CONSUMER GOODS 



151 



are bought in the stores or from market merchants. 

 Second, there are shirts made by Indians of other 

 towns, such as Chichicastenango, of bought cloth 

 (usually striped) and tailored in poor imitation of 

 the factory models. Lastly, there are the increas- 

 ingly popular shirts made in San Pedro la Laguna 

 of home-woven cotton cloth, of bright colored with 

 tie-dyed blue stripes that give them their charac- 

 teristic design. The "San Pedro" shirts are now 

 also made in Atitldn, and there is in Atitl^n at least 

 one foot loom that makes shirt cloth of this kind 

 that is hard to distinguish from the belt-loom cloth 

 of the Pedranas. 

 The sutes are home-woven square cloths, red with 

 occasional fine stripes, used as head cloth, or worn 

 around the neck, or carried as kerchiefs. Some 

 Indians also buy factory-made kerchiefs. Some 

 handkerchiefs are also used. 

 The caite is a simple sandal consisting of a leather sole 

 and an instep piece, bound to the foot by a leather 

 thong between the big toe and second toe. A few 

 caites of tire-casing soles are used. There are also 

 sandalias built more like shoes, straps over the 

 instep and around the back of the foot. Usually 

 both kinds of sandals have a slightly raised heel. 

 Sandals are bought of leatherworkers from other 

 towns who set up shops in the markets. Shoes or 

 boots are worn only as part of the Ladino costume. 

 Hats are typically of straw. A fine type frequently 

 with a cord for a band is factory-made and bought 

 in the stores. A coarser type, made by the Indians 

 of Chichicastenango, Lemoa, Quiche, and perhaps 

 other towns, of coiled and sewed strips, is bought 

 in the market. These hats, of natural straw color 

 with some black or colored designs, have crowns of 

 various shapes and variously wide brims but those 

 bought by Panajachelenos are usually of one type, 

 medium in both height and width of the brim. 

 Occasionally an Indian owns a factory-made felt 

 hat. 

 Tailored jackets are worn by a few men. 

 Women's: The corte is a wTap-around skirt that gets this 

 name besause it is bought in a length (corte). The 

 PanajacheleiSo corte is a heavy solid blue cotton woven 

 especially for Panajachel women in foot looms run by 

 Ladinos in Solold. It is only a vara wide, and must be 

 pieced to give the proper length when worn. It is sewn 

 with either a silk or a cotton embroidery stitch (forming, 

 when the skirt is worn, ^4-inch to ?i-inch stripes around 

 the hips and down the back). When sewn it extends 

 to the lower ankle. It is simply wound tightly about 

 the body, and held together with a sash. The "Totoni- 

 capdn" corte, worn by a few women in Panajachel, is 

 lighter cotton of various colors with tie-dyed stripes 

 made in the Totonicapdn-Quezaltenango region on foot 

 looms. It is worn like the Panajacheleno corte. 



The huipil typical of Panajachel is woven by the 

 women on the back-strap loom of natural brown 

 cotton with red vertical stripes. In the area cover- 

 ing the shoulders and arms, breast and back, small 

 purple designs are worked in with cotton or sUk. 



The huipil is woven in three long pieces, which are 

 then sewn together, with breast openings left for 

 nursing. In the center a square for the head is cut 

 out and edged with cotton or silk. Then the 

 garment is doubled and the sides are sewn except 

 for the armholes. This huipil comes down to the 

 ankles, but below the waist is entirely covered by 

 the skirt. 



The second kind of huipil is typical of neighboring 

 San Andres; it is made by some Panajachel women, 

 also on the back-strap loom, or bought from Andre- 

 sanas. It is made in the same way, but it is shorter, 

 has a white background, and bright-colored cotton 

 designs. The San Lucas huipil, worn by one 

 woman, is similar. 



The third type is called the Totonicapdn huipil. 

 Foot-loom-made in the Totonicapdn region, it is 

 typical of a large area of western Guatemala where 

 women no longer weave their own huipiles. It is 

 shorter than the Panajachel huipil, coming down 

 only to the hips. The Panajachelenas who use 

 them buy them in the market stores. 



Ready-made white blouses, or the same garments 

 home-sewn of bought cloth, are occasionally worn. 



The sash, red cotton, some with fine colored figures, is 

 locally woven. It runs to 158 inches long and 8 

 inches wide. Like that of the man, it is wound 

 around the waist and the ends are tucked in. Other 

 sashes, worn with Totonicapdn huipiles and skirts, 

 are made elsewhere. 



Carrying cloths, home-woven of red cotton, usually 

 have fine colored stripes. There are a variety of 

 sizes, all but the smallest woven in two pieces and 

 sewn together with cotton. The larger ones are 

 used to carry babies (slung over the shoulders to 

 the back) and others to set on the head, in a roll, to 

 support a basket being carried. When carrying no 

 basket, the cloth is folded and placed on the head. 



The cinta is a long (256 inches) narrow (*4-inch) dark 

 red and navy blue cotton ribbon bought in the 

 market and said to be woven in Totonicapdn. It is 

 wound around bunches of hair, then the whole 

 wound about the head. 



TEXTILE WORK 



Of all the garments used in Panajachel the only 

 ones that are woven locally are men's drawers 

 (calzones), sashes of both men and women, head 

 cloths (sutes), women's blouses (huipiles), and 

 carrymg cloths. In addition, men's woolen cloaks 

 (gabanes), some men's trousers (calzoncillos) , and 

 shirts, and women's skirts and some blouses are 

 tailored or sewed in Panajachel. Among the 

 "foreign" Indians in Panajachel in 1936 were a 

 few who wove garments typical of their towns of 

 origin, for the use of their families. 



No Panajachelena spun cotton in 1936, although 

 there was an old Sololateca living in town who did. 



