Kathy Sosa
La Reyna Huipilista, 2007
Oil portrait collage
Courtesy of the artist
Kathy Sosa
Claire #1, 2007
Oil portrait collage
Courtesy of the artist
To wear a huipíl in 2007, is to wear a huipil like Lady Xoc wore around A.D. 725 in Yaxchilan, Chiapas, Mexico. In the Maya civilization, Lady Xoc was considered to be a very prominent and powerful woman and in an ancient Maya limestone carving she is shown wearing a huipil [see above, Lintel 24]. This places the huipil as early as the Maya Late Classic period (Martin, 2004), yet this timeless and feminine form of dress continues to inspire women in the Americas with its traditional strength. The huipil has “survived regional invasions by other Precolumbian cultures, withstood the ‘collapse’ of the ancient Classic Maya civilization, endured the onslaught of a brutal Spanish conquest, and eventually flourished in passive resistance to foreign rule” (Woven Voices: Textile Traditions, 2001). Though the weaving of the huipil has been transformed since early times it has remained true to indigenous traditions. To wear a huipil is to elegantly declare ones’ identity, history, and culture in the tumult of contemporary life.
Clothes had immense cultural implications for the Maya and other indigenous groups for they believed that clothing could “transform a person and a person could transform the garment.” Huipiles were made for everyday wear as well as in more elaborate styles for ceremonial occasions and may last as long as 30 years or longer. A huipil is a loose rectangular garment with a hole in the middle for the head and made from cotton or wool or even silk. They can be in the form of a blouse or a long dress and are worn by indigenous women in Mexico and Guatemala. The Spanish term huipil is a derivation of the Nahuatl word huipoopi meaning blouse. The huipil can be worn loose or tucked into a skirt. The skirt was called a cueitl and to say skirt and blouse, one said cueitl huipilli, which is also a metaphor for woman. Lovely, isn’t it?
Then like now, a huipil tells us about the woman who wove it and the woman who wears it; it tells us the story of who she is, where she from, her social and marital status, her religion, her power, and something about her personality. Each region and the villages within the regions have their own huipiles that are distinctive in shape, design, style, and color. Their differences spell out the story that is contained in the weaving. The huipil is found among native groups such as the Mixtecs, Chinantecs, Zaucalpa, Triques, and Zapotec who live in southern Mexico and in Guatemala. In the indigenous world for women to weave textiles was and is now again considered an important form of art. For to weave motifs that reflected nature, religious, and cosmic concepts meant that women had to incorporate many different meanings in the huipil through the use of colors and symbols.
The huipil will continue to reflect femininity, identity, strength, tradition, values, and, of course, culture throughout time.
Ellen Riojas Clark, Ph. D.
Professor
Division of Bicultural Bilingual Studies
University of Texas at San Antonio
Clothes had immense cultural implications for the Maya and other indigenous groups for they believed that clothing could “transform a person and a person could transform the garment.” Huipiles were made for everyday wear as well as in more elaborate styles for ceremonial occasions and may last as long as 30 years or longer. A huipil is a loose rectangular garment with a hole in the middle for the head and made from cotton or wool or even silk. They can be in the form of a blouse or a long dress and are worn by indigenous women in Mexico and Guatemala. The Spanish term huipil is a derivation of the Nahuatl word huipoopi meaning blouse. The huipil can be worn loose or tucked into a skirt. The skirt was called a cueitl and to say skirt and blouse, one said cueitl huipilli, which is also a metaphor for woman. Lovely, isn’t it?
Then like now, a huipil tells us about the woman who wove it and the woman who wears it; it tells us the story of who she is, where she from, her social and marital status, her religion, her power, and something about her personality. Each region and the villages within the regions have their own huipiles that are distinctive in shape, design, style, and color. Their differences spell out the story that is contained in the weaving. The huipil is found among native groups such as the Mixtecs, Chinantecs, Zaucalpa, Triques, and Zapotec who live in southern Mexico and in Guatemala. In the indigenous world for women to weave textiles was and is now again considered an important form of art. For to weave motifs that reflected nature, religious, and cosmic concepts meant that women had to incorporate many different meanings in the huipil through the use of colors and symbols.
The huipil will continue to reflect femininity, identity, strength, tradition, values, and, of course, culture throughout time.
Ellen Riojas Clark, Ph. D.
Professor
Division of Bicultural Bilingual Studies
University of Texas at San Antonio