On Saturdays, the young weavers’ groups in the Sacred Valley get together at their weaving compound to continue to improve their weaving, learn new designs, and catch up on the weekly gossip. Our ATA group was fortunate to visit the Accha Alta weaving association (Munay Pallay Awaqkuna) on a Saturday and meet its very committed young weavers’ group of 25 (8 boys and 17 girls). They were certainly an enthusiastic and earnest bunch.
Edwin (15 years old) greeted me, introduced himself (in English) and I in turn, introduced myself and our group. He then proudly told me about his learning to weave from his parents and introduced his sister, Brisayda who is the current president of the young weavers’ group. We also spoke with Melanie (11 years old) and Virginia (15 years old) who had both started weaving when quite young. The meticulousness of their work was impressive and they were quite proud to share this with us.
Later, on the wall of the indoor shelter, I noticed a hand-drawn poster (mural de compromisos) of a tree with leaves attached, each leaf containing a written promise. Young weavers Melanie and Virginia had both written on their leaves, “I promise to turn in my weavings each month.”
The Center for Traditional Textiles of Cuzco (CTTC) has always understood the importance of documenting designs, techniques, and other textile traditions that were disappearing with each passing year. One of their earliest projects was assembling a simple design catalogue that sought to document in physical archives a woven example of each design and its name. ATA supported this important documentation through grants and, in 2020, CTTC completed work on the design catalogue. Seeing the young weavers in both Accha Alta and in Pitumarca using these design cards to learn their community-specific designs was gratifying, and it highlighted for me the impact of this critical archive. It has become a foundation for these young people to carry on their living tradition of weaving.
