5 CUSTOMS OF THE AMAZON REGION OF COLOMBIA - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The customs of the Amazon region of Colombia are closely linked to the dynamics of its environment and the particular characteristics of its population, such as its food, social and family customs, its festivals, among others.

The Amazon region is a large natural reserve located in the south east of Colombia, in which almost one million inhabitants reside distributed in the departments of Amazonas, Guaviare, Guainía, Putumayo, Vaupés and Caquetá.

Mojojoy

The relative isolation of the Amazonian landscape has allowed the conservation of regional customs, but urbanity and modernity have modified them over time.

Customs describe specific practices of a social group, which are generally passed from one generation to another as acquired habits that are practiced frequently and naturally.

In the Colombian Amazon region, ethnographic populations and different social groups coexist, since there are indigenous, non-indigenous and mestizos whose life customs differ from each other.

However, the customs of the Colombian Amazon are deeply influenced by the traditional ways of life of the ethnic population, as well as by nature.

This has allowed both indigenous and non-indigenous customs to find a middle ground.

The 5 main customs of the Amazon region of Colombia

1- Gastronomy

Food customs are considered very exotic due to the preparation and type of food they use.

For example, they consume smoked loin of boa (a species of giant snake) prepared with lemon, vinegar and potatoes.

They also eat mojojoy, a large white palm worm that they eat alive, fried or roasted.

They also eat live manivara ants fresh from the nest, or dehydrated and ground. They also consume turtle, monkey (primate), tapir, capybara, tubers, bananas and native fruits of the jungle.

They accompany the fish with cassava, a kind of tortilla or bread prepared with wild or poisonous cassava flour, known as fariña or mañoco. This is obtained by means of a special processing technique that cancels its toxicity.

As for drinks, they usually drink chivé, a refreshing drink made with fariña, panela honey and honey.

2- Festivals, fairs and parties

Celebrating parties is a custom with ancestral and mixed origins, since some are indigenous and others are colonial.

For example, the week before Ash Wednesday the Indigenous Carnivals are celebrated, with parades, songs and allegorical dances.

On the other hand, the Fiesta de Integración de las Colonias is held annually in October to recognize the typical cultural expressions that the settlers brought to the region.

3- Social and family customs

In general, political and social organization systems called cacicazgos are imposed on indigenous reservations.

It is a hierarchical system of social relations governed by a chief, healer or leader of the reservation.

The hierarch imposes the rules, while the other members comply with them, dedicating themselves to their assigned tasks.

4- Religious beliefs

In each settlement there are magico-religious specialists, known as shamans or healers.

They perform mystical invocations combined with botanical preparations for the prevention and cure of diseases.

They also carry out celebrations of distinctive rituals for initiations, marriages, harvests, death, among others.

5- Crafts

Most of the Amazonian indigenous people are involved in one way or another with the typical crafts of the region.

Some get the natural elements necessary to make artisan products, others make them using inherited traditional techniques and others market them.

For example, in Leticia the Huitoto and Ticuna ethnic groups plant native species to produce fibers, barks and vegetable dyes that they use to make objects that travelers usually take as souvenirs, such as ceramic pots and balso wood sculptures or palo blood.

References

1. Colombia info. (s / f) FOLKLOR AND TRADITIONS. The Amazon region. Colombia.com digital portal. Interlatin Corporation. Retrieved on November 11, 2017 from: colombia.com
2. Juan José Vieco. (2001). DEVELOPMENT, ENVIRONMENT AND CULTURE IN THE COLOMBIAN AMAZON. Journal of Public Health. Vol. 3, No. 1. National University of Colombia. Retrieved on November 11, 2017 from: magazines.unal.edu.co
3. Territorial Environmental Information System of the Colombian Amazon (SIAT-AC). (s / f). POPULATION. Reference information. Region. Colombian Environmental Information System (SIAC). Amazon Institute for Scientific Research SINCHI. Retrieved November 11, 2017 from: siatac.co
4. Vice Ministry of Tourism of Colombia. (s / f). AMAZONIA, BETWEEN JUNGLE AND RIVERS. Amazon region. Where to go? Colombia Travel Portal. Procolombia. Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism of Colombia. Retrieved on November 11, 2017 from: colombia.travel
5. Vice Ministry of Tourism of Colombia. (s / f). CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS IN COLOMBIA. Activities and experiences. Amazonia. What to do? Cultural. Colombia Travel. Procolombia. Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism of Colombia. Retrieved on November 11, 2017 from: colombia.travel