Aguayo (cloth)

Traditional awayus of different types and colors for sale at a crafts store in La Paz, Bolivia.

The aguayo (hispanicized spelling of awayu, Aymara for diaper and for a woven blanket to carry things on the back or to cover the back,), q'ipirina or q'ipina (Quechua q'ipi bundle, -na a suffix, hispanicized spellings quepina, queperina, quepirina, quipirina) is a rectangular carrying cloth used in traditional communities in the Andes region of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Aymara and Quechua people use it to carry small children or all kinds of items in it on their backs. It is similar to a lliklla and sometimes regarded as a sinonym but larger and knotted at the front. The awayus typically feature colorful stripes intercalated with rhombuses and other figures with symbolic values.

The aguayo is mostly associated with Aymara and Quechua culture but is not exclusive to them.

Gallery

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  Quechua woman in Peru wearing a loaded q'ipirina

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  Quechua woman in Pisac, Peru, carrying a child in a q'ipirina

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  Quechua woman in Chivay, Peru, carrying wood in a q'ipirina

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  Women wearing awayus while dancing the Carnavalito in Jujuy, Argentina

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  A Peruvian woman carrying a child in a q'ipirina

See also

• Andean textiles
• Indigenous textile art of the Americas
• Poncho
• Rebozo, a similar piece of cloth used in Mexico