Everything you need to know about huipil

While browsing our site, you probably see the word “huipiles” more than once and wonder what it is. I hasten to explain…

Huipil is a traditional, hand-embroidered blouse worn by women from Mayan communities in Mexico and Guatemala.

The word "huipil" itself comes from the Nauthual language (one of the Mayan languages) and literally means "my clothes".

Weaving a single blouse takes up to a month and sometimes a mother and daughter work on one. That is why a huipil is often the most expensive thing a family owns. The cost of one blouse is about several thousand quetzals (several hundred dollars). A huge amount of fiber is used to create one huipil, which makes them very stiff and heavy, so they last for years. It is impossible to tear them. We use recycled huipils to make our shoes or handbags, selling us old blouses, women can afford new ones :) Huipils are made using a special loom, which according to the Mayans can only be used by women, and this is because the work of the loom is based on a special movement of the hips, a rocking movement, which is supposedly related to childbirth. That is why you will never see a man at this loom. Traveling around Guatemala, it is easy to notice that different patterns dominate in different parts of Guatemala. This is due to the fact that during the Spanish invasion, the conquistadors wanted to distinguish individual ethnic groups from each other, which is why they forced them to create different clothing patterns in each tribe. The patterns are related to the technique of their weaving and the dominant motif. However, the number of huipili of one pattern is unlimited. In addition to the fact that the huipil symbolizes where each woman is from, it is also a reflection of social status, religion, marital status and interests. The tradition of huipili is passed down from generation to generation, every little girl learns to weave from an early age. And I admit that it is impossible not to fall in love with these beautiful, colorful patterns. This is also partly what inspires and motivates us to act - the richness of colors, patterns and the continuation of tradition.