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 [left, 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 is 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 or regions such as the Mixtecs, Chinantecs, Zaucalpa, Triques, and Zapotec who live in southern Mexico or 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.

In many towns, a common sight is the weaver working on a backstrap loom sitting on a mat on the ground in front of her doorway with the opposite end of her loom tied to a post or weaving on it in the marketplace. This simple loom has been used in Mesoamerica for thousands of years and the portable aspect permits women to weave anyplace and at any time. Back strap looms allow the weaver to produce very long pieces of cloth and the width of the cloth produced is limited only by the width of the weaver’s reach very often takes over 8 hours to weave one yard of fabric due to the complexity of its designs. Women usually had several natural types of cotton to work with, white and from wild cotton, coyuche, which produces two shades of brown, light and dark. Since coyuche is not available commercially, it is always handspun on an ancient drop spindle or on a spinning wheel (Prieto, 2007). Different natural dyes were used by the women: jiuquilitl or anil produced different shades of blue, red came from the cochineal, an insect from the nopal cactus that was crushed and dried, tishinda, a seashell produced purple, black was made from the pods of the huisache tree, and nut shells were used for brown.

A huipil begins with a basic rectangle of cloth. This can be a single wide piece from a loom or two or even three narrower pieces called lienzos, which have been laid together lengthwise and then stitched together to form a single piece. The cloth is then folded in half, stitched up the sides leaving an opening for arms, an aspect introduced by the Spanish and then a neckline is cut and finished at the top. Many different types of designs are then added to the cloth usually by intricate embroidery and designs tend to vary by region or village. One of the most interesting things about the huipil is the significance of its design. When the huipil is opened and laid flat, the design creates a cross with the hole for the head in the center and at the heart is the person wearing it. Villages are recognizable by their selection and use of different design motifs and symbols of matter native to Guatemala and Mexico. Classic motifs tended to came more from natural surroundings in the form of geometric patterns that symbolized nature such as hills, flowers, snakes, or stars. Contemporary design motifs, however, include a greater percentage of these motifs than in the past. These motifs include a multitude of flora and fauna. A huipil can have a breastplate, which is considered the door to the huipil through which life enters and leaves, a referent to the “constant metamorphosis” of life (Martinez). A huipil such as a Triqui is not complete without the breastplate that consists of unique designs using a combination of straight, zigzag, and crisscrossed stitches. These weaves and embroidery stitches represent lightening and rain, elements vital for life and many of these motifs have been used for centuries. The sky band or the serpent, the stylized toad symbolizing fertility, the spiny star or stairs in the form of triangles, crosses representing the world tree or the four cardinal directions are designs found on the huipil worn by Lady Xoc in the carving and on the modern day huipil found in Oaxaca and other regions (Bassie-Sweet, 1991; Morris 1987).

Due to civil unrest in Guatemala, many groups visible by their dress had to suppress their use. After the peace agreements were established between the government and the indigenous groups, there has been a strong revival in the weaving and use of indigenous wear and a return to traditional styles and materials in Guatemala. Likewise in Chiapas, the Zapatista movement has brought to the forefront the importance and dignity of indigenous dress, according to Prieto, (2007), “If the indigenous groups of Chiapas are lost, Mexico will lose her soul.” So now there is a resurgence of native wearers of the huipil and an increase of use among young women and many professional women in both Mexico and Guatemala. Women are now wearing huipiles from San Pedro Amusgos, Pinotepa de Don Luis, Jamiltepec, and Huazolotitlán on the Pacific Coast; the Trique Indian towns of the Mixteca Alta region around Tlaxiaco; Yalalag, a Zapotec community in the Sierra of Juárez, the Mazatec town of Huautla de Jimxnez, the Mixe Indian town of Cotzocán, and the Tuxtepec region inhabited by the Chinantec and Cuicatec Indians, including the towns of Valle Nacional, Ojitlán and Usila, among other areas (http://oaxaca-travel.com).]. The huipil is an important dress not only historically, but important for the work and social life of today’s woman who will maintain the importance of the huipil throughout subsequent generations. 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
References on file.