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Clothing the Body in Otherness
Maya writers take the myths and legends of their peoples into publica-
tion, often in poetic forms, a worldview emerges in which it is neces-
sary to mark identity and underline the centrality of cloth to power. As
both practice and ideology, weaving is one of the defining arts taught
by Jich Mam and Jich Mi (the grandmother–fathers of the Jakaltek
Maya) that Victor Montejo ( 2001 , 7 ) highlighted as a trope of iden-
tity tied to place, ancestry, and spirituality:
And our women, with skillful hands,
wove blankets, skirts, belts and blouses,
and made with pride all our clothing
which they dyed with bright colors
using indigo and the blood of the annatto
The art of weaving has been and is an art of possibilities, a dynamic
and conscious series of choices tied to sacred beginnings (Otzoy 1996 b,
26 ). She cites the words that the Kaq chikel ancestral grandmother–
father, Q aq awitz, spoke to the hero Q axq anul: “the heart of a
hero must not be afraid, and then your victory shall be the victory of
the whole pueblo” (Otzoy 1996 b, 27 ). Otzoy draws a parallel between
this injunction and the daily valor of women who continued to wear
traje despite the racist legacy of colonialism and the danger during
la violencia. Since the Conquest, women have felt a responsibility to
transmit Maya knowledge to future generations through their weav-
ing, confronting the discrimination of the dominant society. Similarly,
Rigoberta Menchú claimed that “it is the same to speak of the tejidos
(weaving) as it is to speak of the earth” (quoted in Otzoy 1996 b, 32 )
tyingtraje to the fight for resources and social justice.
But for Maya women, the identity constituted through traje is also
a bodily practice, linking persona to sensory being and perception.
Vera explained: “I tried wearing other clothes, jeans and T-shirts, but
I didn’t feel right. I couldn’t move or carry my bundles of cloth.” Hab-
its and postures are assigned worth according to the body’s ability to
produce, to labor, and to carry Maya culture. As a weaver and con-
server of Maya culture, Vera articulates what it means to dress and
be a Kaq chikel woman. When traveling in California, she continues
to wear her huipil,corte (skirt), and tzute (head wrap), cutting a line
