Dwellings
The Embera are famous for the distinct style of their houses. They are typically made of wood, circular in shape, and raised 6-12 feet off the ground, with thatched roofs and no walls.

Dress
The Embera are also famous for their style of dress. The women often go topless and wear brightly colored and patterned skirts called perumas. The men may wear nothing but a long loincloth, although modern men are more likely to wear pants or shorts and no shirt, saving the cloth for ceremonies. Both men and women also often paint patterns on their bodies using a jagua nut, which can be manipulated to create black dye. The dye can last on the body up to a couple of weeks.

Tourism
In recent years, the Embera have begun to take advantage of the surge of tourism to Panama, leveraging their photogenic traditional dress, unique houses, and cultural traditions (such as dance and song) to receive travelers in their villages. If you are interested in visiting an Embera community, it is important to either go directly to the village, or use a responsible source – many tour operators and cruise lines take commission of up to 90% for bringing groups of tourists to Embera towns, leaving the people to do most of the work and receive a small fraction of the benefit.

	Created by Kaste Morán over 5 years ago

Slides

Ethnic Groups in Panama