Textile Art of Taquile

IN PERU, THE MASTERY IN THE ELABORATION OF FABRICS DATES BACK TO ANCIENT TIMES. TODAY, THE TEXTILES OF THE TAQUILE ISLAND HAVE REACHED THE HIGHEST INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION. ITS INHABITANTS, DESCENDANTS OF THE COLLAS AND WEAVERS OF THE INCAS, ARE PROUD CARRIERS OF THIS LEGACY.

Technical Data:
- Taquile is located in Lake Titicaca at 3.812 meters above sea level.
- In 2005, textile art of Taquile was recognized by the UNESCO as Master Piece of Oral and Immaterial Patrimony for world Humanity.

THE ISLAND AND ITS ART
Taquile is a small island located 36 kilometers east of the city of Puno. Descendants and heirs of the cultures; Pucara, Colla and Inca, the inhabitants keep a strong familiar and communal organization based on the ancient idea of “ayllu”. They have kept Quechua as their principal language, although they also speak Aymará and Spanish. The art of textiles is the main activity of nearly the entire population of Taquile. Children are forced to learn the techniques by their parents (especially women), since they are really young. Four-year old children and even younger ones play with spinning wheels till they learn how to spin and prepare wool for older people. Then, they start with the elaboration of simple fabrics. Twelve-year old girls often dominate the basic techniques and start working on more complicated garments. Besides regular school, there is a special craft school in Taquile, where the knowledge acquired at home is reinforced and the textile art integrity preserved.

PRODUCTION
Men and women weave, but everyone is specialized in the elaboration of different products. Women weave rectangular pieces filled with detailed patterns, like sashes (chumpi), colorful manias (llicllas) and small bags used to keep coca leaves (chuspas). Most of the pieces have a red background and small figures placed in lines.
Likewise, men are specialized in the production of pants, pullovers, sweaters and scarves and they also weave chullos, probably their most popular piece. These caps contain a color code, which indicates the age, sex and marital statues of their owners. In this fashion, a chullo with white tip indicates that the carrier is single; one covered with designs would indicate that it belongs to a married person.

THE LOOMS
Several types of looms are used in Taquile. The fixed or horizontal looms, called “awaras” (picture 1), date from pre-Hispanic times. Modern looms have been incorporated as foot looms that were brought by the Spanish. It is also possible to weave without a loom (Picture 2). Women commonly tie one of the borders of the warp to the waist of their skirts and the other one to their thumb toe. Crochet is another of the techniques often used. Spinning Wheels of two different sizes are needed to spin. As they turn counterclockwise the small spinning wheel, known as “pushka” (picture 3), they obtain simple thread. Then, they manufacture two-thread yarn in the bigger spinning wheel (k’antina). Sheep fiber is the most frequently used, while the least used is the alpaca due to its higher price. In the manufacture of some pieces, like the “llicllas” both types of threads are utilized. In the last few years, the use of synthetic fibers has been extended.

DESIGNS
The most important characteristic of the Taquile textiles is the “rió” (mayu) that makes possible the orientation in the space. In some bigger textiles like the “llicllas”, ponchos and wooden blankets, whose halves are separately weaved, the “rió” has a unifying function. One of the most frequent designs in the textiles is the morning and afternoon star (ch’aska) that is usually represented by a tiny motive inside other ones bigger. Birds also appear frequently. Inside the pattern stripes, there are several representations such as the future luck, the atmospheric phenomena and the results of the following harvest.

SOCIAL DISTINCTION
Clothes differentiate between members of society in Taquile. Authorities wear black jackets with metal buttons and European style hats. The ¨jilacatas¨, chiefs of the ayllu, wear grey poncho and red scarf. Other ¨ilacatas¨ show their colorful chullos with tassels covering the ears, hats and white scarf. The paq’o, chaman (healer), wears alpaca and sheep wool black tone clothes. They also weave white cloths to dress dead people; nevertheless they still use the “ajsus”, black wide skirts and ponchos to wrap the corpses of women and men, respectively. The babies are buried with long dresses with hoods made out of a white fabric and two paper wings tied to their backs.

TAQUILE AND TEXTILES AS A FORM OF LIVING
A record of the traditions presented as an expression of art that is useful for daily life is one of the great achievements of these people, who have made out of textiles, their clothes, book of history, and the base for their economical development.

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
The “ayllu” or family is the social basis for the organization of life on the island. Thanks to this millenary form of organization, the population of Taquile has developed a self-government, which lacks of police custody on their own initiative.
The inhabitants and their families are spread all over the island and use the town only for commercial, religious and political purposes.

