HAT WEAVING WITH JIP1, PALMATA () IN THE YUCATAN PENINSULA, MEXICO l

MARIA FADIMAN

Fadiman, Maria (Department of Latm Amerwan Studtes, Tulane Umverstty, New Orleans, LA 78751 USA, Present address Department of Geography, Untverslty of Texas at Austm, Austm, TX 78712 USA). HAT WEAVINGWITH Jlet, CARLUDOVICAPALMATA (CYCLANTHACEAE)IN THE YU- CATAN PENINSULA,MEXICO Economw Botany 55(4).539-544, 2001 Weavmg hats with jlpl, Carludovlca palmata (Cyclanthaceae) has budt the local economy and cultural zdenttty for the people of Becal, m the Yucatdn Penmsula, Mextco They obtam most material from cultivated source6, weave m man-made caves, and market the goods to commercial centers. Because Jlpl does not appear to deplete the sod, they do not need to clear more land for sustamable productton Although weavmg tradtttonally served as the mam source of mcome and soctal acttvtty m Becal, mterest m weawng ts dechnmg as the town moderntzes Although profits gamed from weaving add to famtly earnings, because of the many hands through whtch the hat passes, tht~ income remains low compared to the final selhng prtces Thus, many who have the opportuntty to pur~ue other careers are doing 30. However, for rural communtttes, wtthout other earning opttons, weavmg may prowde an economwally and envtronmentally advanta- geous way to use the land Key Words: Carludowca palmata, Cyclanthaceae; Panama hat; Jtpt, Becal, Yucat~in; Mexmo, hat-weawng.

This study examines the weaving of hats us- woven in Ecuador and now also famous in Be- ing Carludovtca palmata Rufz and Pav6n (Cy- cal, are internationally known as "Panama" clanthaceae) in Becal, Campeche, Mexico. Hat- hats This misnomer originated during the Cali- making is one of the major mdustrtes of western fornia gold rush Beginning in 1849, American Yucat~in and northern Campeche. The project fo- miners passing through Panama acquired the cuses on Becal, located m northern Campeche hats that had been imported from Ecuador. The (Fig. 1), because of its historical and present sta- construction of the Panama Canal (1870-1911) tus as the hat-weaving center of the Yucatfin reinforced this confusion, because many hats Penmsula Extraction of the 's fibers ap- made from jtpt were imported for the canal pears to be sustainable, because the weavers pe- workers (Alguilar de Tamarlz 1988; Bennett, riodically remove only an inner leaf, without Alarcon, and Cer6n 1992; Harhng 1958, Miller kdhng the plant. 1988; Von Hagen 1949). Jipi, the local name for both the growing plant Carludovwa palmata IS the most widespread C. palmata and for the prepared weaving mate- species m the Carludovwa, ranging from hal, is an integral part of the historical and cul- Guatemala to Central Bolivia. This species tural identity of the village of Becal. The people grows in moist tropical forest and in areas of of the village first wove with Sabal mextcana high sunlight. C. palmata is a multi-stemmed () and continue to utilize this material plant, measuring 1-2 m tall, with flabelllform- (Caballero 1995). However, they also adapted parted blades that are as broad as long and made their technique to work with C palmata after its up of four wedge-shaped segments (Harling mtroduction in 1866. Because of its superior 1958). strength and flexibility, jtpt is now the primary source of weaving material. Jipz hats, originally STUDY AREA Becal hes in the northernmost region of the 1Received 16 August 2000, accepted 16 March state of Campeche (Fig 1). A bed of limestone 2001 covered with sparse topsoil comprises the geo-

Economw Botany 55(4) pp 539-544 2001 92001 by The New York Botanical Garden Press, Bronx, NY 10458-5126 U S A 540 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL 55

GULF OF MEXICO

30km

! MERIDA

20*35' N Maxcanu Tancuch6 [ Halacho

Santa Cruz 9 Calkin[ Nunkin[

CAMPECHE 90*00' W

1 ...... Fig. 1. Map of Northwest Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, showing towns where jtpt is grown, processed andl or woven.

logical foundation of th~s region. The subhumid those of the younger generations learn only tropical climate with rainfall of 1000 to 1200 Spanish. The education system in Becal now mm per year remains fairly constant throughout goes through hlghschool, whde the outlying the year (Flores and Carvajal 1994; Vogt I969). smaller communities still provide only primary Almost all 6000 residents of Becal are of education. In addition to hat-making, Becal sup- Maya descent. Although members of the older ports minor industries such as maize cultivation, generations speak Yucatec Maya and Spanish, apiculture, and fruit production. 2001 ] FADIMAN: HAT WEAVING WITH JIP1, 541

