San Antonio Aguas Calientes is a Kaqchikel speaking town in the Department of Sacatepequez. It “is set in a valley to the northwest of the Acatenango volcano, 6 kilometers outside of Antigua. . . . San Antonio weavers, who are renowned for the superb quality of their double-faced marcador technique textiles, use an image drawn on graph paper as a guide to create their brocaded designs. “The San Antonio huipil is constructed of two backstrap woven panels on a solid color base fabric, often leaving the panels un-joined in the center to create the neck opening. Older style huipiles feature geometric figures exclusively. Since about the 1930s, the popularity of figurative marcador designs has steadily increased to the extent that the designs sometimes cover the entire surface of the huipil. Favorite patterns include realistic flower, bird and cherub motifs, rendered in vibrant multicolored hues with orange and blue predominating. “Because new San Antonio huipiles are among the most expensive in the country, they have become a status-symbol trade-huipil when worn by women from other villages. A square, round or v-shaped neck opening trimmed in velvet and\or appliqué, usually indicates that the huipil was sold and used in another village. “The special tzute is two panels woven using the marcador technique and simply joined with a whipstitch. It is often woven by the bride as a wedding gift for her mother-in-law and is worn folded on the head in church.” (from Centro de Textiles Tradicionales Nim Po’t, Antigua Guatemala. See nimpot.com.)

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