The legends are only available in German, French or Spanish
Dès lors que le cavernicole ou le chasseur nomade précolombien devient sédentaire, il tisse les fibres végétales pour se vêtir. D'abord rudimentaire, le tissage devient, avec l'apparition du coton vers 1.400 av. J.-C., un artisanat authentique. Art que cultive toujours, sur le rustique métier de bois posé à l'horizontale, ce tisserand de Quinua, près d'Ayacucho.

If the gaucho has more than the bare necessities, he is soon the head of a large family. Far from all the comforts of civilisation, a gaucho's wife takes care of the kitchen and household and weaves the necessary fabrics herself. - Estancia Palitué, Province Neuquén. - 1973

A weaver in the village of San Sebastián in EI Salvador makes fabrics from cotton. This has been used in Central America since the second millennium BC. Weaving, braiding and pottery have also existed for centuries. The role of cotton in the economic life of the indigenous population remains of great importance. - 1977

An Indian woman from La Antigua sits at her loom. The fabrics thus produced vary considerably in colours and patterns from region to region and even from village to village. This peculiarity, which is found in all the Indian republics of the continent, stems from the fact that clothing is a characteristic of origin for the indigenous people. It distinguishes them from the others and expresses their attachment to their place of origin. - 1977

Doña Concepción Pacach Tzina weaving. She is wearing the traditional dress of her people and lives in the village of Santiago Atitlán in Guatemala. The indigenous weaving technique has hardly changed over the centuries. Most other commercial activities are also carried out using the same simple technique as in the past. Nevertheless, many Indians, some of whom are ingenious craftsmen, are able to produce actual works of art, weavings or ceramics, basketry and objects made of stone, metal or wood. - 1977

Preparing the weaving threads - Mopti region - Mali - 1969

A weaver demonstrates his manual skills in the Niamey museum - Niger - 1970

Khuri is renowned for preserving ancient craft techniques, which are often practised as a sideline to farming and tourism. In this region, weavers often produce dhurries (flat-woven rugs) or pattu (traditional woollen blankets). The loom is a classic horizontal floor loom. It is portable and perfectly suited to life in the desert. The weaver uses a heavy wooden comb to beat the weft threads of coarse wool (often from sheep or camels) firmly into the warp. The fabrics are extremely durable and are often decorated with geometric patterns typical of the local folklore of the Thar Desert. – 1990

A Salasaca man in traditional dress – a black poncho, white trousers and a white shirt – at the loom. The barren soil of the central Ecuadorian province of Tungurahua, around the town of Ambato, has forced the Salasacas, a tribe of around two thousand indigenous people, to pursue a second source of income alongside farming. Their rugs, featuring bird and animal motifs, are famous far and wide. The Otavaleños usually handle the distribution of the textiles. - Book: Picture 26 - Ecuador - 1977

A Salasaca indigenous man weaving a wide belt, known as a ‘faja’. Traditional patterns include birds, deer, cats and other stylised animals. - Book: Picture 139 - Ecuador - 1976

In the department of Huancavelica, Peru, an indigenous weaver sits in his corral just as he would have done in Inca times: the warp beam tied to the fence, the heddle board fastened around his waist. - Book: Picture 100 - Peru - 1976

Using a traditional hand spindle (known as a ‘pushka’), this woman spins raw wool into yarn. The spindle consists of a wooden rod and a whorl, which acts as a flywheel to stabilise the rotation as the fibres are drawn out. This centuries-old technique is still practised today in the Peruvian Andes to produce fine yarns for handmade textiles. – Cusco – Peru – 1972

The Chipaya tribe in the Bolivian department of Oruro, which now numbers just under a thousand people, inhabits a particularly inhospitable region of the Andean high plateau on the Río Lauca, which flows into a salt lake. The Chipayas are the only highland indigenous people who obtain part of their food through hunting, as agriculture and livestock farming alone are unable to meet their needs due to the highly saline soil. At dawn, groups of hunters lie in wait on the lake shore for flamingos, ducks and Andean geese, which they catch using bolas – throwing balls attached to long straps. The word ‘Chipaya’ comes from the Aymara language and means ‘a mat of reed or straw woven with reed cords’. To protect themselves from the strong winds of the Altiplano, the Chipaya people have, since time immemorial, had to tie down the straw thatch on their roofs with cords. The belief that the Chipaya are the direct descendants of pre-Inca populations is supported by mummy finds in burial towers from that period, which, amongst other similarities, display the same hairstyles that the women spend hours and hours creating. The picture shows a typical pre-colonial loom. - Book: Picture 154 - Bolivia - 1976

An Araucanian woman wearing the characteristic silver headdress whilst weaving. Temuco region, Cautín Province, Chile. - Book: Picture 140 - Chile - 1973

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