METHODS taught children how to weave. The government closed these centers thirty years later, however, Semistructured interviews were conducted because parents took over the instruction of their with weavers, processors, cultivators, buyers and children. Today, the teaching tradition continues one of the onglnal teachers of the first hat-mak- as women from Becal travel to netghbonng ing school from May to August 1996 and Feb- towns to teach weaving, enabling more people ruary 1997. Supplementing this data are infor- m the region. An example is that the town of mal interviews with weavers as they wove and Santa Cruz, which used to solely produce processed material throughout town. Also, using jipi, is now also becoming a hat-making town. a semlstructured format, I spoke with cultivators in Santa Cruz and distributors m Becal, M6rida JIel SOURCES and Cancun During the research, I lived with a The major sources of jipi come from planta- family of weavers who clarified information ob- nons and private gardens. Most of these are lo- tained through the formal interviews. Further- cated in the states of Campeche and Yucatfin, more, they provided the opportunity for me to within the villages of Halach6, Tancuch6, Santa learn through participant observation, by teach- Cruz, Nunkinf, Holoch and Maxcanfi (Fig. 1). ing me to weave. Ecologfa Aplicada y Manejo Only in two of these towns, Santa Cruz and de Ambientes Terrestres (ECOMAT), Universl- Nunkinf, do residents also weave. Although dad Autdnoma de Campeche, helped to confirm some plant identifications, and dried the voucher spec- jipi grows m Becat, the water table is too far below the surface to support large planta- imens. The Tulane herbarium now stores the nons. People also obtain leaves from uncultivat- specimens, with ECOMAT retaining duplicates. ed jlpt m Tabasco. However, they consider the quality of the leaves from Tabasco inferior to HISTORY OF HAT MAKING WITH JIPI that of cultivated j1pt. Thus, they purchase ma- IN BECAL tenal from Tabasco only when they are unable Hat-weaving probably originated with the to obtain cultivated jipi. Spaniards m 1519, as the use of to make Most jipi fields in Santa Cruz are about one hats was not an indigenous custom among the mecate (about 400 m2), the standard unit of field Yucatec Maya. The Maya traditionally used un- measurement in the region. Most fields are fam- opened palm fronds, of Sabat mexicana, to ily owned, with five cooperatives cultivating weave sleeping and sitting mats. During the co- larger areas of land. All of the plantations in lomal period, the Spaniards sought head protec- Santa Cruz together cover 80 mecates. The tion and asked indigenous people to modify their planters burn the plots to clear vegetative mat-making practice to accommodate hats (AI- growth, and then plant rhlzomes collected from guilar de Tamanz 1988; Caballero 1995; Von local plant populations, one meter apart. They fit Hagen 1949). Currently, the people in the region about 400 plants in each mecate. After the initial no longer make mats, and during the past five planting, the rhizome produces lateral buds from decades hat-weaving has evolved into a major which new aerial shoots emerge, creating small local industry. clusters of stems. The typical planting of 400 In 1866, Don Pablo Montero Ram6n, a rubber plants per mecate results in about 1000 ramets tapper who worked in Guatemala, introduced after three years. A jipi plant produces a usable jipi to the Yucatan Peninsula by bringing cut- leaf every t5 days. Using a small machete, the tings back with him to Becal. The brothers, Don time required to harvest one mecate is about 30 Sixto and Don Pedro Garcfa, the most prominent minutes. Dunng the first year after planting, the hacienda owners of the region, recognized the cultivators weed the fields every few weeks until superior flexibility, whiteness, and durability of the adult plants create sufficient shade to inhibit the jtpi leaf for weaving, and dedicated their ha- weed growth They then periodically thin the cienda, Santa Cruz, to the cultivation of the new fields to prevent crowding, selling the excess hy- crop. The former hacienda, now the town of ing plants to neighboring towns for five pesos Santa Cruz, remains the main jlpl producer of (1 peso = $0.12 US) each the region (Cervera 1968; Rosado 1993). The best quality jlpt requires about l0 liters In 1935, the government of Campeche estab- of water per plant dmly. Cultivators irrigate the hshed two schools in Becat where instructors plots, filling dirt ditches that run between rows 542 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL. 55 with water. They rarely use fertilizer, as the soil remains fertile enough to support the popula- tions for extended periods. For example, the plantations in Santa Cruz have been growingjipi on the same soil for over 100 years. Only when there is an insect plague do they use insecticide, which costs 15-20 pesos per mecate. MATERIAL PREPARATION The first step in processing jipi involves sep- arating the leaflets from each other with the fin- gers, and then dividing each leaflet into thinner strips with a needle (Fig. 2). There are four dif- ferent levels of hat quality. The narrower the strip, the higher the quality. The first level is the width of the entire leaflet, the second level is the leaflet split into two, with the subsequent third and forth levels following the same pattern. It takes about 10 minutes to strip a frond for a common hat and 10 to 15 minutes more for each additional level of splitting. After stripping, the processors hang the ma- terial over a stick with the base of the leaf perched at the top and the leaflets straddling the pole. They then place them in brick ovens with burning sulfur to whiten the leaves. To finish drying the material, they then hang the leaves in the sun (Fig. 3). After harvesting, the processor must have split and dried the leaves within eight days or the material would rot. Many weavers buy the material already treated and ready for use. They buy each processed leaf from one to three pesos, usually in bundles of 10 or 12.

