TRAJE EN GUATEMALA
Undoubtedly the most colorfully costumed people in the Americas are the
Highland Maya of Guatemala. While traditional native dress has disappeared in
many parts of the world, Guatemala remains a place where a high percentage of
the indigenous people still proudly wear their traditional dress called
traje. Moreover, in Guatemala, Maya traje is village-specific or
language-group related. Thus, with dozens of Indian towns and villages, and 21
different Mayan ethnolinguistic groups represented, the variety of indigenous
costume is truly dazzling. The photos on this website will give you an
introduction to a few of these astonishing and beautiful modes of native dress
in Guatemala, and the fascinating and dignified Highland Mayan people who wear
them.
NEBAJ, Departamento de Quiché
Nebaj is a town high in the Altos Cuchumatanes mountains. The people of
Nebaj, and neighboring Cotzal and Chajul speak Ixil, one of Guatemala's smaller
ethnolinguistic groups. The three towns define the "Ixil Triangle", an area
very hard hit by army and guerrilla activity in the early 1980s.
The Nebaj woman's costume is one of the
most striking in Guatemala, and has won top awards in international pageants
of traditional costume. A red corte or skirt, with yellow stripes, is
held up by a woven faja (belt or sash). The huipil (traditional
square-cut blouse) is heavily decorated with embroidered designs, and worn with
an all-purpose shawl draped over one shoulder or used to sling a baby. The
ensemble is topped with an elaborate headdress skillfully wrapped into the
hair. (Photo 8/86.)
In this family group standing in the plaza
of Nebaj the father wears the distinctive chaqueta or open jacket, and a
locally made hat of plaited palma (palm straw), plus a western-style
sweater and pants. As is common in Guatemala, the man has adopted some western
dress, as factory-made clothing is practical and much cheaper than the
traditional handwoven and decorated clothing. Women are more faithful to
tradition, and weaving skills are highly desirable attributes in a young woman
seeking a husband. Here the daughter is dressed similarly to her mother, but
in this somewhat unusual case, with a huipil more elaborately decorated than
that worn by the mother. Commonly, little girls' huipiles are simpler
than those of adults, and become more intricately decorated as the girls become
practiced in weaving and sewing skills. (Photo 8/77.)
Four young girls at a Nebaj street corner
(8/77).
SANTIAGO ATITLÁN, Departamento de Sololá
Santiago is a Tz'utujiil Maya town built on a lava flow on the south shore of
Lago Atitlán. The town is a popular day trip for tourists who boat
across from Panajachel on the north side of the lake, to see its ancient church and the unusual indigenous
costume of Santiago. (Photo 2/74.) The men of
Santiago, as is typical of villages and towns around the lake, wear short
calzoncillos (pants), practical for men who spend much of their time
fishing, boating, gathering reeds, and other activities related to the lake.
(Photo 8/88.) The women of Santiago wear a
huipil of purple-striped white cloth, embroidered with fanciful figures
of animals, birds and flowers. (Photo 2/74.) But the most striking feature of
their costume, illustrated on the Guatemalan 25-centavo coin, is the headdress
made of a long cinta wrapped around and around the head to form a disc.
Traditionally, the women of Santiago weave the cloth for their huipiles
themselves, on a backstrap loom as seen here.
(Photo 2/74.)
Near the town docks three little girls from
Santiago, and a playmate from another town, greet tourists with smiles and
giggles. (Photo 6/88.) Here, 3 men of Santiago paddle by in a typical Santiago boat, a dugout canoe with
nailed on freeboard of sawn lumber added, and a tipped-up prow to break
through the waves that come up on windy days. (Photo 7/79.)
SAN JUAN SACATEPÉQUEZ, Departamento de Sacatepéquez
A Kaqchikel woman sitting in the plaza of
San Juan, in front of the cabildo (city hall). The mauve and gold
huipil of the women of San Juan is unmistakable. (Photo 8/69.)
AGUACATÁN, Departamento de Huehuetenango
The headdress is an important article of women's clothing in many Highland Maya
towns. One of the most beautiful is that worn by Aguatecas, who, although they have largely given up weaving their
own huipiles and skirt material, still take great pride in making their
headwraps. The Aguateca headwrap consists of a 2-3 inch wide
cinta richly decorated with brocaded designs, and terminated at each
end with large tassels. It is worn wrapped around and around the long hair,
which is pulled across the forehead, with the full width of the cinta
exposed across the top of the head, and the tassels dangling at each side.
