Guide to make Aztecs ( Mesoamerican mod)

[Genava55]

https://x.com/Majora__Z/status/1868429879135379728

Edited December 17, 2024 by Genava55

[Lion.Kanzen]

A petate [peˈtate] is a bedroll used in Central America and Mexico. Its name comes from the Náhuatl word petlatl. The petate is woven from the fibers of the Palm of petate (Leucothrinax morrisii). The Royal Spanish Academy defines it as a bed.[1] Generally petates are woven in quadrangular forms, though not to any exact dimensions.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petate

Although its use is basically that of a bed, the petate also has other functions. For example, for the Zapotec culture it is an important element of their life cycle. For them, the petate is the place where light is given and where women kneel reverentially to grind corn. It is also the mystical place of dreams, the altar where the bride and groom receive blessings and also serves as a shroud. is a mat made of braided palm fibers. For the ancient inhabitants of Anahuac this object was so valuable that only the rulers could sit on the icpalli, thrones made of mats.

https://www.mexicodesconocido.com.mx/el-petate.html

The Maya, like other Mesoamerican cultures, developed complex societies with a clear social stratification among them: rulers, priests, artists, warriors, among others.

 

 

 

Several of these social groups used elements of their environment to demonstrate their social status. These include jaguar skins, tufts with quetzal feathers, obsidian weapons, jade necklaces and earrings and accessories such as the petate, a symbol of royalty and nobility of the rulers, who were called in the Mayan language Jo'ol póop "The one with the mat or petate".

As a product of this Mayan heritage, the town of Nunkiní stands out as the only place that has maintained this millenary art in the weaving of mats called Ki'ichkelem póop "beautiful mat", whose geometric and symmetrical figures are based on using the vigesimal system to count the palm sticks twenty by twenty (junk'al, ka'k'al) and so on to obtain a sumptuary article that was placed as a seat for the rulers. The beauty and the knowledge of a mathematical system applied to the petate or póop, represented an exclusive knowledge of the Mayan artists and today in the state of Campeche there are identity elements of the past that permeate the life of the eternal Maya.

 

The tradition of weaving the petate has been preserved through the carriers of the knowledge, from generation to generation, preserving a symbolic charge. The bearers are women who transmit their knowledge to their daughters, who must be single and not live with a partner.

The poop is the leaf of a species of reed from the Petén region, which is cut before the rainy season begins. The leaf is separated from the stem and the material to be used for weaving is set aside, which can have the natural color or be dyed with vegetable dyes. The dyeing process must be done on a full moon night. The fiber is tied into a ball of yarn, smooth side out, and boiled overnight to ensure that it is completely impregnated, since the face of the fiber is repellent to the dye.

 

The mat is woven like a loom, interweaving the fibers and tightening the weave with the fingers. The weaver's foot must be barefoot, since it is used to stretch the fiber at the beginning of weaving.

https://primerplanomagazine.mx/2023/05/25/el-kiichkelem-poop-petate-hermoso/