History

According to the history told by the elders of the community, they are the descendants of the first people of the Maya world.
They say that the first populations Chuj were coming from 4 different groups: the Tzapatula, who are living now in Mexico, the Ixtatan who are part of the Tzapatula, the group living now in Coatan and the group living in Santa Eulalia.
The Tzaoalutas wanted to take possession of the salt mines of San Mateo Ixtatan, but the locales fight and managed to get them out of Mexico. They did it with the help of their Nawales (gods), who changed themselves in lions and coyotes and ate them.
The Tzapatulas, who are every year less, decided to emigrate in the North and only coma back to give homage a San Mateo and realize their ceremonies at the end of the Mayan year.

Numbers

• 64 438 persons speak the language
• They are living in the north west of Guatemala, in the departments of Huehuetenango and more precisely in the municipalities of San Mateo Ixtatan, San Sebastian Coatan and Nenton.

Vision of the world and the life

The community has a strong influence Maya and is strongly bonded with the nature and the elders of the place. They believe that all that comes from the land is sacred.
The cosmovision Chuj is full of legends, told by the “palabreros” (people telling stories), which ones say that the Sun and the Moon is their parents and that the earthquakes happen when the four men holding the earth move.
The town is organized in 4 cardinal points. The community realizes ceremonies to ask for protection. The names of the four points are Bobi, Chikin Witz, Xulem K’een and Xmiim.

The Huipil

The huipil is a large shirt that wears every Mayan woman. For the Chuj it is known as Nip. It symbolizes the point of meeting between the sky and the land.
It is a large white poncho with large wool embroideries of different colours and designs which signify this relation with the nature.
There are two types of Huipiles, one use everyday and another one for the ceremonies. They can be distinguished by the numbers of designs.

The main colours used for the huipil are:

• Red: symbolizes the sunrise, the fire, the blood, the meat, the red land and the red corn
• Black: symbolizes the obscurity of the night, the death, the horse, the negligence, the shadow, the black earth and the black corn
• Yellow: the flame of the fire, the yellow flowers, the yellow land, and the yellow corn
• Blanco: the clouds, the bones, the teeth, the white of the eye, and the white corn
• Green: the good luck, the good time, the fertility of the land, the forest, the sheets of the milpa.
• Blue: the air, the ocean and the lake
• Purple: the pulses, the purple flowers, and the sweet potatoes.
• Green lemon: all the medicine plants

The designs have too a different signification:

• The stars: the equality, the day of the birth, the day, the moon, the bonfire, the dads and the sons.
• The brilliance of the stars: the wisdom, the science, the sun rays
• The arrowed lines: the relationship and the arrow
• The broken lines: the flash of lightning, the line of the hills and the ravines of the land.
• The undulations: represent the explosions which are the origins of the solar system.
• The leaves: the respect of the green, of the cultures, of the forest, showing there is a creator who needs to be respected.
• The animals: they are the spirits of the people, representing wild and domestic animals.

Weaving

It’s the main activity in the communities. The first material used is the wool coming from the sheep living the area. It is used to make the huipiles for the women of the community.
The process of elaboration of a huipil starts with the cut of the white poncho. Then it is sent to a woman who is responsible for the designs. The colours are selected for each design and they start to sew with needles and wool.
For the confection of a huipil are necessary more than 70 balls of wool of different colours. The process takes 6 months to 1 year, working 6 to 8 hours a day.

The economy

• Agriculture: they are dedicated to the cultivation of the corn and beans, but too peanuts, tomatoes and onions.
• Industry: they produce white and black salt, distributed in all the department of Huehuetenango.