The day you have poisoned the last river, struck down the last tree, and killed the last animal, you will realize that money cannot be eaten. ” - Indigenous proverb.
August 9 is the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. This commemoration was born with the purpose of strengthening international cooperation, which in turn seeks to solve the conditions that indigenous communities, in the 21st century, still suffer, including discrimination . This goes hand in hand with the poor defense of their human rights: environment, social development, education, housing, health, working conditions, among others.
According to 2013 figures, there are approximately 5, 000 indigenous groups, comprising 370 million people, distributed in more than 70 countries across five continents. For many years they have been excluded from decision making, being marginalized, exploited and mistreated. Due to their bad experiences, they made the decision to remain silent, lagging behind, living shortages, even feeling ashamed of their origins .
They have also experienced social injustice for many years. This 5% of the world's population is also part of social inequality, which in turn constitutes 15% of the world's poor . This is why they are located in terrible economic conditions, living even extreme poverty.
Its main economic activities are agriculture and handicrafts . However, these are poorly valued ; While agriculture is the most exploited, craftsmanship is the worst pay. Moreover, there are those who dare to ask for "rebate", regardless of the importance and value of this activity.
On the other hand, there are indigenous languages that due to their lack of propagation, have been gradually forgotten. There are currently between 6000 and 7000 live languages worldwide. Unfortunately, the closed mind causes discrimination against indigenous peoples, forgetting that in addition to being people, they are beings with great knowledge about life, health, the countryside, nature, history; in short, they enjoy what we call indigenous wisdom.
There is much to learn from indigenous wisdom, including their traditional foods, which despite being lacking in some proteins and nutrients, feed on what they have at hand and with that they manage to survive and to some extent lead a healthier life than ours, whose primary ingredient is the chemical.
Indigenous peoples have great indigenous wisdom. Since ancient times, shamans come from these cultures, and do we still doubt their wisdom? Well, these shamans know about astrology, spiritual cosmology, among others. They are full of folklore, they are masters in semiotics, because their traditions, their dress, their customs, everything that surrounds their culture, is full of symbols.
The indigenous wisdom is found in that person who retains his roots and culture; Follow their traditions, maintain contact with nature and adhere to their beliefs . In addition to this, he is a person endowed with great cultural value and sense of belonging .
There are cultures in many countries, including indigenous peoples, where the elderly are the great elders of the community. These are those who go in search of advice, healing, etc., while in Western culture, the elders are generally synonymous with old age and past. However, it is worth analyzing that it is precisely in the elderly, where there is a treasure of knowledge and stories. The elders of indigenous peoples are an example of these ancestral treasures.
Many years have passed, we have seen thousands of wars, great changes in technology, which has made us forget the greatest force we have: nature. This nature is the engine of those indigenous cultures, which in turn, possess this wisdom of which we speak.
It is very important to react, assertively when approaching an indigenous culture or group of this type. It is they who preserve the family's root in its maximum natural and historical expression. For this reason, a global invitation is made to the new generations, to admire and be proud of those brave indigenous people who live by nature and feed on it to achieve indigenous wisdom, which is wonderful.
Tale of indigenous culture: The two wolves
An old chief of a tribe was having a talk with his grandchildren about life. He told them:
A great fight is taking place inside me! It is between two wolves!
One is diabolical: angry, lustful, arrogant, liar, false preacher, vain, resentful, thief, abuser and murderer. The other is good: peaceful, loving, serene, humble, generous, compassionate, faithful, kind, benevolent and honest.
This same fight is happening within you and within all beings on earth. They thought about it for a minute and one of the children asked his grandfather:
And which of the wolves do you think will win?
The old cacique responded, simply The one you feed.
SOURCE:
http://www.lailuminacion.com/temas/la_iluminacion.asp?titulo=SABIDURIA+INDIGENA
Daniela Navarro, editor of the big family of hermandadblanca.org
