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Chapter 2

Mayan Textile

Tradition of


Mayan Textile Tradition of Guatemala

by Rosario MiralbĂŠs de Polanco and Barbara de Arathoon


Guatemala, a small country (67,632 miles) located in Central America, embraces within its varied geography great cultural and linguistic diversity. The majority of its population is comprised within two main ethnic groups: indigenous people and Ladinos (part-Spanish, part-indigenous). The majority of the indigenous population, more than five and a half million people, continues to speak 21 different Mayan languages. They have also preserved other important expressions of their identity, like a particular vision of the world and a remarkable textile tradition which threads their history together.

LEFT: Map showing Guatemala’s location in the center of the American continent. Courtesy of Editorial Piedra Santa, Guatemala. BELOW: Opening the door to the living Mayan culture of Guatemala. Photo, Alan Benchoam.

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Maya civilization, which also occupied parts of Mexico, Belize, El Salvador and Honduras, dates back to 1500 B.C. It flourished during what’s known as the “classic period” (250 – 900 A.D.), a time during which great advances were made in mathematics, glyphic writing, astronomy and time recording.The arts and monumental architecture also reached higher levels of refinement, all based on a profoundly religious conception of life and the world. Their clothing’s richness and variety reflected the fact that rituals were an essential part of life for the ruling elite.


Over 3,500 years ago, the Maya established themselves in Central America and built monumental cities that revolved around a profoundly religious concept of the world. Photo Quiriguá by Jeff Labanz.

The Maya sculpted colossal stelaes where they documented their life and dress. Photo Quiriguá by Jeff Labanz.

ABOVE LEFT: Nets and ropes made from agave fibers on sale at the open market. ©Photo Anne Girard, 2003, courtesy of The Ixchel Museum of Indigenous Dress, Guatemala. ABOVE RIGHT: Fine gauze weave from Cobán, Alta Verapaz, depicting human and animal figures.

Mayan Textile Tradition of Guatemala

Ancient textile techniques included spinning cotton and agave fibers (century plant, sisal and hemp), dyeing, printing and weaving. Archaeological evidence indicates that several methods for interweaving warp (vertical threads) and weft (horizontal threads) were known including plain weave, tapestry and gauze weave. Supplementary wefts were added to obtain decorative motifs, or brocades. Mayan weavers had attained a high level of technical skill on the backstrap loom, which was used to weave garments such as “huipiles” (blouses), “cortes” (wraparound skirts), head dresses, sashes, loincloths, hip-cloths, capes, vests, ceremonial cloths and more.


Descendants of the ancient Mayas kept their culture alive for several centuries before the arrival of the Spaniards in 1524. Nevertheless, the conquest and subsequent colonization dramatically transformed them. These changes were echoed in the textile tradition which began to include new materials (silk and wool) and instruments (treadle loom), as well as different styles of clothing (ruffled skirts, mantles, wool trousers and jackets). Traditional pre-Hispanic and colonial styles are still worn today, in addition to newlydeveloped modern styles. Nowadays, traditional Mayan clothing, known as “traje,” retains distinctive characteristics which identify the wearer’s community of origin; among these characteristics are the garment’s color, designs, style and mode of use, as well as the techniques employed to make them. Within this type of dress, one finds everyday clothing and ceremonial garments worn by “cofradía” (religious organizations) members.

ABOVE: Woman wearing her distinctive Mayan everyday clothing, or “traje,” from Todos Santos Cuchumatán, Huehuetenango. She uses her fringed shawl to strap the little girl on her back. ©Photo by Danielle Reveney, courtesy of The Ixchel Museum of Indigenous Dress, Guatemala.

ABOVE: Religious leaders or, “cofrades,” from Chichicastenango in full ceremonial dress that denotes their rank and status. Their elegant apparel includes an embroidered wool jacket and pants, black wool overcoat (capixay) and headwrap (su’t). Photo, Alan Benchoam.

Beginning in the 1970s, Mayan communities were transformed by incessant changes. Soon thereafter modern-style clothing began to appear, breaking away from traditional codes.

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Men’s Clothing


There are relatively few men who continue to wear traditional everyday clothing styles, and most of those that do live in the highlands. Men’s clothing is usually woven and made by women. It consists of a shirt, trousers, belt or sash,“su’t”(multi-purpose cloth) and hat. Other wool garments that are either made or purchased include: overtrousers, jacket, “capixay” (overcoat) and “rodilleras” (wrap-around apron-like cloth). The disappearance of the majority of traditional men’s clothing is likely due to the fact that men have had more contact with the outside world. They migrate to the south coast during harvest season, search for employment in the city, or do business with neighboring communities.

