WUNRN
CARAVIRI,
Jalq’a
women put many hours into making these world-famous weavings, which are the
most ancient textile crafts of the
Caraviri is located 64
kilometres from
This special form of weaving
almost disappeared in the 1970s, when the technique was appropriated by textile
producers from other parts of
Efforts to rescue the technique
began in 1986 with the establishment of the Southern Andean Anthropologists’
(Asur) Foundation for Anthropological Research and Ethno-Development, which
operates in Chuquisaca and neighbouring Potosí.
The foundation implemented the
Rebirth of Indigenous Art programme, “with the aim of salvaging the traditional
Jalq’a weaving technique, in order to save such a precious art from
extinction,” Asur representative Alejandra Lucia told IPS.
The idea originated with
Verónica Cereceda and Gabriel Martínez, two Chilean anthropologists who are
also husband and wife.
“When they discovered the
beauty of these cloths and started learning about the place they came from,
they found that the (Jalq’a) people were living in extreme poverty, with no
running water or electricity, and a high infant mortality rate,” Lucia said.
So they set out to rescue the
traditional local pallays or weaving patterns, as a way of helping the people
who created them. They began working with a group of women in a small
community.
“The grandmothers collaborated
with their minds and provided the technique, the girls contributed their hands
and eyes, and that was how we began recovering these textiles,” Lucia said.
Neither the promoters nor the
weavers knew what results, if any, their efforts would yield. But their work
paid off, and the women started earning their own money and participating
actively in the economy of their homes and community.
Before this initiative they had
no income-generating activities – only the unpaid work of cleaning, cooking,
raising the children, tending to the farm animals, and planting and harvesting
the crops.
Asur now works with 150 weavers
from different communities, although Caraviri is still the centre of its
activity.
Llampa earns about 175 U.S.
dollars for each cloth, which takes two to four months to weave, depending on
how complex the design is.
That sum may not seem like
much, but for this mother of two teenagers it makes a huge difference. “We used
to live in great poverty and now we can cover our basic necessities,” she said,
adding that she would like to have more hours to weave, but that would mean
neglecting her duties to her family and home.
The communities also receive
aid for various development projects from the provincial government of
Chuquisaca, tourism director Verónica Rojas told IPS.
One such project involves
opening up a store to sell Asur weaver products directly to the public. The
business will be managed by the weavers themselves and all proceeds will go to
them.
Under this project they will
also receive ongoing training to enhance production of current weavings and to
make other products, such as mantillas and different items typical of the
region.
“It takes us two to three
months to make each piece, depending on the size. Every design is unique
because it comes from our minds – that is how we were taught by our mothers and
grandmothers since we were very small,” said Balbina Coragua, a weaver from the
Maragua community, also near
Since she has only one son, who
is fully grown, she can devote more time to weaving, and earns an average of 200
dollars a month. “My life and my family’s life has changed for the better, and
it’s satisfying to know that it’s because of my pallays,” she told IPS.
The task of making the clothes
worn by the Jalq’a people is also a woman’s job.
Jalq’a men and women typically
wear white bowler-type hats with embroidered ribbons. They also use white pants
and shirts over which they don dark, woven ponchos with stripes of subtly
different colours that blend together, giving a monochromatic appearance from
afar.
The most outstanding of these
is the axsu, two long woven cloths with pallays, which are worn over their
almillas (blouses) and typically dark skirts, and are stitched at the waist.
This was the main garment worn by Quechua and Aymara women from the fifteenth
century on, and today it only survives in some cultures, like the Jalq’a.
The axsus worn on festive
occasions have elaborate designs and are richly ornamented. A woman’s outfit is
completed with a lliklla, a thin embroidered shawl or half-cape.
Many axsus are exhibited as art
in celebrations and ceremonies.
These are woven fabrics that
date back 4,000 years and represent some of the most ancient, intricate and
elaborate expressions of Andean cosmogony.
They are also a form of
language, through which each community depicts its common identity and
distinguishes itself from others.
For that reason, their pallays
are interpreted and read like texts that tell the stories, thoughts and views
of each community and each artisan.
Thus, when these garments are
worn or exhibited, the Jalq’a can recognise each other and identify the
different communities.
They are not only the most
ancient Andean woven textiles, but their patterns are also considered to be the
most expressive, in a country enormously rich in woven and embroidered designs
and styles.
The landscape woven by the
Jalq’a is the “Ukhu Pacha,” a sacred world described by these women artisans as
a disordered and chaotic space, a place of darkness, death, dreams and fears.
The strange figures that
populate it are the khurus, mythical animals that the Jalq’a people believe
appear when you find yourself alone or in a remote place.
There are three types of
khurus: imaginary or nonexistent; known but rendered unreal – horses with
extremely long tongues or tails, and cows with elongated backs, for example;
and more realistic animals such as monkeys or llamas.
Inside the khurus are what are
known as “uñas,” which are the wawas (offspring) of these
constantly-reproducing creatures.
The wawas are not of the same
species as their parents, so that a dog may spawn a bird or a cat.
The weavers describe this
confusion as “chaxrusqa kanan tian,” a phrase that means that the universe
portrayed “must be disorderly.”
The results are immensely
beautiful textile products possessing a unique expressiveness. The quality of
these cloths elevates them above the category of craftworks, making them
valuable works of art that are part of the world’s cultural heritage, and which
the Jalq’a people are struggling hard to protect, overcoming many difficulties.