Xicolli
Mexico City’s Templo Mayor Museum has on display a rare example of a Mexica (Aztec) male priest’s ceremonial garment, known as a xicolli in Náhuatl. Similar to a modern waistcoat, this piece was made out of fine quality coyuchi cotton, and the geometrical style design was painted on after its manufacture with colour dyes - it was not part of the original weave.
The weaving technique used to make this garment was a simple ‘one-by-one’ style known in Mexico as tafetán (taffeta). The piece was found as part of Ofrenda (offering) 102 at the Templo Mayor site.
Photo by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore.
This article was uploaded to the Mexicolore website on Jul 31st 2014