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1999-33-5

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Faja (Sash) (K’iche’) Maker Once Known, Guatemalan (K’iche’)
Faja (Sash) (1960)
cotton
84.0 x 8.5 cm
Gift of Prof. Dwight B. Heath and Anna Cooper Heath
1999-33-5

This faja, or sash, is a long strip of woven cotton. It consists of purple, red, and yellow with large designs of birds and flowers on each end which are woven in through a technique called supplementary weft patterning. The faja is finished on each end by long fringe. Produced by the K’iche’, these sashes are not just accessories, but are an important part of Guatemalan traditional dress. According to Threads of Identity: Maya Costume of the 1960s in Highland Guatemala,
"The faja is not just a subsidiary part of the costume, it is clearly crucial as it holds up the skirt. More than that, it unifies the whole costume aesthetically, often providing the magic color or design ingredient that makes seemingly disparate parts work together...Women in many different villages make their own fajas on backstrap looms in the different stripes and brocade designs traditional to their villages." (Altman & West, 1992:74)
A backstrap loom is "a lightweight, mobile loom made of wood and a strap that is wrapped around the back. It only needed to be attached to a tree or a post for stability and to provide tension" according to the Fashion Institute of Technology. Some fajas are woven by men on backstrap looms. In the municipality of Chichicastenango, men embroider the women's completed fajas with flowers or geometric designs (Altman & West, 1992:75).