Tenejapa


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TENEJAPA, A TOWN OF ARTISANS. Tenejapa, an indigenous town, is located 28 kilometers from San Cristobal de Las Casas. It is inhabited by Tzeltal-speaking indigenous people. Most of the community's residents live in "parajes" scattered throughout the surrounding mountains and survive by cultivating the land in a subsistence way. Tenejapa has a predominantly humid temperate climate with abundant rainfall in summer and cold during the winter, which is why there is an abundance of wool garments made on backstrap looms. Tenejapaneca women are incomparable weavers; their huipiles are authentic works of art, whose motifs go back to pre-Hispanic symbolism. Both men and women wear traditional dress in Tenejapa. In the daily routine, women and girls do not wear their best huipiles, which are red and white. Instead, they wear sweaters-often turtlenecks-with indigo skirts and overlapping straps. The designs on the huipiles are embroidered or woven. However, woven huipiles are much more expensive, possibly because the white cotton fabric must also be hand-woven. Embroidered huipiles are made by hand using commercial stitch patterns. There is a small workshop in the village that produces the fabric for the skirts. A hand-woven purple and black strap holds the skirt together. Over this, the women wear a white wool belt with thin horizontal black stripes. The women of Chenalhó taught the Tenejapanecas to weave the brocade huipil, who surpassed them by introducing new designs that are still preserved.