The Páez people, also known as the Nasa, are a Indigenous people who live in the southwestern highlands of

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

, especially in the

Cauca Department Cauca Department (, ) is a department of Southwestern Colombia. Located in the southwestern part of the country, facing the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Valle del Cauca Department to the north, Tolima Department to the northeast, Huila De ...

, but also the

Caquetá Department Caquetá Department () is a department of Colombia. Located in the Amazonas region, Caquetá borders with the departments of Cauca and Huila to the west, the department of Meta to the north, the department of Guaviare to the northeast, th ...

lowlands and Tierradentro."Páez - Orientation."
''Countries and Their Cultures.'' (retrieved 2 Dec 2011)

Religion

In the early 1900s,

Lazarists The Congregation of the Mission (), abbreviated CM and commonly called the Vincentians or Lazarists, is a Catholic society of apostolic life of pontifical right for men founded by Vincent de Paul. It is associated with the Vincentian Family, ...

built missions among the Paez and began the work to convert them to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

had originally tried to convert the Paez, but failed. However, the Lazarists met some success. The Paez developed a syncretic form of

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

that absorbed their Indigenous

religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...

. For example, the Paez have

shamans Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit world through Altered state of consciousness, altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of th ...

but many have also become

Roman Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' re ...

Climate adaptation

Since they live in the cold

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

of the Andes, the Paez build their homes using brick, metal, cement, and wood. The Paez women raise and shear sheep for wool. They clean the wool, spin yarn from it, dye it and knit clothes and blankets for their families.

Punishment

Punishment Punishment, commonly, is the imposition of an undesirable or unpleasant outcome upon an individual or group, meted out by an authority—in contexts ranging from child discipline to criminal law—as a deterrent to a particular action or beh ...

for wrongs is strict in the Paez culture. In June 2000, the Paez whipped an adulterous tribal leader and his mistress 17 strokes with a knotted leather whip. "As a Paez Indian", the flogged tribal leader said, "I'm proud to have received this punishment because it is glorifying my race." Stripping the one being punished of his clothing and dunking him in a cold mountain lake is another form of punishment—this was done to Senator Jesús Pinacue, a Paez who defied the community by supporting a political candidate in a presidential vote.

Economy

Many Paez are agriculturists and common crops grown include potatoes, coffee, cassava, plantains, coca, and hemp.

Present day

The Paez people have been targeted by both rebels and paramilitary groups in the

Colombian conflict The Colombian conflict () began on May 27, 1964, and is a low-intensity asymmetric war between the government of Colombia, far-right paramilitary groups, crime syndicates and far-left guerrilla groups fighting each other to increase their i ...

. In 2019 alone, 36 members of the tribe were murdered, and in July 2019 there were a reported 57 attacks on the Paez and other Indigenous groups in Colombia. In October 2020, they rallied in the Colombian capital,

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

, due to an increase in violence in their territories.

References

External links

A Portrait of a Páez
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paez People Indigenous peoples in Colombia Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean Indigenous peoples of the Andes