# Chuspas > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Chuspas > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Chuspas.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuspas > Source revision: 1329987982 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Pouch for coca leaves}}{{More citations needed|article|date=January 2025}}[[File:Bag for Carrying Coca Leaves, Chuspas, 20th Century, 30.1165.22.jpg|thumbnail|''Chuspas'', Bag for Carrying Coca Leaves, 20th Century, [Brooklyn Museum](/source/Brooklyn_Museum)]] A ''chuspas'' (which is Quechua for bag) is a pouch that is used to carry coca leaves, used primarily in the Andean region of South America. Both textiles and coca are very important to the people in Andean South America. These ''chuspas'' are a vital piece of culture and are especially important to combat the bitter cold in the mountainous zones of the [Andes](/source/Andes). These bags are also a way to showcase the cloth which in itself is a primary artistic medium. Highland textiles are traditionally woven from the hair of native [camelids](/source/camelids), usually the domesticated [alpacas](/source/alpacas) and [llamas](/source/llamas), and more rarely, wild [vicuña](/source/vicu%C3%B1a) and [guanaco](/source/guanaco). These pouches are important symbols of social identity. As part of this tradition, ''chuspas'' show to the rest of their people how skilled they are in weaving. They can express their artistic skills and display their cultural affiliation by creating these ''chuspas''.{{cite book|last1=Sharratt|first1=Nicola|title=Carrying Coca: 1,500 Years of Andean ''Chuspas''|date=2014|publisher=Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture|location=New York}} ==History== Since the beginning of the first millennium AD, ''chuspas'' have been a constant presence in Andean society. ''Chuspas'' have endured changing fashions and technologies throughout the years, just like other pieces of fashion. Furthermore, as with other textiles in Andean South America, stylistic differences between ''chuspas'' distinguish them as products of particular regions and communities. However, ''chuspas'' are unique among Andean textiles because of the substance they hold, coca leaves.{{cite book|last1=Sharratt|first1=Nicola|title=Carrying Coca: 1,500 Years of Andean Chuspas|date=2014|publisher=Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture|location=New York|page=13}} Coca leaves were often chewed on to satiate hunger and provide energy.{{Cite journal |last=Hughes |first=Lauren Finley |date=2010 |title=Weaving Imperial Ideas: Iconography and Ideology of the Inca Coca Bag |journal=Textile |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=3}} Long before the Spanish arrived in Peru, Andean artists portrayed people wearing ''chuspas'', especially on pottery vessels. Between AD1 and 700, the [Moche](/source/Moche_culture) dominated the north coast of Peru, and during that time Moche ceramic artists produced lifelike representations of people, plants, and animals in molded ceramic vessels. Many of these representations depicted people carrying ''chuspas''.{{cite book|last1=Sharratt|first1=Nicola|title=Carrying Coca" 1,500 Years of Andean Chuspas|date=2014|publisher=Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture|location=New York|page=27}} Depictions of ''chuspas'' in media have been around since pre-Hispanic times. ''Chuspas'' are particularly notable in the seventeenth century line drawings that accompany [Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala](/source/Felipe_Guaman_Poma_de_Ayala)'s length description of Inca customs. Guaman Poma includes ''chuspas'' in an extensive variety of contexts, as two individuals share coca during horticulture, in ritual settings, at funerals, in festivals, and in parades.{{cite book|last1=Sharratt|first1=Nicola|title=Carrying Coca" 1,500 Years of Andean Chuspas|date=2014|publisher=Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture|location=New York|pages=27–29}} Written descriptions of Andean ''chuspas'' or ''huallqepos'' as they are called in [Aymara](/source/Aymaran_languages), another widely spoken Andean language, are also remarkably consistent from the Spanish conquest to present.{{cite book|last1=Sharratt|first1=Nicola|title=Carrying Coca" 1,500 Years of Andean Chuspas|date=2014|publisher=Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture|location=New York|page=29}} In 1609 Bernabe Cobo wrote that underneath his mantle and over his tunic a man would carry 'a small ''chuspa'' which hangs around the neck. It is more or less one span in length and about the same width. This bag hangs down by the waist under the right arm, and the strap from which it hangs passes over the left shoulder."{{cite book|last1=Cobo|first1=Father Bernabe|title=Inca Religion and Customs|url=https://archive.org/details/incareligioncust0000cobo|url-access=registration|date=1990|publisher=University of Texas Press|location=Austin|page=[https://archive.org/details/incareligioncust0000cobo/page/185 185]}} There have been many visual and written representations of ''chuspas'' throughout the centuries which demonstrate the ubiquity of ''chuspas'' and suggest that coca bags are relatively straight forward and conservative items, but in fact variations are evident in the actual objects that have survived. Surviving ''chuspas'' reveal a great deal about the technological and artistic styles evident in the Andes at different periods.{{cite book|last1=Sharratt|first1=Nicola|title=Carrying Coca" 1,500 Years of Andean Chuspas|date=2014|publisher=Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture|location=New York|page=29}} ==Crafting Chuspas== ''Chuspas'' are created using similar tools and techniques involved in making larger items, such as [shawls](/source/shawls) and [ponchos](/source/ponchos). Although the technologies are relatively simple, creating a ''chuspas'' can take more than a week, and for a much smaller object. The crafting process incorporates three basic stages: spinning, weaving, and embellishing. Using a hand [spindle](/source/Spindle_(textiles)), a weaver spins cotton, camelid fiber, or sheep's wool into a thread and then twists or piles two or more spun threads together to strengthen the yarn. When she has spun and piled enough yarn, the weaver turns to her loom. Horizontal ground looms are particularly common in the southern Andes, where most of the ''chuspas'' are made. Once the weaver has wrapped the loom by continuously wrapping a length of yarn in a figure-eight around the bars at each end of the loom, she can begin to interlace the [weft](/source/weft) threads into the warp to create a structure. Although [plain weave](/source/plain_weave) is the simplest and most common, weavers use a range of more complex weaving techniques in order to achieve the elaborate designs seen in ''chuspas'' and other Andean cloth.{{cite book|last1=Sharratt|first1=Nicola|title=Carrying Coca: 1,500 Years of Andean Chuspas|date=2014|publisher=Bard Graduate Center|location=New York|pages=29–31}} Regardless of the technique used, after the weaver is finished, she removes the loom pieces and is left with a four-[selvage](/source/selvage) length of cloth, which is folded in half and stitched along the sides to create the basic bag shape of a ''chuspa''. Although simple stitching is seen in some coca bags, weavers often create a tubular edging to ensure that the sides are more securely held together. This is achieved by extracting either a cross-knit loop stitch or hand-woven edge bindings. When the body of the bag is complete, the weaver adds straps. To finish, the weaver sews on tassels, fringes, beads, and other decorations according to local custom.{{cite book|last1=Sharratt|first1=Nicola|title=Carrying Coca: 1,500 Years of Andean Chuspas|date=2014|publisher=Bard Graduate Center|location=New York|pages=30–31}} == See also == * [Andean textiles](/source/Andean_textiles) * [Lliklla](/source/Lliklla) * [Aguayo](/source/Aguayo_(cloth)) * [Chullo](/source/Chullo) ==References== {{Reflist}} Category:Culture of Peru Category:Coca --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Chuspas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuspas) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuspas?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.