Cristina Calderón Harban[1] (24 May 1928 – 16 February 2022) was a Chilean ethnographer, craftswoman, writer and cultural activist who was the last living full-blooded Yahgan person after the death of her 84-year-old sister Úrsula in 2005.[2] By 2004, Calderón (often referred to as simply "Abuela", Spanish for "grandmother") and her sister-in-law Emelinda Acuña were the only two remaining native speakers of the Yahgan language, an indigenous language in Tierra del Fuego.[3]
Traditional Yahgan basket, woven by Abuela Cristina Calderón
Early life
Calderón was born in Robalo, Puerto Williams, Navarino Island, on 24 May 1928[1][4] to Juan Calderón (Akačexaninčis)[5] and Carmen Harban (Lanixweliskipa).[6][5][7] Her father was one of the informants of missionary and anthropologist Martin Gusinde.[5] She was orphaned when she was four and was taken in by her grandfather and grandmother Williams Harban (Halnpenš) and Julia (Karpakolikipa),[5] who taught her about Yahgan culture.[7] Her life with her grandparents was one of poverty, and Calderón was often left hungry.[5]Halnpenš died soon after following an assault by a Spaniard,[6][5] and she was taken in to be raised by her aunt "Granny Gertie",[5] uncle Felipe, and cousin Clara,[6] who further taught her the Yahgan language.[7] As a child, Calderón listened to stories of settler violence and the Yahgan's resistance, went hunting, and learned how to create handicrafts by watching her aunts.[7] She knew only the Yahgan language until she was 9 years old, when she learned Spanish from her peers.[6][5] She additionally learned English from her Aunt Gertie, who stayed at an Anglican mission.[6] As a Yahgan, she and her family faced discrimination by authorities and locals in the area.[7]
Calderón first married at age 15 to an older man named Felipe Garay, a man with a wife who had left him without a divorce, with whom she had three children. The decision was financially motivated and driven by her family, as he could provide well for the orphaned Calderón.[5] Calderón initially refused due to her young age compared to Garay, but eventually listened to her family's request.[6] Garay died of appendicitis in 1948, but due to the lack of a formal divorce, his money went to his other wife.[5] She was pushed back into poverty as a result of her first husband's death, surviving on the support of her relatives, who also lived in poor conditions.[5] Her second husband was Lucho Zárraga, a Selk'nam man, who worked as a shepherding headman, with whom she had five children. Zárraga died in 1962, possibly of tuberculosis in Punta Arenas.[6][5] In 1964, Calderón met her third husband, Teodosio González, a sheep shearer. She had known González since she was young, but was unable to marry him due to external factors.[6] Calderón's close relationship with González was described as something "she had wished for even as a girl". They remained close until González's death in 2009.[5]
Later life
She was often affectionately known as Abuela Cristina, "Grandma Cristina", or simply Abuela,[8] by locals in her community.[9][10] With her granddaughter Cristina Zárraga and her sister Úrsula Calderón she published a book of Yahgan legends and stories called Hai Kur Mamashu Shis (I Want to Tell You a Story) in 2005.[11] Zárraga, along with her husband Oliver Vogel, published Yagankuta, a dictionary and storybook of the Yahgan language, in 2010, based on interviews with Calderón.[12] A biography of Calderón was published in 2017 titled "Cristina Calderón, Memorias de mi abuela Yagán" by her granddaughter Cristina Zárraga.[11]
As of May 2019, she was residing in Villa Ukika, near her hometown of Puerto Williams.[13] She was the mother of ten children and grandmother to 19 as of 2017.[7] Calderon spent her time creating traditional handicrafts and sharing Yahgan culture and language with her family.[9] Her daughter Lidia González was elected to represent the Yahgan people in the Chilean Constitutional Convention in 2021.[14]
She died on 16 February 2022, aged 93,[9][15] at the Hospital Clínico de Magallanes in Punta Arenas as a result of complications from COVID-19.[16] Her death was announced by her daughter, Lidia González, who served as the deputy vice president of the Chilean constitutional convention.[9][10] The governor of the Magallanes Region, Jorge Flies, declared a three-day mourning period for the region after her death,[1] in addition to the communities of Cabo de Hornos and Puerto Williams.[1]Gabriel Boric, the president-elect of Chile, stated that her "teachings and struggles from the south of the world, where everything begins, will remain alive forever."[9][10]
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