Dera (Yagua)

It is an application for cell phones and tablets (Android Operating System) for children from 3 to 5 years old to learn through images and sounds the basic contents about the alphabet, numbers, family, colors, parts of the human body, animals, fruits and basic expressions in the Yagua language.

This app is aimed at serving as instruments to strengthen and promote linguistic revitalization processes that arise with the new generations.

According to some authors, the name Yagua comes from other peoples or from the Spanish settlers, since it is a name in the Quechua language. Yagua would come from the Quechua word yawar, which means blood or color of blood, an expression that is reflected in the custom of painting the body with achiote and in the self-perception of the Yagua, who see themselves as red. On the other hand, the authors have pointed out that this town calls itself nihamwo, which means "we the people."

In our country, the Yagua are the only indigenous people whose language belongs to the Peba-Yagua linguistic family. Likewise, it is also one of the towns with the greatest participation in the tourist circuits of the department of Loreto. Their traditional clothing made with palm leaves and the elaboration of hunting instruments are some of the Yaguas attractions of this industry.

The Yagua people live mainly in the department of Loreto, in the border area with Colombia and Brazil. According to the results of the 2017 national censuses, due to their customs and ancestors there have been 1,843 people who have self-identified as part of the Yagua people at the national level; and by the language or mother tongue with which they learned to speak in their childhood, there have been 712 people who have stated that they speak the yagua language, which corresponds to 0.015% of the total native languages ​​nationwide. In addition, the data obtained by the Ministry of Culture, the population of the communities of the Yagua people is estimated at 10,119 people.

Source: https://bdpi.cultura.gob.pe/pueblos/yagua