Zinacantan is probably the wealthiest indigenous community in Chiapas. Both
men and women wear traditional clothing. Women wear a black wrap skirt, folded
in front of their bodies, and a blouse-like one-web huipil. The huipil is
white and decorated with floral or geometric embroidered designs. A
rectangular cape is also worn. The men are well known for their dramatic
embroidered ponchos, sometimes topped with a small blue scarf. Generally,
western shirts and pants are worn under the ponchos.
In the 90's, the major color of the capes, huipiles, and ponchos was pink.
Embroidery on the capes and ponchos was small and confined to the margins. An
amazing transformation has occurred since then. Embroidery on the huipiles is
now often black and purple. The capes and ponchos are also dark and covered
all over with dense machine embroidery. Blue and purple colors predominate.
Women’s skirts now often have a broad horizontal band of machine embroidery
that matches the embroidery on their capes. Wealthier men and women commission
new outfits for the two major town fiestas which occur in January and August.
Used clothing which is outdated is sold to tourists or shops in San Cristobal.
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Entering the artisanal workshop.
The entrance to the artisanal workshop is quite modest and is only
announced by a small child's dress hanging on a hanger.
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Inside the artisanal workshop.
Inside the artisanal workshop, we find some women working at the loom,
and many clothes on display for sale.
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A weaver demonstrating the craft.
Working on backstrap looms, these weavers are utilizing methods passed
down through generations to combine old-world symbolism with new colors
and designs. Their most striking textiles are the huipiles woven as
ceremonial garments and women’s attire.
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Huipiles are traditional, loose fitting women’s blouses, handwoven by
panel and sewn together flat. Mayan huipiles vary in style throughout
the culturally distinct regions of Chiapas and distinguish the wearer
by their locale. Blouses in the blusa Maya style are modern
adaptations, with traditional symbols rendered in bright colors never
envisioned by their makers’ ancestors.
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Conversation between women.
A group of women chat as one combs a young woman's hair.
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Traditional Maya kitchen.
Usually cooking is done in a separate building then the main house. If
so, the structure is the same style, so often you will see two Mayan
palapa buildings together.
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Even though cooking is done on an open fire, the buildings are wood
and thatch. The fires are on the ground and surrounded by rocks.
Usually the fires are mainly used to boils things in pots or make hand
made tortillas on a comal (flat metal pan).
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A young woman makes tortillas.
Women and girls make tortillas on the ko ben, a sheet of metal
placed on three stones above a wood fire. Dried corn kernals are ground
to a flour, mixed with calcium carbonate, and then boiled to a
paste-like consistency. The resulting mixture is a dough called
masa harina. Small balls of masa harina are hand-patted
into disks that are cooked.
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The tortilla is the most commonly eaten food item of the Maya and of
all Mexicans.
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Homemade traditional Mayan drink.
We taste traditional homemade Mayan drinks.
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Mezcal, sometimes spelled mescal, is a distilled alcoholic beverage
made from any type of agave. The word mezcal comes from Nahuatl
mexcalli, which means "oven-cooked agave". Traditionally the
word "mezcal" has been used generally in Mexico for all agave spirits
and it continues to be used for many agave spirits whether these
spirits have been legally certified as "mezcal" or not, and it is also
considered a drink of artisan origin.
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A variant made specifically from the blue agave became the tequila. It
spread further to the rest of Mexico and parts of what is now the
southern United States via trade routes.
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In the 21st century, mezcal is still made from the heart of the agave
plant, called the piña, in much the same way as it was 200
years ago. In Mexico, mezcal is generally consumed straight and has a
strong smoky flavor. Though other types of mezcal are not as popular
as tequila, Mexico does export the product.
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See more at
Mezcal - Wikipedia.
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Traditional wedding costumes from Zinacantán.
Tourists in mock wedding ceremony.
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For their weddings, Zinacantán women wear the k'uk'umal chilil,
an elaborately woven huipil (long blouse). White feathers are
woven among the colored borders of these wedding dresses, which are
nearly long enough to reach the ground. Under the huipil, the
bride wears a finely hand woven and embroidered navy blue woolen
skirt. The bride's white dress takes approximately five months to
weave on a back strap loom.
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The people of Zinacantán say that the hen is a domestic animal that
has feathers but cannot fly, walks on two legs just like people, is
dependent on them for its nourishment, and is always near the house
even when it runs loose. So the feathers that women weave into the
bridal garment represent the attitude of the hen, which the bride is
expected to adopt: she will not leave the household, even though she
is capable of doing so, and she will shape a relationship of
interdependence with her husband. Hence the feathers are a symbol of
good marriage, as are the three borders of multicolored embroidery.
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In addition to the long blouse and the navy blue skirt, the bride
wears a long white embroidered shawl which covers most of her head and
face during the marriage ceremony.
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Zinacantán men wear short pants and a knee-length cotón (a sleeveless
garment made of one piece of hand-woven fabric sewn up the sides to
the armpits, with a cut-out for inserting the head). The cotón is
fastened with a wide red cotton belt wrapped several times around the
waist and knotted. Over that, a man wears a hand-woven and embroidered
pink fabric vest with long, elaborate tassels. A large scarf wraps
around the man's head, either with or without multi-colored ribbons
trailing down his back, and over the scarf the men wear a handmade hat
woven of palm fronds, long colorful ribbons cascading from the peak of
the sombrero.
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See also
Source
Location
