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Dress and adornmentLatin America and the Caribbean

Chullo

In its own language: ch'ullu

An earflapped Andean hat in alpaca or llama wool, worn against the cold

Chullo: Peruvian Chullo.
Photo: El archivo fue elegido de manera aleatoria sin uso necesario de su lic, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A chullo is an Andean hat with earflaps, knitted from the fleece of alpacas, llamas, vicuñas or sheep and tied under the chin for warmth. Indigenous peoples of the high Andes in Peru and Bolivia have worn hats for thousands of years, and some chullos carry meanings in their type and colour.

When is Chullo kept?

Chullo is kept on everyday wear in cold weather, with no fixed date.

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A chullo is a hat from the high Andes, shaped with earflaps and knitted from the fleece of alpacas, llamas, vicuñas or sheep. It is worn by indigenous peoples of Peru and Bolivia to keep the head and ears warm in mountain cold. Different kinds and colours carry meaning among some Andean peoples. Its Quechua name is ch'ullu, and in Aymara it is lluch'u.

A hat with earflaps

A chullo is a knitted hat with flaps that hang beside the ears. The flaps can be brought together and tied below the chin, which keeps the hat in place and the ears covered. The shape belongs to the Andes, and the word chullo comes from Quechua ch'ullu; Aymara speakers call the same hat lluch'u. In Spanish the name has a sound close to 'ly' in the middle. Chullos are made in many weights, patterns and colours rather than one fixed design. They belong with the other woven pieces of Andean textile work.

Origins and history

Hats have been worn in the Andes for thousands of years, long before the chullo took its present form, and indigenous peoples of the region have covered the head ever since. On where the chullo itself came from, one Peruvian historian, Arturo Jiménez Borja, offers an account: he traces it to contact between Andean wearers and Spaniards, who brought their birretes, small brimless caps. The chullo, on his reading, grew out of an exchange between the two. That is one historian's view rather than a settled date, and the article gives no firm century for it.

Wool and warmth

The chullo is made from the fleece of four animals: the vicuña, the alpaca, the llama and the sheep. Alpaca fleece has qualities much like wool, and the article singles it out as the fibre that helps a wearer keep out the harsh cold of the Andean mountain region. The earflaps do the same work on a smaller scale: they cover the ears, and they can be tied under the chin so that the hat stays put and the warmth stays in. A chullo is shaped by the climate of high mountains and by the animals kept there.

Colours and meaning

Among some Andean peoples a chullo is read as well as worn. The article notes that the kind of headwear and its colours carry meaning for some Andean peoples, so what a person puts on can say something about them. It does not set out a key to the patterns, and meanings are likely to differ from place to place and community to community. Warmth is the plainest and shared purpose: the hat exists to keep a head and ears comfortable in mountain cold. The rest belongs to the people who wear them.

How Chullo is kept

Chullos are worn by men, women and children of the Andean highlands, not on one day but as part of everyday dress when the air is cold. A wearer settles the hat over the crown, arranges the earflaps beside the face, and, if the wind is strong, brings the flaps together and ties them under the chin. Colour and pattern are chosen by the wearer or the maker, and for some Andean peoples they carry meaning.

When and where

Chullos are not tied to a fixed date. They belong to everyday dress in the Andean mountain region, where the climate is harsh, and they are worn when a person needs warmth. Nothing in the sources attaches the hat to a season, a festival or a single day of the calendar.

The chullo belongs to the Andean mountain region, above all in Peru and Bolivia. Hats of this kind have been worn there by indigenous peoples for thousands of years and are strongest in the high, cold country. The article also compares it with the so-called sherpa hat of the Himalayas, a separate mountain tradition in another part of the world.

What Chullo means

For the peoples of the high Andes the chullo is clothing with a message as well as a covering for the head. The kind worn and the colours chosen carry meaning for some Andean peoples, according to the article, which does not give a full list of what they say. Alongside that, the hat answers a hard climate: alpaca fleece insulates the wearer, and the earflaps can be tied shut against wind and cold. So a chullo carries both local meaning and everyday protection.

Questions people ask about Chullo

When is Chullo kept?

Chullo is kept on everyday wear in cold weather, with no fixed date.

What is a chullo?

A chullo is an Andean hat with earflaps. It is knitted from the fleece of alpacas, llamas, vicuñas or sheep, and it covers the head with flaps that hang beside the face and can be tied below the chin. The word comes from Quechua ch'ullu; in Aymara the hat is lluch'u.

Where is it worn?

In the Andean mountain region, above all in Peru and Bolivia, where indigenous peoples have worn hats of this kind for thousands of years. It suits high, cold country: the fleece insulates the wearer and the earflaps cover the ears.

What is it made from?

The article names four fibres: vicuña, alpaca, llama and sheep's wool. Alpaca fleece is described as having wool-like qualities that help a wearer cope with the harsh conditions of the Andean mountain region.

Why does it have earflaps?

The flaps cover the ears and can be tied beneath the chin, which holds the hat on and adds warmth around the head. In the cold and wind of the Andes that extra coverage matters, and the fleece insulates the wearer as well.

How old is the chullo?

Hats have been worn in the Andes for thousands of years, so headwear there is very old. For the chullo's own origins, the Peruvian historian Arturo Jiménez Borja traces it to contact between Andeans and Spaniards, who brought their birretes. No single date is given.

See also

Feast of Corpus ChristiA Christian feast celebrating the presence of Christ in the bread and wine of the EucharistAyniGiving and receiving as a duty, kept by Andean communitiesIntiThe Inca sun deity, honoured with temples, offerings and the June festival Inti RaymiCuecaA courtship dance of Chile and the Andes where partners trace circles with handkerchiefs to mimic a rooster and hen.

Good reading and sources

Where this page comes from

The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Chullo", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). EveryParampara rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.

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The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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