Hammock Wayúu6

Origin of Wayúu weaving: The Wayuu legend

In the vast expanses of the Guajira desert, an ancestral Wayúu legend tells the story of Irunuu, a young hunter from this community. One day, during his wanderings, he discovered an abandoned orphan girl, left to her own devices. Filled with pity, he took her home, hoping that her sisters would welcome her and teach her traditionally feminine tasks. However, the sisters, quick to reject, categorically refused to take care of her, thus leaving her in Irunuu's care.

When he had to be absent for his obligations, the young girl was cruelly mistreated by her sisters. But one night, while alone, she transformed into a beautiful young woman and began to weave vibrantly colored hammocks from the threads she pulled from her own mouth. When the sisters discovered these masterpieces, they claimed to have made them themselves. But Irunuu, awakened to the true nature of the young girl, punishes his sisters by transforming them into bats.

Irunuu, in love with the beautiful stranger, tried to hold her back, but when he took her in his arms, a fragment of a spider's web remained in his hand. The young girl then transformed into a spider and disappeared into the branches of a tree. Deeply affected by his disappearance, Irunuu decided to preserve his fabrics and store them carefully, so that future generations of the Wayúu could perpetuate the art of weaving. Thus began the spread of this artistic expression throughout the peninsula, thus perpetuating the memory of the beautiful stranger who had transformed Irunuu's life forever.