In a Yucatán Cave, 8 Women Keep the Guano Hat Alive

In the small Yucatán community of Cuch Holoch, the best place to make a guano hat is underground.

Eight Maya-speaking women, ages 28 to 70, gather there every day to weave sombreros from guano palm. They work inside a cave, where the damp air keeps the palm soft enough to bend without cracking.

The women have known the craft since childhood. Three years ago they formed a group, led by María Trinidad Canul Uicab, called Kanan Xa’an P’ook, Maya for “Guardians of the Guano Hat.” Its goal is to make sure the next generation learns the technique.

“Preserving guano hats is essential because they safeguard a tradition of Maya origin, protect the economy of artisan families on the Yucatán Peninsula and promote the use of ecological materials over plastic or synthetic alternatives,” Canul Uicab said.

From palm to hat

Guano is a palm common across the peninsula. Weavers work with the cocoyo, the young growth of the plant.

The process starts with choosing and buying the cocoyo. The palm is then stripped into thin strands and woven. Finished pieces dry in the sun for three or four days, “depending on the sun, because otherwise it takes us a little longer,” Canul Uicab said.

The cave is what makes it all work. Out in the open, Yucatán’s heat would leave the fibers brittle.

“We work as a community group, weaving every day in a cave in our community of Cuch Holoch in the municipality of Halachó, to keep the guano as moist and flexible as possible,” she said.

Some artisans in the area weave in humid caves right in their own backyards.

Halachó sits near the Campeche state line, a short drive from Bécal, Campeche, the town best known for cave-woven jipijapa hats, the Panama-style hats sold across the peninsula.

Back to school

With support from Mexico’s federal Culture Ministry, through a program that funds municipal and community cultural projects known as PACMyC, the group spent six months giving weaving demonstrations at local schools. They visited the community’s primary school, its telesecundaria, a rural middle school where lessons are partly delivered by video, and its high school.

Children and teens showed real interest, the ministry said in a statement. Few people outside the craft know that the hats are woven underground.

For Canul Uicab, the hat is more than a souvenir. It has long been part of the everyday outfit of the Maya farmer, who wears it for protection from the sun during long days in the milpa, the traditional cornfield.

The knowledge has passed from one generation to the next. Projects like this one are a way to keep that chain from breaking, much like other efforts to sustain Maya villages and their traditions across the state.

“Preserving them keeps alive the historical memory and the cultural pride of the community of Cuch Holoch,” she said.

The group shares its work on Facebook under the name Las Guerreras de Xaán Póok Cuch Holoch.

Fast Facts

• Group: Kanan Xa’an P’ook (“Guardians of the Guano Hat”)
• Location: Cuch Holoch, municipality of Halachó, Yucatán
• Members: Eight Maya-speaking women, ages 28 to 70
• Leader: María Trinidad Canul Uicab
• Founded: About three years ago
• Support: PACMyC program, federal Culture Ministry
• Drying time: Three to four days in the sun
• Facebook: Las Guerreras de Xaán Póok Cuch Holoch

With reporting from La Jornada Maya and Mexico’s Culture Ministry