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Sna Jolobil

SNA JOLOBIL

The Sna Jolobil museum is located next to the church in the main downtown market square in San Cristobal. It is free to the public.
There are many fine garments available to purchase.
Sna Jolobil means "The Weaver's House" in Tzotzil, a Mayan language; it is an organization made up of 800 weavers from 20 Tzotzil and Tzeltal speaking Indian communities in the Chiapas highlands. It is incorporated as a profit sharing "Sociedad Cival".
The main objective of Sna Jobobil is to preserve and revitalize Mayan art by encouraging its members to study and recreate ancient textiles, natuaral dying methods for wool and cotton, and ancestral weaving techniques.
Each piece is an original creation with it's own value, impregnated with the sensibility, wisdom and respect with which each artist composes the designs and symbols inherited from their elders.
Sna Jobobil is also a study center for the backstrap loom technique known as brocade, in which the designs are woven into the cloth itself.
Many of these brcaded designs survive from pre-colombian times; they portray the saints, gods, and animals who protect the growth of corn and fertility of the earth and symbolize the Mayan vision of the cosmos.
Women who devote their lives to brocade and achieve mastery of its complicated techniques and symbolism are greatly admired in their communities.

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MAYA FASHIONS

MAYAN RUINS

FEATURES

The ethnic communities of the Maya have various systems of social and administrative power. There are stewards [Mayordomos] who are the decision making leaders of groups.
The Chole have a traditional form of government under the care of elders, while the Lacandons recognize the oldest member of the caribal [traditional cluster of huts] as their sole authority.
Among the Zolques for example there are albaceas, who take care of images, and fiscales, who are in charge of rites, chants and prayers.
Another characteristic is the religious syncretism of ancient beliefs and Catholicism. The Tzeltals venerate "talking crosses", sculptures associated with pre-Hispanic idols, which according to tradition talk to the faithful.
Of all the fiestas organized by the different groups of the state, the Chamula Carnival, also called Kin Tajimultic, is the most famous. This is the most important fiesta of the Totzils and includes cavalcades, ritual dances, a procession of flags and the spectacular fire running. These ceremonial activities serve to reaffirm the group's identity and to revive an ancestral religion based largely on agriculture.