A pre-cuauhtémoc symbol of resistance from ancient to modern times.
My path to learning its origins, use and meaning of this mañanita throughout time.
Presented as a gift by Carina Yepez
El gallo canta
Su cantico me levanta
La madrugada y su nostalgia
Todavía no sale el sol
Mi almohada me acompaña
Es hora para ir al campo
Ya escucho a mi abuelo
Moviendo su cuerpo a los pasos listo para las manos de su cosecha
Retiro la cobija y la briza toca el calor de mi cuerpo
El frio del amanecer enchina ni piel
Alcanzo el quechquemitl tejido por mi abuela
La historia del cubierto que me abraza
El amor de su lengua Azteca
El dolor de sus sacrificios
Lentamente veo un rayo de sol
Las tiras bailan sobre mi
Escucho el coche listo para correr
Buenos días papito hola mamita
Es una linda mañanita
The rooster crows
The song of him lifts me up
The dawn and its nostalgia
The sun still doesn't come up
My pillow accompanies me
Time to go to the field
I already listen to my grandfather
Moving his body to the steps ready for the hands of his harvest
I remove the blanket and the breeze touches the heat of my body
The cold of the dawn makes no skin
I reach for the quechquemitl woven by my grandmother
The story of the cutlery that embraces me
The love of their Aztec language
The pain of their sacrifices
I slowly see a ray of sunshine
The strips dance on me
I hear the car ready to run
Good morning daddy hello mommy
It's a nice little morning
Woven, Quechquemitl from Zinacantan, Chiapas. 1/3
1 One of the three mañanitas presented to be chosen by Nancy Feldman, Associate Professor, Adj. Dept. of Art History Faculty Supervisor, Textile Resource Center, Fiber & Material Studies for Textile Resource Center, SAIC.
Birds covered by quechquemitl to protect them from a cold nightfall in Zinacantan, Chiapas.
Pascuala and granddaughter walking in the highlands of Chiapas wearing a quechquemitl.
Pascuala Tomasa Vazquez Hernandez imagined and wove this piece using her hands and body on a backstrap loom. Her home is made up of a courtyard, a kitchen using a wood burning stove to make delicious stews, a chicken coop, and it is located in the highlands of Zinacantan, Chiapas, Mexico. She resides with her sisters, daughter and grandchildren, and her lively home is also the home for her rabbits, chickens, cats, amongst her other pets. She has been practicing this weaving technique for most of her life. She learned this practice from her mother and this tradition has been passed down for many generations before her. Since she is one of the first born to many siblings in this role, she has taught many women to weave in her family like her sisters, daughter, grandchildren, and nieces. This co-op of women help her weave and make garments and household items such as tablecloths, huipiles, shawls, rebozos, table runners, scarfs, and other items. Pascuala hosts visitors from around the world who are interested in learning this weaving technique. The closest city to Zinacantan is San Cristobal de Casas and is surrounded by more indigenous peoples and languages that have existed and are native to this region for many generations since the pre-Cuauhtémoc. The indigenous people and community that make up this region are the Maya people, the language spoken and practiced in Zinacantan is mostly the native language of Tzotzil and Spanish.
Pascuala and youngest granddaughter in Zinacantan, Chiapas
Women and men wearing traditional huipiles and quechquemitl during dia de los muertos in a traditional celebration of Zinacantan, Chiapas.
