The beautiful Huipils and other textiles made by the Mayan women of Guatemala are all hand made. The first step in the process is to clean and spin raw cotton into thread. The thread is then dyed and wrapped around a spindle so it can be managed easier when weaving on a backstrap loom.
Women in Guatemala begin weaving by creating a ‘warp’ out of yarn. They wind the yarn around pegs on a warping board, crossing the strings in the middle to create a striped pattern. The warp is then attached to the bars of the loom and they are ready to begin the weaving process.
Lidia Lopez describing the meanings of the patterns on a huipil from Patzicia, Guatemala.
The Guatemalan woman in this photo is weaving on a backstrap loom, just as her Mayan ancestors have done for centuries.
A tradtional Guatemalan family cooking Pepian and making tortillas.
This is Lidia Lopez, a native Mayan woman from Guatemala, showing some of the textiles she has woven on a backstrap loom.
The women of Guatemala have worn the same traditional dress (called ‘traje’) for centuries. They have passed down the art of weaving these textiles through many generations.