Momostenango

Momostenango makes wool blankets, and it makes them the old way: the cloth is woven and then fulled by treading it in the river with soap, which shrinks and thickens it into something dense and heavy, and the blankets are laid out on the riverbanks and hillsides to dry. They are sold on Sunday and Wednesday market days and shipped across the country. The town is also known as a centre of Maya calendar keeping, with a large number of aj q'ij, day-keepers, who work the two hundred and sixty day count, and the day Wajxaqib' B'atz' is marked with ceremonies at hilltop altars. Eroded sandstone pillars called the riscos stand at the edge of town.

History

The name is usually traced to the Nahuatl momoztli, "altar of idols" (also rendered "wall of idols"), and in K'iche' the town is Cho Tz'aq, "in front of the fortress". The town was founded in the mid-16th century, and colonial accounts describe its people as great farmers. Momostenango was one of the original municipalities of the State of Guatemala in 1825, belonged from 3 April 1838 to the short-lived State of Los Altos, and after the Liberal Reform of 1871 became part of the new department of Totonicapán. Its main craft is still the making of woollen blankets and ponchos (Spanish Wikipedia, Momostenango).

Highlights

• Blankets fulled in the river - the treading that thickens the wool.
• Market day blanket stalls - Sundays and Wednesdays in the town.
• Maya day-keepers - the calendar tradition the town is known for.
• The riscos - eroded sandstone pillars on the town's edge.

When to go

November to April in the dry season; Sunday and Wednesday are market days. A day. Ceremonial dates follow the Maya calendar rather than the Gregorian one.

Good to know

Blankets are heavy and bulky to carry home. Ceremonies are religious occasions, not displays, and should not be photographed without permission. The road up is winding. The town has limited facilities for visitors.

Nearby

Totonicapan is south; San Francisco El Alto lies west.