On This Tiny Island Known For Their Textiles, Knitting Is Considered To Be A Masculine Practice
The fiber arts have traditionally been associated with women, but here on the tiny Peruvian island of Taquile, knitting is considered a masculine practice.
The island is located on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca and is famous for producing some of the best-quality textiles and clothing in Peru.
For more than 500 years, men in Taquile have been making hand-knitted crafts. The tradition is reserved exclusively for men and plays a major role in the island’s social structure, allowing them to express themselves and attract partners.
Women do not partake in knitting as much as men do, but they are still involved in an important part of the process.
They are in charge of spinning and dyeing the wool for the men, in addition to tending to the sheep that provide the wool.
Various textiles and articles of clothing are produced on the island, but the ones that stand out the most are tall, floppy, knitted hats called chullos.
The chullos hold a lot of cultural significance. The direction that the chullos are worn on men’s heads indicates their marital status and aspirations in life.
The roots of the tradition can be traced back to the ancient civilizations of the Inca, Pukara, and Colla peoples.
The Inca created headdresses that were similar to the chullo in function, but they differed vastly in appearance.
SL-Photography – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual people
In 2005, Taquile’s hand-knitted textiles were considered so special and valuable that UNESCO deemed them Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Since then, their expertly crafted items have been recognized worldwide.
Boys start their training in knitting young, at five or six years of age. The first chullo a boy knits is white.
Later on, he will use sheep wool dyed with plants and minerals found around the island. The boys will continue refining their knitting skills until they are able to make a hat that is neat and tightly woven.
It can take a while before they manage to perfect the task due to the intricate patterns a chullo consists of. Even experienced knitters need almost a month’s time to complete a chullo.
The chullo’s patterns are unique to the creator’s family, identity, and aspirations. Chullos are also important in pairing couples together.
When it comes to marriage, the number one quality that is looked for in a man is his ability to knit. A sign of a good partner is that they can knit a well-made chullo with extremely thin needles.
Additionally, men are judged by how tightly knitted their chullos are. Potential fathers-in-law test the chullos by seeing how much water drips out when carried over long distances.
If no water leaks through the hat, that means the creator of the chullo has impressive knitting skills, making him an ideal husband.
Women must also show off their weaving abilities when it is their turn to be married. From a young age, they are taught to weave on a traditional loon constructed from wood, string, and bone.
They spend time weaving chumpis, which are thick belted waistbands worn by all men. Chumpis are meant to tell stories through elaborate symbols and patterns.
To prove her worth as a wife, a woman will gift her husband-to-be a chumpi with strands of her hair woven into the belt.
Taquilean men and women pass down these skills and traditions to their children and grandchildren to preserve their cultural background.
This preservation is more important than ever, especially because, in recent times, they have been forced to rely on farming to survive.
The COVID-19 pandemic cut off the island from the rest of the world, causing locals to lose their main source of income from tourism and take some of their focus off of knitting.
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