ABOVE LEFT: Man wearing his distinctive traje from San Pedro La Laguna, Sololá. Notice all the components of the costume: pants, shirt, sash, additional leather belt, woolen jacket, hat and woolen bag known as “morral.” ©Photo Anne Girard, 1970, courtesy of The Ixchel Museum of Indigenous Dress, Guatemala. ABOVE CENTER: Knitted and crocheted woolen bags (morrales) are part of men’s costumes in many highland towns. ABOVE RIGHT: Self-assured young boy wearing his distinctive Mayan everyday “traje” from Todos Santos Cuchumatán, Huehuetenango. The shirt’s long extended collar, the black woolen overtrousers and the multicolored tapestry crocheted bag are unique to this town. It is interesting to note the addition of a western bandana to complement the costume. ©Photo by Danielle Reveney, courtesy of The Ixchel Museum of Indigenous Dress, Guatemala. LEFT: While the two girls wear the traditional dress from their village, Santa Catarina Palopó, Sololá, the little boy is already wearing a western-style T-shirt and pants. Photo, Alan Benchoam.

RIGHT: Members of the cofradía of Sololá and San Juan Sacatepéquez respectively, carrying their scepters and proudly displaying their status as religious leaders of the community. Photo, Anne Girard, courtesy of The Ixchel Museum of Indigenous Dress, Guatemala. Photo, Edwin Castro, courtesy of The Ixchel Museum of Indigenous Dress, Guatemala.

Mayan Textile Tradition of Guatemala

Religious leaders known as cofrades wear special ritual and ceremonial clothing that denotes their rank and status. This clothing tends to be rich and often quite complex. The number of garments used on these occasions differs from one community to another; some simply wear a sash and others a complete outfit.


Women’s Clothing Most of the communities that still wear traditional everyday traje, distinctively identifying the wearer’s origin, are found in Guatemala’s highland region. The women’s garments generally include: a huipil (blouse), skirt, sash, one or more su’ts (multi-purpose cloths), shawl, apron and a decorative element worn on the head (head dress). The huipil bears the most elements of identity. It is made of one, two or three panels and handwoven mainly on backstrap looms. Today, only the elder women in the community continue to wear this style of clothing in the same way their ancestors did.Younger women have varied the color and size of the figures decorating their huipiles.

ABOVE: Old woman from Santa Cruz La Laguna, Sololá. Embellishing the traditional costume with necklaces of different types is customary. Photo, Alan Benchoam. FAR LEFT: Young woman from San Pedro Sacatepéquez, Guatemala. Photo by Maria Luisa Schlesinger, courtesy of The Lachel Museum of Indigenous Dress, Guatemala. LEFT: Women from the Cofradía of San Juan Sacatepéquez carrying flower offerings during a religious procession. Photo by Edwin Castro, courtesy of The Ixchel Museum of Indigenous Dress, Guatemala.

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Women who belong to the cofradía wear distinguishing ceremonial attire that denotes their hierarchy and social standing. Communities differ in the way these are worn. Garments and cloths used for ceremonial purposes generally include an overblouse, veil, head ribbon, paños (square cloths) of several sizes to wrap candles or offerings, handkerchiefs and napkins. For the most part, these ceremonial textiles are hand-woven with finer materials and complex techniques to show economic status.


Modern Women’s Clothing

ABOVE: Regional trajes from the area of Alta Verapaz, in the northern central part of the country. Although shaped in the traditional style, the blouses are made from commercial fabric. Photos by Anne Girard, courtesy of The Ixchel Museum of Indigenous Dress, Guatemala. RIGHT: Detail of the regional blouse with modern-style embroidery over commercial cloth.

Mayan Textile Tradition of Guatemala

The “regional” style of clothing no longer has the specific traits of a particular community, but it retains common characteristics to a region. This style has developed in areas with a greater degree of acculturation, where women wear traditional-shaped huipiles made from commercial cloth along with jaspe (ikat) skirts. The “generalized” style serves to identify Guatemala’s Mayan women in general, but no longer transmits the codes present in traditional clothing styles, e.g. the wearer’s place of origin, social and religious position, and marital status. This style includes basic garments like: a blouse constructed as a huipil but made of commercial cloth which may be then hand or machine embroidered. In most cases, a jaspe skirt, sash, shawl or sweater, and apron are also worn. In many highland communities and in the cities, young professional women wear other types of indigenous clothing. These are difficult to specify among the different styles, so anthropologists refer to them as “pan-Maya.” This style differs from the “generalized” because it includes garments that are clearly recognized as distinctive from a certain community, but are combined with others that have more regional or general characteristics, mainly the jaspe skirt. They may wear complete trajes that are not from their communities of origin.


