Before beginning her first weaving, a girl prays to a saint for assistance, lighting a candle and saying:
Look upon my poverty
Look upon my nakedness
Please
Give me three graces
Three battens
Three needles
So I may weave my blouse
So I may weave my skirt
So I may weave my shawl
As told in With their Hands and their Eyes: Mayan Textiles Mirrors of a Worldview
This woman was weaving with a backstrap loom in the back courtyard of her home -- I bought a beautiful traditional hand loomed skirt from her mother -- that was just about the length of the cloth that she's preparing here.
I realize the exposure is all goofy in this shot, but I wanted to give a sense of the scale of the piece she was working on.
