Kaqchikel culture and their contribution to Tourism The life of Kaqchikel people has been affected by their participation

in Guatemala's tourism industry. They open their homes to foreigners to show the Kaqchickel culture. Many are also part of the successful business of handicrafts and clothing. Kaqchickel beliefs have deep roots in the Mayan cosmovision. Accordingly, they consider the Popol Wuj a sacred book. Their clothing have images found in the book and have colors representative of each town. There is no accumulation of wealth within their traditions and beliefs. But through time, major events, such as Spanish colonization, have altered their traditional way of life. Modernization has provided Kaqchikels with new opportunities in industries such as tourism, agriculture, and transportation. This society has made adaptions to the world they live in today. Some more than others have incorporated into the global flows and are avid consumers. Furthermore, tourism has grown to be a part of the lives of many Kaqchikels.

This paper is focused on commercial tourism in the area of La Antigua Guatemala. I will be exploring the archivohistorico@cirma.org.gt rronald@email.arizona.edu

Introduction: About: how tourism has affected the Kaqchikel culture. Clear thesis, this is what I will look at. Define the geographical areas. Define what is the kaqchikel culture, how culture is related to cosmo, define the type of tourism. How do tourist see the kaqchikel culture. (make into 2 paragrpahs) Intro and conclusion should sum up whole

paper Intro: -research? -context? -issues? -defining terms? -clear Body -Methodology:what are the primary sources(books) -Lit review: secondary sources- Relate to in class topics. Engaging the argument of each article. Critique articles.

Conclusion: This was what I was arguing, and why. in the analysis part: use secondary sources(cosmovision and nosotros/ellos readings) El traje maya Kaqchickel y su proceso de extincion: P18. Traje: They are considered as perfect because they are made with much care and empeno by the indigenous women. They are very difficult garments to make because they require a series of meticulous steps, so the garment will have a great* finish. Mothers begin teaching their daughters how to elaborate such garments from a young age. It is a obligation of the women to know how to knit*. So when she gets married she will have to know how to elaborate her children's garments.

P20. Colors: The indigenous clothing usually have vibrant and varied colors. Some colors that they use are given meanings, they usually signify each community. Women: Basic and commonly used colors in the corte, guipil are red, khaki, and dar blue. Men: white, black, and red are usual colors used by the men. SOme places have multicolored garments for them, while many years ago most of the places use white and black. Today, men use varied colors, and some still stay true to the colors of their own communities.

Figures: Each comunity has figures characteristic of their town. ALthough there are figures which are used in the majority of towns. The women are the ones that use the most figures in their garments.There are two groups where the types of figures are divided: The first group includes animals, plants, and natural elements. For example: cats, deer, dogs, butterflies, quetzales, spine of fish, trees, branches, leafs, volcanoes, rainbows, etc. In the second group one finds different elements such as: arrows, letters, braids, etc. The men only wear figures in some places, such as geometric figures and animals. The majority of the male garments are solid colors and of smooth fabric.

P22 Materials: The base materials for the knits are cotton, various threads, a dyed cotton thread. Silk was commonly used but only years ago. A series of instruments are used to knit using a telar.

Including a lazo(bow),* a belt, asword, and a number of sticks. The belt connects the knitter with the telar. The sword helps divide the threads and tighten the knit.

Osbilda's house: 2 instruments: the bed of sticks: This instrument is made up of thirteen sticks, an important number for mayan cosmovision. Tikonel Ruxe'el K'aslemal: Siembra de los fundamentos o raices del conocimiento de la vida. P35 The number 13, oxlajuj, has various meanings, it signifies the 13 energetic and magnetic centers of every being. It also represents 13 levels of material and spiritual power. This number also signifies the 13 holes in a woman's body, which is one more than the men. The telar: this large instrument is made up of several sticks that hold the threads together.

