Ethnographic atlas of Cuba

The vast universe of traditional handicraft constitutes an expression emerging from and developed by certain popular social sectors. Because of its own phenomenal nature, it is of the utmost importance for the knowledge of habits and customs based on the material culture, of which they form part.

Handicrafts occupy a significant place, together with food, housing and clothing, since they solve the diverse and frequently complex problems men and women face in their daily activities, problems having to do with their economy, their household, or derived from magical and religious beliefs.

An example of the latter would be the diverse images and symbols surrounding and embodying the spiritual concept of entities of a large variety of religious beliefs. This is why the history of handicrafts -- even when this concept is not as old as is generally thought to be -- runs parallel to the history of mankind. Even when the term did not exist, before industrial equipment appeared all production was manually made. Handicrafts are the counterpart of industrial production, hence they also receive the name of pre-industrial or paleo-technical production.

If the concept is used in its wider sense, Cuban traditional handicrafts, that is, all the production resulting from manual work and skills -- independently from their artistic values and/or aesthetic concerns -- are totally in force and maintain a historic continuity with utilitarian pieces, mainly in the rural areas of the country. Perhaps because of the lack of previous information the topic had not been studied in depth by researchers of popular cultural phenomena.

The first considerations on the topic, since its beginning in 1985, have offered a great wealth of necessary information for the elaboration of the first theoretical concepts and methodological criteria on handicrafts.

The study of these expressions fundamentally answers the need to know and reevaluate the ways and means of expression ordinary people make use of in the material and spiritual cultural field. It also identifies their main characteristics, their regional differences and similarities, as well as the role they play in the community that creates them and makes them their own, since they are a vital part of national identity.

From the partial findings of the research, the margin of required knowledge may be widened so as to enter, for the first time, in the area of the various handicraft genres existing in Cuba. This allows for an analysis of their fundamental aspects: morphology, materials, procedures and definition of the areas or regions where they have developed. It also helps us to approach craftspersons, the creators of these works with multiple and diverse interrelationships, generated by forms of manual production. These partial findings have contributed to a better understanding of the various economic, social and cultural factors involved in the traditional work of the people, a deep expression of their national heritage.

The almost non-existent specialized Cuban literature on the topic did not allow us to identify with accuracy the history of local traditions that are present today, thus foreign literature and information contained in Cuban 19th century novels, travel books, local histories and, when possible, the sketches by our main cotumbrista writers, were important sources.

The lack of written sources from other periods makes it is impossible to highlight, in a comparative way, the contribution made by this study. Ours is a pioneering research into traditional handicrafts and handicrafts in general.

In the analysis of more than three thousand questionnaires answered throughout the island, the following genres were studied: pottery and ceramics, carvings, saddlery, basket weaving, knitting and patchwork, embroidery, carpentry, modeling, metal works and pyrothecnics. The following genres, found more extensively throughout the country, were chosen for this Atlas: basket weaving, knitting and patchwork and embroidery (by both, machine and hand).

In general, Cuban traditional handicrafts show a marked practical function, projected in the elaboration of a group of pieces and items that, as a primary intention, try to solve material requirements, mainly in rural areas. In the case of basket weaving, specific techniques and materials can be grouped, by function, into: weaving for household use, weaving for transportation and load carrying use, and weaving for personal use.

Household basket weaving would include all the items that have a direct use in the kitchen and the dining room and are part of the household ware. Among them are jibes, winnowers and baskets of various sizes. Other objects used in the household, such as picture frames, flower pots and sewing baskets, are also included in this group. Also, as part of the furniture, several pieces with specific functions are included: laundry baskets, cradles and layette baskets.

Load carrying and transportation basket weaving items are used for moving various products, mostly vegetables, root vegetables or coffee from the mountains where it is grown, whether on horse or mule back, wheeled or non-wheeled vehicles or carried by men and women. Baskets of various materials and sizes are included in this group.

Basket weaving for personal use includes items or accessories for men′s or women′s wear. They have to do with garments linked to certain dressing habits, requirements or customs.

The diversity of basket weaving items is not great, although they are found throughout the national territory, mostly in areas where the fibers for their manufacturing are found. Our field work has made it possible to identify twenty-four fibers, some of which were not known before as being used in basket weaving.

Yarey (Copernicia baileyana, Leon), the most popular, and guaniquiqui (Trichostigma octandrum, L), are the two plants with the fibers basket weavers use the most. The yarey, as a plant, occurs more frequently towards the eastern provinces and less so towards the west. In Pinar del Rio province it is not easily found and, thus, not many items are made from it. Because of its flexibility it is used to make hats, bags, table runners, some types of baskets and some ornamental objects.

