Iwama bracelet, handmade in wixárika region
Become an AMBASSADOR
SOMOS has created the “IWAMA bracelet” that invite every participant to become an IWAMA and support the development of such a titanic effort, while helping our Indigenous Nations, generating enormous impact at a community level.
*50% of the sales go to the artists and/or community
** this product is PRE-ORDERED, handmade products are produced in batch at local communities and can take up to 2 months to be delivered
For the wixárika community (also known as Huicholes), IWAMA means family. In SOMOS we are creating IWAMA through our customers, investors, leaders, team mates, researchers and everyone involved in the FAMILIA Bio bank.
One of the commitments with our Indigenous Nations has been to create new market opportunities through fair trade and transparency, building a bridge to offer their services and goods to the SOMOS network.
Tzicuri (the diamond of colors in the center of the bracelet) is considered a replica of the way the universe is put together and it serves as a medium of spiritual communication. It is said to be the communication between men, because this is the word of many, opening the door to our perception
Our IWAMA bracelet is handmade in Potrero de la Palmita, Nayarit. this means that every bracelet is UNIQUE and different.
The artists that give life to such a beautiful piece are:
Vicenta and Teodora López Minjares
Ramona López Medrano
Florentina de la Cruz Romero
Sandra Carrillo Medrano
Cintia Medrano González
*special thanks to Ricardo Danyel, son of Vicenta and wixárika ambassador for SOMOS
Symbology is a component of the wixárikas, crucial to understanding their culture and the persistence of their community.
This is how a handmade wixárika bracelet is created in local communities. It takes hours of work and passion to materialize an Iwama bracelet.
The roots of tizicuri's meaning may be found in wixárica mythology, which claims that Tamatzi Kauyumari, one of the creator gods, was able to see what was going on on the earth thanks to a single eye. As a result, the eye is the supreme symbol of the connection between the human and the divine, between the spiritual and the physical.
Tzicuri, backbone of the wixárika iwama, a short description of their use:
the tizicuri is given to newborns as an amulet with the intention of bestowing blessings and protection. In this case, the Tzicuri is created by the father or mother. After that, the child would be taken to the temple or Kalihuey every year to offer a Tzicuri to their divinity. Each of these eyes will have a different colored rombo added to it, symbolizing the year that has passed. Finally, the parents will stop carrying the child until he reaches the age of five, when he realizes that he can now make his own offerings to the gods. Similarly, the father and son head to the sea, where the tizicuri is offered as a token of gratitude
SOMOS develops such beautiful handmade bracelets in collaboration with local artists from a small community called: Potrero de la Palmita in Nayarit, México
To get to Potrero yo need to drive for 2 hours to the starting point in Rio Santiago, Nayarit. From there you will have to take a small boat for another 45 minutes to arrive in Potrero.
Images from SOMOS CEO & CTO visiting Potrero de la Palmita