Mayan Textiles:
An Ancient Artform
Edited by: Sara Tabrizi
Mayan Textiles:
An Ancient Artform
Mayan Textiles:
An Ancient Artform
With artwork from Mayan indegenous women. Edited by: Sara Tabrizi
Edited by Sara Tabrizi ISBN: 0-936385-405 Published in 2018 by The Art of Books. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored, in a system or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission. Printed and bound in USA.
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The Art of Books 172 Broadway, New York, NY 10007
Awknowledgements
The completion of this book would not have been possible without the Mayan Hands Organization for permission to use their research and writings.
Table of
Contents
Chapter 1
08-15
Chapter 2
16-27
Chapter 3
28-41
Chapter 4
42-55
Chapter 5
56-67
Chapter 6
68-81
Who Are The Maya? An Ancient Art Form
Ancient Mayan Innovation
Significance of Storytelling Mayan Textiles in Fashion
An Endangered Craft
Mayan Textiles: An Ancient Art Form
Chapter
1
7
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Mesoamerica
Belize
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Honduras
Guatemala
.
.
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El Salvador
Costa Rica
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Mayan Textiles: An Ancient Art Form
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Nigaragua
.
Panama
Who Are The
Maya?
The Maya are indigenous people of Central America who settled in Costa Rica, Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, and El Salvador. The Maya were thought to be the largest community in Mesoamerica. This complex society is known for their exquisite architecture, glyphics, advanced calendars, and intricate art forms. These ancient Maya civilizations were all said to have peaked between A.D. 250 and 900 with populations of about two million, however agricultural disasters were among the many reasons for their decline. Though the ancient Maya civilization is not what it was before, Maya people do still exist and carry ancient traditions and keep them alive. Today the Maya can be seperated to more than thirty-five groups based on the language and geographical location they live in. Like the Ancient Maya, modern day communities have also been known for their agriculture and many intricate artforms. Many of these art forms cater towards their domestic needs, like the textiles used for clothing, and play a larger role in Maya traditions and culture for example. With harsh conditions and few jobs available it can be hard to survive in the modern Maya society, so many depend on these creative skills.
Who Are The Maya?
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Language and Culture The Maya culture lives on in the same areas where their civilization initially developed. Maya people have a complex religion with a big pantheon of sacred gods. The Maya worldview, is that the plane in which we live is just one level in a multilayered universe made up of 13 heavens and nine underworlds. Each of these planes were ruled by a specific god and inhabited by others. Hunab Ku was the creator god and various other gods were also responsible for creating nature, such as Chach, the rain god. Maya rulers were also considered to be gods and traced their geneologies back to prove their descendence from the dietes. Maya religious ceremonies included the ball game, human sacrifice and bloodletting ceremonies where nobles pierced their tongues to shed blood as an offering to the gods. Another important part to Maya cultures associates with all the Maya language. Although the language of the ruling minority is Spanish, many people still speak Mayan. After all these years, Spanish has taken over Mesoamerica as
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Three women from a village standing together for photos.
the official language in these areas, but forty percent of the approximately eleven million people today have been able stay with the Indian language. This category consists of twenty-three Maya dialects that all indigenous people used as their first language. Most people today speak Spanish as a second language because of contact through recent trade and tourism, but remain native dialect speakers. The Maya were skillful farmers. They had used knowledge of calendars and seasons to grow crops. In the start, farmers grew more supply than was needed. City-states did trade some surplus food for other products, but most the surplus food was stored in many locations to feed anybody who would need it in those city-states. As the population grew, these farmers found it more difficult to grow enough food to feed the large population. Farmers noticed harder conditions in the Maya region. There were also dense forests, the surface water like the rivers and lakes, and the soil was poor. The Maya were clever. They did not use one system for agriculture. These skilled farmers in city-states had tried to fit their system to the land. In large mountainous highlands, they used step farming, so that each step would be flat and able to be irrigated to better grow and harvest crops. In swampy lowlands, the Maya had built raised earth platforms, surrounded by canals, on which they could grow plants. In dense forest, they used new slash and burn techniques to create the flat surface to help plant crops. They dug canals throughout the fields to irrigate the crops for the season. With these smart techniques Mayan farmers are able to make a living and have enough food to feed their families, and to use as a trade in their communities so that they can make a type of income. Since agriculture is such a huge part of the culture, the sucess of crops is important.
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Maya Today To say that the Maya civilization disappeared is not only an inaccuracy, but a great disservice to more than six million Maya that still live in Mesoamerica. Throughout hundreds of years of outside efforts to oppress and assimilate, the Maya people have continued to hold onto their unique ways of life. Modern religion; a colorful hybrid of Catholicism and ancient Maya beliefs and rituals. In regards to religion, the Maya have fought to keep their own tradition and blended it with Spanish influences. The result is that the Maya have their own brand of Christianity which consists of characteristics of tribal religions and Roman Catholicism. One can often see Catholic Maya performing ceremonies that have obvious characteristics of shaman rituals. Chicken sacrifices and the food offerings are witnessed in some churches. In addition, some Maya still worship old gods for good luck with the harvest. Other things have also remained the same. The majority (more than sixty percent) of Maya people will work in agriculture. All main crops remain to be beans and corn; the fields are still prepared and cleared by cutting and burning as was done by the ancient Mayans so long ago. Much of the traditional dress and weaving is still established customs. However, only ten percent of the people in these communities will continue to live a full Maya lifestyle compared to the sixty percent that have Maya ancestors. Ultimately the Maya have been living very similarly to what we know from ancient times and was documented.
