The Noanamá are a constituent group of the Chocó people. They originally inhabited the lower Río San Juan Basin and the upper Cauca Valley in Colombia, but in recent years many have left to live in Darién Province in Panama; presently, 2,000 of the 3,000 to 4,000 Noanamá live in Panama. The Noanamá speak a Chocó language. Many speak Spanish in addition to Noanamá. Also, many have married Afro-Colombians since World War II.
The Noanamá were first contacted by Spanish missionaries sometime after 1654. The missionaries wished to convert the Noanamá and tried to concentrate their population, but the Noanamá moved further upriver and away from the missionaries. Later, gold miners enslaved some to work in the mines.
Relatively little is known about the traditional culture of the general area in which the Noanamá live because the presence of Spanish conquerors, who found gold there, had devastating effects; disease, slavery, and warfare left but a tiny fraction of the pre-Conquest population of this once densely inhabited area. Following the Conquest, the remaining Noanamá became Catholics and were largely assimilated. It is known that they farmed maize and manioc, and that conditions were good for horticulture. Fish were caught and preserved by smoking. The Noanamá wore bark-cloth breechclouts. They lived in large houses in large villages; ten to fifteen houses were grouped together, and houses sat close to one another. Chiefs had considerable authority and received tribute from their subjects. The polygynous chiefs married nieces and/or sisters, probably in an effort to maintain a ruling class. Both intertribal trade and intertribal warfare were common. The Noanamá fought with lances, darts, wooden clubs, and wooden shields. Slain enemies were eaten, their skins stuffed with wood ashes, and their skulls covered with wax figures; they were then displayed with weapons in their hands in the houses of their slayers. Among the Noanamá's culturally similar neighbors, the Gorrón, women also went to war in the quest for these trophies. Shamans communicated with supernatural beings and practiced divination, magic, and sorcery.
Present-day Noanamá make their living by swidden horticulture, raising plantains, bananas, sweet manioc, sugarcane, and maize. They hunt with bows and arrows and blowguns with poisoned darts, but the shotgun is now the most common hunting weapon. Fish, which are an important source of food, are obtained with harpoons, hooks and lines, or poison. Almost the only source of cash for the Noanamá living in the Pacific lowlands of Colombia is felling forest trees and selling the timber to sawmills along the rivers. (everyculture.com, retrieved 2024)
Wounaan, Wauna, Waunana, Chanco o Noanamá es un pueblo indígena que habita en las cuencas del bajo San Juan, municipios del Litoral de San Juan, Istmina y Pizarro; el río Curiche, municipio de Juradó, en Colombia; y en la Comarca Emberá-Wounaan, en Panamá.
Son más de 23 mil personas, de las cuales 14 825 se ubican en Colombia y 8802 en Panamá, que hablan una lengua llamada woun meu, de la familia chocó.
La economía wounaan se basa en la agricultura itinerante y en la elaboración de artesanías –principalmente cestos– en la hoja de la palma de wérregue (Astrocaryum standleyanum); los principales cultivos son el maíz, la banana y la caña de azúcar y además producen yuca, mafafa, frijol y arroz. Se practica el sistema de tumba y pudre para preparar el terreno, labor que corresponde a los hombres, en tanto que el cuidado de la chagra y la recolección de las cosechas es realizado por las mujeres, que también practican la cestería. La pesca en una cantidad importante y la recolección, complementan la dieta.
La vivienda tradicional es el "tambo" (dichardi), construcción circular de techo cónico, cubierta de paja de hojas de palmas, en la cual vive una familia extensa, agrupada en torno del jefe de familia, sus hijas casadas y los esposos de estas. Actualmente muchos construyen casas rectangulares de madera, que como los tambos se construyen sobre pilotes a una altura conveniente para evitar las inundaciones y tienden a alojar separadamente a cada pareja con sus hijos.
El "benhuna" o "jaibaná" (chamán) cumple un importante papel, guiando la relación con seres espirituales que se conciben ligados a la naturaleza y que pueden controlar la salud y la enfermedad.
