"Traditional costume" Top 5 Page for this destination Guatemala Local Custom Tip by toonsarah

One thing that is bound to strike you in Guatemala is the high number of people, especially women, wearing their traditional costume as an everyday matter of course. In areas with a high proportion of native Mayan residents, such as around Lake Atitlàn you may find it hard to spot anything else other than on tourists. We were told that the reason is that the people believe it keeps them closer to their ancestors and gives them a sense of continuity.

The most distinctive element of the local dress is the huipile, the colourful loose blouse which is gathered into the skirt. The latter is usually a simple length of fabric wound round and fasten with a wide belt, although I did see some young women wearing a huipile with a regular skirt. Traditionally every village has its own distinctive design of huipile. So in San Antonio Polopo you will find that almost every woman and girl is wearing the same shade of blue, as in photos one and two, while in Santiago Atitlàn, just a couple of miles away across the lake, huipiles are distinguished by heavy floral embroidery around the neckline as in photo three. It is in Santiago too that you will see the striking headdresses made by wrapping a broad strip of cloth round and round to form a large red or orange disk (photo four) and also men in cropped cream trousers with purple stripes (photo five).

These differences are easy for even casual observers to spot, but apparently there are also distinctions within a village, enabling the expert local eye to identify whether a woman is single or married for instance. It all adds up to a rich tapestry of colour, as rich as the fabrics they use.