Ciudad De Panamá
Discovering the exciting culture of Panama is not complete without looking into the country’s famous handicrafts. These items are some of the highlights of the Panama tours that attract tourists to travel to Panama and find out more information about the country.
Panama’s handicraft markets brim with dozens of artistic items, the handiwork of its creative Indian population.
The Kuna of the Comarca de Kuna Yala are known worldwide for their molas – the blouse panels used by women in their traditional dress and sold as crafts. A mola is made of brightly colored squares of cotton fabric laid atop one another. Cuts are made through the layers, forming basic designs. The layers are then sewn together with tiny, evenly spaced stitches to hold the design in place. Mola means ‘blouse’ in Kuna, and Kuna women make molas in thematically matching but never identical pairs. A pair will comprise the front and back of a blouse. Regardless of the design, Kuna believe the very best molas should always have the following characteristics:
- Stitches closely match the color of the cloth they are set against.
- Stitches are very fine and neatly spaced.
- Stitches are pulled evenly and with enough tension to be barely visible.
- Curves are cut smoothly and the sewing follows the curves of the cut.
- Outline strips are uniform in width, with no frayed edges.
The Emberá and Wounaan are most renowned for producing beautiful woven baskets of incredibly high quality. There are two types: the utilitarian and the decorative. The utilitarian baskets are made primarily from the chunga palm, but can contain bits of other plants, vines, bark and leaves. They are usually woven using various plaiting techniques, from single plant strips of coarse texture and great strength, and are rarely dyed. These baskets are often used for carrying seeds or harvesting crops. The decorative baskets are much more refined, usually featuring many different colors and are created from palm materials of the nahuala bush and the chunga palm. The dyes are 100% natural, and are extracted from fruits, leaves, roots and bark. Typical motifs are of butterflies, frogs, toucans, trees and parrots. You can often buy baskets at any of the markets.
A Panama hat, or simply a Panama, is a traditional brimmed hat made from a Panama-hat palm (Carludovica palmata). Although originally from Ecuador, the hat became popular in Panama during the construction of the canal when thousands of Panamas were imported for use by the workers. After American president, Theodore Roosevelt donned a Panama during his historic visit to the canal.
Penonomé is known throughout Panama as the place to buy the hats that bear the country’s name. The highest-quality Penonomé hats are so tightly put together that they can hold water. Surprisingly, there is no one place to buy these hats in Penonomé as they are made in outlying towns and brought to the city for sale. However, many are sold by hat’s vendors standing outside stores and restaurants near the entrance to town.
Polleras (elaborate traditional outfits of Spanish origin) are handmade in Guararé and in other villages in Las Tablas Province. Also available on the Peninsula de Azuero are handcrafted festival masks from Villa de Los Santos and Parita.
Huacas are golden objects made on the isthmus centuries before the Spanish conquest. They were placed with indigenous leaders at the time of burial, intended to accompany and protect their souls on the voyage to the other world. Most took the form of a warrior, crocodile, jaguar, frog or condor. You can purchase exact (solid gold) and near-exact (gold-plated) reproductions of these palm-sized objects.
