Dyeing...and weaving...Life

 

 

 

 

Array of yarns the Juan Gonzalez family has dyed using a variety of natural substances-- mostly plant-based but also insects (cochineal). The colors are astounding in their beauty all on their own, even without the knowledge that they are entirely natural, and that many are things grown, harvested, or found locally.

My (Daniela) mother's visit seemed like an excellent time to visit an artisan workshop and an archeological site. She had decided she wanted to visit the site of Mitla/Lyobaa-- it is smaller and more manageable than Monte Alban. As it works out, on the way to Mitla/Lyobaa is any number of pueblos which each have their own tradition of artisan/art work....how to choose one?!

It turns out that my mother had been reading recently about wool rugs made by Zapotec artisans...and of course, they are from Oaxaca! In fact, in one specific community: Teotitlan del Valle. In this pueblo, there are approximately 7000 people, 6000 of whom are weavers. Most of these are arranged in family-based cooperatives. Weaving has been happening here since long before the Spanish came, back then it was with fibers that were locally available (e.g., from pochote tree and agave fibers and cotton) and using backstrap looms. The Zapotec people of Teotitlan paid homage to the Azteca Empire with woven goods. With the Spanish came borrego (sheep), spinning wheels, and treadle looms. And from there, we arrive to the present day where the Zapotec cultural and historical designs and historically used dyes (e.g., cochineal, zapote fruits & leaves, cempasuchil flowers) mix with the European tools as well as dyes that originated elsewhere and are now grown/cultivated in Mexico (e.g., tumeric). What an amazing story of antiquity, tradition, transformation, rebirth, history, culture...

 The workshop we visited-- of Don Juan/The Magic of the Zapotec Hand-- is a family who has been weaving for five generations and they only use natural dyes. They did an amazing job of teaching us about the whole process-- from the wool, through cleaning, combing, spinning, dyeing, designing, and finally weaving the rugs. It was a phenomenal experience and a great pleasure and privilege to witness this.

Thalia tries her hand at combing the wool

All the wool is spun by hand, with their spinning wheel. The abuelita of the familia is the acknowledge master at spinning. I think it takes that long to get good at it (it was fairly impossible for me to get any more than a few millimeters of yarn when I tried to spin it)

Many of the dye ingredients need to be ground- which is - claro!- done by hand, using a stone metate. Here, cochineal after drying, etc) are ground to produce this amazing deep red.

The deep red/purple of the cochineal is then altered using various acids or bases (lime juice or cal, for example) to create even more colors-- oranges, pinkish reds, lilac, lavender... it's awesome. They recreate this process on your hand- it is super fun! This is Thalia's palm.

Don Juan (the patriarch of the familia) is weaving in this foto. A rug with geometric patterns (all of which have meanings), using wool dyed with indigo, to various colors.

 Through the presentation and learning about the symbology of the designs and seeing the family members interact, I learned quite a bit about the culture of the Zapotec of Teotitlan: that they value their lengua materna (they *always* spoke to each other in Zapotec, always, even while speaking to us in English and Spanish), they value family, and extended family, at that. Clouds are ever-present and ever-important (they are Ben 'Zaa - the Cloud People- after all), as are water, the mountains, and maize. The spirit and the body are intertwined during life, but the soul flies free after death, as the butterfly flies, with great happiness. Life can be understood by close observation of the natural world.

All the designs have traditional Zapotec meanings, they told us about many but I could only remember so many of them!!! Here are turtles, which are long life and patience!

From bottom to top: clouds, water, mountain, and maize (the short horizontal lines in the mountains are the maize)

The Zapotec Jaguar: Power.

This rug has several symblos: the caracola (snail) which indicates the cycle of life - they are always in pairs. The one on the left is the cycle of the body's life and the one on the right is the cycle of the spirit's life. And they are connected. Then there are the stars or energies around the caracolas and the spirit in the middle of the star energy.

Zapotec stars with a butterfly (happiness and the soul) in the middle

 It was a rainy day and the warmth of the cafe they served us, of the colors from the natural dyes they showed us, and of the family themselves, kept our minds, bodies, and spirits warm and nurtured. Our very great and heartfelt thanks, Xtiuzu'u, to this familia for sharing themselves with us and the world.

Here we are with some of the rugs we bought and some of the weavers (Juan Carlos and Alejandro are holding rugs they designed and wove)