Justin Ferland
-May 15, 2015
HELLO!!!!! Oh my gosh, the trip is almost over….! I am having trouble believing it. Today we took our final test, and we presented the projects that we worked on with our teachers. We then went to the park, and celebrated Trevor’s birthday, by hitting a piñata, and eating some cake. For the rest of the day we are going to relax, walk around Xela, and enjoy our last moments here. But I would really like to talk about what we did yesterday. This one is for you Grandma.
So yesterday we drove about an hour into the mountains, to a fairly remote set of houses. The people who lived in the houses were traditional Mayan weavers. We walked in and we started talking to “Don Luis”, and “Dona Thelma”, who were the fifth generation of weavers in that house. Then they showed us how they make weavings. From sheering the wool, to spinning it into thread, to dyeing it, then to fitting it on the loom, and finally weaving a blanket, or a rug, or whatever. The weavers use only natural dies that they can find in their little property of land or in a farmers market. To dye the yarn, they first choose which color they will use, and pick the object that makes that color.
Aliso (A type of tree bark that grows locally) - Brown/Cinnamon/Dark brown
Sauce (A local tree berry) - Light/dark purple
Lena Amarilla (Yellow Stick - Different tree bark) - Yellow
Chalice (A local leaf that grows on the ground) - Green
Cohinia (A local insect that lives in the mountains) - Pink and red
Añil (A rock that is found around and near Xela) - Blue
*They are able to mix different dies to make different shades and colors. To start the dyeing process they mix in fire pit ashes and calcium hydroxide (local rock) into the water to keep the color in the yarn from fading.
To actually color the yarn, they grind up the object that creates the color. The ground up color along with the yarn is put into a barrel full of the cold water that was mixed with ashes and cal. They let it soak for eight days before boiling the yarn for an additional day. And now they have colored yarn! Once dried in the sun, they set up the loom, and start weaving. Once the piece is completed, they will sell it at local markets, or in stores if they accept it.
They told us that five sheep equaled one jacket, and ten sheep equaled one rug.
To make a living off of this the whole family, including the kids work all day, everyday. The kids work half days, and study for school half days. It was a really fun experience, and everyone was very friendly.
See everyone on Sunday!
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