Our Symbols Reflect Our Maya Cosmovision

Today we would like to share with you some thoughts of Daniel Matul, a Maya spiritual guide and anthropologist, about the symbols we have in our traditional clothing, our “traje”.

Culturally, Maya clothing possesses characteristics and properties that are well-defined in order to reveal our cosmovision, traditions, system of values and collective personality. The beauty and colors of our weavings aren’t just an expression of aesthetics; they are an important way to protect our culture and its fundamental symbolic elements.

Geometric symbols are the most common; they reproduce with exactitude the basic thinking of our culture. Squares represent the relation among the universe, the earth, and humanity; the four cardinal points and the four angles of the universe are found in the symmetry of the corners. It shows the equilibrium and balance of the cosmos.

Fitomorfic symbols, depicting plants, flowers, and vegetables, are used to develop a consciousness and appreciation of the environment in all its aspects, since it is from its interaction with humanity that our Maya culture emerged. And this richness doesn’t belong to just one person but to the collective world as all of humanity is on the same path.

Without a doubt, it is through zoomorphic symbols that understand the fauna of the Maya region and its relations and co relations with human life; many times it is animals that orient us to discover the secrets of nature.

Anthropomorphic symbols, the inclusion of human figures in our weavings, emphasize the concept that people, the base of society, should have a clear and objective notion of the cosmos, of nature, and the world, before they tell how this society, the people of corn, should be.

These symbols – geometric, fitomorfic, zoomorphic, and anthropomorphic – are the pictographic or ideographic characters that communicate the brotherhood and indivisibility of the Maya nation with the cosmos.

Below you can see a photo of a traditional huipil (our blouse) from above.

MayaMam Weavers Working Cooperative-ly

As you know, we work as a cooperative weaving group. Sometimes it isn’t so easy to work in a group, sometimes we don’t all agree on how we should be working together, or we get frustrated when people don’t always do what we want them to do. But we do see the benefits of working together – we can be more creative, more productive, and accomplish more all together than if we were working each as individuals. Working together as a group was really the way of our ancestors. One of our principle values, handed down from our grandparents and written in all of our sacred books is the value of helping each other, cooperating with our neighbors, and with our community. This means working together, educating our children together, and celebrating as a community together.

So, at work, we have learned to talk about our disagreements, or our frustrations, and to find solutions where everyone is satisfied (this doesn’t always mean “happy”) with the solution. And when we make a decision as a group, we have A LOT of lively discussion until we can come to that agreement, or “consensus”.

It isn’t so easy but we do see that it is the best way.

Color Trending Tangerine in Weaving Design

As you know, we have been learning about how the US market works, about seasons and product categories and channels of distribution. This month we learned about forecasting trends, especially color trends. This is a lot of fun for us because we LOVE colors. We learned that Pantone’s color for 2012 is tangerine, a color we didn’t yet have in our palette of yarns. We looked over the other colors/hues that are forecasted to be popular in the coming 12 months and selected a blue.

Below you can see how these two colors combined in our diamond pattern, which we will make into table runners and placemats. And, because we are so pleased with the color combinations, you will also see some shawls emerge!

Welcome, “Tangerino”!

Serendipity in Weaving Design

We are happy to report that a misunderstanding about a request to design some cloth became a success. You might have seen that cloth in our photo of the tablecloths we are making for the new preschool in last week’s blog. Now we have been using the same fabric to make large soft pillows for the children to use in the reading area of the school. And everyone who walks by is so enthusiastic about the pillows and the cloth. These large blocks of color are definitely not part of the traditional repertoire of cloth we have here in Cajola. So, we never would have purposely designed this cloth, but serendipitously, we have created another local hit.