Xelajú Huipil

Huipiles of Xelajú, nicknamed Xela (SHAY la), are traditionally made of heavier textiles due to colder, high-altitude temperatures in the region. They consist of three colors—red for the blood spilled by wars and the blood of the ancestors, yellow for corn grown in the region and rays of the sun, and purple for pain and suffering the Maya have experienced. Diamond shapes incorporated throughout the design represent stars and the universe. A ceremonial huipil, this style is worn for weddings, burials, and by women of high rank. The wearer would fold the huipil at an angle from the shoulders and toward the center of the body before tucking it into a corte skirt.  Xelajú is the original indigenous Maya K’iche’ name for the modern Guatemalan city known as Quetzaltenango, meaning “place of the quetzal,” the national bird of Guatemala. Due to the city’s position at the intersection of roads to the Pacific Slope, Mexico, and Guatemala City, it is prosperous today and busy with commerce. It wa