Nahuatl translation is “neck garment”
(quechtli = neck, tlaqumitl= garment)
Quechquémitl is a garment that has been used historically since the indigenous Aztec people (the Mexicas) from the city of Tenochtitlan or Mexica, Aztec name for Mexico City (modern day Mexico). The term quechquémitl, comes from the Nahualt language and is broken down in translation as shawl or covering for the neck or shoulders. The quechquémitl has existed since pre-Cuauhtémoc time. Pre-Cuauhtémoc refers to an era that was ruled by the Aztec ruler Cuautémoc during 1520-1521 and before Cuautémoc there were other Aztec rulers since the beginning of the 13th century. Why refer to pre-Cuauhtémoc? It is necessary to acknowledge and refer to this time period and the empire as the last ruler of the Aztec people, noting that there was a civilization and people before Spanish colonizers and influencers of people that we have known thereafter. It is important to highlight a society that already existed with systems, traditions and functions. I am inspired by the words of a local Chicagoan, Carlos Tortolero, an educator, current President and co-founder of the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, who “...purposely sought to de-emphasize the Eurocentric view of Mexican history. He regarded the popular terms, pre-Hispanic, pre-Colombian and pre-conquest used by academics and institutions as problematic since they placed emphasize on Europe to define a specific time period in the Americas.” 2
The garment is important to reflect on the stories and the origin of its use and the people of this region. It’s also a garment that has continued to exist through and with the native people of Mexico and maintained its shape through the Spanish conquest in 1521. The garment remained but the languages and names for the garment have evolved with the piece as well. For example, different words for this garment exist such as mañanita, poncho and capa (cape). Having personal roots in Guanajuato Mexico, the central region of the country of Mexico. I have known this garment often referred to as mañanita, which directly refers to a square piece of garment with an opening for the head or morning.3 Guanajuato Mexico is estimated to be 6,558 feet above sea level, allowing the state to have mostly warm and mild climates. The larger cities in Guanajuato are considered colonial cities tracing back to the influence of language and architecture and traditions of the Spanish people and Europeans who arrived in the region. In this region of the state, the mornings and nights have colder temperatures. I reflect on whether this is why the mañanita term has been used in various regions of the country, to stay warm with the woven or crochet garment in the morning dew. There’s also a reflection on the shape of the sun. Do you see the sun and rays in a triangular shaped mañanita?
2 National Museum of Mexican Art website: www.nationalmuseumofmexicanart.com
3 https://lema.rae.es/damer/
Quechquemitl from Puebla, Mexico 33 x 32 in, 2/3
Woven wool Quechquemitl from Oaxaca, Mexico. 33 x 33 in 3/3
In reading A Textile Guide to the Highlands of Chiapas by Walter F. Morris we can see how the quechquémitl has evolved for fashion forward symbols and motifs for celebratory festivals. We also learn that with the use of technology and modern times the sewing machine is applied to new ways in piecing the garment of the shawl.
Woven and pieced quechquemitl from Zinacantan, Chiapas. 34 x 38 in
It is important to have representation of different cultures and populations that make up a city of immigrants and migrants as an international school of art. Mexican Americans and people of Mexico make up a large population of the City of Chicago. According to my investigation in the TRC online database, there is one object from Mexico in the collection, specifically labeled as a shawl from the region of Cholula, Chiapas, Mexico. Although this is an important acquisition, I consider the significant need in acquiring more pieces such as the quechquemitl or mañanita in a collection of fiber and textile resources in our community.
Representation is important in the TRC, for students and teachers with Mexico, Mexican American, native, and indigenous people of the Americas. It is important to feel a sense of the rich history and connection to their origin and the origin of a neighboring country of Mexico. Mexico is constantly being desensitized in the story of immigration and trauma in the media. In addition to representation of histories and herstories that have been oppressed by conquistadores over so many centuries. Having this piece in the collection connects us to an origin with the Mexica people and we are given an opportunity to learn and investigate the quechquémitl and the stories of marginalized communities and histories that are not often discussed in American history.
Through the quechquémitl we can explore different techniques such as weaving, piecing, brocade, crochet, embellishment, appliqué and embroidery, dyeing processes, as well as cultural references through symbolism, throughout regions of Mexico and its native people.
As a Mexican American, daughter of immigrants, I also find it very resourceful to share a commonality with others in our stories of origin with the Aztec people and the continued use of this garment in Mexico and Mexicans in Chicago.
According to The Rules of Construction of an Aztec Deity: Chalchiuhtlicue, The Goddess of Water by Daniele Dehouve, and her rendering of the Codex Fejerváry-Mayer they state that “in everyday life Aztec women dressed with a huipil and the shoulder shawl was worn only in ritual contexts: “all of the symbolism connected with the quechquémitl associates the costume with fertility and abundance, an association that appears to exist throughout Central Mexico”. Furthermore, the edgings of the quechquémitl worn by the Aztec goddesses were often decorated with fringes, or tassels made by bunching these fringes together. 4
The garment piece quechquémitl is made from uncut pieces of cloth as they come off the loom. The body of the shawl is designed to fall on the shoulders of the wearer. Figures above all collected from the Codex Fejerváry-Mayer. The triangular shape can be found in various Codex.
4 Dehouve, D. (2020). The Rules of Construction of an Aztec Deity: Chalciuhtlicue, The Goddess of Water. Ancient Mesoamerica, 31(1), 7-28.
Examples of the quechquemitl (dzico) in Codex Yuta Tnoho.
