The backstraploom: pre-Hispanic, colonial and modern times

Abstract

To recognize the presences of the weavers in blackstrap loom, meanings and valuing the backstrap loom in Panchimalco (El Salvador), as cultural resistance of a population of pre Hispanic origin, where an ancestral art that has its roots in the pre-Hispanic cultures of Mesoamerica is still practiced is historical memory. As such, its study is fundamental in the dynamics of construction of cultural identities and strengthening of the social fabric in the country. Primary sources are gathered and cited from the colonial era, the independence period, the Republican period, until recent history in El Salvador that provide contextual data related to or that directly allude to the backstrap loom, or the textiles produced with this technology in the Salvadoran territory, with emphasis on those that mention the use of this loom in Panchimalco. This review interweaves the presence of the ancestral backstrap loom and the lever loom, of Spanish origin (CONCULTURA 2001), which still coexist today in the southern area of the municipality of San Salvador, a territory that was part of the Cuscatlán lordship, the ancient native province of Cuscatlán whose capital was called the same way (Fuentes and Guzman, as cited in Navarro, 1882; Amaroli, 1986; Fowler, 1995).