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A "corte" on the loom. (32K)
A treadle loom. (39K)
The corte is woven on a treadle loom and includes ikot. Ikot, to over simplify a very complicated process, is a dyeing technique like tie dying only the tread is dyed before the cloth is woven. I personally think that the corte of Santiago is the finest in all of Guatemala.
A "corte" being woven for a
Maria Mendoza using ikot to
personalize her regalia.
A Mayan from Santiago with a
rebozo on her shoulder. (33K)
"Rebozos" are the all-purpose cloth. They serve all kinds of needs from raincoat to baby-carrier, to shopping bag, to dishrag. They act as padding when carrying things on their head. Young woman will coyly hide behind them if some cute young man looks their way.
A Guatemalan 25-cent coin. The woman is from Santiago and wears a xk'op. See below. *
The xk'op is a colorful belt that must be a good twenty meters long. It is wrapped around a woman's head and looks like a very thick brimmed hat with no crown. I find it to be the most exotic aspect of the Santiago traje, though the "Atitecas", as they are called, are anything but mundane looking without them.
Some Atitecas in traje.
In fact between the colorful clothing, the vibrant foliage, the enormous volcanos and the deep blue lake, Santiago has to be one of the most exotic places on earth.
* I took these pictures of the woman, Concepcion Ajuchan, who, as a sixteen year old girl in 1956, posed for the photograph used in sculpting the face on the twenty-five cent coin. She holds a copy of that photograph in the top picture. Concepcion's xk'op is twenty four meters long.
By the way a xk'op is more commonly known as a "tocoyal" in most of Guatemala. Xk'op is the Tzutujil name for it.
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is made up of ten small hotels
