SoundTrack: De Camino a La Vereda - Buena Vista Social Club
Andean weaving is rich with innumerable Quechua symbols and patterns. Anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, and geometric patterns tell complex stories of the interactions between the artisans and their natural environment. Every detail of a textile conveys meaning, from the woven symbols
themselves, to the colors and spin of the yarn, to the placement of Quechua symbols in relation to other icons woven into the textile.
Some symbols, known as pallay in Quechua, have been used for time immemorial, while others are modern innovations. There are regional variations and preferences for patterns in certain communities, just as there are for color and specific clothing items. All weavers learn to weave one pallay at a time, starting with the simplest ones and working up to the more complex as they gain skill and expertise. Learning is always done by watching and copying Elders. Sometimes weavers do not know the meaning or source of a specific pallay, but remember it as something they learned from their grandparents.
-Since Quechua was primarily an oral language, historical events could not be written- but they could be memorialized in weavings. Hence the importance of pallays : using the ancient art of weaving, Quechua people were able to commemorate events that might otherwise be forgotten with time.
Source: https://threadsofperu.com/pages/quechua-symbols-patterns
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