P24 Discrimination: Discrimination is prevalent in many situations among mayans, because of the great division between people from mayan descent and ladinos, which was formed by prejudice some years ago. The concept ladinos have of indigenous is completely negative, impeding acceptance between both groups. Such prejudice greatly influences the indigenous. This is the point of the extinction of the garment, because the indigenous start eliminating and rejecting their traditional clothing so they do not look different from the ladinos. Their extinction began mainly among the men of the kaqchikel areas, becuase they had activities, such as jobs out of the house and with other people. Gradually men left their traditional garments.

The opposite can be said of women because they were thought to have no need of leaving the house. They would stay inside their home, responsible of maintaining the home and taking care of the children, and making clothes. She had very little motivation to go out, saving herself from ridicule and rejection by others. For this reason women have conserved their traditional clothing. (add an analysis: correlation to Nosotros/Ellosreading)

P.26 Discrimination contd: Nowadays Kaqchikel women have had contact with ladino women, usually for educational services. Thus, they have began to gradually change their clothing. She begins to feel uncomfortable because of the indifference shown by the ladinas, which induces them to try to look like them.

Perdida de conciencia: For mayan descendants, when they start leaving what is theirs, then it becomes marginalized, one sees and thinks only the negatives of the Mayan culture. This is the moment when conscience begins to be lost. The good is not appreciated any longer and indigenous begin to take off their traditional clothes to try to leave and try to hide what is really is.

P.28 Conciencia cont'd: Kaqchikel people have access to the capital for education, media, and other different activities,. Thus they stop accepting their own culture, maybe for ignorance or by the

influence that exerts the society where they live. An example of unacceptance can be seen when an indigenous person changes their clothing and has relatives that still wear them. Some distance is created by the whenever they get together becuause one can no longer trust that person. Also, the person does not not how to act in situations presented to both cultures. In the end, none of the groups accept them and they are left in the air. More practical reasons for no longer wearing traditional clothing are for work, or school. Economic reasons have also driven indigenous women to eliminate traditional garments due to their high price. They begin to take new adjustments, like replace the guipil with simple blouses. It is no longer a possibility in their lives to buy o make their garments because they need find resources for maintaing a family. Other reasons why women stop wearing their traditional garments are: work outside of their town, going to school where this garment is not used. They are ashamed of wearing their traje and change their garment. Yet another reason can be the high price, where it becomes more affordable to buy modern clothing(P.36) P30 Globalization: Means of communication such as radio, television, newspaper greatly influence the life of the Kaqchikel people. Large publicity brought to American clothing starts to take much importance, and because it is important to always be in style, traditional clothing is forgotten. As mentioned above, men have been influenced to a higher degree than women. They have had more access to education, and have had more contact with the other culture, and all this is because he no longer wears mayan clothing. (another correlation with Nosotros/Ellos: other)

P32 Analysis: An interesting and inciteful point made by this reading that those who wear mayan traditional garments not given their place in society. They are only considered as part of Guatemala's folklore, not like part of an older town. The reading makes the point that mayan traditional clothing is replaced by modern clothing. P36 The beauty of a mayan women can be admired through beautiful traje. P38 Nowadays, there are number of Kaqchikel people that are not wearing their traje, they wear modified traditional clothes and modern ladino clothes. Everything is becoming modernized, the accents, thread, etc. Indigenous and ladinos are dressing the same. Children are no longer dressed like their ancestors because their parents do not dress this way anymore. Parents do not impose their children to identify with the traje. Osbilda: The Chinese have elaborated a machine for the production of guipiles. Thus, their price is much more affordable than the hand-made clothes. This is taking away business from the Kaqchikels that sell traditionally made garments. Tourists are not the only ones that buy the Chinese guipils , even mayan women are buying the cheaper guipiles. P45: In the conclusion: The economic situation of the Kaqchikels has and will continue to influence them to take involuntary measures to substitute their dress with more accessible

