Yucatán Congress Committees Advance Guayabera and Temozón Smoked Meat as Cultural Heritage

Mérida, Yucatán — The guayabera and the smoked meat of Temozón moved closer to legal recognition as cultural heritage of Yucatán after lawmakers on the state Congress’s joint Committees on Constitutional Points and on Culture and Art unanimously approved both proposals.

The guayabera measure seeks to declare the garment an intangible cultural heritage of Yucatán, while the smoked meat proposal would recognize the food as emblematic traditional gastronomy of Temozón and intangible cultural heritage of the municipality.

Both opinions now go to the full Congress, which will debate and vote on them for eventual final approval.

Lawmakers Broaden Guayabera Definition

The guayabera opinion won unanimous support from PAN and Morena lawmakers, but only after the original wording was changed to cover the wide range of designs and manufacturing techniques used for the traditional garment.

During the debate, PAN lawmaker Roger Torres Peniche noted that the initial description defined the guayabera as a garment made of linen, manta cotton and cotton, with four front pockets and two rows of embroidered pleats.

He warned, however, that models exist without pockets and with different designs and embroidery, so limiting the definition to those features would leave out part of the variety of garments also known as guayaberas.

Lawmakers also cited “presidential” guayaberas and other designs that emerged from Yucatecan ingenuity and the evolution of the clothing.

Morena lawmaker Julián Bustillos Medina agreed with Torres Peniche and highlighted hand-embroidery techniques such as xokbil chuuy, known as cross-stitch or counted thread among the Maya, as well as machine-made embroidery.

The author of the initiative, PAN lawmaker Rafael Montalvo Mata, accepted adjusting the text to include the different variants of the garment. The final wording states that “the guayabera is recognized in its traditional style and its different variants.” With that change, the opinion passed unanimously.

A Century of Smoked Meat in Temozón

The second initiative, proposed by Wilmer Monforte Marfil, coordinator of the Morena caucus, seeks to recognize Temozón’s smoked meat as part of the municipality’s emblematic traditional gastronomy and as intangible cultural heritage.

The proposal also received a unanimous vote from the committee members present, with no objections raised.

Monforte Marfil said Yucatán stands out for its customs and traditions, and he considered it important to recognize both the artisanal textile work represented by the guayabera and the terno, a traditional Yucatecan women’s dress, and the gastronomic tradition of Temozón.

He explained that smoked meat has been produced in Temozón for roughly 100 years and is now a distinctive element of Yucatecan cuisine both inside and outside the state.

The preparation and preservation technique consists of salting the meat, cooking it over firewood and smoking it.

According to the legislator, the tradition has helped give Temozón fame and identity while diversifying its economy. He said the recognition would be meaningful not only for the municipality’s residents, but could also draw more visitors interested in tasting the traditional food.

Milpa Maya and Endemic Flora Initiatives Still Pending

During the joint committees’ regular session, members also raised the need to process other initiatives that have stalled.

Under general business, PAN lawmaker Manuela Cocom Bolio asked the president of the joint committees, Alejandro Cuevas Mena, to route two proposals she presented 509 and 155 days ago to the appropriate body.

The first would declare November 3 as Day of the Maya Milpa. The second proposes recognizing the state’s endemic flora as natural heritage and a symbol of Yucatán’s cultural identity.

“I would like us to be able to route them to the committee, set dates and not leave them for any longer,” the legislator said.

Cuevas Mena, of Morena, responded that he would forward the request to PAN lawmaker Rafael Montalvo Mata, president of the Permanent Commission on Culture and Art, so the proposals can be processed.

Montalvo Mata is also the author of the initiative to recognize the Yucatecan guayabera as intangible cultural heritage, presented last September.

Three committee members did not attend the session and gave reasons for their absences: Álvaro Cetina Puerto of PAN, Gaspar Quintal Parra of the PRI and Maribel Chuc Ayala of Morena.