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Right: A Maya child hiding under his mother's textile at home. Pages 14-15: A young weaver with tools.
Who Are The Maya?
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Who Are The Maya?
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Chapter
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An Ancient
Art Form
Pages 16-17: Detailed photo of a textile with great color and vivid contrast. Left: A cultural painting of a woman weaving on a backstrap loom.
The Maya have been weaving more two thousand years. According to Maya mythology, cosmic weaver, Ix Chel is soley responsible for the great importance of weaving in Maya societies. In many old paintings and sculptures Ix Chel is seen depicted sitting with a backstrap loom, with one of the ends tied to a tree and another around her waist. She's holding the shuttle in hand. Myth has it that the goddess Ixchel, taught the first woman how to weave in the beginning of time. Since then, Maya mothers taught daughters, from one generation to generation uninterrupted for three thousand years. Today, Maya women in the highlands weave fine textiles in exactly in the same way. These looms can also be carried easily and set up at home or out on fields. Many types of fabric are woven on these looms, every woman makes her uniquely designed huipil, the traditional dress still worn in these regions. Designs of these blouses express cultural identity and artistic skill; each woman weaves her own history and philosophy of the universe into the garment. One huipil may take several months to weave, depending on the complexity of the design the artisan has in mind.
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Weaving Through Generations For five centuries, Maya women have written stories through weaving esoteric designs that encoded the locals vision of the world. In this manner, the work of weavers was essential for keeping these very important elements alive in their ancient history. There is no question that weavers also integrated symbols from many other cultures in their textiles. Through these centuries, Maya people have been compelled to incorporate elements from outside cultures. However, with long passages of time, these foreign elements will become reinterpreted within their cultural context, and their ties with Maya symbols and associations give life to new Maya syntheses. It is well known that weaving expresses the identity of the weaver and their commitment to being Maya and the own community. Women continue to weave their own and their family’s clothes. Women show respect for the community by following aesthetic rules, picking specific designs, colors and styles, in addition to following to more general cultural and social norms in their intricate textile designs. Although there have been many changes in types of threads and designs over the centuries, the basic backstrap loom has changed very little. In the Maya communities of Mesoamerica weaving is an important part of the Maya women’s daily life and it is an important responsibility they pass on from one generation to the next. When a baby girl is born, the midwife bathes her. The girl’s mother gives the midwives her daughter’s weaving instruments, miniature, including the strands of thread, a tiny weaving loom, scissors, basket and needle. The midwife places them in the newborn’s hands symbolizing the craft she will grow to learn.
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A collection of photos showing the details in the weaving art.
An Ancient Art Form
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Economic Functions of Weaving Weaving is considered as the female’s work par excellance. To fail in weaving was equivalent to be a failure as a woman. A genders identity wasn’t based on the intrinsic physical qualities, such as genitals or other various characteristics. It was based on dress and the instruments of works. Why were spinning and weaving central in defining womanhood? The most important reason is found in the economic contribution of weaving. Weaving provided Maya women their most important link to the larger economy. Tribute was also paid in cloth and it was also a common market currency. The more cloth a weaver produced, the more her household prospered. Currently Maya women continue to weave, in addition to their own and their family’s clothes, to obtain much needed income. Maya women love to weave, as weaving keeps them connected to their recent ancestors, and within the sacred and cultural Maya universe, but in these more modern times many women need to weave as a means to survive.
Without being able to weave families are burdened with hardships to survive financially in the Maya community. Textiles have long been part of economies that extend beyond local community to regional, national, and global markets. The spinning and weaving of plant fibers is one of humanity’s oldest forms of artisanship but as the archeological documentation have shown throughout time these textiles have always been entangled with the politics of value on a very important transeconomy scale.
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As textiles travel from weavers looms to multiple destinations, near and far, the ways that weavers, vendors, with various kinds of consumers prize them lead to tensions between economic and social values for the Maya. Weaving, vending, and cultural identity, all blend together in a transnational political economy that renders Maya women and other artisans both subjects of international tourism circuits, global factory regimes, and, even transnational partnerships. Today, there are many co-ops that will add in the economic opportunities for these Maya women. In addition to offering fair wages for their craft, they also provide other support to artisan partners, such as micro-lending, training skills and techniques, business and leadership development, access to health care, as well as classes in the gender role awareness, domestic violence, conflict resolution, and herbal medicine. Some have even gone as far as providing large scholarships to the daughters of the artisan partners and school supplies to all children. The weavers work with these co-ops by creating beautiful and intricate textiles which the organization then turns as sells around the world. For example Trama Textiles is a well known co-op that has worked with these Maya women for years. They provide an income to over 400 women and their families. Trama Textiles is organized into 17 weaving groups, from five regions in the Mesoamerican western highlands. The co-op was formed in 1988 as a direct result of the devastating Guatemalan Civil War after many members’ husbands, fathers, and brothers were killed. Their mission is to create sustainable fair wage employment for the women of Mesoamerica, and enabling them to honorably support their families and the communities, help preserve and develop the cultural traditions of the Maya people through the continued practice of traditional weaving arts.
