The Aim of this book is as an Educational Resource for the Shipibo Tribe in response to a rapidly changing world to assist in the preservation of their culture and heritage.

‘ We are losing our culture and the important messages contained in the stories are no longer being passed down orally mother to daughter whilst sitting sewing or father to son whilst out hunting. Our jungle has changed, our lives have changed, we are one foot in the modern world of money and commerce and one foot in the ways of the ancestors. Our children are losing the very fabric of what makes us Shipibo, a culture that is in direct relationship with the jungle and her ways, a culture that has a deep respect for the plant spirits that make up our jungle home, a respect for family the wisdom of the ancestors of our lineage and of sharing together.‘’

Tantamunay are cocreating and dreaming, with the Shipibo and Brad to write an illustrated children’s book to be produced in Shipibo, Spanish and English. The primary aim of the book is to bridge a gap being formed in the Shipibo Culture of the natural passing of their heritage and customs through an oral tradition. In the last 50 years the Shipibo have gone from 56 communities living within the full abundance of the Jungle and only accessible to each other by trekking through jungle flora and fauna to communities that now live in often sparse and deforested expressions of jungle life that have forced them to be dependent on money completely to survive. With this change, the opportunity to share orally around fires, whilst hunting or sewing is also in decline and with the advent of technology, you tube and the like the interest of Shipibo children in their culture is sadly also in decline, along with core values of what it means to be a Shipibo-Conibo Tribesperson.

This collaborative book project has the aim of bringing key Shipibo Myths to life in a fun and adventure filled illustrated children’s book. Within the myths of the Shipibo are fundamental lessons about what it means to be Shipibo. The key messages in this adventure are:

Respecting the jungle Spirits, that every plant and animal has a spirit, a song and a teaching

Respecting Women, women are important and we must take care of them or we will lose them or danger may befall them

Respecting our elders, as children our mothers, father and ancestors have lived longer that us and they are there to guide us with their accumulated wisdom.

The book project will transform the key myths of Chuluchaki, Peri peri and the floating island into an adventure story led through the Jungle by a Shipibo girl called Pashepuna. Along the way various spirts and markings in the jungle that have relevance to the Shipibo myths and messages. The illustration of the adventure story is authentic and representative of the Shipibo Culture which has been based upon time spent in the Shipibo Communities by Author and illustrator Brad Macloud. In 2019 Brad and Tantamunay spent 2 weeks visiting and collaborating with various members of the Shipibo Tribe, the process was facilitated by Tantamunay‘s many years of connection and friendship within the tribe which enabled the author and illustrator to have a full immersion in Shipibo customs and way of life. The community leader Isabelle, a key voice in preserving Shipibo Culture in the modern climate expressed deep gratitude and appreciation for the involvement of Tantamunay and shared

‘ I am deeply happy for the involvement of Brad and Tantamunay, thank you for helping us to create resources that enable our children to have pride and understanding of Shipibo Culture, thank you for helping us. Our government has limited resources for these kind of projects and we have few within our own tribe with the skills and expertise to create such a book so we are very happy to be co-creating  ’

The important elements of the Shipibo culture to share in the book which represent our culture are our myths which have important messages about how to live as a Shipibo, our ceramics, textiles, fishing in the cabradas, our traditional clothes, our hunters, our food and drink, our connection to the spirits of plants and animals, our elders and our traditional houses. All of this we shared with Bradley on his visit to us so that this can be incorporated into his illustrations for our children.

Tantamunay are currently working on the storyline for the book with the Shipibo Tribe and once that his been confirmed as representative amongst other communities, through a process of community meetings within the tribe,  the finalised storyline will be shared with Brad who will illustrate and publish the book. 

                                                                      Watch this Space….More to come…..