On September 9th, the Vincentian Indigenous Confraternity, during their second virtual meeting, decided to establish a team that would take responsibility for our external communication. Therefore, we have now opened a  profile and a Facebook page and there we hope to share information with regard to our respective activities as well as with regard to indigenous pastoral ministry.

We took another step and created a logo. As a confraternity we wanted something that represents the Vincentian Family but that also incorporates some of the sacred and significant elements of our indigenous people. This was not an easy task but this past week we considered the above design to be a most appropriate representation of our reality.

As you can see, the letters in the logo “FAMVIN” have been filled in with fabrics that represent some of our cultures while the letter “I” is filled in with corn, a sacred food for our peoples and a basic Mesoamerican grain. The grass thatched house, in addition to being the traditional house of many indigenous peoples, is also a symbol of a community that walks together. Cocoa, meanwhile, is the sacred fruit of many Mesoamerican peoples: at important moments in our life together, we take cocoa in a spirit of solidarity, to feel like true brothers and sisters, one family.

Another element that we find is the crab, which reminds us that even the humblest, smallest creatures are important and therefore, we must care for those who are most vulnerable. Although this crab symbol is used only during the rite of the first Ngäbe harvest (an indigenous people in Panama), the members of this confraternity wanted it to remain in the logo because it serves as a reminder to serve the weakest and most vulnerable. At the other end of the logo we find the seashell, which is not only a wind instrument used in ceremonies to call people together but in many groups has a sacred function of purification because in blowing one use one’s breath to give life and sanctify.

All these elements are intertwined in the FAMVIN logo because, as indigenous peoples, we want to make a contribution to this spiritual family and together, as expressed in the vision of this Confraternity we hope to be recognized as a source of conversion and life, revealing with hope and gratitude the indigenous face of the Vincentian family and making clearer the prophetic demand: “another world is possible”.

Argelys Vega R.
Secretary of the Vincentian Indigenous Confraternity