An Ancient Art Form
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A painting showing the Maya sisterhood in society.
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Summary of Weaving Society Origin
According to Maya mythology, Ixchel, was the patron of weaving. She was depicted with a loom tied to the tree and another around her waist. Today, Maya women weave textiles in the same way.
Usage
Women mostly use the back-strap loom which can be used by the weavers at home or while in the field tending sheep. This ancient technique allows for a custom tension for the artisan.
Output
The huipil or traditional blouse of these Maya woman are often created on the backstrap loom. Both are part of the traditional dress of every Maya woman.
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Left: Woman weaving a textile for the use of making clothes. Right: Different views of the cultural huipil that Maya wear.
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Chapter
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Ancient Mayan
Innovation
Pages 28-29: Authentic Maya textile rich in color with bold striped detail. Left: Maya woman starting the long process of textile making.
Nearly every human civilization has created some form of textiles. Of those, textiles are a means specific to their own societal needs, resources, and spirituality. Regardless of the time and place, if this mechanism for weaving was created it must follow a few rules to allow for the physics of weaving to occur. You can think of an algebraic equation, regardless of the variables x must always equal x. The apparatus that is used by Maya to create their textiles are a simple engineering marvel. The innovation of the back strap looms which is how all weavers create their art is simple and efficient. One of the defining features of the looms is that it must create tension on all warp threads, these are the threads typically strung on or in the loom that forms the base structure of all fabrics. With the back strap loom tension is created with it's weaver’s body. As result this process is far more physically engaging than many initially believe. One must use their body, moving forward and backward, to tighten and loosen for loom tension. The Maya feel as though their body is a part of the loom and the fabric, which is why the huipil is so special to the Maya people. Their bodies are physically and intimately engaged in every moment of its creation.
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Harvesting Color Before the advent of chemical dyes the colors that came from Central America were usually softer, though still rich but more the shades of duller natural dyes. Then along came bright red, really bright red, as well as rainbows of many other strong colors and it was as if the color palette had been plugged in. Now native dyers are returning to the brilliant earthy naturally dyed colors that had derived from plants including indigo, madd, osage orange and the amazing cochineal insects growing on cacti pads to obtain the colors of their ancestors. Dyeing with natural dyes is a process that goes all the way from the plant to the color on the fiber. The fibers are prepared and then dyed with different leaves and insects. Synthetic dyes had been invented around 19th century, but before that, all dyes were natural and these ancient civilizations used different kinds of techniques for dying. Today almost all dyes are made out of oil, however many Maya women still to this day dye their own yarn naturally. Weaving colorful cotton fabric was considered an art form among high ranking ancient Maya women. These Maya cultivated cotton and used natural dyes from plants, animals and mineral sources. They used spinning whorls to create thread that was dyed vibrant red, yellow, and blue. These weavers gather flowers, plants, berries, prepares a dye bath with mordants that will help set the colors, and dyes their wool. The process varies for the properties of each plant, fibers used, and the color desired, and requires considerable time, effort and knowledge. As with brocade weaving, knowledge of natural dyeing techniques had to be recreated, because it too had been forgotten over several years.
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Mayan Textiles: An Ancient Art Form
Hand dyed yarns await to be used to create fabric for huipils.
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The weaving technology employed by Maya people, even given the great variety of fabric produced, was quite similar across the region. Similarity across these regions should not be mistaken for simplicity though, as the Maya weaving is anything but simple. In the most general terms, the complex process of making fabric can be described in two steps. First, raw fiber must be turned into thread, and second, thread must be woven into fabric. The first step in weaving fabric is the preparation of fiber. Fiber is usually obtained from either a plant, like cotton or maguey, or an animal, such as the sheep. Next, after initial extraction and preparation of the fiber, it must be spun into thread. Today, women can purchase thread that is already spun and ready for weaving. In the past, however, women spun all the thread they needed by hand. Over the centuries, these spinners perfected the technology of spinning their threads so it is a more efficient process. People in Mesoamerica have woven fabric for centuries, as demonstrated by indirect archaeological evidence. While spinning may be one of the most low-tech steps in the weaving process, it's the foundation for every piece of the fabric, whether it’s thread be spun by hand or by machine. Once fiber is spun into thread, it can be woven into fabric, which is perhaps the most difficult step in the entire process of producing textiles. Based on archaeological information and on accounts from the late prehistoric and early historic periods, we know that the backstrap loom was used by most cultures wide through Mesoamerica. This is a fairly simple and mobile type of loom, as it largely consists of sticks and a strap worn around the weaver’s waist to apply tension to the threads as these textiles are being woven.