Guaniquiqui, in turn, even when it is not so commonly used in basket weaving, is found in the other end of the island. It is used in baskets, hampers and fish traps, that is, items requiring a stronger material.

Even when the presence of various social and cultural groups in Cuba, mainly from Europe and Africa, would presuppose the existence of baskets bearing their traits, due to various reasons, it is difficult today to identify their places of origin. Firstly, because basket weaving techniques have a universal technology and what changes with the geographic areas are materials and forms. In Cuba, these procedures merged to create basically utilitarian items used in sugar cane and coffee plantations, as well as in vegetable orchards and root vegetable lands. Secondly, because there is no written information on the history of weaving, nor the origin of the craftpersons. Today, only the origin of French Haitian basket weaving items can be traced. In most of the other cases it is almost impossible to identify -- at least in their formal aspects -- those with European, African or Asian traits.

The origin of knitting, patchwork and embroidery pieces can be traced with more accuracy. These technologies were brought mostly by Spanish and, to a lesser extent, French immigrants. Other geographic areas contributed, as is the case of Canary Islands, with Canarian embroidery and Tenerife knitting.

The African Lucumi (Yoruba) brought glass bead embroidery that was developed with religious purposes by Cuban santeria

In the province of Camaguey there is a very characteristic form of knitting -- today almost fallen into disuse -- inherited from women who migrated from Saint Domingue and known as giariqueño or guarinqueño.

Knitting and patchwork have a place in the activities of the female population, who use them in many garments and household items of fundamentally practical functions. These skills, accumulated in the course of time, are mostly found in elder women, who are a reservoir, the living memory of traditions transmitted throughout history from generation to generation.

Today knitting is a contribution to the household economy and a means used to solve some material difficulties. In some cases, it was a secondary activity of women. It is also the main activity of many knitters who produce items for the market.

Among the various methods of knitting, we find crochet, two-needle knitting, frivolite, bolillo or Catalonian lace, Guarinqueño knitting and Tenerife lace. The three maps on knitting show these methods in the various items and the name of each of these. For example, layette items may be crocheted, but also knitted with two needles, depending on the thread and the thickness of the item.

Patchwork has several designs and colors and is based in an old tradition requiring manual skill and sensibility to create an harmonic item from fabric of different colors, textures and thicknesses. The two main techniques used are yoyitos and tiritas (small strips) for making tablecloths, bedspreads, rugs and table runners, among other items. Small pieces of material, cut and selected by color, are joined by hand, machine or crochet. This way of using small pieces of material is common in urban and rural areas throughout the country.

Also, embroiderers have maintained old embroidery techniques and transmitted their knowledge orally and practically.

There is a large number of women who embroider in some provinces and the quality of their work characterizes some municipalities. That is the case of Hatuey and Camaguey municipalities in Camaguey province, Santo Domingo, Remedios and Santa Clara in Villa Clara province, and Trinidad in Sancti Spiritus province.

Embroidery can be grouped in three main techniques or methods that are the base of all the others: hand embroidery, machine embroidery and that derived from combined methods or mixed techniques.

From the easternmost part of Guantanamo province to Matanzas in the west, hand and machine embroidery occur with almost the same frequency. However, it is odd that west of Matanzas machine embroidery is not so frequently seen. In Havana, Havana City and Pinar del Rio, manual embroidery prevails.

Twenty-three types of embroidery have been identified up to now. The most extended of them are: hand embroidery, machine embroidery, cross-stitching, and openwork embroidery. Some local forms are very curious, such as reed embroidery that up to now has only been reported in the Sandino municipality in Pinar del Rio.

Some of these embroidery methods are outstanding because of their originality, beauty and skill in combining threads to highlight the formal elements of the work. Canary island embroidery is used in children′s garments, layettes and women clothes. They present, in miniature, various customs, landscapes, houses and the daily chores of men, women and children in the Canarian villages, it seems. They also present festive scenes, where couples in typical dress dance to the tune of some musical instrument while the children play under the trees.

The study of handicrafts, as well as of many other traditional expressions, would not be really significant if it only gathered infirmation and listed materials, methods and other elements, although these data are also of interest. But, in their constant dynamics, handicrafts express and exhibit traditions, as a result of habits and customs that contribute to establish national identity.

Each generation takes and develops these habits and customs and contributes to them what it considers useful and necessary for the qualitative and quantitative improvement of each of its components in the course of centuries. These contributions require careful analysis to identify and differentiate them.

Handicrafts and all the studies derived from them may contribute to a larger understanding, analysis and interpretation of these phenomena as well as the role of craftspersons in maintaining and transmitting developments in the field of ideas.

Lic. Dennis Moreno Fajardo