Ngobe-Bugle

The Ngobe-Bugle (formerly Guaymí) are Panamá's largest Indigenous group with around 164,000 members. They inhabit the mountainous western provinces of Chiriqui, Veraguas and Bocas del Toro.  Although the Ngobe-Bugle have recently had their territories recognized as a Comarca by the government they continue to be threatened by outsiders.

Hand Beaded Chaquira Jewelry by The Ngobe-Bugle/Guaymi Indians

The Chaquiras are still worn today by the Ngobe-Bugle men , whose ancestors were the formidable fighters the conquistadors rated among the most skilled of all the warriors in the Western Hemisphere.  No longer the fierce warriors of yore, formerly known as Guaymi Indians the present-day Ngobe-Bugle People dwell in the provinces of Veraguas, Chiriqui & Bocas del Toro .  European Historians in documents dating back from the early part or the 17th Century first mentioned the Chaquira. It was quite different from today's ornament.  The colors were dull and it was not so tightly beaded.... It was fashioned of pebbles, pieces of bone, seeds, and seashells, which the Indians colored with homemade dyes.  The brightly colored beads and varied designs of the modern-day Chaquiras reflect the Indian's present-day ability to buy beads of whatever shape, size, or color needed.  While the Chaquira remains a symbol of the Ngobe-Bugle Culture . It is no longer a treasured warrior's ornament fashioned painstakingly by female hands within the closeness of the family circle, but a vastly sophisticated Hand Beaded Jewelry that modern women wear over solid color dresses to make an original fashion statement.  It production is an established source of income for the Ngobe-Bugle People.