Tag Archives: Costa Chica

Oaxaca Mourns Mexico Dreamweavers Cooperative Founder and President Margarita Avedano Lopez

Oh, where to start … or continue.

As if it weren’t enough to lose El Maestro Francisco Toledo this week, news comes this morning from dear friend Patrice Perillie that Margarita Avedano Lopez, founder and president of Tixinda Mexican Dreamweavers Cooperative, has died.

The cooperative, one of the most famous on Oaxaca’s Costa Chica, is in the Mixtec weaving and dyeing village of Pinotepa de Don Luis, about an hour up the mountain from the Pacific Ocean.

Margarita’s brother, Don Habacuc Avedano, is one of the few remaining men who harvest the rare caracol purpura snail for its incredible purple dye, which Margarita used in her weavings.

We know this village intimately because we visit it as part of our Oaxaca Coast Textile Study Tour. We know Margarita for her outstanding collection of regional textiles that she sold in the village market, and for her extraordinary prowess as a back-strap loom weaver and dyer.

True, there are others to carry on. Yet, recognizing women in this region who preserve culture and tradition through artisan craft is essential. The work of Margarita, known as Tia Tere, deserves special acknowledgement because of her dedication to traditional methods: weaving the posahuanco (wrap-around skirt) using natural dyes such as indigo, caracol purpura and cochineal, and carding and hand-spinning (with the drop spindle) native coyuchi and white cotton into the finest threads.

Tixinda Dreamweavers Cooperative — Margarita, comadres and family

As the generations age and pass from us, how do we keep their memory and their talent alive, going forward? To honor Margarita, it is imperative that our appreciation for Oaxaca traditions carry forward. It is essential that we continue to support handcraft. I feel privileged to have known her and to have acquired cloth that she wove and fashioned into fine garments.

Descanse bien, Margarita Avedano Lopez. We will miss you immensely.

My treasured fuchsine dress from Margarita’s market puesto

Oaxaca Coast Textile Study Tour 2020

Arrive on Saturday, January 18 and depart on Monday, January 27, 2020 — 9 nights, 10 days in textile heaven!

Trip is limited to 11 participants. 7 spaces open.

Cost is $2,795 per person shared room or $3,295 per person for private room. See details and itinerary below.

This entire study tour is focused on exploring the textiles of Oaxaca’s Costa Chica. You arrive to and leave from Puerto Escondido, connecting through Mexico City or Oaxaca.

Cotton dyed with the endangered purple snail, embroidered dress collar

We go deep, and not wide. We give you an intimate, connecting experience. We spend time to know the culture. You will meet artisans in their homes and workshops, enjoy local cuisine, dip your hands in an indigo dye-bath, and travel to remote villages you may not go to on your own. This study tour focuses on revival of ancient textile techniques and Oaxaca’s vast weaving culture that encompasses the use of natural dyes, back-strap loom weaving, drop spindle hand spinning, and glorious, pre-Hispanic native cotton.

Gretchen shows extraordinary huipil she chose — indigo, caracol purpura, coyuchi cotton

Villages along the coast and neighboring mountains were able to preserve their traditional weaving culture because of their isolation. Stunning cotton is spun and woven into lengths of cloth connected with intricate needlework to form amazing garments.

We have invited a noted cultural anthropologist to travel with us. She has worked in the region for the past fifteen years and knows the textile culture and people intimately. We learn about and discuss motifs, lifestyle, endangered species, quality and value of direct support.

Rafael explains purple snail dye in Pinotepa de Don Luis

What we do:

  • We visit 7 weaving villages
  • We meet back-strap loom weavers, natural dyers, spinners
  • We see, touch, smell native Oaxaca cotton — brown, green, natural
  • We participate in a sea turtle release
  • We swim in a rare bioluminescence lagoon
  • We visit four local markets to experience daily life
  • We travel to remote regions to discover amazing cloth
  • We support indigenous artisans directly
  • We attend Dreamweavers annual sale at Hotel Santa Fe
  • We escape WINTER in El Norte

Take this study tour to learn about:

  • the culture, history and identity of cloth
  • beating and spinning cotton, and weaving with natural dyes
  • native seed preservation and cultivation
  • clothing design and construction, fashion adaptations
  • symbols and meaning of regional textile designs
  • choice of colors and fibers that show each woman’s aesthetic while keeping with a particular village traje or costume
  • the work of women in pre-Hispanic Mexico and today
Joining wefts of loomed cloth with needle stitch

