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Your Source for Hand-woven Ethnic Doll Clothes that fit American Girl™
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| Shawls (Rebozos & Perraje) --- for girls & adults Shawls serve many functions
in Guatemala. A girl or woman
can use a shawl as an easy tote to carry small loads to and from the market.
Often the bundle is a small sleeping baby that is held close to Mama or
an older sister as they run errands, do the many tasks and chores that everyday
life in the Mayan culture require, or weave on a back-strap loom.
At other times, when the wind carries a chill, the shawl is easily
slipped on and then off again, as the sun comes from behind a cloud or during
the midlife change when body temperatures fluctuate.
The shawl is also a decorative addition to the traditional huipil and
corte (skirt) that many Mayan girls and women wear.
In some villages, such as Santiago Atitlan, the decorative function seems
to be most important since the shawl is worn most often over the shoulder.
Shawls are called rebozos
or perraje (depending on the village, how they are made and who wears them).
Some are made on back-strap looms others on foot-looms and most today are made
of cotton or a cotton/acrylic mixture. I
am still learning how to distinguish shawls from different areas of Guatemala.
Information about shawls is harder to come by than other types of
textiles. Many shawls seem to come
from Totonicapan and Quetzaltenango. These
towns make shawls for their own use plus probably make shawls in patterns and
colors favored by other villages. Other
villages weave their own shawls and some villages do not include shawls as part
of their trajae. How can you use a
shawl? You can do the obvious and
wear it. Shawls also make nice wall hangings and good table runners (suggest one
without pom-poms, or you can remove them).
Some of the shawls that Terra Experience has for sale are shown below.
Click on the pictures to get more information.
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