This collection of images of the Aztec goddesses empowers generations of Latinx students and faculty and colleagues learning and using the garment for its use of historical connection to the past. It also holds information about a garment that is not often described in museums, collections and or cultural institutions. Other forms of textile garments used in Mexico are Sarapes and Rebozos as seen in the Art Institute of Chicago collection, as seen below. The quechquémitl takes a different form in shape, creating a triangular or diamond like shape. The Aztec goddesses used this garment in special celebrations and rituals. It also holds the quechquémitl garment as a powerful symbol of the strength and resistance of the oppressed people in the continent of North, Central and South Americas. In the United States the Latinx community has had a history of marginalized stories and underrepresented connections to a curriculum. The quechquémitl acquisition displays an inclusion in structures of identity through garments and codices. This acquisition would offer a different perspective and offer information and investigation of the garment and its use and origin and techniques and empowerment.
Sarape
Made 1750-1800
Cotton and wool, single dovetail tapestry weave; neck edge tapes of cotton, plain weave
Gift of Robert Allerton
The Art Institute of Chicago Collection, Reference Number: 1925.543
Carlos Mérida
The Sarape and the Rebezo, from Mexican Costume
1941
Gouache and graphite stenciled drawing on illustration board
Gift of Mrs. Suzette Morton Zurcher
The Art Institute of Chicago Collection, reference Number: 1965.53
Film designer Edith Head was inspired by quechquemitl.
Along with sharing the etymology of the term of a quechquémitl with peers and faculty, the benefits of having this garment in a collection is also used as inspiration for new garments or construction of materials in fiber. For example, we find that in 1952 Edith Head, a film designer traveled to Mexico for five weeks and was deeply inspired by the garment “working with the two rectangular strips of cloth”. Through this investigation of the garment piece, we notice the influence and inspiring use of the variations and exploration of a piece used by indigenous people of America.
I’ve always felt a connection to the land and town my parents were born in. Strolling in the small town at night wearing a mañanita crocheted by my aunt. Keeping me warm during the cold nights in Mexico. Living in Chicago I felt honored and proud to wear my shawl that reminded me of my grandmother's home in Guanajuato. Learning the stories of the quechquemitl and origin reminds me of the layers and importance of knowing our own narratives and informs me of the resistance this garment has gone through. I feel empowered to learn and investigate the quechquemitl traces back to the Aztec people and I honor the women and people who continue a rich and valuable legacy of the pre-cuauhtemoc people.
Dehouve, D. (2020). The Rules of Construction of an Aztec Deity: Chalciuhtlicue, The Goddess of Water. Ancient Mesoameica, 31(1), 7-28. Doi:10.1017/SO956536118000056
Mandell, Elisa C. “A NEW ANALYSIS OF THE GENDER ATTRIBUTION OF THE ‘GREAT GODDESS’ OF TEOTIHUACAN.” Ancient Mesoamerica 26, no. 1 (2015): 29–49.
Hagerman, Kiri. "Transformations in Representations of Gender during the Emergence of the Teotihuacan State: A Regional Case Study of Ceramic Figurines from the Basin of Mexico." Cambridge Archaeological Journal 28, no. 4 (11, 2018): 689-711. doi:http://dx.doi.org.proxy.artic.edu/10.1017/S0959774318000288. http://proxy.artic.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.proxy.artic.edu/scholarly-journals/transformations-representations-gender-during/docview/2112413008/se-2?accountid=26320.
Stone, Andrea J. "KEEPING ABREAST OF THE MAYA: A STUDY OF THE FEMALE BODY IN MAYA ART." Ancient Mesoamerica 22, no. 1 (2011): 167-83. Accessed April 22, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26309555.
"Quechquémitl Adapted by Film Designer." Women’s Wear Daily, May 19, 1952, 28, http://proxy.artic.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.proxy.artic.edu/magazines/quechquémitl-adapted-film-designer/docview/1523165754/se-2?accountid=26320.
https://www.artic.edu/artworks/22685/the-sarape-and-the-rebezo-from-mexican-costume
https://nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org/content/pre-cuauhtémoc
(MM Spring 2021 | MFA Fiber and Material Studies 2021)
Carina Yepez is a 2021 MFA candidate in Fiber & Material Studies, native to Chicago, Illinois with roots from Guanajuato, Mexico. She is dedicated to exploring the patterns of matriarchy and the quilted narrative of Chicago migrants. Through sewing, she explores the techniques of domesticity and crafting expressions through her familial stories with a heart focused on healing ancestral trauma; sewing and layering through appliqué to honor her culture through the floral arrangements of her quilts.