Amantani Island

• History

• It'sws people

• Ancient Knitters

• Why we believe this Project benefits the community?

Back to Tierra Sacra

History

According to the Inca legend in the beginning, Wiracocha God, creator of the whole universe emerged form the waters of Titicaca Lake, created the sun, the universe, the earth and man.
In the island we find old sacred remains belonging to the Pre inca cultures such as Pukara and Lupuka. After, then came the Thiahuanaco Empire which dominated all high altitudes of the Southern Andes. This civilization mastered the art of agriculture, adapting many crops such as corn, potatoes, herbs, Andean grains, to the high altitudes and harsh conditions. The agricultural terraces that we find in the island have been passed form generation to generation, growing the same goods and keeping the wise knowledge for centuries.
After the Tihuanaco Domains, came the Incas ruling all this area and imposing their new lifestyle and believes. The native communities still keep alive rituals that survived the
Spanish conquest and are still practiced.
The Spanish Colony, had a strong influence over the inhabitants, of the islands. The islands and its people belonged to a certain land lord, the one who introduced the customs of the man wearing the hat, belt and vest, resembling a Spanish Torero. And also the tradition of woman using the chal, just like the Spanish girls.

In the republican time Amantani belonged still to certain Land lords, just at the beginning of XX century it gained its autonomy and the land passed on to the Natives. They choose the ancient lifestyle of communal living. Ruled by their own laws and costumes, it has proven to be the most effective way, considering the place and conditions in which they live. They still live in similar conditions than hundred of years ago, building adobe mud houses, no electricity, no phones, speaking mainly Quechua language, trading their goods and keeping very alive the ancient traditions.

Up

It's people

The islands hold a population of 4000 inhabitants distributed in just over 40 communities. The islands are 37 km away from the city of Puno, at an altitude of just over 4000 meters above the sea level.

The Native inhabitants of Amantani, are a perfect example of Live culture, they are the keepers of a ancient lifestyle, that has Perdue centuries. The base of all this life style is communal living, common wealth, and mutual help. We can refer to it as, live culture, a perfect example of the Inca tradition “Ayni” which is basically, “today for you, tomorrow for me”. This ancient way of relation, is applied in everything, whether they have to cultivate or harvest a filed, build a house, finish a stone path, or any task that involves work, is all done communally.  This system, over the centuries, has proven to be the most efficient.

Another Example of live culture is the way they elect their leaders, this position is given for a year, their leader is elected by the majority of the community. They don’t receive any payment, is a sign or respect and status, to wear the colorful hat and outfit of the chief. The candidates are always the wise and mature enough; they have to earn the right to just participate in this election. As a main responsibility they have to preserve the peaceful and harmonious lifestyle. 

In order to have a good harvest, they have to interpret well the weather, most of the terraces relay in rain water to be irrigated. In those altitudes the corps must face harsh conditions, cold fronts that can ruin an entire field, extremely hot and dry days, poor soil conditions, thin air. Due to these factors they have to wisely rotate the fields, choose the best seasons to plant certain products, and predict the incoming rainy season. This people relay on nature to provide the crops that will be an important complement of their diet. The relationship they have with mother earth is difficult to understand for foreign mentalities. They have a special way of relating with it, for them is a live being, they worship it, perform rituals, do offerings, all aimed to gain the favours of “ Pachamama”, and assure a good year for all the community. These ancient customs is wide spread all over the Andes, many communities share these tradition of worshiping mother earth.

Up

Ancient Knitters

According to oral tradition and archaeological remains the native inhabitants of Taquile and Amantani, were talented knitters, elaborating the finest and most appreciated textiles in the southern Andes. In the past their fine garments were traded for other goods all around the vast empire. The finesse of their garments was and still is of a immense value.
Our goal is to preserve this unique and beautiful tradition, we are not and won’t support any project that ignores this. With the project we aim to teach new techniques and styles of knitting, making the products more attractive to modern customers’, but like we said prior zing the ancient culture.

Man and woman are taught to knit since small. When a young couple wants to get married a decisive fact is how good knitters he or she is. In the case of young man, they have to knit a hat known as “chuyo”, that can take months, offer it to the future wife and she will determine by looking at it if the future husband is a good man. In the case of the woman they must offer the man a woven belt, the quality in this pieces are astonishing, the combination of colours and designs make unique each belt and they tell the story of the ancestors and their traditions.

Up

Why we believe this Project benefits the community ?

We are an innovative Co. who believes in the concept of fair trading. We have visions of stronger international relations where no one is left behind and new markets can grow and people develop. Anardo&Skyum aim to show how fashion and social development can go hand in hand and encourage to a more conscience life style and consumption.

Anardo&Skyum has foundation in Peru, a country in development, rich in resources and products, but far behind in health and education. We see it as our mission contributing to create more employment and strengthen the industrialization forming a competitive position on the international market.

Based in this foundation we decided to associate with the Local Andean Communities in the island of AMANTANI.

Amantani island has a population of 4053 divided into more than thirty communities with tourism as their main income. This population has been declared in extreme poverty and has no strong income besides tourism. With our project the communities will be able to receive a permanent income and fundament to organize and establish a textile production to their own benefit.

 At the moment we are working with around 40 women in the age of 20 to 40.

The project Anardo & skyum is developing in the islands, will only bring wealth to the communities why?

One of the main reason is that once this project is fully established it will provide a sustainable income to the communities involved, not depending so much on the climate conditions, earning a fair income.

Anardo&Skyum is giving the possibility to introduce and make the people in the islands participate and related with international markets and real commercial conditions. The Amantani people are partners in this project, which is completely based in fair Trade. Their work is of a vital value in this entire project, they know this and value it.

Our long-term objective is to strengthen the social position of the local Andean communities by training, organizing and supporting them in technological assistance and application according to the tendencies of the market. In the coming time we plan to provide the necessary machines and equipment for a proper textile production and quality control Anardo&Skyum aims to maintain and preserve the cultural heritance and traditions of these beautiful Andean people.

The district of Puno and it surroundings in the south of Peru is considered the biggest district of alpaca camelids and breeders. With this background the people of this area has a long tradition for handicrafts and qualified experience in textile production. Working with the people of Amantani we have personally been very inspired by their open-minded and positive mentality resulting in their simple but authentic lifestyle.

The young locals, mainly leave the island once they finish high school, as there are not too many possibilities for them. This is something they don’t want, but are forced too as they find Puno city to chaotic, understandable considering the peaceful rhythm of life they are used to. By offering more opportunities to develop we contribute to develop the island, and provide a better quality of life for their people.

Anardo&Skyum is constantly aiming to capacitate and teach this people new skills, related to fashion. This will provide a wider perspective and possibilities for them. Not long ago we invested in a trip to lima for “ Irma” the talented local lady in charge of the whole production. She visited factories and learned more mainly of models and quality control.

Indirectly by selling Garment of Alpaca we benefit all the Andean communities involved in the process of breeding Alpacas. The increase of the volume of Alpaca clothing traduces directly in an increase of the payment they get for their fibre, which by the way is finer all the time.