WEAVING Almost all weaving in Becal takes place in limestone man-made caves where the humid en- vironment keeps the jipi soft and supple. Almost every family in Becal digs its own cave, with Fig. 2. Processing and weaving of jipi in Becal, the size of the room varying in size from 4 to Campeche, Mexico. Stripping jipi leaf segments for 10 m 2, with ceilings about 1.5 m high. They take weaving. about 15-30 days to excavate, including wall Fig. 3. Hanging jipi to dry after it has been baked ledges for seating. These caves used to be social with sulfur. centers, with much time spent in neighbors' Fig. 4. Weaving jipi into a hat. caves and with the whole family in one's own cave. Both men and women weave, with those who rely solely on weaving for their income main hat models. Men's hats are woven tightly, staying in the caves from about 9:00 A.M. until while incorporating decorative spaces through- 6:00 P.M., six days a week. Although they spend out the brim and crown on women's hats. Wom- the majority of the day below ground, they in- en's hat brims extend out further than those on terrupt weaving to tend to other chores, such as the men's hats. However, they are cheaper to washing, cooking and tending their fields. purchase than men's hats, because the patterns Two gender-specific hat styles constitute the occupy space that would otherwise be filled with 2001] FADIMAN. HAT WEAVING WITH JIPI, CARLUDOVICA PALMATA 543 material. Thus, these hats require less labor and TABLE 1. HAT I SELLING PRICES (PESOS) 2 OF THE matenal. FOUR QUALITY HAT LEVELS FOR THE WEAVER, COM- Using the longest segments of the frond, ERCIANTE, WHOLESALER AND RETAILER IN BECAL, weavers begin the center construction with a MERIDA, AND CANCUN, MEXICO small square at what will become the top of the Comer- Whole- crown. Beginning with seven strips in a rectan- Weaver ctante saler Retailer gular pattern, they add new strips in groups of BECAL six from each edge of the initial square. Using a flexible plaiting technique (Adovaslo 1977), l-Level 21 5 35 50 80 2-Level 30 100 110 180 weavers pass the strips over and under each oth- 3-Level 45 130 180 250 er at about a 90 ~ angle (Fig 4). As the crown 4-Level 70 200 300 500 develops, they smooth it over a cylindrical, MERIDA sanded, wooden mold. After they weave the hat, it may go to a finisher, someone who trims the 1-Level 21 5 N/A 35-40 80-95 edges, and who owns a press. Some customers 2-Level 30 100-150 300 3-Level 45 170-200 400 prefer soft hats, but for those that want the ar- 4-Level 70 250-300 500 ticle to retain a shape, the fimsher presses each hat with a hot iron into one of 12 different CANCUN styles. They charge 10 pesos for a single hat, 1-Level 21 5 N/A 35-40 150-300 and three pesos for each hat if larger quanmles 2-Level 30 100-150 300-400 are pressed at one time 3-Level 45 160-200 400-500 4-Level 70 250-300 500-600 The outermost leaflets of jipi are too stiff for making into hats, so weavers sell them to i Pressed men's hats broom-makers in the Maya village of Tepak~in, 2One peso = $0 12 US Campeche. The broom-makers pay five pesos for the waste of 10 leaves. The weavers also sell, on the quality) pesos per hat. Weavers can earn for one peso each, the leaves that are broken or about 1200 pesos per year, with multiple weav- too small to weave into a hat. The broom-maker ers in each family attaches these materials to a stick handle with Typical hat prices from Becal, Mgnda and wire, each leaf making one broom, and selling Cancfin vary from 80-600 pesos (Table 1). from three to five pesos. These three cities act as central distributing cen- ters, selling about 70% of the total hats pro- MARKETING duced. The distributors in M6rida and Cancfn The finished hat passes through numerous always buy from the same comerctantes, receiv- hands, with the weaver receiving no more than ing most of their flpl hats from Becal, Santa one-fourth of the final selling price. In Becal, Cruz, and Tancuch6. Every week each distribu- there are 10-12 comerctantes (initial buyers), tor receives 30-40 jtpt hats, the majority of each purchasing from 15-60 weavers. Most which they sell locally. There are also various comerclantes sell to merchants in larger cities, stores in Mgrlda and Canctln that have their own while a few work as traveling salesmen and sell international export business, shipping to Ger- directly to customers. Four comerctantes have many, the United States, Australia, Belgium and shops in Becal, selling to national and interna- Holland tional tourists, and distributors from larger cities. The