It is difficult to establish when the use of hammocks, or “hayabil-kaan” (Maya for “strings to lie down”), became widespread in Yucatan. There are historic sources from the 16th century that mention them, and it is likely that they were widely used in the peninsula before that time. However, it is clear that the shape of hammocks and the weaving technique and materials used to make them have developed through time into the ones we know today.
Everything seems to indicate that the Spanish conquerors first came across hammocks when they discovered the West Indies. Once they brought hammocks to the Yucatan peninsula, their use and manufacture became widespread owing to the area’s climate. Hence, even if hammocks may have not originated here, their use in our land goes back at least four centuries, and it is here that they reached the highest sophistication.
Yucatecan craftspeople perfected the West Indian weaving technique to obtain a closer-woven knot-free textile. Thus, necessities created by local climate merged with the ingenuity of the Maya to produce an airy and portable “bed”, which has come to symbolize Yucatecan customs and way of life.
Weaving a hammock can be more or less complicated depending on the overall design, the width of the hammock, the colors of the threads to be used, the patterns to combine these colors (fans, checkers, feathers, sea foam, crêpe, rice, to mention only a few) and whether it will have lace trimmings, tassels or pompoms. It is important to take into account that all hammocks are handmade.
Source: Merida artesanal (Handcrafts in Merida)
Segunda edicion 2005.
City Council of Merida