(Photo 5/93.)
SACAPULAS, Departamento de Quiché
Narrower headbands tipped with fat round pom-poms are the style in Sacapulas,
a town well off the normal tourist routes. Viewed from the front, the pom-poms
are the dominant feature, even to the point of hiding the actual headband of
this Sacapulas market woman selling fruit
and black salt from a roadside stand. (Photo 7/00.) Another friendly woman
took great delight in weaving a Sacapulas headdress
into the long blonde hair of an unusual visitor. (Photo 6/87.)
SANTA CATARINA PALOPÓ, Departamento de Sololá
Santa Catarina is another of the villages perched on the shores of Lago
Atitlán. Legend has it there are 12 Atitlán villages, one for
each of Christ's disciples, but of course many of the villages pre-date the
conquest and introduction of Christianity. Here a young girl of Santa Catarina demonstrates her weaving skills on the
backstrap loom, while a second, probably her sister, watches the photographer.
Note that the weaver is working with red cloth, but that her huipil is
almost completely covered with embroidery in pink and other colors. The
huipil of the second girl is mainly blue. Both huipiles are
covered with small embroidered geometric figures. Since this photo was taken
in 8/77, red Santa Catarina huipiles have been largely replaced by
huipiles completely dominated by deep blue, enlivened by geometric
spots of other colors, including hot pink, a distinctly modern touch.
SAN PEDRO LA LAGUNA, Departamento de Sololá
Not all the cloth used in traje is woven at home. Much is produced
commercially in well-known weaving centers such as Totonicapán and in
large factories such as that at Cantel, near Quetzaltenango. Stores and
travelling merchants sell commercially produced cloth all over the country by
the vara (approx. 33 inches) cut from bolts. It is used mainly for
skirts, but also for huipiles in some towns. This woman from Totonicapán offers a wide variety of cloth for
sale in the plaza of San Pedro La Laguna on the southwest side of Lago
Atitlán. (Photo 6/89.)
TODOS SANTOS CUCHUMATÁN, Departamento de Huehuetenango
Snuggled in a valley high in the Altos Cuchumatanes, well off the usual tourist
routes, lies the Mam town of Todos Santos. This town was the site of a famous
anthropological/ethnological study by Maude Oakes, described in her book
The Two Crosses of Todos Santos (1951). Here we see a young Mam man standing by the two crosses,
located in an archeological site on a knob above the town. (Photo 8/77.) He
wears the bold red and white-striped calzoncillo worn by all the Todos
Santos men, complete with a dark blue-black wool sobrepantelón
(literally "overpant") split up the front so that it hangs loosely and serves
little actual body-covering function. Todos Santos is the only village in
Guatemala where the sobrepantelón is still commonly in daily use;
in 1977 its use was near-universal among Todos Santos men, but today it is in
decline. In other villages it is used only for ceremony, if at all.
A camisa (shirt) with narrow vertical stripes and a wide, heavily
embroidered collar, topped off by a western-style straw hat, and a wool jacket
completes his outfit. A few decades back the men's pants tended to be more
white with red stripes, and some white pants with a red plaid striping were
worn. But in recent years the white has become reduced and the pants are more
red with white stripes today. In contrast to some Indian men from other towns
(who may wear their traditional costume in their home town, but switch to
western-style clothing for travel outside) the men from Todos Santos travel to
Huehuetenango and further, to Guatemala City upon occasion, still decked out
in full traje, proudly proclaiming their origins.
A Mam woman of Todos Santos shows off her
weavings in her house to a visitor, in hopes of a sale. Her huipil is
made of a red- and white-striped cloth, but the exposed portion is so heavily
covered with brocaded designs that the basic cloth is hidden; the white collar
ruffle is decorated with rickrack and/or braid. The women of Todos Santos
weave the cloth for the clothing of their men and children, and the children of Todos Santos are dressed just like
their elders. (Photos 8/77.)
Here's a view along the main street in Todos Santos on market day (every
Saturday). Note one man with the overpants
along with another who has dispensed with this traditional garment, as have
many young men of Todos Santos. (Photo 6/01.)
SAN JUAN ATITÁN, Departamento de Huehetenango
Another mountain village where both men and women dress in traje is
San Juan Atitán. The red camisa and flat straw hats show that
this man and his son, photographed 5/93 in
the departmental capital, Huehuetenango, are from San Juan.
