CultureThe Weaving House Sna JolobilSan Cristobal de las Casas

Sna Jolobil means The Weaving House in tzotzil, a mayan language. It’s an organization made up of 800 women weavers from 20 tzotzil and tzeltal speaking indians communities in the Highlands of Chiapas and is incorporated as a not-for-profit Civil Society.

Its main objective is to preserve and revitalize Mayan Art by encouraging its members to study and recreate ancient textiles, natural dyeing methods for wool and cotton, and ancestral weaving techniques.

Each piece is an original creation with its own value, impregnated with the sensibility, wisdom and respect with which each artist composes the designs and symbols inherited from their elders.

Sna Jolobil 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 brocaded designs survive from the pre-colombian times; they portray the saints, gods and animals who protect the growth of corn and the 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.