During the last few decades, Guatemala has gone through a series of economic, cultural, social and political changes that affected the life of Mayan communities and thus generated identity changes. A 36-year civil war (1960 – 1996), which ended with the signing of Peace Treaties, and the appearance of the Maya revival movement in 1990 caused upheaval. Today, many women express a sense of pride and ethnic sisterhood which extends beyond their municipalities of origin, which is evident in their use of “pan-Maya” clothing. Entrepreneurs, merchants and political leaders who have adopted this style design their clothing using distinctive elements from different communities according to their own personal preferences, and not according to tradition anymore.

Designs and Symbolism Maya clothing boasts complex ornamentation like horizontal and vertical stripes, geometric or figurative designs, or a combination of these elements. The chromatic impact and technical complexity of these designs are integral to the clothing. Among these decorative motifs are flowers, trees and animals such as monkeys, jaguars, horses, squirrels, rabbits and deer. Some of them are actually symbols that contain messages alluding to the traditional Maya vision of the cosmos. In certain communities, zigzags and diamonds refer to serpents and stars, respectively. Birds such as eagles, turkeys, chickens, hens, parrots and parakeets are depicted often and sometimes refer to characters found in legends.The decorative motifs around the collar represent the sun and the moon in some cases, and in others, volcanoes.

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ABOVE: This huipil from San Pedro Sacatepéquez displays a variety of animal figures. ABOVE RIGHT: This huipil from Santiago Atitlán contains interesting symbolism; the hole for the head represents the Lake while the embroidered adornment around the neck represents the volcanoes. Photo, Anne Girard, courtesy of the Ixchel Museum of Indigenous Dress, Guatemala. RIGHT: Lake Atitlán surrounded by imposing volcanoes. Photo, Alan Benchoam.


In some communities, the distinctive symbols used to adorn cofradĂ­a and wedding ceremonial blouses include a dead turkey and the tree of life. Although their visual shapes appear to have been introduced bythe Spaniards,their meanings have pre-Columbian roots.The dead turkey represents a ritual offering given by the groomâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family to his future in-laws on the day of the wedding. The tree of life symbolizes the woman as the giver of life; its branches are her children. ABOVE: The dead turkey symbol. Photo, Anne Girard, courtesy The Ixchel Museum of Indigenous Dress, Guatemala. RIGHT: The tree of life symbol.

Two striking examples of decorative motifs copied from crossstitch magazines.

Mayan Textile Tradition of Guatemala

In recent decades, copying decorative flowers, fruits and birds from cross-stitch magazines has become a fashionable trend. Communities will trade these motifs among them, due to their attractive look and the prestige that comes from rendering designs that require such high technical skill.


Materials, Techniques and Procedures Since ancient times, Mayan women have produced clothing for themselves and their families, passing on the textile tradition knowledge from one generation to the next. As mothers and grandmothers have interwoven their skill, artistry, customs and techniques, they have also ensured the survival of the exceptional Mayan textile tradition. Weaving is a complex process that requires great skill in handling many different tools and knowledge of diverse materials. Some of these are pre-Hispanic in origin and others were introduced during the colonial period (1524 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1821). Technical advances initiated in Europe in the fourteenth century had an impact on Mayan weaving as well.

Cofrades from Quetzaltenango in formal dress. Circa 1900 Photo courtesy The Ixchel Museum of Indigenous Dress, Guatemala.

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Before the Spanish conquest, the Maya used white cotton and natural brown-colored cotton fibers which they spun by hand into thread using a spindle. Although there is no physical evidence to support the claim that the Maya used animal fibers, colonial-era chroniclers report the use of wild silk and certain animal hairs, such as rabbit. Hand-spinning threads is a tedious process which became widespread during the colonial period. In addition to spinning thread for their own use, women were required to produce large amounts of thread to pay as tribute to the colonizers. Upon their arrival to Guatemala, the Spaniards introduced silk and sheepâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wool. Indigenous people adopted these materials to make certain garments. Although the tradition of spinning by hand has been almost lost, some women continue to produce natural brown-colored cotton thread for weaving ceremonial garments. Spinning wool It is common to find multicolored with the spinning wheel, also introduced by the Spaniards, threads for sale at the open market. is still practiced in the cooler regions of the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s westPhoto, Jeff Labanz. ern departments. Industrially-spun threads and chemical dyes were introduced at the end of the 19th century; soon after rayon followed. Synthetic fibers like nylon and later polyester, which were to revolutionize weaving throughout the world, first arrived in the country at the end of the 1930s. During the mid 1960s, acrylic fibers became popular, and their use quickly transformed the color palette of indigenous clothing.

