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"Santiago Atitlán is a Tzutujil Maya speaking community located on the south shore of Lake Atitlán. Over ninety-five percent of the town's population are indigenous Maya. The town presents a complex mix of the traditional and the modern, a collision of old with new." "With convenient boat service from the popular Lake Atitlán resort of Panajachel,
many tourists have the opportunity to visit. Both men and women wear "Atitecos believe that wearing the proper costume puts one in the form of the ancestors, a factor of vital importance. At the present time the art of weaving in Santiago Atitlán is in the midst of a renaissance." Robert S. Carlsen has written extensively about Santiago Atitlán in many publications. |
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| CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGER SIZE |
 The embroidery on the bottom of the leg of a man's
purple and white striped pants. This particular fabric was woven and worn before being
discarded in 1977. A detail is shown at the top of this page. There is a large
image ( 230KB) of this pant leg. |
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 The
present day pants from Santiago Atitlán are white with thin purple
strips. They are heavily embroidered on the bottom. |
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 Girls huipil from Santiago Atitlán. There are
also larger detailed images of the front (173K) and the
back (180K) embroidery, the main difference being the
color of the embroidery around the neck opening. |
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| . |  This
woman's huipil was woven before 1960. In it you see the same
purple and white stripes as are in the older pants pictured above. The
present day huipiles have a grid pattern for the embroider similar
to the girl's huipil above. The huipiles are worn with red cortes
[skirts]. |
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| . |   The
rebozo on the right is typical of Santiago Atitlan, the one on the
left is from San Pedro la Laguna. In the rebozo from Santiago, the
ikat forms verticle rows of black and white squares; in San Pedro, the
rows of black and white squares are alternated with rows of black and
colored squares. |
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To contact us write: Arte Maya Tz'utuhil, P.O. Box 40391, San
Francisco, CA 94140. Telephone: (415) 282-7654.
Email me at
All paintings and photographs Copyright © 1988–2015 Arte Maya Tz'utuhil |
traje in
Santiago as in many other lake communities. In front of the Assembly of God mission, an
aged and serene Tzutujil woman who daily spins cotton using a drop spindle attracts the
tourists. For a few pesos, a woman will wrap her head with the long headribbon or cinta
that resembles a halo when in place. One can buy traditional textiles in a wide range of
colors. Women backstrap-loom and embroider their lovely huipiles, as well as the
pants worn by men. Children dress as their parents do."
