The Siona people (also known as Sioni, Pioje, or Pioche-Sioni) are an Indigenous

ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

living in the Ecuadorian Amazon or Oriente ( population 250 in Ecuador (2000 Juncosa)), and in

Putumayo Department Putumayo () is a departments of Colombia, department of Southern Colombia. It is in the south-west of the country, bordering Ecuador and Peru. Its capital is Mocoa. The word ''putumayo'' comes from the Quechua languages. The verb ''p'utuy'' ...

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 ...

( population 300 in Colombia (1982 SIL)). They share territory along the Shushufindi, Aguarico, and Cuyabeno river with the Secoya people, with whom they are sometimes considered a single population.

Language

Siona language Siona (otherwise known as Bain Coca, Pioje, Pioche-Sioni, Ganteyabain, Ganteya, Ceona, Zeona, Koka, Kanú) is a Tucanoan language of Colombia and Ecuador. Ecuadorian Siona and Colombian Siona, as well as Secoya, have a high level of mutual int ...

is part of the Western Tucanoan language family.

Organization

The Siona people are organized politically through the National Organization of Seona Indigenous People of Ecuador (ONISE), whose president as of July 1996 was William Criollo. According to

Richard Evans Schultes Richard Evans Schultes (''SHULL-tees'';Jonathan Kandell ''The New York Times'', April 13, 2001, Accessed April 26, 2020. January 12, 1915 – April 10, 2001) was an American biologist, considered to be the father of modern ethnobotany. He is kno ...

, the "Siona are one of the western Tukanoan groups and live in the Comissaria del Putamayo in the region of Mocoa." I lived in this area in the summer of 1961 with members of the Summer Institute of Linguistics. Our home was on the Ecuador side of the Putamayo River and the Siona lived on both sides of the river. The Siona live in Sucumbios Province in Ecuador, mainly in the

Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve The Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve () is the second largest reserve of the National System of Protected Areas (SNAP) of Ecuador which includes 59 state owned areas plus and additional dozen of privately owned areas. It is located in the Putumayo Ca ...

and in the Department of Putumayo along the

Putumayo River The Putumayo River or Içá River (, ) is one of the tributaries of the Amazon River, southwest of and parallel to the Japurá River. Course The Putumayo River forms part of Colombia's border with Ecuador, as well as most of the border with Per ...

. Besides some traditional activities for subsistence, they have been participating in the tourism activities since the 1990s. Nevertheless, their participation in the tourism sector has generated various sociocultural and economic changes such as immigration to neighboring cities, gender issues, economic dependency on tourism revenues. The religion of the Siona people is a type of

shamanism Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...

that has many spirits that live inside of things like trees, bugs, plants, etc., . Their origin story is about a being named Baina, who did mythic deeds that made up the world as it is today. The Siona people hold many rituals and ceremonies but, the main ceremony is a healing ritual called Yahé Varga, P. (2007) ''Ecoturismo y Sociedades Amazonicas.'' Quito: Ediciones Abya-Yala.

References

External links

Siona dictionary online
(select simple or advanced browsing) Indigenous peoples of the Amazon Indigenous peoples in Colombia Indigenous peoples in Ecuador Ethnic groups in Ecuador Indigenous languages of the South American Northern Foothills {{SouthAm-ethno-group-stub