We know that Yucatecan embroidery is from the pre-Hispanic era because in the cenote of
Chichén Itzá they found some vestiges of Mayan clothing embroidered in ̈Chuy K ́ab, ̈ or
satin stitch. The Yucatan terno is a fusion of indigenous and Spanish design. In his book
"Relationship of things in Yucatan", Friar Diego de Landa, a friar of the Franciscan order who
arrived in Yucatan in 1547 and was Bishop from 1572-1579, spoke of the indigenous women

of Yucatan in a way where we can see the beginnings of this typical costume of the
peninsula: "The indigenous women ... are very honest in their costume, because their
wrapped skirt [the fustán] covered the breasts ... with a square cover [the jubón]. ... all the
others wore nothing but a long and wide sack, open on both sides and tucked into it as far as
the quadriles [the huipil]. ̈ Spanish nuns taught the mayan women how to embroider in
European style, using the cross stitch, with brightly colored flower and bird bases.