There are several major ethnic groups that make up Panama's population. The three largest native groups are the Guna, Ngobe-Bugle, and Embera-Wounaan. The Guna primarily live in the San Blas Islands and practice subsistence farming, fishing, and crafting molas. The Ngobe-Bugle live in western Panama and engage in small-scale farming, crafts like woven bags, and traditions like balseria stick games. The semi-nomadic Embera-Wounaan live along rivers in Darien Province, making ceramics, baskets, and practicing hunting and gathering. All three groups speak their own languages as well as Spanish. Panama's ethnic

1. PEOPLE IN PANAMA
8 GRADERS TOPIC

2. Previous Knowledge:
Getting previous information
 Directions: Listen and answer these questions according to your
knowledge regarding the topic.
*What are ethnic groups?
*Are there many ethnic groups in Panama?
*Mention the name of some of them
*Write them on the board

3. Achievement:
 Through the study of this information, you will be able to recognize different
ethnic groups from Panama and their way of living to determine the
importance of them in the Panamanian Culture.

4.  Panama owns a central position. As a result, the country presents a
mixture of ethnic diversity.
 It is important to mention that our population is a mixture of different
ethnic groups such as Caucasian, Indians and Blacks.
 There are two groups of Black people, the Afro-colonial group and the
Afro-Antillean. Furthermore, people from other cultural roots such as
Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Hebrew, Hindu, Greek, Colombian, and
others, form part of our cultural heritage.
 In Panama there are three major native groups: Gunas, Ngobe-
Buglé, and Emberá-Wounaan.
 The ethnic group that owns more habitants is Ngobe-Buglé. All these
groups preserve their native language but many of this groups also
speak Spanish.

5. Ethnic Groups in Panama

6. GUNAS
 The vast majority of Guna Indians LIVE in
the San Blas Islands .

7. Occupations
 Gunas practice agriculture.
 They plant corn, plantains, bananas, cacao, coconuts and other products.
 They practice Fishing and hunting.
 Slash-and-burn farming.
 They sale hand-sewn items (molas).
 Rearing of hens and pigs.

8. Handycrafts
 women are dedicated to make hammocks, molas and belts.
 men make baskets, hats, fans and they do wood carving.

9.  women wear skirts and shirts with molas
knotted at the waist.
 The mola is a traditional form of textile art
made. Molas are sewn textile panels with
complex designs and multiple layers.
 Men wear plain colored shirts, trousers and
hats.

10. Housing and transportation
 Their homes are built with straw and
they are hut shaped.
 Their means of transportation are
canoes, boats and by foot.

11. CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS
 They practice
monogamy. The
marriage is arranged by
parents.
 The night festival or "inna-Mutiki" is a feast in order to celebrate a
wedding or a new marriage.

12. Ngöbe-Buglé
The Ngobe Bugle are compromised of
two seperate ethni-linguistic groups (The
Ngobe and the Bugle).
It was formed in 1997
with lands from the
provinces of:
Bocas del
Toro,Chiriqui.
Veraguas.

13.  Ngobe Bugle Ngobe’s
capital is Chichica and
it owns 7 districts:
Besiko (Soloy) Kankintú
(Bisira) Kusapín
(Kusapín) Mirono (Hato
Pilón)

14. OCCUPATIONS
 Animals’ domestication
 Fishing
 Wood carving
 Hunting
 Rearing of pigs
 Ngobe men carry out an agriculture of subsistence based on
slash and burn techniques and produce corn.

15. Handycrafts

16.  The "chacara" is a type
of woven bag made by
the women that displays
their numerous
ancestral
legends, mimicing the
skin and colors of their
animals and the
landscape of the
Comarca. These bags
are made using fibres
from the pita and
cabuya plants.
 "chaquiras" - a type of beaded necklac
and "naguas" which are the traditional
dresses worn by the women and girls.
 The naguas are very colorful and beautiful
and the hand-sown work is inspired by the
jagged shapes and vivid colors of the
Ngobe-Bugle mountains and forests.

17. HOUSING AND TRANSPORTATION
 The majority of the Ngobe-Bugle live in small communities or villages.
 Some houses are round and other rectangular.
 Their way of transport is by foot, by horse or canoes.

18. COSTUMES AND TRADITIONS
 They preserve
traditions like
balsería.
 Balsería is a
game with sticks
of balsa.
 They practice
the polygamy.

19. Embera–Wounaan

20.  It is a semi-nomadic indigenous people in Panama, living in the
province of Darien at the shores of
the Chucunaque,Sambu, Tuira Rivers and its water ways. They are
divided in two main groups: Chocoe-Wounaan . Chocoe-Embera .

21. OCCUPATIONS
 Hunting
 Agriculture
 Fishing
 Ceramics
 Basket makers
 Wood carving

22.  The calabash tree is
important to the Embera, who
scoop out the tree's gourds
for cups and bowls, as well as
spoons.
 THEY still hunt with
snares, blow guns, bows and
arrows, as well as firearms.

23. HOUSING AND TRANSPORTATION
 Their houses are
raised off the
ground about
eight feet. The
houses stand on
large posts set in
the ground, and
have thatched
roof made from
palm fronds.
 They use canoes
and horses as
mean of transport.

24. COSTUMES AND TRADITIONS
 The Chocó people
practice polygamy and
live in family units.
 Everyone in the village
pitches in to work at
harvest time. If one
hunter gets a larger
animal such as
a tapir (macho de
monte), everybody in
the village shares the
meat.

25.  The women wear brightly colored cloth wrapped at
the waist as a skirt. Except when in towns, the
women do not cover their torsos, and wear
long, straight black hair. The children go naked
until puberty, and no one wears shoes.
 They paint their bodies with a dye made
from Genipa americana, the berry of a species of
genip tree.
 The men sport "bowl cut" hair styles, and when not
in towns, still wear nothing but a minimal loin cloth.

26. LEARNING ACTIVITIES:
1.COMPARATIVE CHART
 Create a comparative chart about the main characteristics of the ethnic
groups learned in class.
ETHNIC
GROUP
LOCATION HOUSING TRANSPORTATION HANDYCRAFTS CLOTHING

27. 2. TEAM-WORK
 Make grups of three students and pick up one of the ethnic groups.
 Look up for different illustrations about occupations, costumes and
traditions, handycrafsts, housing and transportation and location.
 Create a mini bulleting board with all the information and present it to the
class orally.