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Materials and Process The weaver starts with raw wool or cotton that must be washed, combed and spun. She first stretches the longer warped threads along the warping boards to the desired length and attaches them firmly to her loom. Then she can begin the complex process of weaving fabrics. To brocade, colored yarns are woven into the fabrics to create the designs as the cloth itself being woven. This differs from normal embroidery where the colored threads are stitched into the completed garment. Weavers adjust the tensions of the looms by leaning forward or back because of the strap around her back, hence its name “back-strap loom.” These brocaded garments may take many months to complete.
A handwoven Mayan textile is an intricate and very time consuming process that can take up to 6 or more months to complete. The traditional backstrap loom is simple, using various parallel sticks that are between which the warp thread are stretched. The main sticks include the front and back beam rods which provide the backbone for weaving. The front rod attaches to a pole and the back rod attaches to the artisan’s waist by means of a leather backstrap. The other sticks include a shed roll, and a string heddle rod.
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Mayan Weaving Process Step by Step
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1. The Warping Board
2. Using Heddle Sticks
Measuring the thread on warping boards, they will count the warps into groups and bundle them, then finally setting the warped thread onto loom.
The warp is placed on the loom bars as shown above. The loom bar that has the end of the warp with the knots will be attached to a fixed object to give stability.
Mayan Textiles: An Ancient Art Form
3. Knotting Yarn
4. Setting The Loom
Now that the knots are attached the artisan can now place the weaving tools in place and adjust their tension.
At this point artisans are ready to go ahead and continue weaving their intricately planned woven textile designs.
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Left: A photo showing the difference in woven or loose thread. Right: A backstrap loom when it is not being used. Pages 40-41: A close up of a pink woven piece in progress.
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Significance of
Stories
There is no doubt Maya women had used these textiles to depict the world around them, make stories, and document history. Storytelling was largely significant in every culture around the world, but the handwoven textiles have provided great documentation, and has been a way for the weaver to show their bold commitment to their society. Since Maya subgroups have very different elements they incorporate into their weaving, by using specific colors, symbols, and rules it becomes obvious as to what community the weaver identifies with. Textiles that have been detailed with exquisite patterns and symbols are known to hold older representative meanings for indigenous populations.These pieces signify the origin, class, occupation and status of whom is wearing it and form part of old indigenous identity. Over the past 500 years many original meanings of the weavings have lost significance, influenced by several factors including the Spanish occupation and recently for new tourism industries. Though in modern society it's difficult to relearn some of the ancient symbols from textiles, many research campuses and scientists have commited their time to uncovering these stories hidden within the beautiful ancient Maya textiles.
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Pages 42-43: Detailed photo of the threads on a blue and purple cloth. Right: Painting of an older Maya woman calmly weaving.
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The Heart of Weaving There is incredible symbolism in every step of the process in the Maya weaving from start to finish. Though the process of creating a handwoven textile is long and intricate, these artisans take their time to give care and meaning to every portion of their creation. When starting the process for preparing the warp, the weaver will create the cross, or heart, of threads which allows for its lift and fall of threads during the weaving process. Many Maya weavers will encourage peers to take great care in the setup of the heart before they can begin their weaving process; a beautiful parallel to living a healthy life. Once the loom is ready, these threads extend from the belly, which symbolizes creation or giving birth to the textile. When they start to weave, they tell their story through their textile which they create by using the tension of their own body. They are weaving a piece of themselves into the work. Maya weavers have found direct connections to their weaving process and their own life, which is why weaving is sacred.
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Culture and Symbols
A series of rolled up fabrics that are ready to create with.
Certain symbols have held their meanings, particularly those which represent good and evil or fertility. Corn crops and agriculture are common and spread across on weavings from many regions of Mesoamerica; chickens with birds along with representing food sources and a symbol of livelihood. Most symbols we see on Maya textiles are depicting the creations in the world around them, things in the environment that surrounds them in daily life. Many symbols and patterns have specific meanings to each Maya society. Similarly colors also have distinctive meanings to the regions where the cloth is woven. For example, in weavings from Solola, Guatemala, the blue colour represents the natural wonder of Lake Atitlan in Guatemala which is located in that area. Other colors are very consistent in meaning across different regions including yellow, red, white and black which are symbolic of cardinal points on the compass; south, east, north and west respectively, and purple which represents hardships of Jesus Christ.
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The earliest weavings used only geometric designs but then added fauna and flora. Textile motifs celebrate life, showing harmony with nature and the cosmos in symbols such as seeds, rays of the sun, phases of the moon, corn, volcanoes, birds, water jugs, and other animals. Vivid colors seen in these weavings reflect the flowers that grow in Mesoamerica. What are the messages encoded in the Maya textiles today, such that we can read it from a Maya perspective? We can read it as a piece of literature. Like mentioned before the meaning of ancient symbolism has been lost or changed, making it difficult to research this significant aspect of the Maya woven clothing. Younger new generations of women, now feel greater social freedom to choose colors and patterns according to preferences rather than identity. The weaving tradition is a dynamic art form with ties to their old history. It’s more than craft. Artisans have created weavings to hold memories. At the beginning of the 21st century, the Maya costumes that are part of the traditional culture in some villages of Mesoamerica still maintain cosmological features with ancient traces, as their origin may be traced to the rich prehispanic cosmovision, particularly the one used as part of the ritual involved in the action of conversing with the gods. Such is the case in symbols such as of furrows, the center, the staff or tree of life, the plate of the ritual offerings, the chompipes or wild turkeys, and passed people. Big serpents or the actions to show figures that are brocaded or woven as they are gradually elaborated in backstrap looms, of a pre-Columbian origin. Hundreds of symbols have been created by the Maya, there are countless symbols used in woven textiles made in Mesoamerica, many of which we know represent the world we all live in.
