Huipil
- Museum number:
- 3-32060
- Permalink:
- ark:/21549/hm21030032060
- Alternate number:
- ACW 5 (previous number (collector's original number))
- Accession number:
- Acc.4798
- Description:
- Huipil, Santa Catarina Palopó, Sololá, Guatemala. ACW #5: Nursing Huipil, Santa Catarina Palopó, Sololá, Guatemala. 66 cm. long when doubled, 81 cm. wide.
- Donor:
- Anne Connell Wilson
- Collection place:
- Santa Catarina Palopó, Sololá, Guatemala
- Culture or time period:
- Kaqchikel
- Collector:
- Anne Connell Wilson
- Collection date:
- July 2009
- Materials:
- Cotton (textile)
- Object type:
- ethnography
- Object class:
- Huipils
- Function:
- 2.1 Daily Garb
- Accession date:
- April 8, 2016
- Department:
- Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean area
- Dimensions:
- length 66 centimeters and width 81 centimeters
- Comment:
- 3 panels, 3 selvage cloth. Rightside seam is partially open to allow nursing on that side. Sides of garment are not sewn together, although presence of thread ends on both sides indicates that huipil may have been sewn together previously. Cut warp ends at one end. Hemmed neckline. Plain weave. Blue warps throughout. Multicolored singlefaced supplementary weft patterning, predominantly blue & green. Purchased from Bertina Lopez Cumez by ACW in SCP in July 2009. Two paper tags at back neckline (removed): —“ACW #5” —“Nursing Huipil, Santa Catarina Palopó, Sololá, Guatemala. Note open seam on one side in front. Purchased from Bertina Lopez Cumez, at her home in SCP, in July 2009, by A. C. Wilson." Notes from conversation with Bertina Lopez Cumez 3/15/17: The thread used to make this huipil was purchased and is pure cotton. Women used to make huipiles out of natural fibers but these come pre-dyed. This huipil depicts butterflies, wildcats, deer, corn, quetzals, peacocks, flowers, milpas (corn leaves or a farm plot). The design Bertina weaves is never drawn out in advance, she has the idea for the design in her head as she works. This it typical of a Santa Catarina huipil. The green horizontal pattern is a traditional Mayan "footprint" or wave design. The other horizontal patterns above are serpents. The weaving tradition of huipiles changed from mostly red to mostly blue in the 1970s as fashion changed. In the 1930s, a red and white striped huipil was more common. Red huipiles are still worn mostly by older women. About half of women or less in Guatemala still wear huipiles.
- Images:
-