This site requires Javascript to be turned on. Please enable Javascript and reload the page.

Off the Roll: Highlights of a Global Textiles Project Main Menu Off the Roll: Highlights of a Global Textiles Project Home Page Clothing - Wearable Art Creatures - Real and Imagined Decorative Techniques from Around the World Spiritual Iconography and Ceremonial Objects The Things that Make a Home Textiles Photography Project

85-797

This page is referenced by:

Poncho (Aymara or Quechua) Maker Once Known, Aymara or Quechua (Andean Region)
Poncho (20th century)
wool, synthetic fiber
110.5 x 88.5 cm
Purchased with the Haffenreffer Special Fund
85-797

This poncho is a mix of alpaca wool, or fleece, and synthetic wool. It is a good example of how Andean weaving traditions continue to adapt, incorporating new materials and techniques. The poncho is dark brown with brightly colored bands at the ends and along the center. There are numerous animals woven into the bands at the center of the poncho, including birds, condors, felines, foxes, and alpacas or llamas, whose wool or fleece made up the bulk of Andean weaving. These animals were hardy enough to live in the harsh mountainous Andean regions, with fierce sun exposure during the day and freezing temperatures at night. Furthermore, according to Heckman's Woven Stories: Andean Textiles and Rituals,
"Quechuan speakers who refer to themselves as runakuna (the people, humankind) use the animals' hair for warmth and clothing, the pelts for beds, the dung for heat and cooking fuel, and the meat to make charki (sun-dried jerky). For these reasons, the animals are absolutely essential for human survival in this radically vertical geography" (2003: 55).
Given the importance of alpaca and llama to Andean cultures, it is not surprising to find their images incorporated into the very garments the Aymara and Quechua wear.