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When taking into account the universe formed by the huge amount of images depicted in contemporary weavings, the occurrence in such traces achieves faint shades. Many factors derived from continued processes of cultural change have left few imprints of their own. On the other hand, history confirms that women weavers mostly like depicting images whose symbolism is not of cosmological types but instead, one that's within the framework of their traditional culture, expressions where the aesthetic, technical, economical or social dimensions will achieve greater importance. The ancestral wisdom characterizing the symbolism in traditional weavings appears to be the privilege of a small number of older mature individuals and ritual experts. Each day the number of women who wear modern modalities of the dress, who have abandoned their local textile tradition and consequently ancient associated concepts that were transmitted from one generation to the other throughout time, is increasing. Many of the youth today do not follow older symbolism, instead empowered to their own symbols.
Today, many Maya woman leave traditional symbols behind to start creating symbols meaningful to their personal life. In general, young women ignore and do not show an interest for cosmological content of the garments they are wearing. Therefore, it is indispensable to go on salvaging what we still have regarding the meaning of symbols that are part of the Mayas’ collective memory, whose roots go deep into the long lasting warp in their ancient history.
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A Maya textile featuring a few common symbols in nature.
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Weaving Stories Together Symbols / Meaning
Zig Zags symbolize mountain ranges that exist around the Maya society. They are a symbol of growth and fertility.
Intertwining shapes show the many connections that exist in our universe.
Symbolizes corn stalks, to show their appreciation for agriculture.
Scorpian tails were believed to bring rain to Maya communities.
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Left: Bold print made by the young women in southern Costa Rica. Right: Stripes in Variations on textiles. Pages: 54-55: Bright colored fabric with blues and and pinks fading to green.
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Chapter
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Mayan Textiles in
Fashion
Indigenous prints have become a prominent trend on catwalks as well as in mainstream retail stores. Gucci, Diane Von Furstenberg, Versace, are just a few high fashion designers who have featured these aesthetics in their collections designs. It is always a great thing to learn and show all art forms that are created around the world. Mayan textiles crossing over to mainstream fashion should technically be a great thing, however it's not. Knowledge of the distinct origins of these prints and the effect it’s proliferation in the fashion world has on up and coming indigenous designers is essentially nonexistent. These large retail houses don't give these artisans the recognition they deserve. In the fashion world it's okay to view a designer’s work and then duplicate exactly as purely inspiration. Indigeneous designers that have used their native prints are forced to compete with big fashion houses. Trends that are usually derived from the collections of prominent designers. The concepts are then made affordable to the general public by huge retailers. After a couple seasons, the Maya aesthetic trend will fade away and be forgotten along with the authentic weavers and artisans who made them and those that have embraced them over several generations.
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Pages 56-57: A closer look at the details of a modern day Maya textile work. Right: Mayan aesthetics seen on the runways in New York city.
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Runways to Mainstream Clothing Designers should consider creative collaborations with the source communities and their artists a process that can bring recognition and economic benefit to both sides. While most brands call their collections a “cultural exchange”, many pointed out that the only party benefiting from this exchange is the privileged multi-billion dollar corporations. It raises the question about whether brands are entitled to a free pass on appropriation for acknowledging cultures that different from their own. Some feel that there should there be some guidelines placed. “Truly new ideas are a rare thing, therefore most creative or new ideas are results of the borrowed existing concepts, and therefore cultural constructs”, says Linda Hewson, creative director at high end store Selfridges. To avoid cultural exploitation, a brand must honor the integrity of a concept or idea. Culture isn't an artifact to be frozen in time and preserved in museums. Businesses thrive on cultural exchange, and such inspiration can help members.
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Right & Left: Photo showing the lines and detail in hand woven work. Pages 62-63: Bags from retail brands that are making profit from Maya ideas.
of long subjugated communities. But without the proper acknowledgement or extension of any benefits to these communities, however well intentioned, it also cannot be an equal exchange. Susan Scafidi, founder of the Fashion Law Institute and awarded author says, “Designing with both inspiration and respect for the other cultures in mind is a challenge that actually can require more creativity and transformative vision than copying someone's culture and claiming it to be your own.� Being original takes more work. Although theres flattery in the way we appreciate the ancient aesthetic of Maya there is something to say about how much money is being made through these industries, while the originators of this artform recieve nothing in return and continue to live in poverty. This is why many Maya people have stood up to try to filing lawsuits to protect intellectual property. The Maya want to avoid heavy profit and stop these cultural appropriation of their culture. Sadly, more recently there has been several methods that have been used by corporations to steal these designs.
