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Indeed, those who do not believe in the Hereafter label angels as female,

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OUR UNIQUE WORLD | CULTURAL TRADITIONS | CENTRAL AMERICA
Guna Yala: The islands where women make the rules

Women in Guna Yala enjoy an elevated status (Credit: Paul Stewart)
By Egle Gerulaityte
14th August 2018
In the small indigenous territory of Guna Yala off Panama’s eastern coast, a flourishing ‘third gender’ community is defying stereotypes – and venerating women.

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As our old, rickety sailboat glides effortlessly over the calm waters of the Caribbean, I am overwhelmed by the feeling we’ve just arrived in paradise. Scattered across the turquoise blue waters, the tiny islands of glistening white sand, covered in palm trees and green coconuts, look too perfect to be real.

This is Guna Yala, also known as San Blas: an archipelago off Panama’s eastern coast that contains more than 300 islands, 49 of which are inhabited by the indigenous Guna people. More than 50,000 strong, the Gunas still live as their ancestors did, dwelling in small wooden shacks covered with palm leaves, with logs smouldering in the fireplaces and hammocks representing the only furniture.

Guna Yala is extraordinary in many ways: it is an autonomous indigenous territory, and its flag sports a black, left-facing swastika, said to represent the four directions and the creation of the world. But perhaps the most curious tradition in Guna Yala is its natural gender equality – and complete tolerance, if not celebration, of gender fluidity.

“My mother taught me how to make these beautiful molas, our traditional embroidered clothes,” Lisa said, showing me her amazing needlework. “Some of these represent birds and animals, but some are very powerful – they will protect you from evil spirits,” she added, smiling softly.

For an onlooker like me, there isn't anything unusual about Lisa. Much like many other Guna women, she’s sitting in her small dug-out canoe and offering her beautiful handicrafts to tourist boats. Except Lisa was born a boy. In a society where women are the main food distributors, property owners and decision makers, boys may choose to become Omeggid, literally ‘like a woman’, where they act and work like other females in the community.

This ‘third gender’ is a completely normal phenomenon on the islands. If a boy begins showing a tendency towards acting ‘female’, the family naturally accepts and allows him to grow up as such. Very often, Omeggid will learn a skill that is typically associated with women; for example, most Omeggid living on the islands become masters at crafting the most intricate molas.

bobestman:
You ignored the questions cos you have nothing say. Keep decieving yourself

1Sharon:
So demons now have xy chromosomes...

Dissociative identity disorder
Also called: DID, multiple personality disorder
A disorder characterized by the presence of two or more distinct personality states.
Dissociative identity disorder, previously called multiple personality disorder, is usually a reaction to trauma as a way to help a person avoid bad memories.

Our ancestors are Jews ... I have to be here," said Yue, a 25-year-old primary school teacher who intends to become an Israeli citizen along with four other women from her hometown of Kaifeng in Henan province.

Growing up in China, Yue Ting always thought she was Jewish but she never understood quite what that meant.

"As a child my parents and people around me always called me 'Jewish girl,'" Yue told NBC News. "I didn’t understand the meaning of Jewish at that time."

Yue and the four other women traveling with her are among some 1,000 traceable descendants of the Jewish community in Kaifeng, once the imperial capital of the Chinese Song dynasty. The Kaifeng's Jewish population was established by travelling merchants from the Middle East and Persia as early as the 7th century and once numbered as many as 5,000.

Blanqueamiento in Spanish, or branqueamento in Portuguese (both meaning whitening), is a social, political, and economic practice used in many post-colonial countries in the Americas and Oceania to "improve the race" (mejorar la raza) towards a supposed ideal of whiteness.