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Culture,
Arts and Traditions in Peru
Peruvian Traditional Dress
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In Peru's rural areas, the way people dress makes an important
distinction, as a result of the blend of pre-Hispanic influences
with the European clothing that the natives were forced to
wear during the colonial era.
The traditional Inca anacu was transformed by the local women
into the brightly-colored and multi-layered petticoats known
as polleras. Depending on the region, a black skirt is decorated
with a belt which can come in a variety of colors and is
decorated with flowers in the northern Piura highlands or
a brightly-hued woolen lliclla in Chiclayo, further south.
In
the highlands above Lima, the skirt is decorated with red
and black embroidered edging, while in Junín, as
in Cajamarca and Cuzco, women no longer use black skirts.
Underneath their skirts, the women use layers of petticoats
made from cotton which can be embroidered with gold and
silver threads, featuring superbly-crafted drawings along
the edge.
The Peruvian poncho dates back to the seventeenth century and
apparently is a variation on the unku used by men at the
time. The heavy ponchos used in Cajamarca keep out the rain
and are as long as those used in Puno, where they are died
scarlet during festivals. In Cuzco, ponchos are short and
feature elaborate geometric figures against a red background.
On
the coast, ponchos were used by the plantation workers,
and they were spun from cotton or vicuña fiber. In
the jungle, both men and women from some tribes wear the
cushma, a loose tunic stitched up on both sides and embellished
with dyes and geometric figures typical of the region.
Traditional
dress tends to be capped off by woolen or straw hats, sometimes
in various colors. But in the coldest reaches of the Andes,
the highlanders tend to wear the chullo, a woolen cap fitted
with earflap decorated with geometric motifs.
Regional
dances require different forms of dress, depending on the
area. Along the coast, exponents of the marinera dance replaces
cotton with silk for their embroidered skirts. In the Andes,
meanwhile, the danzantes de tijeras or scissors dancers
decorate their fine outfits with small mirrors and embroider
an image of their guardian deity on their backs. |
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