Kogi warning ignored by Younger Brother so new film Aluna made
Who are the Kogi Mamas?
The Kogi or Cogui are an amazing tribal people who live in Colombia in South America high on the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain. They are surviving descendants of the ancient Tairona culture and have managed to keep their traditions despite the Spanish invasion of the country long ago. The Arhuacos are a neighbouring tribe who also share Tairona ancestry and have similar views to the Kogi.
The Kogi entered the public arena back in 1990 when the film documentary From The Heart Of The World: The Elder Brothers' Warning was broadcast on BBC television. It was filmed by Alan Ereira whom the Kogi had agreed to talk to and to reveal some of their ways of living and beliefs. They had previously deliberately shunned all contact with the Western world and call those in it the "Younger Brother". They had become increasingly concerned about the state of the world and knew it was time for the Elder Brother to break his silence.
Ramon's speech - the Kogi's word of warning
Official Aluna website
Arhuacos
The Kogis' warning to the people of the world they call the Younger Brother
The Kogi tribe is run by shamanic leaders known as Mamos or Mamas. They are the enlightened ones and become this after being chosen by an oracle and then commencing a training of nine years in which they are kept in the dark where they meditate and listen to their teachers. They spend another nine years in training in the men's circle before they are ready to be a Mama.
The Kogi think of the creator as a mother and believe that all is fashioned from the creative spirit and mind and call this Aluna. The Mamas enter Aluna in their meditations and visualisations, which they believe help hold this world together.
Heart of the World
They think of themselves as the Guardians of the planet and that where they live on the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is the "Heart of the World."
The Kogi believe that the Younger Brother was long ago sent across the sea and given tools. Sadly for them he came back and destroyed their peaceful way of living. He brought the Catholic religion, guns and death and destruction. All they could do was flee to the mountains where they hid out, and in so doing preserved their culture intact.
The Kogi have lived without technology as such and in harmony with nature on their mountain home where they are farmers. They see that often the way the Younger Brother uses his tools and technology causes very serious harm to the balance of life and harm to the planet.
The Kogi Mamas need to carry out ceremonies in which they give gifts of sacred natural objects to the Mother. They have found that over the years this has become hard to do in many cases due to the destruction of the land that Younger Brother has brought.
The Kogi Mamas have an expert knowledge of the ecosystem and how everything should be to be in balance. Their sacred mountain home amazingly is like a microcosm of the whole world macrocosm because it has all the microclimates and habitats that exist including snow covered areas, tundra, desert down to cloud forests, jungle and the coast.
It is down in the lower levels along the coast that the Younger Brother has built cities and farms, roads and mines and this is where they can see the damage is being done. But it is high on the mountain peaks that they saw clearly warning signs that all was not well. Snow had stopped falling there and the tundra vegetation was dying. Clouds that should form around the mountains were missing and without clouds and without snow and rainfall there is no water and nothing can live.
Alan Ereira
It was at this point that what is now over 20 years ago that the Kogi got word to Alan Ereira and invited him to see some of their land. He made the documentary about them in which they give their warning that the Younger Brother must stop destroying the environment with mining, drilling, making dams, cutting down forests, using up resources and polluting everywhere he goes. (I have included here a video entitled "Ramon's speech" which is a part of From The Heart of The World , and in it he explains the situation and gives a warning.)
The Kogi thought that making the documentary and speaking out about how they viewed the world and the dangers to it would hopefully get the Younger Brother to change his ways. Sadly they have found this was not the case. They gave their warning, they waited all these years but the Younger Brother has not paid attention.
Because the Kogi Mamas have seen how badly the world has got and because their words of warning went unheeded they really do believe the world will end and all life will die unless they can get the Younger Brother to change. Because of this they have been working again with Alan Ereira to make the film Aluna in which they hope to show us their reality and explain their message visually seeing as words failed before.
