Venustiano Carranza, Chiapas is famous for a delicate, hair-thin hand-spun cotton thread known as petet (or petete). Artisans prepare this ultra-fine yarn by unspooling and starching the fibers in a corn-and-pine boiling mixture, which gives the fragile thread the strength needed for complex manipulation. This traditional starching prevents the threads from breaking or fuzzing during production, yet the finished fabric softens remarkably after its first wash. The resulting petet yarn enables weavers to produce a signature open-weave gauze textile that is exceptionally lightweight, breathable, and cool—ideal for the hot tropical climate of the region.
The actual creation takes place on a traditional back-strap loom, where artisans use body tension and wooden rods to meticulously interlace the threads. Weavers incorporate ancestral Mayan motifs—such as geometric diamonds, zigzags, and natural elements like corn plants or the spiky morning star—into the fabric using intuitive color combinations and brocade techniques. Passed down through generations, this slow, highly skilled process transforms raw cotton into wearable cultural identity, with each lightweight garment reflecting both ancient history and the daily agricultural life of the community
Cotton Huipil by Carmen Vázquez Hernández
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
CARMEN VÁSQUEZ HERNÁNEZ
Born in 1958, Carmen Vázquez Hernández is a master artisan, cultural promoter, and nationally recognized artist hailing from Venustiano Carranza, Chiapas. In 2019, she won the National Award for Arts and Literature in the Folk Arts and Traditions category. She was recognized as one of the "100 Most Powerful Women in Mexico" in 2020 by *Forbes* magazine. She serves as an inspiring example for her community and acts as a guide for new generations in promoting traditional techniques and values. Furthermore, she helps empower the women of her community and boost their economic well-being. Carmen is deeply respected in her community due to her preservation of the Petet technique, which she continues to teach to novice weavers.
ABOUT THE COSMOS DESIGN
In Maya textile art, geometric motifs like zigzags, diamonds, heart-shaped patterns, and the herringbone weave function as an intricate visual language that maps out both the natural world and sacred cosmology. The ubiquitous diamond represents the cosmos, the four corners of the universe, and the earth’s protective boundaries, while its center signifies the weaver herself standing at the core of space and time. Zigzags flow across the fabric to symbolize the undulating movements of the sacred serpent, vital lightning strikes, and the life-giving paths of rivers. Interlocking with these forms is the herringbone design—known locally as the espiga (grain stalk) pattern—which directly mimics the rhythmic, stacked formation of an ear of corn to explicitly invoke agricultural fertility and protection. Woven together on a fine petet canvas, these motifs are never purely decorative; they transform each hand-woven garment into a living canvas of ancestral memory, spiritual guardianship, and a deep reverence for the universe.
