Buying Textiles in Santa Catalina - Alta Vera Paz

 

Of the items that the “modern” Maya are known for amongst tourists visiting Guatemala are the hand-woven and embroidered textiles.   The indigenous women are skilled at creating beautiful textiles on backstrap looms.  The looms are not very wide, so they will make clothing and bedspreads in panels.  The different language groups and their different villages each have a distinctive style of huipil (blouse) and corte (skirt).

In the Alta Verz Paz in  the area surrounding Coban and,  in particular outside of San Juan Chamelco, the typical huipil (blouse) is made of a white woven material.  The neckline and the edges of the short sleeves are then embroidered.  More and more the traditional hand-woven huipils are being replaced by machine made materials that the women purchase and then they embroider them.  I own two huipils that are of the hand-woven style that I purchased a number of years ago in Coban.   For this current trip I wanted to make sure to purchase at least one hand-woven huipil.  My friend, Bob, informed me that the weaving was disappearing very quickly as very few young women have learned how to do this craft.  So, in his aldea we went out to purchase huipils from a local neighbor who still does this work.

We arrived at their home.  This is a tradition home for poor indigenous peoples.  They have been converted to an evangelical Christian faith.  The home has hard packed dirt floors, and is made of the wood plank – there are no windows, there are doors that they leave open.  They cook all meals indoors with a wood fire – and the pots on a rack.  This home did not use the traditional hearth cooking stones, but rather had created something like an outdoor camp BBQ rack that was raised off the floor.

After formal greetings, we were invited inside to sit on the bench and to enjoy a hot cup of their traditional beverage which is a toast corn and hot water.  Basically, think of it as their version of a cup of coffee.  It is a sweet drink with a nice toasted flavor.  Next there were the inquiries into the health of the family and the health of my friend.  Indigenous peoples are very formal in their relationships with guests.  We eventually get to the reason why we are here which is to purchase woven huipils.  One of the daughters has one made, but not embroidered.  The work is good – and after the appropriate review and admiration for the work we ask how much she wants for the huipil – 125Q (that is $15USD).  I agreed with the price and let them know that I was looking to purchase more, if available.

We returned to Bob’s finca and to our visiting each other.  A few hours later we hear the same young weaver and her sisters arrive at Bob’s kitchen door.  They had gone to her older sister’s home to pick-up huipils from her that she had for sale.  Her sister is considered a much better weaver and indeed the work that they brought was very good --- and yes better than the original sister’s work.  So, I purchased two more pieces for 250Q.  Both of these pieces have not been “cut” for the head to go through – so they are complete pieces. 

The picutures are of the sister who did the original weaving and several others of her sisters.  The money that I paid them will be used for medicine for their mother and to augment the food that they are able to purchase.