Clothing of the MAYANS

Clothing has always been a different element of different cultures that have been passing through our world. Clothing helps us understand many things about a civilization, both the work done and the types of materials they could use. For all this, and to know in depth how one of the most important people in history dressed, in this lesson from a Teacher we are going to talk about the clothing of the Mayans.

Index

1. Who were the Mayans?
2. What is the clothing of the Mayans?
3. Clothing of the Mayan lower classes
4. How did the upper class Mayans dress?

The mayans They were a Mesoamerican culture, that is, they were located in the cultural zone known as Mesoamerica, which was located in the area of ​​Central America. between the 20th centuries BC. c. and the 15th AD. c. being therefore one of the towns with the greatest presence and relevance in the history of the region. For this reason, it is considered one of the most influential towns in the area, serving its knowledge for the growth of many and diverse towns.

Despite the relevance of the Mayans, we must understand that their influence and power did not remain the same from their origin until the conquest of the Europeans, going through various phases in which the Mayans had more or less influence, depending on numerous factors.

The great longevity of the Mayan people makes it difficult to speak of a single type of clothing for their entire history, since this was evolving and changing due to various factors. Even so, we can talk about a series of common elements that serve to characterize Mayan clothing.

Here we tell you what it was like religion and culture of the Mayans.

The clothing of the Mayans was made with specific materials and colors, which depended on the status and gender of each person, which is why each person had characteristic and unique clothing.

The clothing was something very important for the Mayans, as demonstrated by the enormous number of deities related to fabrics or clothing. The gods themselves wore characteristic clothing, which serves as an example to understand how the Mayans dressed.

Among the typical Mayan clothing we find:

• The loincloths and long skirts, depending on whether they were men or women.
• On their feet, both men and women wore sandals.
• At the top the Mayans wore breastplates and cloaks.
• Finally, on their heads the Mayans wore hats or ribbons to hold hair.

As to Its manufacture was the task of women, as the drawings of ancient codices demonstrate. To create clothing, the Mayans used a huge amount of resources, such as leather, cotton, fabric, skin or bones.

When talking about the clothing of the Mayans we must understand that Not all the population had the same type of clothing, since depending on the task or social class, the type of clothing could vary. Therefore we must talk about the main characteristics that the upper and lower classes of the Mayans had.

The lower classes of the Mayans were mainly dedicated to agriculture, so their clothing was related to this task. Mayan farmers wore a short skirt known as a patí, which was very comfortable and served to have greater mobility when working in the field.

The Mayans did not wear any clothing in the upper area, except in the coldest seasons. Some agricultural workers They decorated their loincloths with different colors, which served to differentiate themselves from the rest, and in many cases to represent their family.

Besides, Women from the lower classes wore long skirts and huipils, which were loose cotton shirts. On top they put large colored scarves, and at the same time they decorated their clothing with flowers and other elements colorful. Even so, they couldn't go too colorful, since this was prohibited for people from lower classes.

As for footwear, the two genres had different elements, although in both cases they were sandals. The women's were made of venison, and were different from the men's, which were thinner. The idea is that men would have a more balanced footing to be able to work in the enormous Mayan crops.

The upper classes of the Mayans were those made up of the rulers, warriors and priests. Each of them had different clothing, although they all had a series of common characteristics.

In general, the upper classes used this type of Mayan clothing:

• Clothes with embroidery of some decorative element such as feathers, these being only allowed for the upper classes.
• They also carried head decorations and huge elements such as belts, in order to differentiate themselves from the rest of the population.
• Furthermore, they carried colors denied to the lower classes, like blue or yellow that were related to deities.
• On the other hand The women had a lot of jewelry and decorative elements, since it was considered that the more elements she carried, the better the woman's social class.
• They were also painted with the elements typical of certain goddesses, and especially when they wanted something from them.

We can say that the higher the social class of a Mayan, the greater the amount of decoration and other elements his clothing included. That is why it is common to see representations of Mayan kings with many feathers and paintings, serving to demonstrate the great power they had.

If you want to read more articles similar to Mayan clothing, we recommend that you enter our category of History.

• Olivares, C. (2017). Mayan clothing.
• Huckert, C. (1999). The textile figures in the clothing of the Mayans of the pre-Columbian era. Mayan Culture Studies, 20.
• Sheseña, A. The symbol of the caves on the clothing of the ancient Mayans. AcAtlán, Guerrero, the AGRICULTURAL ritual in images, 34.