2020 Itinerary — Oaxaca Coast Textile Study Tour

  • Saturday, January 18: Fly to Puerto Escondido—overnight in Puerto Escondido, Group Welcome Dinner at 7 p.m. (D)
  • Sunday, January 19: Puerto Escondido market meander, lunch and afternoon on your own. Late afternoon departure for turtle release and Manialtepec bioluminescence lagoon.  (B)
  • Monday, January 20: Depart after breakfast for Tututepec to visit a young weaver who is reviving his village’s textile traditions, visit local museum and murals — overnight in Pinotepa Nacional. (B, L)
  • Tuesday, January 21: After breakfast, we go on to the weaving village of San Juan Colorado to visit two women’s cooperatives working in natural dyes, hand-spinning, and back strap loom weaving. Overnight in Pinotepa Nacional. (B, L)
  • Wednesday, January 22: After breakfast, we return to the mountain with a first stop at the Pinotepa de Don Luis market. Then, we visit the Converse shoe project where talented artists hand-paint footwear, carve gourds and make amazing graphic art prints. We have lunch with Dreamweavers cooperative members and caracol purpura purple snail dyers in their home, complete with show and sale, and cultural talk.  Overnight in Pinotepa Nacional. (B, L)
  • Thursday, January 23: After breakfast, we travel up the coast highway into the state of Guerrero, where we visit two outstanding Amusgo weaving cooperatives in Xochistlahuaca and Zacoalpan. They are working to revive ancient designs and incorporate locally grown native, wild cotton. Overnight in Ometepec. (B, L)
  • Friday, January 25: After breakfast, we begin our journey back to Puerto Escondido, with a stop at the Afro-Mexican Museum to understand Mexico’s black history. We stop in Jamiltepec to meet back-strap loom weavers and embroiderers.  Overnight in Puerto Escondido. (B, L)
  • Saturday, January 25: This is a day on your own to explore the area, return to the Puerto Escondido market, take a rest from the road trip, enjoy the beach and pools, and begin packing for your trip home.  Overnight in Puerto Escondido. (B)
  • Sunday, January 26: Attend the annual Dreamweavers Expoventa featuring the Tixinda Weaving Cooperative from Pinotepa de Don Luis. Other regional artisans are also invited, making this a grand finale folk art extravaganza — a fitting ending to our time together on Oaxaca’s coast. Grand Finale Dinner. Overnight in Puerto Escondido. (B, D)
  • Monday, January 27: Depart for home.

Note: You can add days on to the tour — arrive early or stay later — at your own expense.

Mural at Afro-Mexican Museum

What is Included

  • 9 nights lodging at top-rated accommodations
  • 9 breakfasts
  • 5 lunches
  • 2 dinners
  • museum entry fees
  • turtle release and Manialtepec lagoon excursion
  • van transportation as outlined in itinerary
  • complete guide services including cultural anthropologist expertise

The workshop does NOT include airfare, taxes, tips, travel insurance, liquor or alcoholic beverages, some meals, and optional local transportation as specified in the itinerary. It does not include taxi or shuttle service to/from airport to/from hotel.

We reserve the right to substitute instructors and alter the program as needed.

Woodcut art depicting Afro-Mexican Devil Dance

Cost to Participate

  • $2,795 double room with private bath (sleeps 2)
  • $3,295 for a single supplement (private room and bath, sleeps 1)

Some Vocabulary and Terms

Who Should Attend

  • Explorers of indigenous cloth, native fibers
  • Collectors, curators and cultural appreciators
  • Textile and fashion designers
  • Weavers, embroiderers and collectors
  • Photographers and artists who want inspiration
  • Anyone who loves cloth, culture and collaboration

Full Registration Policies, Procedures and Cancellations– Please READ

Reservations and Cancellations.  A 40% deposit is required to guarantee your spot. The balance is due in two equal payments. The second payment of  30% of the total is due on or before October 1, 2019. The third 30% payment is due on or before December 1, 2019. We accept payment using online e-commerce only. We will send you an itemized invoice when you tell us you are ready to register. After December 1, 2019, there are no refunds. If you cancel on or before December 1, 2019, we will refund 50% of your deposit received to date. After that, there are no refunds.

We will send you an itemized invoice when you tell us you are ready to register. After December 1, 2019, there are no refunds.

Required–Travel Health/Accident Insurance: We require that you carry international accident/health insurance that includes $50,000+ of emergency medical evacuation insurance. Proof of insurance must be sent at least 45 days before departure.

In addition, we will send you by email a PDF of a witnessed waiver of responsibility, holding harmless Norma Schafer and Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC. We ask that you return this to us by email 45 days before departure. Unforeseen circumstances happen! Be certain your passport has at least six months on it before it expires from the date you enter Mexico!

