Don’t leave home without your MOLA!

1. Don’t leave home without your MOLA! Flag of Panama Who wears a MOLA? What is a MOLA?

2. Who wears a MOLA? • The paradise islands of the Kuna Yala archipelago (also known as San Blas) in the Caribbean coast of the Republic of Panama are home of one of the most interesting indigenous groups of Panama, the KUNAS (Cuñas).

3. Who wears a MOLA? • The Kuna (Cuña) culture is known around the world by their visually striking MOLA panels. By the way, In the Cuña society all decisions are made by women.

4. The traditional costume of a Cuña woman consists of a patterned blue cotton wrapped skirt, red and yellow headscarf, arm and leg beads, gold nose rings and earrings and the many layered and finely sewn mola panel blouse. Cuña woman of Panama

5. What is a MOLA? • MOLA,in Cuña language, is the blouse of the Cuña women’s traditional dress, and is decorated with two very complex handcrafted panels (front & back). These panels are created with a technique called "reverse appliqué", like a colorful collage of textiles with designs from ancestral body painting, like the ones still practiced today by neighboring groups.

6. Men and molas • There are men who sew molas too. There is a high rate of albinism (lack of pigment) among the men of the Cuña society who must therefore stay inside and out of the sun . . . so they help sew the molas.

7. The quality of a Mola is determined by such factors as: • number of layers • fineness of stitching • evenness and width of cutouts • addition of details such as zigzag borders, lattice-work, or embroidery • general artistic merit of the design and color combination

8. Mola designs . . . . • Animal pattern – fish

9. Mola designs . . . . • Insect - butterfly

10. Mola designs . . . . • Iguana

11. Mola designs . . . . • Feline deity

12. Mola designs . . . . • Bird - parrot

13. What is a TOUCAN?The most obvious characteristic of the toucan is the huge yellow, orange, red, green and black bill. The toucan's bill allows the bird to feed on a variety of tropical forest fruits. The toucans are a very social bird and can often be seen in flocks of six or more birds. They are found throughout forests and nest in holes in tree trunks.They lay one to four eggs and the parent birds take turns incubating the eggs. This bird displays a rapid, heavy flapping of the wings when flying and calls with a creek creek sound, similar to a frog. Toucans are primarily fruit eaters, feeding on a wide variety of tropical fruits of the forest. It feeds by snipping off the fruit and flipping its head back to gulp the fruit. Toucans will also feed on insects, lizards, snakes and even the eggs of smaller birds. SIZE: 20 inches RANGE: Southern Mexico to Northern Colombia HABITAT: lowland forests and forest borders

14. What does a toucan look like?

15. Beak/bill Eye Feather Wing Foot Body Head El pico El ojo La pluma El ala La pata El cuerpo La cabeza El TUCÁN

16. Blanco Rojo Verde Azul Amarillo Anaranjado Negro Color café Los colores¿De qué colores es el tucán?

17. Un tucán de muchos colores • El pico es: • rojo • amarillo • verde • anaranjado • azul • negro

18. ¡Gracias! !Hasta la vista!