Our Panama Junta de Embarre - Reviving the Mud Home Tradition

In 2019, I spent weeks inviting our neighbors in the Panama countryside to our junta de embarre, a mud-home building celebration, where the owners provide the materials, liquor, meals, snacks, and live music, and the attendees help you build part of your mud home (casa de quincha). This is a dead tradition, only seen in local festivals but no longer in actual livable homes. This is the footage from this special day, where 600 people showed up to our farm, submerged in heaps of mud, and immersed in a tradition of the past to help us build the first part of our home. Older countryfolk were thrilled to see our excitement for this tradition and to have the opportunity to teach the next generation, many of whom had never been to one. After the final shot, I took over the project to transform it into a modern (but still breathable and natural) living space. However, this event is a critical part to our home's story.

It is the largest casa de quincha ever built in Panama! It has become an object of lore, excitement, and stories within our small community and will continue to inspire future generations. To learn more about our journey to building a mud home, you can read about it on our website turiyapanama.com.

Filmed by Tomas Cortes
Edited by Kristina Barile

Our Website: turiyapanama.com
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