hat market remains strong, and a weaver CONCLUSION rarely encounters difficulties selling hats. Since flpz's introduction in the 1860s, people Generally, skilled weavers spend one to two from Becal have taken advantage of the pliabil- weeks making a hat, with the higher quality ar- ity and durability of the matenal to become ticles requiring the most Ume. They use about skilled weavers. They built an industry out of nine leaves to make a regular man's jtpt hat, and which grew the town's economy and identity eight for a woman's hat. At about 1.5 pesos per The resource thus far has been sustainable, as leaf, a weaver pays about 13.5 pesos for the ma- the soil continues to support plants in plantations terials of one hat, and sells the fimshed product around Becal. The plants themselves continue to to a comerctante for about 21.5-70 (depending regenerate and grow new ramets, because the 544 ECONOMIC BOTANY [VOL 55 weavers only uttlize some of the leaves They and those of Nuevo Becal, parhcularly Dofia Chavela, Pedro, Lupe, Juho, The Abuela, Ralmundo, Josephma, Juana, L~izaro, Gabnela, Dofia Lucy, are conscious to leave enough new photosyn- Tom,is and Norberto I also thank Ecologfa Aphcada y Manejo de Am- thetic material so that the plant continues to blentes Terrestres (ECOMAT), espeoally Dr Labougle, Rodolfo, Jorge grow. Thus, they do not need to clear the for- Sandoval, Maria Ester and Marcos I am grateful to Dr Rafael Duran from C1CY, Dr Brad Bennett from Florida International UmversRy, and ested lands near their fields from Tulane University, Ema Uhu de Pech, Dr Wdham Balde, Dr V~c- Since weavers make about 1200 pesos per tona Bncker, Anne Bradburn, and especially Dr Steven Darwin person per year, the earnings allow people to LITERATURE CITED supplement the household economy. Although Adovasio, J. 1977. Basketry technology' a guide to this is helpful income, the weaver often makes identification and analysis Aldlne Pubhshlng Com- as little as 1/10 the final selling price. If weavers pany, Chicago could market their goods more directly, then Alguilar de Tamariz, A. 1988 El tejldo de paja to- their income would increase substantially. How- qudla CIDAP (Centro Interamertcano de Artesan- ever, although the market is expanding, interest fas y Artes Populares), Qulto. in weaving among Becaletios is dechning. Chil- Bennett, B., R. Alarcrn, and C. Cer6n. 1992 The dren can now study through high school in Be- ethnobotany of Carludovtca palmata Rufz & Pav6n cal, and as they become better educated, many (Cyclanthaceae) in Amazonian Ecuador Economic Botany 46'233-240. leave for Mrrida or Campeche to pursue ad- Caballero, J. 1995 Use and management of Sabal vanced degrees. They are able to obtain jobs in palms among the maya of Yucat~in (Mexico) Doc- which they can earn substantially more money toral Dissertation, University of California Berke- than ff they contmued to weave. What had been ley, Berkeley central to their way of life as art, a form of live- Cervera, J. 1968 Becal Pages 85-92 tn C Sierra, lihood, and as a unifying social activity is now ed, Xtacumbilxunaan, DzRbalche, Becal Publica- competing with a changing lifestyle. However, tions del Goblerno del Estado de Campeche, Cam- in the smaller villages with out the same edu- peche. cational opportunities as m Becal, the adoption Flores, J., and I. Carvajal. 1994 Tlpos de vegetacl6n of weaving could have beneficial effects. In ad- de la peninsula de Yucat~in Etnoflora Yucatanense. Fasfculo 3 Umversldad de Yucatfin, M6nda dition to the tradition remaining alive, weaving ltarling, G. 1958 Monograph of the Cyclanthaceae. is also particularly suited for rural women. Hakan Ohlssons Boktrycken, Lund Mothers can earn money whale remaining with Miller, T. 1988 The Panama hat trail" a journey from their children at home. Furthermore, weaving South America Abacus, London with jtpt can be a successful way to increase Rosado, R. 1993 Monograffa de Becal "El Jlpl" y their income without clearing more land. referencfas hlst6rlcas Imprenta Ehn, Becal Vogt, E. 1969 Pages 21-29 m R Wauchope, ed., ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Handbook of Middle American Indians, ethnology part one University of Texas Press, Austin. I thank the Mellon Foundation and the International Programs Council for supporting the project, and the people of Becal, especmlly Don Emdlo Von Hagen, V. 1949 Ecuador and the Gal~ipagos is- dzul poot, Dofia Tlna, Blanca, Pedro, Dofia Clementma and Don Lucmno, lands University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.