Ceremonial Veil for Cofradías

Hand embroidered with different stitches, including backstitch. This panel of a ceremonial veil could have been sewn on a rectangular piece of lace fabric - usually of commercial production. In other cases, the canvas is sewn on the "white on white" cloth from Cobán (Alta Verapaz), woven on backstrap loom, probably because its thin fabric is similar to lace. Both types of fabric, hand or industrially woven, look like Spanish mantillas, originally made in silk, silk lace, linen, etc., some decorated with tulle or lace. The canvas shows a dense embroidery with floss thread on commercial fabric. The elements of design change slightly from one paya to another, with more or less definite iconography. The most ancient payas tend to have smaller elements of the pattern.