The San Juan Atitán men's traje
is really one of the most distinctive and elegant in all Guatemala. (Photo
6/01.) The shirt has a long squared-off collar, made of two layers of cloth
stitched up around the edges, but with an opening that permits the dangling
collar ends to be used as pockets. A black or dark brown wool capixay
(a sort of pullover with partly open, short and mostly non-functional sleeves)
is worn over the red shirt, and held in place by a sash. The pants are white,
and plain. Some San Juan men still wear hand-cobbled caites (leather
sandals) with high heel cups, very similar in overall design, though not as
ornate, as the sandals worn by Classic Maya kings portrayed on stelae. In
recent years many men have taken to modern footwear, probably reflecting some
economic gains by the community. The men's ensemble is typically completed
with a distinctive straw hat and a gaily decorated morral, i.e.,
utility bag with shoulder strap (an item that is popular among Mayan men from
many other villages). Although some adaptation to western clothing is taking
place, many men of San Juan still proudly dress in full traje. (Photo 6/01.)
School lets out in San Juan Atitán, and Maya children in traje like their elders in miniature pour
jubilantly into the streets. Apparently the yellow straw hats of the
Atitán men come with age, as only the older schoolboys wear them. Note
the very strong preservation of custom in this town; only a few children are
not in traje. This may reflect the fact that San Juan Atitán is
a relatively inaccessible mountain town, in far western Guatemala, a long way
from the capital city and major centers of tourism, i.e., outside influences.
(Photo 7/99.) Which is not to say that traje is static, for even while
maintaining their customs the Maya exhibit changing styles: by 2008 more purple
was fashionable amongst San Juan men, as exemplified by this father and son. (Photo 10/08)
SAN MATEO IXTATÁN, Departamento de Huehuetenango
San Mateo Ixtatán is located in far northwestern Guatemala, near the
border with the Mexican state of Chiapas. Like many of the Mayan towns in
Guatemala, it is a site occupied since precolumbian times. The people of San
Mateo speak Chuj, a language related to the Tzeltal-Tzotzil idiom spoken in
parts of the neighboring Chiapas. The huipil worn by the women of San Mateo is unlike any other
Guatemalan huipil. It is voluminous, made of two layers of white
cotton cloth, extensively and heavily embroidered on both sides so that it is
reversible, with essentially the same design inside and out. The embroidered
area is a large circle, centered on the neck hole, mainly of red, and
containing large bold stars. The huipil is very heavy, appropriate for
the cool climate of this high mountain town. (Photo 1/74.)
Huipiles from San Mateo are often sold in well known markets such as
Chichicastenango, but the buyer should be on the lookout for low quality
huipiles made expressly for sale to tourists. These characteristically
are relatively small, made of a single layer of cloth, and embroidered with
large stitches on one side only. Tourists wishing to purchase higher quality
goods might do well to consider buying used huipiles. In general,
clothing that the indigenas have made for their personal use will be of
better quality than work made for the tourist trade.
SOLOLÁ, Departamento de Sololá
Sololá, the capital of the department of that name, is an important
Kaqchikel town in which much colorful traditional dress can be seen.
Solotecos wear a striped camisa and differently striped
pantalón, and Solotecas wear a striped huipil;
red is the dominant color in these garments, with many other colors skillfully
blended in. The jaspe or ikat technique is used in weaving the striped
cloth. In ikat, some thread is tie-dyed prior to the weaving of the cloth,
and then woven in to produce a distinctive "blurry" pattern. The finished
clothing may be further embellished with embroidered geometric designs. In
this family group the man can be seen
wearing a rodillera or wool kilt-like wraparound worn over the
pantalón. (Photo 8/69.) The man's outfit is commonly completed
with a short white or brown wool chaqueta decorated with braid, as this
man is wearing. (Photo 10/08) Today,
most of the Solotecos wear factory made straw cowboy hats.
A vendor from Sololá hawks his
wares at the Chichicastenago market. (Photo 8/69.)
A couple from Sololá selling
vegetables in the produce market at Chichicastenango.
NAHUALÁ, Departamento de Sololá
Although their town is right on the Pan American highway, the people of
Nahualá, both men and women, have largely maintained the custom of
wearing traje. The men of Nahualá and Nahualá's sister
town Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán, wear a wool kilt instead of
pantalones. The Nahualá man's camisa is typically dyed
dark blackish purple or bright red, and finished with broad golden cuffs and
collar of European origin. In recent times camisas of other colors,
including bright orange and lime green, have gained favor. Western cowboy
style straw hats have also become popular here. This Nahualense was photographed 6/01 in the market at
Chichicastenango; perhaps his large wool morral is filled with
purchases.