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What happens normally in Maya communities is that people come and ask for samples and then they create their own product, but now they use chemical dyes and industrialized thread, and then they say it’s handmade and made by Maya, but normally what they will do is take the samples as an example, then later they produce large quantities, but with low quality thread. That’s what has affected the Maya people most. With a single sample, these “ethical fashion” companies can mass produce a garment that they can pass off as the real thing. While they purport to have products produced by Maya artisans that benefit their societies they’re selling lower quality, mass produced clothes which they can manufacture cheaply. The Maya women, however, only receive compensation for the sample, while the companies profit immensely from the original Maya made textiles.
Companies mass producing indigenous textiles is a prevalent issue, but it’s not the only thing threatening Maya artisans’ livelihood. This practice not only cheapens Maya weavers’ craft which is rooted in tradition, it also means the wrong people are making a profit as Maya societies continue to struggle. But now, Ethical Fashion Guatemala a new website that allows buyers to purchase product directly from Maya weavers is helping spreading awareness of the injustice these communities face and are taking on a some of these largest offenders by pushing for Etsy, Google, Shopify, and others to remove products and websites that infringe on the artisans’ copyrights. On Etsy alone, the group found more than 64,000 inauthentic products, confirming there are big issues. Though there are verified fraudulent listings, making laws to stop them is hard.
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Copyright law is difficult to navigate, especially when dealing with the amount of textiles and products the artisans of Ethical Fashion Guatemala products. Through the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which protects intellectual property on the internet, Ethical Fashion Guatemala is going after sites selling fake products. Sites like Etsy and Shopify have specific mechanisms in place for DMCA complaints. Ethical Fashion Guatemala began their work after Maya weavers and others asked founders James Dillon and Kara Goebel to launch a site so they could sell their products. Both are United States citizens who live in Mesoamerica and run a tourism company. They’ve worked closely with the indigenous groups for several years and have earned their trust in that time. They take 12 percent of sales to cover shipping, running the website, and the required credit card fees. What sets Ethical Fashion Guatemala apart is that Dillon and Goebel do not inject themselves into the site. As a site that’s owned by all these weavers and Maya artisans, they don’t place themselves at the forefront some thing that other sites claiming to be part of the ethical fashion movement seem to do and that rubs Dillon the wrong way, he explains. They are using the tools that scrape the web for keywords and phrases, Dillon has found thousands of companies that claim they sell authentic Maya made products, however many are putting up false fronts in advertising. Some companies use photos of Maya weavers or play up their connections to them in order to create the appearance that purchasing from these companies helps indigenous groups. Companies mass producing indigenous textiles is an ongoing threat, but now people are working to win the rights to these aesthetics back to their original owners.
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Mainstream Clothing
Maya fabrics are used to style trendy boots and is on trend.
The use of mass production of cultural aesthetics namely patterns, symbols, and more have decreased the value of these artforms Maya spend months to create. Instead of including some Mayas in the designs work and fabric they are ignored as being the creator of these crafts and aesthetics, but aren't getting to benefit from any profits that were earned. Companies have been started that are selling these textiles on shoes and trendy boots. The fabric sourced from these Maya communities residing in Central America, giving them a chance to create a new and better economy in the society. These opportunities for Maya will provide them with other income to support families. Influences from Mayan textiles have also been seen in many ready to wear clothing. Just like all new trends once seen on the runway retail corporations will piggy back on their success and release these looks in everyday stores where everyone is free to purchase them. We have seen their intricate textiles on bags, dresses, jackets and more. Unfortunately, today's consumers are unaware that these aesthetics are taken from struggling communities, and the culture and tradition that came together to make these creations what they are have also been hidden and not shared with the world as a result.
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An Endangered
Craft
Contemporary Maya women continue the tradition of weaving in the lovely cloth of Maya traditions. The ancient craft of backstrap art forms is still alive and an entire industry has been developed around weaving and textiles. Today numerous collectives and individuals produce bags, and clothing that become sought after by visitors from around the world. Today the Mayan people all over Mesoamerica are still wearing their traditional dresses. These colorful blouses, skirts, belts, hair ribbons and ceremonial cloths have myriad designs in brocade, embroidery of birds, butterflies, animals, and geometric forms. Though these traditions are widespread we see a decline of women that participate in this art form, and less pieces are being created in current and future generations. The stunning weavings inspired the committees of the Tikal Association, non-profit created to support the archaeological sites in Tikal, and to document and conserve the textile traditions. At that time, in the early 1970s, each village had its own dress for daily wear and for ceremonial occasions but nobody outside this area knew which huipil, or blouse, went with which skirt and on which occasion they were worn. Keeping track of the cultural traditions were difficult.
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Pages 68-69: Bright colors showing all these intricacies of the Maya textile. Right: Maya woman is makes a textile with stripes and bright colors.
