Indigenous Kogi Shamans

Perhaps you have never heard of the Kogi people or knew that they regard themselves as the Elder Brothers to the rest of the world? However, the leaders of this tribe from Colombia, who are known as the “Mamas,” spoke out in a BBC documentary back in 1990. From the Heart of the World: The Elder Brothers’ Warning was directed by Alan Ereira, and was made as an urgent message for the people of the world, in the hope that big changes would be made.


The Kogi, along with the Arhuaco, Wiwa, and Kankhuamo tribal people, are all that is left of the ancient Tairona culture that lived in Colombia before the Spanish invasion long ago. The Kogi managed to hang on to their culture by fleeing from the invaders and hiding out high in the mountains of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta range, from where they have kept watch on what we the “Younger Brother,” as they call us, have been doing ever since. What they have seen has made them break their silence, and hence the documentary was made.


The Heart of the World
The Kogi and the other peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, believe their sacred mountain home is the “Heart of the World.” They refer to it as Gonawindua. They view themselves as the Guardians of the planet, and in actuality, they have an incredible knowledge of ecology about how a healthy natural ecosystem should be. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is like a microcosm of the rest of the world because it contains all the different habitats and microclimates that the varied life of our planet needs. There is cold frozen tundra high on the mountain and desert areas, as well as tropical rainforest, cloud forest, and coastal lowlands with wetlands and mangrove forest, and the ocean. The peaks of the mountain range should be covered in snow and ice, there should be lakes in the highlands. This is where the water from down below comes from and it returns each year in the form of clouds. It should be an ongoing cycle. But this has changed. The Kogi Mamas saw with alarm that the clouds were missing, and all was not well at all high on the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Towards the end of the film, Ereira is shown high on the mountain explaining this, and showing how the vegetation there is dying and crumbles to dust. This was a graphic example of what was then known as “Global Warming’” but is now referred to as Climate Change or Climate Breakdown. The Kogi say that without water all life will die. They are surely right! They say that the Younger Brother has violated all natural order and unless we change the world will come to an end. They are serious, they are scared!
The Kogi Mamas say that we are causing terrible damage to the planet by all the mining, extraction of minerals, oil and petrol, by cutting down the forests, and building dams, which prevent the natural flow of the rivers as they should be. The Kogi people hoped that enough of the Younger Brothers would take heed of the BBC documentary and change their ways of living but sadly, although the BBC is a top media channel, it was not enough. The alarming destruction of the natural world has continued apace.

Aluna
In 2012, the Kogi leaders got back in touch with Ereira and made a second film entitled Aluna. The Mamas had concluded that the Younger Brother failed to understand their words in their earlier warning, so hopefully a visual explanation in the form of a movie would work this time. This second film has the support of Julian Lennon and is an insight into the world of the Kogi and how they understand life. It also shows why they are so worried. Aluna contains interviews with scientists, who find they have to agree with what the Mamas are saying.

However, still the Younger Brother has continued with his destructive ways. Because we have not listened to the Elder Brother it is now common knowledge that we are in what is being called the 6th Mass Extinction. Scientists are warning that a million species can be lost for good. The oceans and environment worldwide are seriously polluted with plastic and other toxic materials and chemicals. The frightening effects of Climate Breakdown are being felt all over the planet with droughts, wildfires, flooding, tornadoes and other extreme weather, and meanwhile the Arctic ice and glaciers are melting. Many people, especially children and teenagers, like Greta Thunberg and Jamie Margolin, have been taking part in massive demonstrations all over the planet, urging that action needs to be taken now to stop the effects of Climate Change becoming irreversible, and to stop the extinctions accelerating. Thunberg has inspired the “School Strike” weekly protests, and Margolin founded the This Is Zero Hour movement. It has been firmly realised by scientists and a growing number of people, that life as we know it is coming to an end, and that humans too are seriously threatened in the years ahead, unless very big changes are made now. There is no time to lose! It is a really a very great pity we didn’t listen to the Elder Brothers’ warning earlier. Will we listen to him now? Article witten by Steve Andrews and published with his kind permission.