Our Andean Textiles Arts (ATA) tours to Peru are always special. For one thing, we travel with Nilda Callañaupa, the founder and director of the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco (CTTC), and she takes us to the remote weaving villages that the CTTC supports. These villages are in the high Andes, surrounding the Sacred Valley of the Inca, and the weavers there are carrying on the traditions of their ancestors.
It wasn’t always guaranteed that these traditions would survive. In fact, the knowledge was dying out, and only a few elder weavers remembered the techniques, patterns, and symbolism of the weavings. Younger people could not earn income by weaving until the CTTC began to help them recover and refine the techniques, provided education programs, and started purchasing their weavings and marketing them to textile enthusiasts in Peru and around the world.
This year’s tour celebrated 25 years of support from ATA, the US-based nonprofit that has helped CTTC expand its programs and visibility. We visited a number of CTTC weaving communities to see for ourselves the impact of those 25 years of support.
Our first visit was to Chinchero, Nilda’s hometown and the place where CTTC began. We arrived by coach from our lodge in the Sacred Valley, a stunning drive from valley to plateau, with steep, terraced mountains all around us and snow-capped peaks in the distance.
We were greeted at the doorway to the weaving center by the weavers in their traditional dress, hugging us and sprinkling flower petals on our heads, a sign of gratitude and appreciation. In turn, we were in awe of their gorgeous weavings on display all around us.
Nilda had planned a busy day, and our first order of business was to participate in a dyeing workshop. The seven large dye pots were perched on stands atop blazing eucalyptus logs and were ready for us to add the dyes, one for each of the colors we would produce: cochineal for the red, chaphi stems for the melon color, qólle flowers to produce the warm yellow, leaves from the ch’illka bush for the green, and other dyes for the purples and orange. We were not dyeing the beautiful indigo that day; it is so precious that they will save their supply for their traditional weavings.
We got right to work adding skeins of undyed yarn to each dye pot. They start taking on the color immediately, and as we stirred the pots, they continued to absorb the dye. After 45 minutes or so, it was time to remove the steaming skeins and drain and cool them on metal grids, then dip them in a succession of water baths to remove the last of the dye. Hanging on the line to dry, the colors seemed to come alive in the sun, a feast for our eyes. We were already talking about what we would make from this yarn to commemorate this visit and remind us of our weaving friends in Chinchero.
Next on our day’s agenda was to see some amazing pieces that ATA has funded for the past six years through our grant programs and that exemplify the mission to help revitalize weaving techniques and traditions of the Andes.
It was amazing to see the skill and care with which the weavers have studied these pre-Columbian weaving techniques and re-engineered the processes, creating many stunning pieces. In fact, that day was the opening of a new exhibit, The Footprints of Weaving, at the center’s exhibition hall. On display were incredible examples of these techniques, including the four-cornered Wari hats and the Parazca cross-knit looping technique. It was especially fun to see the young weavers (numbering over 30 in Chinchero alone) view this exhibit for the first time.
After a traditional Peruvian lunch prepared by members of Nilda’s extended family, including the revered roast guinea pig, there was a final and very meaningful surprise in store for us.
Gathered back in the weaving center’s courtyard, Nilda had assembled all the Chinchero weavers, the young weavers, members of the CTTC board of directors, the staff from the center in Cusco, and our tour members, including ATA president Marilyn Murphy and three other current or past ATA board.
To celebrate 25 years of ATA’s participation and support, sparkling wine and biscuits were passed around. Before we drank or ate, we each spilled some of the wine on the ground in honor of Pachamama, Mother Earth. The Quechua people still express their enduring gratitude to the earth for all that makes their weaving lives possible: the alpaca, the sheep, the natural dyes, the mountain water, the food that sustains us. The toasts that followed, our thanks and appreciation for each other, would sustain us with uplifted spirits through the rest of our tour. Once home, we knew we would keep each other in our hearts and continue to support and promote our weaver friends in the beautiful highlands of Peru.