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In order to create these records, artist Carmen Pettersen painted watercolors of these costumes; her Norwegian husband, Leon Lind Pettersen, published the paintings and gave these books to the textile committees in order to raise more funds. In 1976 the Ixchel Museum of Indigenous Dress was opened in a rented house in the hotel district of Guatemala City. Then, in 1993, after consulting extensively with textile curator at the Metropolitan Museum of New York and after many years of fundraising for these construction of a large, textile specific building, the Ixchel Museum moved into its new buildings on the campus of the Francisco MarroquĂn University. The museum is a political, non-profit and independent and it supports itself. Today, the Ixchel Museum has a collection of over 6,000 hand woven pieces of Maya clothing from more than 115 weaving villages in Mesoamerica. Pieces date from the last days of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century to the present. The oldest surviving textiles are made with handspun cotton, silk, wool, dyed with natural dyes, and can be fragile. Years ago these villages were isolated, and these traditions of weaving these same designs continued for many generations in each town. The women in this village all wore much of the same costume, and the daughters wore what the mothers wore; the men had their own attire. These pieces were and are an essential piece of the Maya culture and tradition holding memories with much of their history. Today, however, with bright synthetic threads and synthetic dyes, with a metallic thread, with paved roads and buses careening between formerly isolated villages, the traditional dress of Mayas have been changing with great rapidity also, in some cases, it has been disappearing entirely which has been a cause for major concern.
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Social Responsibility Maya weavers in Mesoamerica are alarmed at the possibility that their huipils might disappear. They see danger coming from different directions. Now they are speaking out and looking for new solutions. For Maya women, huipils are treasures bestowed upon them by their ancestors. The colors, patterns, and symbols of huipils express their worldview and values of Maya culture. Many people feel as if someone is stepping on our cultural and spiritual values. Many in these Maya communities talk about the proliferation of new bags, backpacks, and bags made with these huipils in market all over the world. There are businesses now buying used blouses to make these items in our marketplace. These corporations usually commission local women to purchase used huipils in the communities where they live. They pay about $5 to $7 for a shirt in great shape when they should pay at least ten times that.
The possibility of traditional dress disappearing is dangerous and can result in the loss in culture as a whole. The businesses then cut these huipils into pieces and incorporate them to bags that sell for as much as $100 or even more. Advocates emphasize that buying used huipils does not generate extra money for the women. Many Maya cannot purchase a new huipil and will often resort to wearing a t-shirt from then on, or at least for as long as it takes them to save money to buy the yarn to weave a new huipil. This threatens the existence of the traditional dress.
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Fair Trade Manufacturing Businesses are making money with products that represent indeginous identity and tradition to women who wear it. They are taking advantage of the poverty stricken ladies that, for lack opportunities to feed their families, feel compelled to sell their huipil at these very low prices. There is concern about computerized machines that reproduces the designs of several huipils. These machines make needlework embroidery that imitates the cloth made on the backstrap loom and they are used by corporations in the fashion industry to make retail products we see in retail stores in the United States and abroad. Though the quality of these cloths cannot be compared to a traditional handwoven huipil, women complain about it being stiff and unraveling easily, but the price is usually 1/5 of the price of a new woven huipil. Making computerized huipils is so fast in contrast to the many months it takes to weave a huipil on the backstrap looms. Woven huipils can appear too expensive by comparison. Mayan women see the prices of these machine made huipiles with their financial situation and are inclined to buy these and save money for other essentials. Both the purchases of used huipils at extremely low prices from the locals to appropriate and the appearances of computerized huipils in the markets give tremendous blows to traditional weavers in Mesoamerica that depend on the craft to survive. The demand for traditional huipils have decreased considerably. If these huipils disappear, the central symbol of identity will be lost. Over time the issues will keep generating a deeper poverty for indigenous people, and their traditions and culture their basis for living can also be lost.
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Man finishing the shoe making process by sanding the heel.
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What You Can Do
Shoes designed with the Maya textile being made by locals.
To respect fair trade you need to work to create opportunities for economically and socially marginalized producers, the Maya women are the poorest sector in Mesoamerican societies, being doubly disadvantaged being Maya and women. Most artisans working with the co-ops we have mentioned are monolingual and illiterate, because when they were children only boys were sent to school. This severely limits the Mayas ability to earn income. Participation in fair trade will provide path from poverty into prosperity. Developing transparent relationships is ideal if you are buying textiles directly from communities. Fair trade involves relationships that are always open, fair, consistent, and respectful. You can go seek awareness in the community about fair trade buying and the possibility of better justice within global economic systems. Work with fair trade advocates on local, and national level to demonstrate that trade can be a positive force for improving living standards, health, education, distribution of power, and the environment. When shopping support safe and empowering working conditions. Fair trade is a healthy working environment free of forced labor. Shop from artisans that work in their home where they feel safe and continue their Maya lifestyle and caring for families. Feeling safe is respecting cultural identities of artisans. Through fair trade, you can support their quest to bring their families out of poverty, and keep Maya culture alive.
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Pages 78-79: Model posing in her ethically made boots with Maya textiles. Left: Rolled detailed textiles wait to be used to make clothes. Right: More Maya textiles that were created to be made to huipils.
