Paraguayan Indigenous art
The ajaka mbya basket is an average of 35 centimeters diameter with rigid supports that can to hold the heavy weight of the cassavas.
The ajak is a basket made by weaving tacuarembo and dark guembepi, making braided figures as well as geometric ones, in accordance with the Guaraní concept of beauty.
The baskets associated with the production of corn are smaller and lighter and are constructed from pindo palm tree leaves.
Before the arrival of the Spanish, the Indians used a horizontal piece of material to make hammocks with cotton threads, as well as the baskets and bags to transport food and nets for fishing and hunting.
Tribal artisans began producing sheets, towels, blankets, table clothes and other articles, as well as the special hammocks, which were knitted and still are with cotton threads and ornaments on the sides.
New technical resources brought by the Spanish inspired the typical cotton dresses, the ones called ao poi, made with a fine thread, and the povyi, a little wider thread weaving, as well as linen, and the beautiful ñanduti, which means "spider web" in Guaraní language and consists of fine embroidery, with which table clothes, curtains, blouses and more are made.
Woven ponchos, known for their beauty and quality, are made by the ethnic groups Lengua, Maskoy, Nivaclé, and Wichí from the Gran Chaco.
They use sheep wool tinted in red and the ones called of 60 lists, made in Pirayú and Yataity, in the Guairá Department.
Ancient indigenous peoples of Paraguay carved petroglyphs into stone, particularly in the hills of Amambay Department.
[2] Wood is carved into ceremonial masks, smoking pipes, chairs known as apyká, and anthropomorphic and zoomorphic effigies.
The Chamacoco ethnic group, from the Alto Paraguay Department, used dresses during their annual ritual called Debylyby.
Collector's bags are mainly used by women, who carry them on their backs and have a form of a large half moon.
The Pai Tavytera from Eastern Paraguay and Brazil are known for their necklaces made from carved wood and colorful seeds of different fruits.
[2] The Toba tribe makes textiles from colorful wool threads, as well as the traditional bags, piri hats and carandilla leaf baskets.
The Mbayá Indians have a special ability in making baskets of natural tacuara, that are decorated with drawings of Guembepi and animals of the zone, as well as their necklaces and wood carving.
Both the collectors and the agricultural societies have as a social nucleus, a mythical body-ritual, from where they can articulate and develop political power, in the judicial order, free time, beauty, and religion.
