about that any more, he only destroys.’

  • Gender

    Both sexes share in agricultural production. Whilst weaving, woodworking, clothing manufacture and toolmaking are male activities, women are responsible for cooking, planting, collecting wild foods and manufacturing nets and bags. The nuclear family is the basic social and economic unit. Husbands and wives live separately most of the time. The wife and children share a dwelling while the husband lives nearby but spends most of his time in the ‘nuhue', the men’s house which is the largest and most sophisticated building..

  • Bags

    Kogi men and women all carry traditional bags across their shoulders. Only women are allowed to weave the bags. Many of the things carried inside a bag are secret and known only to the owner. Bags carried by Mamos contain sacred traditional objects. When two Kogi men meet, the customary greeting is to exchange handfuls of coca.

“When you have a wife you have to look after her, you have to make clothes for her, you mustn't ever harm her or treat her badly…you should build your own house and live separately with your wife, you can’t go on living with the other boys.  Bring her food, bring her meat, buy her chickens and pigs so she eats well. Give her animals and when you go off to collect firewood come back quickly. Don't wander about looking for other women. You've got your own woman and you have to look after her and work for her.”

— In their Own Words