Photos: UNESCO cultural heritage tag for Panama’s straw hats

UNESCO has recognized the artisans of Panama for their distinctive woven hats. No, not those hats; the famed "Panama hat" comes from Ecuador. Panama's real contribution to the world's hat heritage is the pintao, or painted hat, handmade from five different plants and a dose of swamp mud. ...read more

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Artisan and desiger Reinaldo Quiros talks about the traditional Panamanian pintao hat, in La Pintada, Panama. Cultural authorities at UNESCO have recognized the artisans of Panama for their distinctive woven hats called the Pintao. (Arnulfo Franco / AP)

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Men wearing traditional pintao hats leave Sunday Mass in La Pintada, Panama. Distinct from the famed ‘Panama hat’ which is actually from Ecuador, “The pintao hat has become an integral part of regional outfits throughout the country worn during traditional dances and community festivities,” the United Nations heritage arm’s said in a statement. (Arnulfo Franco / AP)

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Pasion Gutierrez, 81, holds a finished pintao hat at his home in El Jaguito, Panama. The round painted hats of circular brim are light, handmade from five different plants and a dose of swamp mud, and still made on a household scale with various family members typically pitching in. (Arnulfo Franco / AP)

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Pasion Gutierrez (R), and his son Juan Carlos Gutierrez in their home yard where they extract primary materials for pintao hats. Artisans of the truly Panamanian pintao hat start with the fibers of several plants that are cured and then woven into braids that are wrapped around a wooden form and sewn together from the crown of the hat downwards. (Arnulfo Franco / AP)

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Pasion Gutierrez, 81, extracts fibers for pintao hat at his home in El Jaguito, Panama. He grows some of the plants such as agave –harvested under a full moon for best results-- around his house while others are found high in the mountains. Gutierrez, his wife Anazaria and several of their children and grandchildren make pintaos. His eyesight doesn’t allow him to do the fine needlework anymore, but he harvests, prepares and braids the fibers. (Arnulfo Franco / AP)

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An artisan holds dried fibers before weaving them into a hat. “They don’t have anything (artificial), no machinery; no factory as such exists here in La Pintada,” said Reinaldo Quiros, who also sells hats out of his home. “Each artisan in his own home makes the hats maintaining the techniques taught by his ancestors.” (Arnulfo Franco / AP)

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Reinaldo Quiros explains the manufacturing of a Panamanian pintao hat. Bands of fiber are dyed black with plant dye and stuck in mud for three days. They are then woven into fine geometric designs and integrated into the hat giving it its name. The ‘Panama hat’ on the other hand is made from the toquilla palm and earned its name from popularity among Gold Rush era prospectors passing through Panama. (Arnulfo Franco / AP)

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Pedro Gonzalez sells pintao hats outside his home in La Pintada. Depending on the quality of the work pintao hats can cost hundreds of dollars. An estimated 4,000 of La Pintada’s 25,000 residents work creating or selling the hats. Pedro Mendoza, one 50-year-old hat maker, hopes that UNESCO recognition takes the pintao beyond Panama. “It’s really good what’s happened,” he said. “The hat for us is a way of life.” (Arnulfo Franco / AP)