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Wapishana legends encourage the passing on of traditional culture and crafts from one generation to the next, so that these skills are preserved within the oral culture. One of these legends is about Soo-wab, the spider woman.
 Wapishana girls begin spinning and weaving at a youthful age – with three year old girls owning their own little drop spindles. These were traditionally made with discs of turtle shell, but in the interest of preserving the remaining turtles, they are increasingly fashioned from wood. The girls join their mothers, aunts and grandmothers, spinning endless balls of cotton while Granny relates the tale of Soo-wab:
 Spider woman weaves huge webs deep in the rain forest; webs big enough and strong enough to catch small birds. The webs are valued by Wapishana women, who seek them out and clap the webs between their hands to extract Soo-wab’s amazing weaving talents into themselves. The fact that Spider woman repairs the small rents in her web so quickly brings the women certain knowledge that she is happy to share her talents, for sharing does not diminish them in any way.
Soo-wab’s webs are also used for protection, as their intricate design confuses enemies and provides strong protection against attack by Kanaimas and dark spiritual forces. Spider woman allows the people to pass through her web as they move along the forest paths to their hunting and fishing grounds. She is such a fast weaver that the web is repaired good as new when the enemies which pursue the people arrive at that point in the path.
 “Have the people passed by here?” the enemies enquire.
“How could that be possible,” Soo-wab replies. “Can’t you see that my web is quite intact. They would have knocked it down if they had passed this way.”
So the people go their merry way, free of the dangers which always lurk in the rain forest, and they express their gratitude by honoring Soo-wab and never harming her family.
The women return home with their weaving talents renewed and quickened by contact with Soo-wab’s web, and a friendly competition is joined to see which of the women can weave the most intricate and beautiful hammocks and baby slings for their families. Thus a Wapishana woman’s status in the community derives, not from wealth and material things, but from the speed and beauty of her weaving, which is a gift from Soo-wab. |
