Indigenous Hats and Headdresses
in the Andes
Edmundo Morales
A hat is a piece of clothing that humans use to cover their heads. It
usually has a distinctive crown and brim, and besides its practical,
functional use, it is a symbol of position, office, class, and regional
identity. In the Andes, before the Spanish conquest, natives wore
distinctive headdresses as markers of regional and ethnic identity.
As the Inca Empire became a Spanish colony, Indians were
treated as property that came attached to tracts of land. Spanish
landowners may have designed some kind of distinctive hat to
mark their subjects in order to differentiate them from Indians of
neighboring properties. This practice has remained in remote rural
populations as markers of regional identity. For instance, natives
such as the Tarabucos in Bolivia still design their hats with a singular
flair. Married women’s hats resemble the three-pointed montera that
Spanish matadors wore in the 19th century. Unmarried men and
women wear hats similar to those Spanish soldiers wore during the
war of independence, consisting of a narrow cylindrical fabric with
figures of birds, flowers, and bead designs.
These hats resemble a marching band hat but they have a
flap that rests on the nape, symbolizing “immaturity or not fully
developed” (hoccoyl o, tadpole in Quechua). The helmet-like
heavy leather adult men’s hat seems to be a copy of a Spanish
helmet, but folk stories suggest different inspirations. In Tarabuco,
there is a mountain whose peak resembles the profile of a man.
Indigenous people believe that the spirits of men who died in the
war of independence turned this mountain into its present form. One
version of the folk story is that the adult men’s hat was designed
after this profile. The other version is that it was an imitation of the
Spanish helmet. The more credible version is that it was designed
during the war as a reminder of how merciless the Indians were
against the Spanish soldiers, Tarabuco indigenous people are proud
to be dubbed “sonqo micos” (heart eaters in Quechua).
In the Andes, the hat is a conduit of social and cultural
reproduction in that it transmits tradition, knowledge, and values
and beliefs. It means to be indigenous, illiterate and monolingual,
and distant from the mainstream culture. Unfortunately, the
market economy, globalization, and the popularity of wearing the
ubiquitous baseball hat are threatening to extinguish the artful
designs of identity.
© 2011 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Figure 1 a and b
a
Men’s and women’s hat, Cañar, Ecuador. The
Cañar people were one of several tribes that
put fierce resistance against the Incas, and
fought alongside the Spaniards against them.
The hat they wore up until the late sixties
had a short brim.
b
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Figure 2 a and b
a
Men’s hat, Willoc, Cuzco, Peru. Willoc is one
of ten communities that, before land reform
in 1969, was a private landholding. Today, the
about 800 families are subsistence farmers.
Most men and boys earn cash working as
porters on the Inca Trail.
b
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Figure 3 a and b
a
Men’s hat, Tarabuco, Chuquisaca, Bolivia.
Married men wear a hat that is made of thick
leather with small tassels on the front edge.
Upon the death of the husband, the widow
discards her hat and wears the late husband’s
hat for the rest of her life.
b
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Figure 4 a and b
a
Married women’s hat, Tarabuco, Chuquisaca,
Bolivia. A few old women wear their original
hats to Sunday fairs or special occasions.
Older version hats had a heavy leather
frame, rarely found today. New version
hats, found only at costume stores, have
cardboard frames.
b
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95
Figure 5 a and b
a
Single men’s and single women’s hat,
Tarabuco, Chuquisaca, Bolivia. This hat is
called hoccoyllo (tadpole in Quechua). It
symbolizes not being developed to an
independent, responsible person. Not long
ago, for young girls, wearing the hoccoyllo
was a symbol of virginity.
b
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