Our Blog

Mayan Products: Skilled Artisan Work with Ancient Roots

2022-06-27T13:40:00-05:00

All of our products are made by Mayan women aged 30 to 60. The women have their own businesses, and work out of their homes in western Guatemala as they have always done. This is skilled artisan work.

Since ancient times, weaving has held an integral position in Mayan society. To this day their handmade textiles play a profound role in their lives.

Traditionally all of the inhabitants of every village wore a style of clothing unique to that village. While no longer obligatory, you can still tell where a woman is from at a glance. The Mayans take great pride in their "traje" or village dress. It is hard to overstate the significance their native clothing plays in their lives. It is no exaggeration to say that an essential quality of who they are as a people is manifest in their attire.

Though anything but subtle, Mayan clothing that might be garish elsewhere. It blends naturally with the ever-present flowers, the lush tropical foliage and enormous volcanoes of Guatemala. Such a dramatic setting demands radiant apparel. Somehow it just couldn't be otherwise.

The Maya of Guatemala is one of the last native people on earth whose ancient culture has not yet been completely assimilated into the western world. Over the last few decades the world has come to love Mayan crafts. While products and colors have been modified to meet the demands of the non-Mayan consumer the Mayans still largely manufacture them as they have for centuries.

Handmade goods previously sold to a local, Mayan market are now being distributed through out the world. The products and the production techniques utilized in their manufacture are essentially the same as centuries before. Only the market has radically changed.

If the Mayans are gainfully employed doing what they have done for centuries, in their ancestral villages and, most importantly, in their native tongue, then they can go on being "Mayan" for centuries to come.

Worry Dolls

2022-06-27T13:11:00-05:00

Worry Dolls.

All of the worry dolls in Guatemala come from 2 very remote villages high in the mountains. The villages are actually on the slopes of an extinct volcano. This is also coffee growing country. This area still has few roads or infrastructure, and the Mayan’s traditional lifestyle is very much maintained. All worry dolls are made by families in their homes; there are no factories anywhere in the area. The Mayans greatly appreciate the orders we place with them, and this is a very important source of income for them.

Note that multiple worry doll products have been determined to be in compliance with both the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA) and the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA). How do we know? We’ve been importing worry dolls for decades. One time they checked for this, and all items were fully approved after an inspection period.

The meaning of the shapes woven into our products

2022-06-22T12:50:00-05:00

The shapes and patterns you see woven into Mayan cloth and beadwork are anything but random. There are many meanings, but here are a few that are easy to see:

Ghost People (they bring good luck), as seen in some of the cloth we carry.

Volcanos, which are prominent features of Guatemalan geography, are represented by triangle shapes.

Beautiful birds abound in Guatemala and are often represented in weaving, such as the Quetzal.

Flowers are everywhere and are found in many Mayan products such as these bead barrettes.

These, and so many more items with beautiful colorful patterns and shapes, may be found on our website.

Here are links to the above four products if you are interested in those specifically:

https://www.guatemalawholesale...

https://www.guatemalawholesale.com/beaded-3d-flower-barrette

https://www.guatemalawholesale...

The incredible diversity of peoples within the small nation of Guatemala

2021-06-21T12:15:00-05:00

Hello and welcome to our first blog. We want you to understand the incredible diversity of people in Guatemala, especially for such a small country. There are 24 completely different languages in Guatemala. You can go from one village to another, and in the process cross a language barrier. A natural result is that villages prefer a lot of local control of their affairs.

Spanish is the second language of most people that make our products. It is a lingua franca of the region, and often only the kids read and write Spanish because they learn in school.

The map below shows the amazing kaleidoscope of languages presented in this small nation of 16,000,000 people. So when you are perusing the items on our website, in a sense you are crossing and recrossing ancient boundaries between peoples.