Kushma – Asháninka national costume

A traditional dress of the Asháninka, an indigenous ethnic group inhabiting parts of the Peruvian and Brazilian Amazon. The male tunic (cushma in Peruvian Spanish, in the Asháninka language it has many names: kitsarentsi, matsarantsi, obashirontsi) was woven from locally grown upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) called ampe in the Asháninka language.

The cotton was grown, harvested, spun, dyed, and woven in a self-made weaving workshop, and the entire manufacturing process is handled by women. Usually all the above activities were performed by one woman.

This cushma was made entirely by Enriqueta Elena Peréz from cotton she grew herself. Enriqueta was considered the best spinner in Sabarena. In 2019 (two years after her death), one of the villagers – Gladiz Marzano Chanchani stated “No one can weave like Enriqueta. The cushmas she made were warm and durable, yet light and airy”.

The red colour of the thread was obtained by soaking it in a concoction of lila del monte (per. Spanish) – a dye plant called pirishi by the Asháninka women, and the purple colour was obtained from the leaves of choritoitoki, harvested in the forest. The light shade of brown is the natural shade of one of the cotton varieties The black and dark brown colours were obtained by soaking the cotton in mud and swamps (per. Spanish barro negro, cocha del bajada del rio; ash. pitsitsari).