Browse Items (33 total)

Maya huipíles, indigenous women’s rectangular blouses, vary from one town to another in Guatemala. Weavers from the town of Chimaltenango, in north-central Guatemala, expresses their ethnicity in very skillfully brocaded pieces, with rows of bold…

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. This…

As weavers learn from their elders, practice, and become highly skilled, some of the most proficient are able to tie-dye threads so that they spell words, people’s or place’s names, and sometimes even phrases. These are perhaps the most prestigious…

As weavers learn from their elders, practice, and become highly skilled, some of the most proficient are able to tie-dye threads so that they spell words, people’s or place’s names, and sometimes even phrases. These are perhaps the most prestigious…

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, the…

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…

Like Andean weavers of all periods and modern Guna textile artists (see Engaging the New), the Maya have always sought to master the most difficult fiber-working techniques. This woman’s skirt, though it is machine-made and thus reflects modern…

This green and blue cloth is a santo’s tzut, an all-purpose cloth often used as a male head covering. Green is commonly associated with Saint Joseph, perhaps indicating the identity of the saint it originally clothed. The machine-made lace is a…

This jaspé tzut shows the use of tie-dyed warps in weaving. Repeatedly dipped in indigo and tied off to preserve white stripes, warps were laboriously prepared before weaving. When untied and placed on the loom in the proper sequence, then the weft…

Finely woven cloths covered altars in Catholic churches in Maya territory, and this example with ancient Maya animal motifs highlights the ever-present syncretism (overlap) between the two religious systems. The vibrant purple was likely achieved by…