Plane Tickets, Arrivals/Departures: Please send us your plane schedule at least 45 days before the trip. This includes name of carrier, flight numbers, arrival and departure time to our destination.

All documentation for plane reservations, required travel insurance, and personal health issues must be received 45 days before the program start or we reserve the right to cancel your registration without reimbursement.

Terrain, Walking and Group Courtesy: We will do some walking and getting in/out of vans. If you have mobility issues or health/breathing impediments, please let us know before you register. This may not be the study tour for you.

Well-Being: If you have mobility issues or health impediments, please let us know. Our travel to remote villages will be by van on secondary roads with curves, usually not for more than an hour or so. When you tell us you are ready to register, we will send you a health questionnaire to complete. If you have walking or car dizziness issues, this may not be the trip for you.

Traveling with a small group has its advantages and also means that independent travelers will need to make accommodations to group needs and schedule. We include free time to go off on your own if you wish.

Note: Itinerary subject to schedule change and modification.

Video: Danza de los Diablos, African Roots in Mexico, El Tule Guelaguetza 2018

Danza de los Diablos is connected with the Afro-Mestizo history of Oaxaca’s Costa Chica, the Pacific coast region between Puerto Escondido and Acapulco, Guerrero. Now referred to as Mexico’s Third Root, people of African descent are an integral part of what it means to be Mexican, more than only the mix of Europeans and AmerIndians. With the conquest of Mexico, Spanish brought African slaves here in the 16th century to work sugar cane fields, mines and agriculture. Most were men and married indigenous women. Race and class was far more permeable in Mexico than in the United States.

Only recently have academics and cultural anthropologists begun to uncover and investigate the importance of African roots in Mexican culture.

Dressed as the devil with mask, horns and horsehair, African roots

The dance and its music, with its stomping and whirling, are said to symbolize the breaking from the repression of slave owners and the church. The woman in the dance represents the mixing of races. She carries a white doll. Traditionally, the dance is performed on November 1 during Day of the Dead.

White mask, dark skin, white baby, symbol of Afro-Mestizo roots

Oaxaca Costa Chica Textile Study Tour, January 11-21, 2019–Spaces Open

Behind the mask, a beautiful countenance

Today, the dance is a testimony to Oaxaca’s rich diversity and deepening respect for her roots.

One of the pleasures I have from writing this blog is the research I do to investigate the culture and history of Oaxaca and Mexico. When I was at the Costa Chica in the last two years, I became more aware of African slave roots as as I talked with cultural anthropologists and locals.

A First Person Commentary

About Afro-Mexicans

Much more has been written about the African experience on the Caribbean coast of Mexico, at the port of Veracruz and south. The Son Jarocho music of Mexico, Cuba and the Caribbean are rooted in Africa, as is the donkey jawbone and drum percussion instruments. There is still a lot to learn.

 

2019 Oaxaca Costa Chica Study Tour: Textile Explorers

Oaxaca Costa Chica Textile Study Tour

Arrive on Friday, January 11 and depart on Monday, January 21, 2019 — 10 nights, 11 days in textile heaven!

Trip is limited to 11 participants.

This entire study tour is focused on exploring the textiles of Oaxaca’s Costa Chica. You arrive to and leave from Puerto Escondido, connecting through Mexico City or Oaxaca.

Ji Nuu Cooperative women, San Juan Colorado, hand-spinning native cotton

We go deep, and not wide. We give you an intimate, connecting experience. We spend time to know the culture. You will meet artisans in their homes and workshops, enjoy local cuisine, dip your hands in an indigo dye-bath, and travel to remote villages you may not go to on your own. This study tour focuses on revival of ancient textile techniques and Oaxaca’s vast weaving culture that encompasses the use of natural dyes, back-strap loom weaving, drop spindle hand spinning, and glorious, pre-Hispanic native cotton.

Indigo, cochineal and caracol purpura huipil from Pinotepa de Don Luis

Villages along the coast and neighboring mountains were able to preserve their traditional weaving culture because of their isolation. Stunning cotton is spun and woven into lengths of cloth connected with intricate needlework to form amazing garments.

