Browse Items (33 total)

Wooden saint figures, such as the one in the center, were lavishly dressed and re-dressed over time in layers of miniature clothes such as those on either side of him. Despite their European Catholic origin, santos and santas were “Mayanized”…

This seemingly innocuous blue cloth with animals in red and yellow embroidery is called a pisbal kotsih. It resembles many of the other general-purpose cloths used by the Maya to carry babies, food, place on the head to protect from sun and cold,…

Unlike Maya women’s dress, men’s dress, by contrast, reflects their greater participation in the political, economic, and religious colonial world established by the European invaders. Tailoring lengths of cloth, an idea that was antithetical to…

Throughout history, what is considered “traditional” changes over time. Colonized peoples like the Maya, who still number at least six million today, retain certain items of dress from their long past, while adopting others from their colonizers,…

Made in a very small farming village, Santa Lucía Utatlán, this wedding blouse displays clear Spanish elements. Departing from traditional choices, this wedding huipíl has only two panels instead of the usual three. It also incorporates an…

Although some Maya women, in recent times especially, choose to wear white Western-style wedding gowns, many continue to don fine traditional Maya blouses, skirts, and belts. The bride’s garments are wedding gifts from her future husband and his…

This wedding ensemble from early 20th century Totonicapán consists of a white huipíl (blouse), a blue corte (skirt), and a colorful faja (belt). Some white-on-white patterning is common among festive clothing, particularly wedding ensembles.…

Contemporary Chichicastenango examples feature an almost neon palette and may combine a traditional love of geometry with a new emphasis on flowers. A type of imagery that is often seen on traditional Chichicastenango huipiles is lines of zigzags…