Dyeing The process of dyeing threads is particularly interesting, evoking mysteries related to cultural symbolism and social hierarchies. For example, body painting was common in the ancient Maya culture and had different connotations. Colonial documents report that indigenous men were good with dyes and wore colored clothing; they especially mention blue dye obtained from the indigo plant, and red obtained from the cochineal insect. Both of these dyestuffs were popular and exported during colonial times. Old garments indicate the use of cochineal on silk and indigo on cotton, as well as the use of other unknown dyes from which yellow and orange tones were obtained. Despite several attempts to revive the tradition of dyeing wool with natural dyes, only a few of the former procedures are still in use. LEFT: An indigo-dyed shawl displays intricately detailed jaspe motifs.

Jaspe or Ikat

Guatemala’s textiles are so distinctive and valued around the world because of their complex, detailed jaspe patterns (lettering reads “thought”). The perfection that weavers can achieve is extraordinary!

Mayan Textile Tradition of Guatemala

The production of jaspe threads continues to thrive in the western part of the country. These threads are characterized by the figures that emerge when they are woven. Jaspe or ikat is a resist tie-dye technique that consists in tying off specific segments of a skein of thread. When the skein is immersed in the dye bath, only the exposed sections will be colored but not the threads inside the knots. When the ties are removed, the skein has both dyed and undyed segments. During the weaving process, motifs appear along the length (warp) or width (weft) of the cloth, or in both directions. Traditionally these threads were dyed with natural indigo; later on, when chemical dyes were introduced, dyers added leaves to ferment the dye and obtain a deeper blue. This custom has been lost, and today threads are colored following the manufacturer’s directions. The colors most often used for jaspe threads were blue and black and white. Today, a wide variety of colors and color combinations are found in jaspe. The ingenuity and artistic talent of Maya master dyers has succeeded in giving this cloth a unique character that distinguishes it from ikat produced in other parts of the world.


The Loom The backstrap loom, or “stick-loom,” is the connecting thread by which weaving techniques have been passed on for generations. Although its origins are preHispanic, it continues to be very much in use today, primarily by women for weaving their own clothing. The vertical threads (warp) are assembled and the loom is hung; tension is achieved by the use of two straps, one of which is attached to a fixed point (e.g. a tree trunk or pillar), while the other strap goes around the weaver’s back at waist level. Next the sticks are set into place, according to the weaver’s own techniques and customs. The loom’s inherent flexibility made possible the development of many different brocade techniques in which figures emerge as the cloth is woven. Weaving techniques, color and designs are a few of the characteristics that identify the clothing distinctive to each municipality where traditional-style clothing is still worn.

ABOVE: Woman from Chajul, weaving on a backstrap loom. Photo by Ann Girard courtesy of The Textile Museum of Indigenous Dress, Guatemala.

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ABOVE: Women are now stepping (pun intended) into what has been traditionally a man’s world — weaving on a treadle loom. Due to a much-needed income increase, women are beginning to prefer the faster and more efficient treadle loom to the backstrap loom. Aldea Patzaj, Comalapa. Photo by Ann Girard, 2003, courtesy of The Textile Museum of Indigenous Dress, Guatemala.


The treadle loom and its necessary implements were introduced to Guatemala during the colonial period when artisans specializing in cloth production arrived from Spain to satisfy the needs of the criollos (creoles), descendants of Spanish settlers. Indigenous men produced wool cloth that they then adopted for certain garments, as well as cotton cloth for women’s skirts. Today, the use of the treadle loom has increased considerably, and many textile centers use it to produce large amounts of commercial cloth.

Embroidery Embroidery has been ever-present in Mayan indigenous clothing on both male and female garments. Different embroidery techniques have been used to create complex designs in huipiles or blouses, and to join panels for skirts, su’ts or multi-purpose cloths. LEFT AND ABOVE: Two exquisite examples of hand embroidery. The embroidery on the left called “randa,” is used to join panels of cloth together. The photo above shows detail of the collar of the huipil from Sumpango, Sacatepéquez.

Two shining examples of machine embroidery from Quetzaltenango. The embroidery on the right has a simpler look, while the other is more sophisticated, but both are precious.

Mayan Textile Tradition of Guatemala

Sewing machines were introduced in Guatemala at the beginning of the twentieth century. Men learned how to operate them first, and the machines were mainly used to make men’s clothing. Years later, machine embroidery became widespread and replaced many traditional techniques, like brocade. At the market nowadays, one finds an array of masterfully embroidered pieces on commercial fabrics that are replacing those woven on backstrap looms, allowing women many more options for replacing traditional garments.


!Caliente Quilts!  
!Caliente Quilts!