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Index
Advanced: 9 Agriculture: 9, 11, 12, 47, Alarm: 26, 36 Alive: 48, 58, 70, 77 Alternatives: 24, 29 Ancestors: 34, 39, 61 Art: 9, 19, 20, 31, 32, 70 Artisan: 19, 23, 25, 37 Awareness: 23, 64, 77 Backstrap: 19, 20, 25, 31, 34, 35, 39, 48, 70, 74 Balance: 70 Believe: 31 Bootleg: 39, 48 Brocade: 32, 35, 70 Business: 23 Calendar: 31, 34 Category: 11 Century: 32, 48, 72 Ceremonies: 10, 12 Children: 23, 72 Civilization: 9, 10, 12, 31 Community: 9, 20, 22, 44 Compassion: 12, 31 Complex: 9, 10, 34, 35 Compose: 32 Concept: 60 Conflict: 23
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Control: 44, 70 Corporation: 20, 22 Cost: 32, 48 Culture: 9, 10, 11, 44, 47, 48, 49, 60, 61, 67, 72, 73 Damage: 10, 11 Decade: 61, 67 Decline: 9, 70 Define: 44, 47, 73, 74 Demand: 74 Development: 23 Direction: 70, 71 Disaster: 61 Diversity: 20, 22 Distill: 23, 74, 77 Domestic: 9, 23 Dominant: 32, 34 Economic: 77 Education: 77 Endorse: 22, 23 Ethical: 64, 65, 81 Exist: 9, 31, 38, 60 Exploit: 60 Fair: 22, 23, 74, 76 Family: 20, 22, 23, 74, 77 Fiber: 22, 32, 34 Friends: 16, 47
Fund: 72 Future: 70 Gods: 10, 12, 48 Genealogies: 70 Gain: 25, 31 Generosity: 81 Global: 22, 23, 77 Government: 11 Grandchildren: 19, 22 Groom: 23 Harvest: 11, 12 Heavens: 10 Huipil: 19, 25, 31, 32, 70, 73, 74, 81 Heart: 46 Handmade: 64 Husband: 23, 72 Help: 11, 22, 32, 60 Harmony: 48 Income: 11, 22, 23, 77 Intricate: 9, 20, 23, 35, 37, 46, 67 Ix Chel: 19 Indigenous: 9, 11, 44, 58, 64, 65, 72, 74 Illiterate: 77 Identity: 19, 20, 22, 23
Import: 23, 44 Industry: 70, 74 Increase: 34, 35 Intellectual property: 61 Innovation: 31 Inspire: 70 Justice: 77 Jacket: 67 Jobs: 9 Jugs: 48 Jesus: 47 James: 65 Ku: 10 Language: 9, 10, 11 Live: 9, 10, 12, 48, 61, 65 Location: 9, 11 Loom: 19, 20, 25, 31, 34 Lake: 11, 47 Life: 12, 30, 46, 47, 48, 49 Linda Hewson: 60 Law: 61, 64 Lawsuits: 61 Livelihood: 47, 64 Maya: 9, 10, 11, 12, 19, 22, 25, 31, 32, 34, 44, 46, 47 Mesoamerica: 9, 10, 12
Myriad: 70 Museum: 60, 72 Metropolitan: 72 Marroquin: 76 Manufacturing: 74 Machines: 73 Modern: 9, 44, 49, 58 Months: 19, 35, 67, 74 Nicaragua: 10 Nature: 10, 48, 50 Natural: 32, 47, 72 North: 47
Power: 49, 77 Possibilities: 32, 46 Property: 61, 65 Portion: 66 Passed: 48 Pierced: 64, 65 Poor: 11 Quite: 34 Quantities: 65 Quality: 64, 74 Quest: 61, 77
Religious: 11 Ruling: 10 Rivers: 22, 23, 61 Religion: 11, 12 Roman: 12 Rules: 31, 44 Resolution: 22 People: 9, 10, 11, 12, 20, 23, Red: 32 Produce: 64, 70, 74, 77 Recreated: 32 Pieces: 70, 72 Painted: 72 Similarity: 33 Pay: 72 Strap: 19, 20, 25, 31, 34 Purchase: 34, 64, 67, 73 Spun: 34, 35, 72 Price: 74 Solola: 47 Poverty: 61, 74, 77 String: 35 Prosperity: 77 Stories: 20, 44, 51 Positive: 77 Significant: 44, 48 Own: 12, 19, 22, 31, 32, 46, 49, 60, 64, 70, 72 Offerings: 12, 23, 48 Original: 44, 61, 64, 65 Owners: 65
Symbols: 20, 44, 47, 48 Spanish: 10, 11, 12, 44 Threads: 20, 31, 34, 35, Textile: 9, 10, 12, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 31, 32 Tradition: 9, 12, 18, 23,25, Together: 11, 23, 51, 67 Trend: 58, 67 Used: 9, 11, 25, 31, 32 Unfortunate: 67 University: 72 Volcanoes: 48 Vivid: 19, 48 Vision: 20, 48, 61 Value: 22, 23, 67, 73 Village: 11, 48, 70, 72 World: 10, 20, 23, 44, 47 Woven: 19, 34, 35, 38 Women: 11, 19, 22, 23, 32, 48, 49, 64, 70, 72, 73 Wool: 32, 35, 71 Wear: 44, 49, 67, 70, 80 Younger: 12,64,66 Zig Zags: 51
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This book discusses how the materiality of weaving and wearing clothes parallels the construction of personhood among the Maya in Mesoamerica. Maya clothing is famed for the bright colors that define local people and exhibit community-bound origin. This book reveals the efficacy of Maya fabric during the process of weaving, in which the selection of colours and thread types affect quality of the finished textile.