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Florencia Diaz demonstrates traditional Guatemalan weaving at the Miccosukee
Indian Village on the Tamiami Trail (U.S. Highway 41), west of Miami.
Though Diaz herself is a Guatemalan Mayan, the Miccosukee Indian Village
provides a forum for indigenous craftspeople from throughout the Americas
to show their work. Diaz began working at the Village in 1987, after moving
to Florida to join her sister, who had been working at the same facility
for 18 years. Though she speaks Spanish, her native language is Cacha-quel,
which is spoken in the village of Santa Catherina Barahoni where she was
born. Today she makes her home on the Miccosukee Reservation.
To enter the Village, one walks through a crowded gift shop, where Native
American arts and crafts are sold, into a shady outdoor compound. In the
compound are a number of thatched chickees, where demonstrations are held.
Also present are a dugout canoe on display, a concrete ring where wary
visitors can see alligator wrestling in action and a small museum at the
back. The walls of Diaz’s demonstration area are filled with brightly-colored
hand-woven wall hangings, clothes and belts.
Weaving on hand looms has been an important part of the Mayan culture
for hundreds of years. The art form is practiced by both men and women.
Like many Maya growing up in the small villages of Guatemala, Diaz learned
to weave as a young girl. At the age of five, her grandmother and mother
began to teach her to use the traditional Guatemalan loom. The top of
loom is attached to a rafter or post, while the bottom is tied around
the waist with a thick leather strap, which resembles a weight-lifter’s
belt. At the village Diaz sits on the floor of a chickee, with her knees
resting on a mat. The most difficult part of learning to weave, she states,
was getting used to sitting in a kneeling position for many hours at a
time.
Diaz refers to this style of weaving as tehido a mano (hand weaving).
To weave the intricate patterns into the cotton warp, the lengths of material
that hang down from the chickee’s rafters, she uses a avuja (needle) made
from the leg bone of a deer. Her cotton yarn is purchased in Guatemala
and kept ready in a basket beside her mat. The cloth that she weaves is
used to make wall hangings, blouses and ponchos. The images woven into
the cloth, as well as the colors, have symbolic importance to the Maya,
reminiscent of the ancient hieroglyphs found on the walls of Mayan temples.
One of Diaz’s favorite designs is the quetzal, the national bird of Guatemala.
— Laura Ogden
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