At EntreMundos we hold weekly conferences on various social, political, and culture issues in Guatemala. Last month was dedicated entirely to Mayan culture and we learned about traditional Mayan food (learning to cook some pretty mean dishes!), Mayan women and discrimination, values and rights of Mayan people, as well as typical Mayan clothing.
Leti came to speak to the group about the traditional Mayan dress (traje) for women, its history and significance. The history of how it was initiated was quite surprising.
One of the most distinctive and ornate pieces of female traditional clothing is the blouse known as the huipil - a large shirt made of two rectangular pieces of heavy cloth sewn together with no tailoring or shape other than a hole for the head. It seems that the huipil has been worn long before the Spaniards arrived in the 16th century, but it was the Spaniards who imposed and instituted different huipiles to identify people from villages and to establish class and slave organizational structures.
According to Leti, Mayan women began to alter these imposed "uniforms" and adapted them with different shapes, forms, and colors that reflected the Mayan cosmovision.
The huipil's design creates a cross with the hole for the head in the center, which symbolically places the woman at the center of her universe, and is surrounded by levels of meaning and symbols.
The corte, or large and long rectangular piece of cloth worn as a wraparound skirt, is also decorated with bright colors woven into complex patterns. Leti explained the corte she was wearing that day. The skirt is divided into four main points which represent the four cardinal directions- north, south, east and west. In addition, the skirt is further divided by lines into 260 parts which represent the 260 days of the Mayan spiritual calendar.
The prices of the traditional dress are astounding; making it economically inaccessible for many Mayan women and girls. A huipil can range anywhere between 400 and 2,000 quetzals ($50 and $263) and cortes usually range between 800 and 1,200 quetzals ($105 and $157)!
The rampant oppression and discrimination during the 36-year civil war and which resulted in the deaths of 200,000 civilians, mostly indigenous communities, had a tremendous impact on Mayan traditional dress. For fear of being persecuted or even indiscriminately killed, many Maya either wore the clothing of other regions or completely abandoned their traditional dress. With the signing of the peace accords in 1996, for the first time since the Spanish conquest, the Mayan people of Guatemala were recognized as equal under Guatemalan law. The accords stated that their constitutional right to wear indigenous dress must be respected and guaranteed in all areas of national life. There is still much to be done to combat the discrimination and racism that persists and put into practice the respect for the Mayan culture. But at least the accords have created a space in which Mayan communities are relatively free to promote their culture and women (and men) can feel relatively secure and proud in expressing their identity through the use of the traditional dress.
Leti came to speak to the group about the traditional Mayan dress (traje) for women, its history and significance. The history of how it was initiated was quite surprising.
One of the most distinctive and ornate pieces of female traditional clothing is the blouse known as the huipil - a large shirt made of two rectangular pieces of heavy cloth sewn together with no tailoring or shape other than a hole for the head. It seems that the huipil has been worn long before the Spaniards arrived in the 16th century, but it was the Spaniards who imposed and instituted different huipiles to identify people from villages and to establish class and slave organizational structures.
According to Leti, Mayan women began to alter these imposed "uniforms" and adapted them with different shapes, forms, and colors that reflected the Mayan cosmovision.
The huipil's design creates a cross with the hole for the head in the center, which symbolically places the woman at the center of her universe, and is surrounded by levels of meaning and symbols.
The corte, or large and long rectangular piece of cloth worn as a wraparound skirt, is also decorated with bright colors woven into complex patterns. Leti explained the corte she was wearing that day. The skirt is divided into four main points which represent the four cardinal directions- north, south, east and west. In addition, the skirt is further divided by lines into 260 parts which represent the 260 days of the Mayan spiritual calendar.
The prices of the traditional dress are astounding; making it economically inaccessible for many Mayan women and girls. A huipil can range anywhere between 400 and 2,000 quetzals ($50 and $263) and cortes usually range between 800 and 1,200 quetzals ($105 and $157)!
The rampant oppression and discrimination during the 36-year civil war and which resulted in the deaths of 200,000 civilians, mostly indigenous communities, had a tremendous impact on Mayan traditional dress. For fear of being persecuted or even indiscriminately killed, many Maya either wore the clothing of other regions or completely abandoned their traditional dress. With the signing of the peace accords in 1996, for the first time since the Spanish conquest, the Mayan people of Guatemala were recognized as equal under Guatemalan law. The accords stated that their constitutional right to wear indigenous dress must be respected and guaranteed in all areas of national life. There is still much to be done to combat the discrimination and racism that persists and put into practice the respect for the Mayan culture. But at least the accords have created a space in which Mayan communities are relatively free to promote their culture and women (and men) can feel relatively secure and proud in expressing their identity through the use of the traditional dress.
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