pieces that have been introduced in their different communities. This exemplifies the globalization of the world. Colonial Cakchiquels: Highlands Maya Adaptation to Spanish Rule 1600-1700 by Robert M. Hill II P.72 Weaving: Women were in charge of weaving. It was done with a backstrap loom, one end of the setup is attached around the seated weaver's waist and the other attached to a tree or post. Kaqchikels in particular are world famous for their weaving and for their unique community-specific costumes. P162 As mentioned above, modernization in the last decades has provided new opportunities in industries such as tourism. This new opportunites have also brought new ideaologies mainly of evangelical Protestant creeds that declare that Kaqchiquels can change their low socioeconomic status and that the accumulation of wealth is, in itself, a good thing. But, in order to do this, the Kaqchikels' old ways must be abandoned. A question arises of whether the Kaqchikels should abandon their identity in order to modernize successfully in a country with a extensive Indian population such as Guatemala? This does not necessarily need to happen. The Kaqchikels will adapt to new and changing conditions while remaining true to their identity. Aproximacion a la Cosmovision Maya. Ricardo E. Lima. Universidad Rafael Landivar. Instituto de Investigaciones Economicas y Sociales. 1995. P22 Beliefs:

God, according to the Mayan cosmovision, is the creator as well as the former. He is refered to as Qatat and Ajaw. He is a present and influential being in everyday life for Mayans. His proximity signifies benefits for men and nature such as, abundant and permanent meals, healthy children, lack of diseases and danger. He is a transcendent being, as well as prominent. A relationship is created with people and their Ajaw. They are close with him, and Mayan people pray out loud and in their mother tongue. In the Mayan community, the Creator is communicated informally, naturally, respectfully, the same way a son refers to his father. P19 Religion: Religion for the Mayans are described as the school for the soul, which teaches men how to go about in the world and life. Religion helps to return to the original values, to create conciseness about the necessity of "stability" among men and nature. P43 Nature: Nature is a very important concept for the Maya cosmovision, it is a continuos movement. Men have to take care of it, not to possess it, and cannot destroy it. Nature is the mother and provides life, as well as everything humans need. Men have to ask for permission before taking from nature. P49 Humanity: Men are cosidered priviledged because they were given the ability of language. In summation, Mayan people have a sense of community, of bring part of nature. Their

oneness with nature can be demonstrated by their traditional trajes, where images of animals and plants are woven into guipils. Ethnology P165 The first organized performance took place in the years of 1931-1944, during Jorge Ubico's dictatorship, called Feria de Agosto, and it was held in Guatemala City. The event showcased a Pueblo Indigena, which was frequented by tourists from Guatemala, U.S., and Europe because it showed how the indigenous lived. They enacted their lives for the spectators. Women, men , and children were told to weave, make bricks, tile, and soap, fishnets, pottery and candles. They also danced, played music and demonstrated ancient rituals, cared for their children. At this time, some indigenous realized the economic potential for weaving for the tourists. P166 Ubico wanted the mayans to participate so they would generate international tourism and form a "sense of Guatemalan national identity," and not provide them with economic and social opportunities. INGUAT, Guatemala's tourism office endorses the Perez family, which has a hegemonic power on the local tourist industry since the 1980's. They are also supported by all the tourism companies in Guatemala. They make touristic performance. The family has an in situ style exhibit of mayan life in Antigua, everyday life is reenacted with actors and constructed settings. Tourist learn about mayan life without actually going to a mayan town or household. This exhibit is a combination of retail store, museum , and theatre. Another type of performance the Perez family has is situated in San Antonio. They have a

weaving demonstration and also serve local dishes, in a store-restaurant type place. The locals feel a combination of jealousy, anger, and shame that the Perez family has taken over the tourism market in the Antigua and San Antonio region. P169 Competition is high among vendors. They hand out fliers outside of Spanish schools, travel agencies, restaurants, and hotels inviting tourist into their stores or homes. P167 As a result of the Perez tourist monopoly, Kaqchikel women have taken their business to Antigua's Spanish school and markets. Here they weave, tell stories, and talks about their daily lives. Osbilda: It is common for Mayan women to sell their hand-woven items on the side as a way to make extra money. P163 Kaqchikel women are world renowed weavers and their indigenous clothes are collected by Americans, Europeans, and Japanese. P164 San Antonio Aguas Calientes is a prosperous town where the majority of the population is Kaqchikel. P.165 Pictures of women wearing their guipiles and weaving in at home or on a yard are in tourist literature and brochure, these are images of women performing. For as long as they can remember San Antonio residents have had tourist wandering through their town, taking pictures in order to see into their lives. The Kaqchikel women accommodate tourists by letting them watch what they do and

