It is part of the oral tradition of the Mapoyo people and its symbolic points of reference within the ancestral territory.
The Mapoyo people have a collection of stories that form their collective memory. Several cultural and geographical landmarks within the Orinoco River valley in Venezuelan Guayana are symbolically and permanently connected to the site.
Mapoyo legends are recounted as they perform their daily tasks. The symbolic space that results from these daily activities serves as a way to connect the Mapoyo to their past and place in the world.
An ethnic population of about 365 people speaks Mapoyo in its proper form, also known as Mapoyo–Yavarana along the Suapure and Parguaza Rivers, Venezuela. The Jabarana dialect has probably long gone extinct; about 20 speakers of this dialect were known in 1977. An additional dialect, Pémono, was discovered in 1998; it was spoken by a woman aged 80 but is now extinct.
The community elders are currently the main keepers of Mapoyo's oral traditions and their symbolism, but they are at risk. These issues include the social structure of the Mapoyo, knowledge, cosmogony, and stories, which have made them legitimate participants in the birth of the Venezuelan Republic. As colonization progressed, a new language was gradually introduced until only six Wanai speakers remained as the oral tradition was threatened.
Mapoyo social activist Jaairo Garcia Bastidas explains that this is how his people joined together with the community to complement, preserve and enhance the living culture of the Wanai, as part of the revitalization efforts.
The migration of young people seeking economic and educational opportunities is increasing, land theft from the mining industry is causing land encroachments, as well as formal education that discourages the use of the Mapoyo language among young people.
As a result of the loss of their ancestral culture, the Mapoyo became determined to defend it at all costs. They started to work on its recovery. The recovery of an oral tradition and a language is complex and involves many stakeholders. Aloha Nunez, Venezuela's Minister of Indigenous Peoples, emphasized the role played by various government ministries and institutions in rescuing Wanai's language and oral tradition.
Today, the site still exists, it's called Los Pijiguaos, in Bolivar, Venezuela. The people living there are descendants of the Caribs, and are called the Mapoyo or Wanai. Their knowledge, stories, history, and culture are transmitted through stories told by the wise men, the elder people, who are descended from the Caribs.
References
(https://ich.unesco.org/en/USL/mapoyo-oral-tradition-and-its-symbolic-reference-points-within-their-ancestral-territory-00983) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapoyo-Yabarana_language) (https://news.un.org/es/story/2019/08/1460411)