My Host Sister, Mayu!
A few days ago, I was talking to a social media expert I met and she asked me “What does Mayu mean?” I responded quickly and told her it was explained on the About page of the www.shopmayu.com website, which I realized that most people probably don’t read. As a result, I’ve decided to give a quick explanation of the word Mayu, as it has become a common word in my daily life (and hopefully across the Internet, as people continue discovering Mayu!). BTW, please help spread the word by following us on Twitter, FB and by RSS feed.
Mayu is a Quechua word, which means ‘RIVER’. Never head of Quechua? It is the native language of the indigenous Incan Empire and the first language of Mayu’s knitters. Unfortunately, however, Quechua has been classified as a “dying language” as Spanish has been given greater priority. I chose to call this social enterprise Mayu, mostly because, throughout my Peace Corps service, it had a lot of significance. The word Mayu came to represent family and the environment, two aspect of life that are of great importance to me as well as the entire Mayu team. While in the Peace Corps, I lived with a Peruvian family for 2.5 years. I had three Peruvian sisters, the youngest named Marjiori. The name was long and hard for outsiders to pronounce so Marjiori became Mayu for short. My sister, Mayu, was an adorable 2-year-old when I met her and she quickly became one of my closest friends in the neighborhood. After meeting Mayu, I soon learned that her name had more meaning than I had initially thought; it meant river. Just below Mayu’s house was a rapidly flowing river that provided water to the 5,000-person community and a livelihood for the local fisherman. Much of the local music, cultural celebrations and town parties mentioned the nearby River Ainin so it was clear how cherished it was.
I couldn’t have picked a better name for Mayu, the go-to online boutique for hand-knit alpaca accessories. For more information, visit Mayu!
Tags: Alpaca Clothing, Andes, Mayu, Peru, Quechua
