Handcrafts

Over thousands of years, hunting and gathering people of Baja California have learned to make a variety of tools, utensils, clothes and adornments, medicines, foods, shelter, games and everything else they might need in their daily lives using native plants, animals, soils and rocks. Today many of these traditional arts have found an important new meaning in their lives, representing the continuity of the culture they have inherited from their ancestors as well as a sustainable alternative for making a living in the present and future.

"Our ancestors didn't leave us any great stone houses or monuments," comments Kumiai artisan Gloria Castañeda, "but they left us something even better: the knowledge that has enabled us to survive through all the changes in our world. They taught us how to gather willow and juncus and weave them into these beautiful baskets. They gave us this way to make a living on our land."

Castañeda and a growing group of native artisans from Baja California find that much of the knowledge passed on from their ancestors can help them meet the challenges of survival in a rapidly changing world. Through an innovative partnership with the Native Cultures Institute of Baja California (CUNA), native weavers and potters have launched a revival of traditional arts that provides jobs while conserving culture and the environment. This project, supported by the North American Fund for Environmental Cooperation, has resulted in the establishment of NATIVA EcoArt for the promotion of sustainably produced indigenous goods and Ecotourism services.