Manuela is an affable but shrewd
Nahualá woman who very willingly poses for photos, all the while
encouraging the visitor to come to her house to see what she has for sale.
(Photo 8/96.) In addition to her native K'iche' idiom, she is fluent
in Spanish, as are most of the better educated and economically successful
indigenas. However, in backwoods parts of Guatemala, many of the Maya
speak only their native tongue, whichever of 21 different Maya-derived
languages this may happen to be.
CHICHICASTENANGO, Departamento de Quiché
Chichicastenango, a K'iche' Maya town, is an important regional market,
and a good place to see a wide variety of traditional costume. However,
"Chichi" has become so popular with tourists, that, much like Santiago
Atitlán, it has lost some of the picturesque charm it had in the less
hectic 1960s. Market days are Sundays and Thursdays, and the steps to the
400-year-old church of Santo Tomás are always crowded with vendors and
worshippers. The market stalls crowd practically up to the foot of the steps,
where these fruit vendors were photographed
in 8/69. The huipil of Chichicastenango can always be recognized by a
distinctive symbolic sunburst design around the neckhole. Men of Chichi are
known as Maxeños, and the Maxeño traje, which is not worn on a daily basis by
the majority, is one of the most elegant in all Guatemala.
ZACUALPA, Departamento de Quiché
One of the boldest colored of all the many huipiles in Guatemala can be
see in Zacualpa, another Quiché Maya town. Here women wear a highly
distinctive huipil that features a
rich purple shoulder yoke of a soft thread woven in a zigzag pattern. Below
the yoke, the rest of the huipil is bright red, accented with narrow
white and green lines. (Photo 7/00.) Zacualpeñas commonly fold
their tzutes (all purpose utility cloths) when not in use, and wear
them on their heads as this Zacualpa woman
at the Chichi market is doing. (Photo 8/99.)
The traditional Zacualpa huipil pattern has been adapted for the
production of purple and red bedspreads, and further modified to other color
combinations such as green and gold. The bedspreads are attractive, but wholly
a modern product for tourism.
SAN MARTÍN SACATEPÉQUEZ, Departamento de Quetzaltenango
San Martín Sacatepéquez, more commonly known as San Martín
Chile Verde, is home to one of the most distinctive men's outfits in all
Guatemala. Consisting mainly of a shirt and three-quarter length pants in
white cloth, the pants held up by a red faja (sash), this otherwise
simple white garment is given bold dashes of color by heavily embroidered cuffs
on the trousers, and even more strikingly colored sleeves sewn into the shirt.
This young Maya man, whose name happens to be Martín, was carrying a heavy load of firewood down from the
mountain and allowed himself to be photographed in exchange for a ride!
(Photo 8/00.)
Unfortunately, the wearing of this costume is becoming less common in San
Martín, and as this photo suggests, the younger generations may fail to carry on the custom. (Photo 8/00.)
The collection of photos on this website merely hints at the great variety of
beautiful traje to be seen in Guatemala. If colorful costume, exquisite
weaving skills and traditions, and fascinating people interest you, you should
plan a visit to Guatemala.
Would you like to see these beautiful people in person? If so, click here:
Rutahsa's Central American excursions
For more views of Chichicastenango, click here: Chichi market
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Comments or questions can be sent to rfinch@graterutabaga.com
SELECTED REFERENCES:
Altman, Patricia B., and West, Caroline D., 1992, Threads of Identity:
Maya Costume of the 1960s in Highland Guatemala: Los Angeles,
Fowler Museum of Cultural History, UCLA, 191 p.
Deuss, Krystyna, 1990, Indian Costumes from Guatemala, 2nd ed.: Printed
in the U.K., 72 p.
Osborne, Lilly de Jongh, 1965, Indian Crafts of Guatemala and
El Salvador: Norman, OK, Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 385 p.
Schevill, Margo Blum, ed., 1997, The Maya Textile Tradition: Harry N.
Abrams, Inc., Pubs., 232 p.
Vecchiato, Gianni, 1989, Guatemala Rainbow: San Francisco, Pomegranate
Artbooks, n.p.
Photos on this website by Janie and Ric Finch, @copyrighted.