María Luisa and a group of women live in the small village of Paraíso de Grijalba, near the La Angostura dam in Chiapas. The village is part of the municipality of Venustiano Carranza, famous in the field of handicrafts for its wonderful brocade textiles made on a backstrap loom.

Some women still wear the traditional short skirt with the light brocade huipil, while others only wear them on holidays. Due to the warm, humid climate, the textiles are much lighter than in the mountainous areas of the state, but the Maya symbols used are the same.

Various types of yarn are used and the thickness of the fabric varies. The finest fabric is petet , a slightly transparent fabric, a brocaded gauze. Men's marriage shirts are made from this fabric and sometimes take a year to finish. Complementing these shirts are white pants with small Mayan symbols brocaded in red.

María Luisa and her sister María Inés, have won several awards at the National Forum of Great Masters and Masters of Folk Art 2015, one for a petet shawl and another for a piece of fabric, also with the petet technique, as well as the award of the National Textile Contest 2015 for another petet shawl.

Calle S/N, Col El Paraiso

El Grijalba

Venustiano Carranza, Chiapas

992 699 4915 WhatsApp

992 596 0112 casa