Isla Pinos

Islas Pinos - 09°00,000’N & 77°45,733’W

The village of Pinos has approximately 250 people including children. We were welcomed by the friendly Secretary who told us the ‘rules’ governing Pinos. No photographs, no taking of coconuts, must ask ‘permissio’ to walk along the beaches, hike up the hills, swim, snorkel, (breathe) etc. but all very cordial. We were invited to the celebration of the birth of a new baby girl whereby they indulge in a home brewed concoction, 'chicha', drinking it with great ritual until it is all finished. We were initially told that they started at 7:30 in the morning, however, the resident ‘chemist’ or ‘brew master’ tested the chicha early and claimed it was not strong enough and would only be ready later. Celebrations could only start in the evening. Chicha is a mild alcoholic drink made from fermented sugar cane juice and, I guess, is their version of rum.

We have noticed that there are an awful lot of children in these villages so if this happens with every new birth, they must spend a considerable time indulging! But the truth is, this festivity occurs for girl babies only and only if the parents choose to do so.

We arrived at the large ‘congreso’ hut just after 7 p.m. where a teepee had been erected and seats (long benches) had been placed in two huge u-shapes, separated for men and women. The teepee housed the father of the baby, the man who would pierce the ears, another who would pierce the nose and the fourth man a student learning to carry on the tradition. A continuous procession of food was placed within the teepee while the four men sat in a thick smoke produced from a clay pot with smoldering coconut husks passing a pipe between them as well as a long sausage-like roll of burning tobacco. The burning end of the roll was placed inside the mouth and the smoke exhaled into the face of the other men which they, in turn, inhaled.

While they were performing this ritual, the villagers were starting the ceremony of consuming the chicha. This involved filling five calabash bowls with the liquid, then running, hooting and hollering towards the first five participants. After a little dance to-ing and fro-ing, the men would down the entire contents in one long gulp after which the next five chaps would be served in the same manner. This particular process has to be performed at least four times e.g. each man consumes four large bowls of chicha. By the time it came to our turn, we had learned the dancing ritual and also downed the brown, sweetish liquid four times. Not as bad as we’d anticipated and we thoroughly enjoyed entering into the spirit of the evening. The ladies were a little more sedate as they simply got up and helped themselves to bowls and drank quietly.

Once the mandatory four servings were finished, the ladies left to bring in the baby. She was wrapped in banana leaves with all the ladies dancing around her (Marjatta and I included) accompanied by a couple of the chaps playing bamboo pan pipes. She was then placed inside the teepee, the sides pulled down, while the ear and nose piercing took place. Not a whimper, she didn’t even wake up!

With this procedure complete, the men went off to bathe as did the women, again with all of us included. This involved stripping off with all the other women and throwing calabashes of water over our bodies before returning to the hall for more chicha. We were never too sure what this cleansing process was meant to achieve but it was nice and cooling anyway.

We took our leave at a civilized hour but learned the next day that some of the men were still drinking the following morning. We were told that the chicha is only ever made for very special occasions in this village and that, generally, the men and women don’t drink other than beer. However, when such an occasion does arise, they are compelled to participate unless they have requested ‘permissio’ from the saila not to. If they
don’t attend even with the permission, they are fined $3. Sailas RULE!

The entire encounter was an unforgettable experience. Again, we were incredibly privileged to be a part of the celebration giving us an insight into a culture so foreign to our own. We felt as though we’d stepped back hundreds of years – the sort of thing one only sees on the Discovery channel. This was not something put on for the tourist – it appears that they don’t receive or even want tourists – this was the real thing!