selling them woven items. In this way they become part of a global market of handicrafts. P166 Trilingual pictures were published with picture of San Antonio women weaving at backstrap looms. Tourism companies offer packages with stops in Mayan villages and markets. The tipica tienda: these are little stores set up on the side of the street where mayan merchants sell tipica, or traditionally inspires hand-woven clothing is offered. There is also a loom set-up for tourists to weave. Tourist agree that they are "enticed into marketplaces" by the sight of a mayan woman weaving. P168 Gloria Lopez prepares her home everyday for tourist and foreign students. They visit in hopes of learning about the indigenous lifestyle. The Lopez family sells stories and daily life instead of items. P171 The Lopez family transform their house into a sort of stage, they hide electrical appliances and any other items not traditional to the Mayan lifestyle. The tourists are led into a room with cane walls, where they learn to make tortillas, textiles are everywhere, bags of maize and beans lay on the floor. The family greets their guests dressed in their finest San Antonio-style guipiles. P173 Their home, when it is not a stage, is where they live. They are characters portraying Mayans, but they actually consider themselves Kaqchikeles and indigenous in all other contexts of life.

P179 the Lopez family talks about the strain to stay 'traditional' and they have to hide away so they are not recognized by tourists when they are eating American food and doing their daily, non-traditional tasks. Their home as a performance space intensified the interaction with the tourists, which changed the male and female dynamics of the household. For example, the men farm but have now also contributing to the activities of the women. They take care of the children and do household chores, in this way letting the women visit their potential customers. The men in this home also help serve dinner and wash the dishes at the end of the meal. Some of the comments made by tourists is of the subordination they observe among Mayan women to men and that their work is so separate. Much of the behavior of the Lopez family is increasingly not transparent but are becoming constructed traditions which they modify in order to satisfy their tourist and student guests. The more the Lopez family perform Mayan traditional lifestyle the further they are from it in their private lives. Global Integration and the Commodification of Culture. By June Nash.2000 P129 The Commodification of Kaqchikel women into globalized markets. The women of San Antonio have adapted to the tourist market by putting on shows demonstrating the traditional life of a Mayan. P130 Something that many not often think about is that the revitalization of specific crafts and performances are helping to reinforce a specific Mayan culture such as the Kaqchikel

culture that is beginning to diffuse throughout Guatemala as a pan-Mayan cultural identity. Outside of Social Movement: Dilemmas of Indigenous Handicraft Vendors in Guatemala. State University of New York, Albany. Walter Little. P44 The decrease in political violence and a Guatemalan Commission of Tourism's campaign lead to an increase in foreign tourism. P45 The marketplace in Antigua has over two hundred , the majority are Kaqchikel and only few are based in Antigua, many live in the surrounding highlands. At least a hundred of the stalls are run by Kaqchikel women from San Antonio Aguas Calientes. The women sell items woven buy herself and her extended family, also generic items produced by large weaving companies in Comalapa and Chichicastenango. The women buy generic items from middlemen that also let producers know of the stylistic suggestion made by the vendors according to tourist preference. Tourist come to the markets from places like El Salvador, Europe, Japan, many from the U.S. and few ladinos. Bargaining happens in Spanish, Kaqchikel, Ki'che, English, German, etc. The vendors take pride in bargaining in three languages or more. The language spoken first is that of the customer, the vendor intiates business in that language. If the vendors is accompanied then their native language will be spoken whenever they do not want the foreign customer to understand. Spanish is the "lingua franca" during business.