Okay morning glories, here’s the story - I bought this beautiful huipil shown above about eight years ago in a shop in Oaxaca. I bought it mostly because it looked good on me, it felt good to wear it and the handfeel was nice as it was used and had clearly been washed many times. This was one of those pieces of clothing that felt like an old friend.
It was only after I had owned the piece for several months that I started to notice some things. First I saw there were letters and numbers woven into the design. When I looked more closely I noticed the letters USA and tuyo were woven into the shoulder panels. Whoa!!! This was some skillful weaving in that the designs were almost hidden, barely visible. The weaver had used color as camouflage. But once you started looking, you just kept seeing more and more. The piece was revealing itself to me but slowly. It was striped red, white and blue (with the faintest shot of silver thread through it as is the fashion in some communities). And then, and I couldn’t believe my eyes at first, I saw dollar signs woven into the center panel of the garment. What? American flag? USA? $$$ ? Made on a backstrap loom in Guatemala? What exactly was going on here?
I asked some anthropologists friends and textile loving friends including the shopkeeper I bought the piece from. We all had our theories but they were just that. No one really knew.
With a little bit of research and a false start or two and mostly the help of Deborah Chandler’s 2009 book Guatemalan Woven Wealth, I was able to identify the place my piece was made as coming from San Juan Atitlan near Huehuetenango. There appears to be a custom here of weaving words into their clothing. Chandlers book had an example that said “Feliz” And “Corazón” And even one that said “Estados Unidos”. I have also seen pieces that said “Japan” and “Pepsi”. But none of the examples were as skillfully woven as mine, a real masterpiece.
I mean what exactly is going on here? Is there some longing for faraway places and things? Or have they always woven items of desire into their clothing? Do they put prayers for things they want and places they want to see into the garment? It used to be a good harvest and health now it’s Pepsi and dollar signs? Has literacy replaced age old symbolism or is this innovation? And what’s with those commercial round red flower pieces sewn on the shoulders? You’ll notice I’m using a lot of question marks.
And so this, dear reader, is what is propelling me to leave the comforts of my little home in Oregon and venture into the outback’s of Guatemala. Maybe, and it’s a big maybe, if I venture out to this village of which I know pretty much nothing, except it will take me an hour to traverse the 15 mile road from the state capital to its town square, just maybe I can find someone who can tell me more about what’s happening in this work. The huipil is definitely talking to me. I’m just not sure what it’s saying. And San Juan Atitlan may be the only place I can find a translator. So wish me luck. And fingers crossed I won’t take a wrong turn and I’ll stay open to whatever happens.
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