I wanted to talk a little bit about the significance and history of the traditional techniques and designs that Y’abal uses and the implications of an organization like Y’abal. Traje, traditional Mayan clothing, is intricately embroidered huipiles (blouses) and colorfully woven skirts traditionally woven and worn primarily by women.

Traje is worn almost exclusively by women—there has actually been an increase in the number of women who wear traje throughout the 20^th century and a sharp decrease in the number of men who wear traje, partly aided by the introduction of commercialized dying and spinning of yarn at the end of the 19^th century. Women who before did not have the time or the money to make enough of even the simplest traje for their families (and instead often wore plain huipiles or Victorian blouses) were suddenly able to focus on elaborate designs, intricate embroidery, and regional symbols.

During the 30 year Guatemalan civil war, traje became an extremely important statement–the intentional wearing or not wearing of traditional clothing, particularly by women, stood to symbolize personally constructed identity (specifically as Mayan or Non-Mayan) and community solidarity. The wearing of traje designs from different communities and municipalities (each municipality has it’s own very specific design and patterning) became a symbol of a unified Maya identity, rather than allegiance to solely one’s municipality.

And again, the context and significance of traje is shifting. As CAFTA has opened the global market cheap dyed threads, the possibility of exporting these traditional arts abroad, and tourism in Guatemala increases, questions of weaver and wearer, art versus handicraft, traditional passage of rite versus apprenticeship and don’t always necessarily have straightforward solutions. Sometimes that can be difficult, can make ‘the girl effect’ seem like a simplicity one’s organization will never reach. But I think, especially in the age of the sound bite, sometimes the asking, the gray, can be just as important.

I’d love to hear what you think.

A