TECHNIQUE, WORK DIVISION AND PROCEDURE
The technique used in Taquile is known as “cara de urdimbre” and consists of programming the whole piece, while the threads are being prepared. The entire population of Taquile gets involved in this work, but the tasks are generally assigned depending on the piece of cloth to be made.

PREPARATION OF RAW MATERIAL (men, women and children involved)

1.- Fiber
They use mainly sheep and synthetic wool. Camel wool is also highly appreciated but is expensive and scarce in the region.

2.- Yarn
First a simple thread is obtained with a small spinning wheel that is wound into a thicker thread.

3.- Dye
The anilines are dissolved in big cans and lemon juice and used as a fixative. They boil the thread for an hour and finally let it soak.

ICONOGRAPHY
Women have the assigned work of writing the “pallays”, ideographs used to record stories.
The number of stripes depends on the amount of family branches the woman who tailors the piece of clothing had.

TEXTILES MADE BY MEN
Men mainly tailor pieces that were introduced by the Spanish such as pants, shirts, pullovers and jackets. The ¨bayeta awana¨ or pedal loom was utilized for that purpose since colonial times. They also weave chullos with sticks.

TEXTILES MADE BY WOMEN
They use the ground loom called “pampa awana” that consists of four stuck stakes set in form and shape of the piece to be tailored.

The clothing of the women of Taquile is generally colorful and full of beautiful accessories.

SASHES
These pieces, known in Quechua as “chumpi”, are representatives of the textile art of Taquile. They show dark designs on white background or vice versa. This technique is known as “pallay”. Among the favorite motives, we can find the sparrow (pichi tanka), the bird (p’esqo) and the star (cha’ska), symbols that augur a productive harvest. The beauty of a sash can be measured based on the number of designs it has.
The daily used sashes could be of two different types: the well known “calendarios” that represent daily life scenes, stars, birds, lightning, springs, horses, houses, etc. They are elaborated by married men with the purpose of recording the history of a family representing “chacras”, harvests, weddings, offspring, etc. The other type of sashes is known as “almanaque” and was recently created. These “chumpis” represent general patterns for every month of the year, without mentioning the recounted year. A day before the Peruvian National Holiday, the inhabitants of Taquile wear green and brown sashes. Nevertheless, the 24th of June (Peasants day), they prefer bright colored sashes.

Web pages:
INC (National Institute of Culture) http://www.perupatrimonio.com.pe
UNESCO http://www.unesco.org/culture/intangible-heritage/

OTHER EXPRESSIONS
Besides Taquile, several other villages in Peru possess high quality textile art. In Hualhuas, Junin, the inhabitants elaborate multicolored blankets (ushkatas), rags, bedspreads, curtains, covers, tapestry, etc. All these pieces are mainly made with alpaca and sheep wool. The village of San Pedro de Cajas in Junin is also known for its elaboration of traditional clothing, such as the “koton”, female tunic of one color, blankets and decorative tapestry. The textiles of Ayacucho are famous for representing geometric figures and animals in its designs. Drawings of “vizcachas” and birds are very frequent and they are normally diagonally aligned. Broken lines, though, represent the snake of “rió” (k’enko). The pastel colored tapestry with motives of the Huari culture is elaborated by craftsmen of Santa Ana square and very famous for its beauty. The Amazonians have also developed textile techniques. Lacking animal fiber, they commonly use cotton. The designs and styles are different depending on the ethnic group. The “conibos”, for example, use a few ornaments since they leave more space between lines in their designs. On the other hand, the “shetebos” elaborate more complex designs using colors like brown, purple, blue, green and yellow. The “cashibo-cacataibos” prefer imprecise sketches and dark grey tonalities. Picture: Female weaver and loom in Rio Negro (edge of the jungle in Junin).

USEFUL INFORMATION
The boat trip from Puno to Taquile usually lasts around three hours. There are several attractions in this village: you can enjoy the landscape and appreciate the traditions of the people from Taquile that are still similar to the ones followed before the arrival of the Spanish conquerors. Besides that, you can always purchase textile products. Tourist activity is increasing. There is on average, 50 thousand visitors a year and many inhabitants offer their own houses as inns. There are two seasons. Winter, between May and October and known as dry, which is the best season to visit the island. During the day, it is sunny and during the night it is cold. Summer, between November and April, rains intensely.

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