Here, we say that for every girl that is born our family gets bigger. We say that the family gets bigger because we are matrilinear, meaning that the newborns take on the last name of their mother, not their father’s.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!When a girl is about 7 years old, she starts to get ready. She is prepped at the idea that a confinement is necessary for her future. This confinement happens at the age of 11 or 12 years old, at the time of her first menstrual cycle.
During the confinement, she is kept in a closed space. During the first three days she cannot eat anything, she cannot drink anything, she cannot move and she can’t even speak.
After those first three days, the girl must stay within the confinement for months or years.
The second part of the confinement begins after the three days. After that, she is kept on an iposodic diet for some time, meaning she cannot eat anything with fat, nothing with sugar, and nothing with salt.
HOW LONG DOES THE ENCIERRO LAST?
This depends on the means of the family. And how much they want her to learn during this confinement period. Because the second phase is about learning. And within this learning period, she needs to stay in the confinement.
They teach her how to spin cotton, make crochet designs and other handicrafts that we Wayuu make. The bags, the hammock. They also learn how to become mothers, and wives for when the time comes. She must learn to play her part and her role as a woman in Wayuu society.
In Wayuu history, there is a confinement which lasted many years. And this confinement was that of my mother, which lasted seven years.
She did not want to leave the confinement. As a result, she became a beautiful maiden and she had a lot of suitors, and men, because while she was in confinement, men saw the preparation she went through. As she had been there for so many years, she had a lot of suitors and a lot of them wanted to abduct her. At that time it was very common when a woman didn’t want to get married, she was kidnapped.
The highest skill a woman can learn within confinement is how to make a funerary blankets. A funerary blanket is a very exclusive piece, which back in the day was used to wrap and bury the dead. It was a type of canvas but completely woven and with a lot of designs. At that time, if someone wanted a funerary blanket, it would cost them two cows! My mom died at the age of 103 years old. She told me, “I leave you this relic, so it can be shown to the next generations.”
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE ENCIERRO
We get married at a very early age. At 15 or 16 years old. This is because we have received the right preparation within the confinement.
When a young Wayuu man is interested in a woman, he must first consult with his uncle on his mother’s side. He will tell his uncle he is interested in a girl from a specific clan and family. If his uncle agrees with him, they will call a ‘palabrero’, which serves as an intermediary, sort of like a lawyer in Wayuu culture.
This ‘palabrero’ will go to the girl’s uncle from her mother’s side to offer a dowry. This is why they say that Wayuu girls are sold off. But it is not the sort of sale where the man says, “The girl is my property, I can do what I want with her. I can take her away.” On the contrary, the young man has to go live with the woman’s family and from there the girl’s family will monitor the new union.
If a man offends a woman, he must pay depending on the gravity of the offense. If there is physical abuse, he can even lose the dowry he gave for the woman.
HOW MUCH IS A DOWRY?
It can be 100 goats. It can be 50 cows. It can be 20 necklaces. Each necklace is worth $1,500.000 which is made using this stone with gold.
It is not the price that they are paying to have the woman. It is a price that they are paying to be accepted into the woman’s family and valued for having entered the right way.