The more I learn about the handmade clothing worn by traditional people in the Andes, the more impressed I become.
The outfit above isn’t a museum piece, although it displays like one in the “Perú Hecho a Mano” boutique at Saga Falabella, in Lima’s Jockey Plaza mall. It is a very elaborate version of the typical dress worn to this day by Quechua women of the Andes. You see people dressed like this all throughout the Peruvian sierra when you venture away from the relatively big city of Cusco.
Each piece of clothing is made by hand, often from handspun wool, and features intricate embroidery, beading or tassels. That green napkin-looking thing (where the mannequin’s head should be) is a flat fringed hat known as a montera. (I’ve seen ladies at Qoyllur Rit’i using theirs as plates for bread and jam in the morning; the crumbs brush right off!)
Mike Weston and his staff at “My Peru” describe other elements of the traditional women’s outfit:
Lliclla – a small rectangular hand-woven shoulder cloth fastened at the front using a tupu, a decorated pin. However it is more common nowadays to see a large safety pin being used.
K’eperina – a larger rectangular carrying cloth worn over the back and knotted in front. Children and goods are securely held inside.
Polleras – colourful skirts made from hand-woven wool cloth called bayeta. Women may wear 3 or 4 skirts in a graduated layer effect. On special occasions such as festivals women may wear up to 15 polleras tied around the waist. Often the trim of each skirt is lined with a colourful puyto which is usually handmade. In some areas polleras are also referred to as melkkhay (Quechua)
Monteras – hats vary tremendously throughout the communities in the Andes. Often it is possible to identify the village from which a woman comes from just by the type of hat she wears. Hats are secured with delicately woven sanq’apa straps adorned with white beads.
Unkuña – a small rectangular cloth which is used for carrying snacks such as corn or coca.
Ajotas – sandals made from recycled truck tires.
(Click here for info on Andean festivals from “My Peru.”)
I remember reading an account by a woman anthropologist about her fieldwork in a remote Andean village, where she came to a new understanding about what it means to be rich vs. poor. The anthropologist arrived at the village feeling rather superior in her expensive hiking boots and water-repellent trekking pants and Gore-Tex jacket.
In contrast, the Quechua locals, in their homespun outfits, seemed to her quaint and poor. The women’s flouncy skirts seemed centuries removed from her practical pants, which marked her (she thought) as modern and liberated.
After a month or two went by, the villagers began to open up. They asked the anthropologist questions: Did she have a husband? A mother? Sisters? Aunts?
Didn’t she have anyone at home to make her clothes?
The anthropologist realized that in the eyes of her field subjects, a person who wore store-bought clothes did so because she had no one who cared deeply enough to make them for her.
Far from being a mark of status or wealth, the anthropologist’s expensive outdoor wear suggested to these Andean villagers that she was not loved.
A humbling realization, no?
Something for us so-called modern visitors to consider when we encounter traditional people in the sierra. Whose definition of “rich” presides? The ones with the cash? Or those whose lives are rich in connections to others and to the earth?
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7 responses so far ↓
1 Rosa // Aug 19, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Your story got me thinking, when I was a child my mom used to make my sister and I clothes and knit winter sweaters. I remember her telling me it is a hobby in Lima and a necessity in the interior of the country to make your own clothes. I think back now and realize how much joy she got in making them for us.
2 Rosa // Aug 19, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Your story got me thinking, when I was a child my mom used to make my sister and I clothes and knit winter sweaters. I remember her telling me it is a hobby in Lima and a necessity in the interior of the country to make your own clothes. I think back now and realize how much joy she got in making them for us.
3 Barb // Aug 20, 2008 at 9:35 am
Rosa — I am guessing from your comment that you grew up in Lima, right? Or was that your mom?
How lovely that your mother made clothes for you and your sister and that she enjoyed doing so. I grew up in the U.S. and my mother couldn’t sew; she bought me all of my clothes. However, we did take knitting classes together and she was okay at that, a little awkward at first. I remember her first pair of mittens: the thumbs were like four inches too long!
Your mom makes an interesting distinction: making clothes as a “hobby” in the capital vs a “necessity” in the sierra, most likely due to money, right? Her comment ties into the theme of making things by hand, which is so intrinsic to Peru. I’ll have to write more about that one of these days.
4 ROGER LEIVA // Dec 29, 2008 at 11:05 am
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I am JEWELRY . I like make BUSSINES whit
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5 Barb // Jan 2, 2009 at 7:24 pm
BRICHERO ALERT!!!
Roger, It appears that you are fishing for a hookup via my blog. Are you really sure that you want to leave your phone numbers here? It could be unsafe. I mean, do you know the kind of women who visit An American in Lima?
They are not the naive gringas that you imagine. My visitors are smart, cunning women of the world who hold advanced degrees in anthropology, gastronomy and political science, and who can negotiate cab prices in Lima. I have ace martial-arts experts who visit this blog and, with one kick, can paralyze a man from the neck down.
These ladies are fierce gringas!
Be warned.
6 ashlanna // Mar 10, 2009 at 9:21 am
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7 Barb // Mar 10, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Ashlanna,
I have properly attributed the quoted text from My Peru two times in the above blog post and provided two links to the site, as per blogging etiquette. I also have identified “Mike Weston and his staff” as the authors of the quoted text.
I am not trying to pass off the information as my own, which is what I believe you are accusing me of.
I took the photo of the pollera display myself. It does not belong to My Peru.
Do you represent the My Peru website? Are your opinions that of Mike Weston and his staff? If so, please identify yourself through the contact form. If the owners of My Peru want me to remove the links to their site and the quoted material, I will readily do so.
Most websites and blogs are glad for links that point traffic their way, such as this one. However, if My Peru does not want its information excerpted on or referenced by other websites, I will oblige.
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