Maya Embroidery Book Preserves Yucatán’s Cultural Heritage

Yucatán, Mexico — Maya embroidery is an art that has been passed down from generation to generation in the Yucatán peninsula. In each stitch, family memories, stories of the land, and the worldview of a people who have kept alive one of the most authentic expressions of the country are intertwined.

Testimony to the importance of this tradition is the book El bordado maya de Yucatán: Patrimonio vivo, an extensive historical, anthropological, and technical investigation, with a process of community participation that recognizes the creativity and skill of the embroiderers as authors, teachers, and bearers of the textile knowledge that has given them identity.

The text presents the voices that have known how to link the everyday with the sacred, and the ancestral with the contemporary, such as Zelmy Domínguez, from Tekit; Mayra Patricia Chí Pérez, from the community of San José Oriente, Hoctún; Imelda Cocom, from Tekax; and María Dalila Casanova Ferráez, from Muna, among others.

“For me, heritage is an inheritance. But above all, it is knowledge that our ancestors, grandmothers, mothers and fathers leave us, and it is part of our identity. It is a legacy of memory for me,” shares Zelmy Domínguez.

The artisan Imelda Cocom expresses that with professionalization they can “learn more from other embroiderers,” and with that strengthen their community in terms of work. “We are several embroiderers who, now it depends on what we do, we can help support our household. So, well yes, the truth is I am very happy, with much excitement.”

“Well, the truth is I feel very happy because I always said: ‘I don’t know anything, I’m nobody, nothing,’ and for them to say: ‘no, well these stitches that you know are worth a lot,’ and for them to be gathering them, because there are many stitches that are being lost, and for us to be teaching others, it gives me joy. When someone comes and tells me: ‘I already learned this stitch,’ it fills me with joy, it fills me with happiness to be part of it,” comments in the book María Dalila Casanova Ferráez.

Edited by the Secretariat of Culture and the Arts (Sedeculta) in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Banorte Foundation, the book has as its central theme the Safeguarding Plan for Maya Embroidery, based on community diagnoses and regional exchanges, to promote its preservation as intangible cultural heritage of the state of Yucatán.

More than 100 actions

In the publication, action axes such as documentation, preservation, transmission, fair trade, gender, education, and visibility, among others, are presented, which form a roadmap with more than 100 actions to ensure the continuity of this living practice.

It also includes the milestone that was the certification of more than 200 embroiderers as master trainers and the creation of the State Council of Embroiderers, decisive steps toward professionalization, cultural governance, and the valuation of all knowledge for artisan communities.

The volume, in addition to documenting the meaning of embroidery, analyzes its ancestral techniques, the evolution of stitches, the technological transition, and the contemporary tension between artisanal production and commercialization, highlighting the importance of fair trade that dignifies the work of Maya women.

Regarding El bordado maya de Yucatán: Patrimonio vivo, Patricia Martín Briceño, head of Sedeculta, highlights that it is a first-quality document that “brings together the voice, technique, history, and sensitivity of more than 300 embroiderers who participated in the Safeguarding Plan.” With this project, it is sought that “Maya embroidery at some point also be declared intangible cultural heritage of humanity because they are ancestral knowledges, and the embroiderers are in charge of preserving it.”

She considers that the book is a living experience that can inspire other communities to replicate “this model of organization, consultation, and decision-making.”

She adds: “talking about Maya embroidery in Yucatán is talking about identity, memory, and cultural continuity, but it is also talking about autonomy, opportunity, and economic freedom for Maya women. This is more than a book, it is a program, a project that transcends any administration, because it deals with the lives of the embroiderers, the economy, and our living heritage of the entire country. It is a clear message that the safeguarding of cultural heritage is only possible when it is led by those who create it.”

Professionalization and certification

In the presentation of this project at Original: Encuentro de Arte Textil Mexicano, the promoter and textile specialist Silvia Terán emphasized the importance of the professionalization of embroiderers, because there are young women who like embroidery, but want to have a career, so now they have this alternative for the future.

She recalled that a year ago certification was delivered to 200 embroiderers, which was an incentive, because they deserve for their activity to be recognized professionally. She added that with the Safeguarding Plan, it is intended that basic education schools offer the subject of embroidery and that the historical context of this ancestral art be known.

The representative of UNESCO in Mexico, Andrés Morales Arciniegas, in his text included in the book, points out that El bordado maya de Yucatán: Patrimonio vivo is the result of the tireless work of the community of embroiderers in that region.

“We have collaborated with nearly half a thousand embroiderers through the program Bordamos en Comunidad, with the purpose of strengthening their socioeconomic capacities and guaranteeing the rights of women artisans through the safeguarding of one of the most significant cultural manifestations of their heritage.”

The book El bordado maya de Yucatán: Patrimonio vivo will also be presented on January 22 in Yucatán, with the presence of Governor Joaquín Díaz Mena.