Gilberto's Mayan Dream (1981)

[Music] [Music] the ancient Mayan Indians Lords of the [Music] Jungle carved in stone forever but gone 2,000 years over 2,000 years ago they buil huge cities that towered over the tropical jungle here in the city of tal they invented their own numbers and understood the movement of the Stars here too they developed their own unique style of weaving then mysteriously these gigantic Mayan cities disappeared and when the first European explorers came just 400 years ago the jungles had grown over the ancient streets and plazas the minds were [Music] gone they are my ancestors and ever since I was small I have dreamed of visiting them of visiting the ruins of tial my name is hilberto lealo I am 14 years old and like our man ancestors of long ago I am learning to be a [Music] weaver I live in Guatemala a small country in Central America my Village is in the western Highlands it is called salaha and it is well known for its special kind of ghost pattern weaving [Music] My Father Don Jose is a master weer and he is teaching me on our Big L at home my father says it is very important to set up the fabric we are making on the loom with just the right amount of t [Music] Attention our village lies in a mountain valley there are about 800 people here and our family lives in a small White House overlooking the town in Spanish we call our district La Hoya which means the jewel because it is so beautiful I have four sisters and two brothers and my whole family knows I dream of visiting Tikal my mother says if I want to go that badly I must ask God's help [Music] for [Music] [Music] Don Jose is very fast and can weave four met in one day he keeps the entire sequence of colors in his memory and he says that a good Weaver must work to a rhythm in his mind just like a musician he says that to become a master weer I must concentrate on my work and not be dreaming of tial all the time [Music] I first learned in school that it was the Spanish who introduced the loom to Guatemala but even today many weer still used the methods that the Mayans used long before the birth of Christ we call this backstrap weaving it's actually a tiny Loom attached to a post with a strap around the Weaver's back for tension the threads are separated by twisting a flat stick in instead of the foot paddles we use and the cross threads are carefully placed in position many people make their own clothes out of the colorful patterns they weave my father started me on the loom when I was 10 he always says a master must have an artist's eye for color and design and firm concentration when weaving weaving is actually the interlocking of threads to make cloth on the loom long threads stretch away from the Weaver we can separate these by using foot pedals and slide across a shuttle which contains the cross thread beating down firmly after each pass of the shuttle makes the fabric tight and strong and each time we do this we add the thickness of one thread to the length of the cloth [Music] [Applause] in this pattern the black and white threads form the ghostlike background design unique to our area we call it ASP because the lines resemble the patterns on the precious stone Jasper it is not difficult to create this effect but it takes very careful [Applause] designing first we wind about 30 white cotton threads into a long ropik bundle [Applause] every few inches we very tightly wrap other threads called ties around this bundle later when it is tied black the color cannot penetrate the ties and when they are removed we will have a black and white pattern on the threads [Music] every village has one family that specializes in dying and all the Weavers in salaha bring their threads here [Music] my father says tomorrow the threads will be dry and we can set up the huspy pattern our area is famous for [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] this morning my mother tried to convince Don Jose to take me to tiai but he said we could not afford I think he is [Applause] right now we stretch out the threads full length beside the river in salaha is a perfect spot with the ties removed Don Jose is ready to finish designing the background pattern the threads are separated with a wooden comb and my father arranges the black and white sections into a design he likes this will form the foundation for the [Music] husband when the pattern is just right he ties the bundle to hold it in place until it's ready to go on the room [Music] [Applause] [Music] Grand [Music] it's very frustrated I have to remember the order of colors and whenever I try to set up a rhythm something seems to go wrong soon I'll take a rest it's almost noon and my father said he had a special announcement to make at lunchtime [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] my mother has succeed seeded Don Jose says if I weave well and we can sell our cloth at the weekend Market he will use the money to take me to Tikal blessed Mary I have never even gone be on the mountains around my village now I really must work well [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh Lords of the Jungle my ancestors andal Don Jose say the final test of Aer is in the market and I pray for a good Market Day [Music] [Applause] sometimes I can feel a smooth Rhythm but it's still hard to concentrate and I have to finish today for my father to check my work [Applause] foreign spee Don Jose says there are a few mistakes but they are small and the weaving is very tight and good he says we have a chance for a good price and my dream coming true [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] in the market we can tell what Village People come from by the weaving they wear and said [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] this Merchant is offering a bad price he says he has a piece from Sala he couldn't sell last week Don Jose says we must try other Merchants price we must get for the bus trip is about 21 ketas we are asking 25 this Merchant is offering 16 J is [Music] 23 father asks 22 he says 20 TOS it's enough we can go [Music] tomorrow we leave for Tikka and it will take 2 days to get there [Music] the hell of [Music] we will be stopping here for the night tomorrow we enter the jungle and by evening we will be at the ruins of Tikal [Music] [Applause] [Music] there [Music] foree [Music] [Music] [Music] it's fantastic more fantastic than I ever dreamed [Music] is [Music] the mayants people of the sun all gone and yet still here [Music] the [Music] [Music]