Film-maker Aluna Trailer talks about Aluna
Images of the Hopi Indians
The Hopi people
So in South America the Kogi were very worried about how the world has gone and thought it was time to issue a serious warning, whilst meanwhile in North America they had a counterpart in the Hopi tribe.
The Hopi are a tribe that have held on to their ancient wisdom and traditions too and they have prophecies that they have seen being fulfilled in world events. In 1948 four Hopi elders were appointed as messengers to explain their prophecies and issue a warning to the modern world. One of these was Thomas Banyacya and he was also the last of these chosen elders when he died at the age of 89 on 6 February, 1999.
The Hopi prophecies and beliefs have been interpreted and reinterpreted many times and have been used to fuel doomsday belief systems but they are not intended for this but rather as a warning. There is what is known as the "Prophecy Rock" which shows a choice of two pathways that humans can take. Thomas Banycya is shown talking about the signs on this rock in the video I have included.
One path is the one of living in harmony with nature and this road goes on and on but the other road depicted on Prophecy Rock ends in a zigzag line that is thought to show our destruction. This is the pathway of technology and materialism, the path that the world has clearly been on.
My interpretation of this is that following the way of the Kogi and the way of the Hopi, and by extension the ways of all indigenous tribal peoples, means that life can continue and the world does not end, but the other road, which is that that the Younger Brother has been on, spells destruction. In other words, the Younger Brother needs to stop destroying the world and learn from the wisdom the tribal elders can teach.
(Part 1) Indigenous Native American Prophecy (Elders Speak part 1)
Thomas Banyacya link
- Thomas Banyacya, 89, Teller Of Hopi Prophecy to World - New York Times
Thomas Banyacya, who spent half a century on a tireless and often thankless Hopi spiritual mission to save the planet from the ravages of modern materialism and greed, died on Feb. 6 at a hospital
The Great Purification - a Native American prophecy
There is the belief that after all the signs of the prophecies have been seen then comes the time of the Great Purification. It is thought that this can refer to a purifying of the Earth by fire which may be either a nuclear war or by the catastrophic effects of Global Warming burning up much of the planet.
The late Floyd Westerman aka Red Crow, who was of the Sioux tribe, talks about this purification in the accompanying video included here. He says we are very close to this time now. He points out that this purification is followed by renewal and that he does not see this as "negative" but as change and "evolution". The belief is that there have been four worlds already, including this one we are in and a future fifth world will be created.
Red Crow documents much of the terrible damage that has been done in America since the time of Columbus and the genocide of the American Indians. He explains that once upon a time you were able to drink safely from rivers in America but now you cannot due to the dangers of pollution and disease. He says that this is because people failed to see that everything including the air and water is sacred, and they failed to follow the Indian way.
Red Crow is thought to be a Hopi elder in this video but this is wrong because he was actually of Sioux extraction. He does speak from a knowledge and understanding of Hopi beliefs and prophecies though and was a man of very great wisdom as well as a gifted singer, musician and actor.
American Indian Poet John Trudell
John Trudell is known for his work as a poet and singer-songwriter as well as being an American Indian activist. John has often spoken about how the balance of nature and the world is being destroyed by the crazy system that is in power.
His song Crazy Horse refers to this and he asks "How do we sell our Mother?"
John Trudell, Crazy Horse - The Original Video
In conclusion
Looking at the views of the Kogi, the Hopi, Red Crow and John Trudell it is clear that they are all talking about the same thing in many ways. All are concerned with the destruction which the ways of the Younger Brother have brought, not just to America but to the world at large.
The Kogi Mamos have made it clear that unless a change is made and soon then this world is doomed. The Hopi Prophecy Rock shows this too, if we follow the wrong pathway which is the one the world has been on.
I have seen enough in my life to know what I believe and who I feel speaks the truth. It seems to me we are at that point where we need to make a big change and should be listening to the teachings of the tribal elders and our Elder Brothers.
© 2012 Steve Andrews