Every year when I return from Kuna Yala, I like to show a few of the molas that we saw  -- and this year I found some very interesting ones!

Swirls, Mamitupu, 2008.  This is a three layer mola with the base layer of pale yellow (it's a little hard to see in the photo), the secord layer white and the top navy blue.  The other side of the blouse was similar but not identical so the molas weren't cut at the same time.  This general swirling design was apparently used for the "uniform" molas for the kindergarten girls on this island.

Turtles, Usdup, 2008.  This is a very old mola design dating back at least to the days of Lady Richmond Brown in the 1920s.  The colors are also very traditional. 

American, Mamitupu, 2008.  From very traditional, we go to the opposite extreme.  The maker of this mola, when asked, said that she had no idea what it represented -- apparently she just liked the image and decided to make it into a mola.  It's a man in full Indian headdress holding what appears to be either a nuclear bomb or a surfboard.  The workmanship -- especially on the background fillers -- is exceptional.

Hummingbirds (Pansus) and flowers, Mamitupu, 2008.  Someone complained to me that I put too many "weird" molas on this page and not enough "pretty" ones -- so here's a really pretty one!

Ibeorgun, Mamitupu, 2008.  Ibeorgun was the most important prophet for the Kunas.  He was sent from God (who in Kuna mythology is sometimes synonomus with the sun) to teach the Kunas how to live.  This interpretation of Ibeorgun is very "western" in its design elements -- not a traditional Kuna composition.  The mola on the other side of the blouse showed "Ibeorgun's woman" (who apparently didn't have a name of her own!).