Fine Amusgo back strap loom weaving with supplementary weft

Amuzgos visit includes a natural dye demonstration with indigo and nanche

A noted cultural anthropologist who has worked in the region for the past fifteen years will guide us. Our driver knows the region intimately.

with Special Facilitator:  Sheri Brautigam, Textile Fiestas of Mexico author

The Itinerary

  • Friday, January 11: Fly to Puerto Escondido—overnight in Puerto Escondido
  • Saturday, January 12: Puerto market tour, afternoon on your own with a presentation about Costa Chica Textiles and Cultural Identity, followed by a welcome dinner — overnight in Puerto Escondido
  • Sunday, January 13: Depart after breakfast for Tututepec to visit a young weaver who is reviving his village’s textile traditions, visit local museum and murals — overnight in Pinotepa Nacional
  • Monday, January 14: After breakfast we will go to the mountain weaving village at the end of the road, San Juan Colorado. Here, we will visit two women’s cooperatives working in natural dyes, hand-spinning, with back strap loom weaving. We will also go to the home of a mask maker who also deals in antiquities. Our afternoon will be spent in the weaving center of Pinotepa de Don Luis, where we will visit a women’s cooperative and the homes of each weaver.  Overnight in Pinotepa Nacional.
  • Tuesday, January 15: In the morning after breakfast, we will visit the Pinotepa Nacional market. Then we travel to San Pedro Amuzgos where we will spend the day with Arte Amuzgo Cooperative and Odilon Merino Morales for demonstrations, lunch and an expoventa. — Overnight in San Pedro Amuzgos.
  • Wednesday, January 16: We’ll explore this ancient Amuzgo village and discover other weavers and cooperatives to visit, perhaps taking a side-trip to Santa Maria Zacatepec where women embroider small animal, floral and people figures on natural cotton cloth. — Overnight Amuzgos
  • Thursday, January 17: We’ll take the road to Xochistlahuaca, a famed Amuzgo weaving village across the border in Guerrero state (yes, it’s safe in this part of the state). We will visit a noted weaving cooperative that works in light weight gauze cotton using natural dyes. We’ll also meet other weavers who use rare coyuchi and native green cotton.  Overnight in Ometepec.
  • Friday, January 18: Return to Puerto Escondido with a stop in the weaving village of Jamiltepec where graphic designs embellish necklines with intricate embroidery. Overnight in Puerto Escondido.
  • Saturday, January 19: This is a day on your own to explore the area, return to the Puerto Escondido market, take a rest from the road trip, enjoy the beach and pools, and begin packing for your trip home. Grand Finale Dinner. Overnight in Puerto Escondido.
  • Sunday, January 20: Attend the annual Dreamweavers Expoventa featuring the Tixinda Weaving Cooperative from Pinotepa de Don Luis. Other regional artisans are also invited, making this a grand finale folk art extravaganza — a fitting ending to our time together on Oaxaca’s coast.
  • Monday, January 21: Say our goodbyes and depart for home.

Note: Itinerary subject to schedule change and modification.

Our 2018 Costa Chica study tour

Take this study tour to learn about:

  • the culture, history and identity of cloth
  • beating and spinning cotton, and weaving with natural dyes
  • native seed preservation and cultivation
  • clothing design and construction, fashion adaptations
  • symbols and meaning of regional textile designs
  • choice of colors and fibers that show each woman’s aesthetic while keeping with a particular village traje or costume
  • the work of women in pre-Hispanic Mexico and today

Fine indigo, native coyuchi cotton and caracol purpura blusa, Amuzgos

Some Vocabulary and Terms

What is Included

  • 10 nights lodging at top-rated accommodations
  • 10 breakfasts
  • 5 lunches
  • 2 dinners
  • van transportation as outlined in itinerary
  • complete guide services including cultural anthropologist expertise

Winter on Oaxaca’s coast, warm and temperate

The workshop does NOT include airfare, taxes, tips, travel insurance, liquor or alcoholic beverages, some meals, and optional local transportation as specified in the itinerary. It does not include taxi or shuttle service from airport to hotel. We reserve the right to substitute instructors and alter the program as needed.

Odilon’s aunt, from San Pedro Amuzgo, joins cloth lengths

Embroidered collar, native white cotton dyed with caracol purpura snail dye

Cost to Participate

  • $2,895 double room with private bath (sleeps 2)
  • $3,395 for a single supplement (private room and bath, sleeps 1)

Who Should Attend

  • Explorers of indigenous cloth, native fibers
  • Textile and fashion designers
  • Weavers, embroiderers and collectors
  • Home goods wholesalers/retailers who want a direct source
  • Photographers and artists who want inspiration
  • Anyone who loves cloth, culture and collaboration

Reservations and Cancellations.  A 40% deposit is required to guarantee your spot. The balance is due in two equal payments. The second payment of  30% of the total is due on or before October 1, 2018. The third 30% payment is due on or before December 1, 2018. We accept payment with PayPal only. We will send you an itemized invoice when you tell us you are ready to register. After December 1, 2018, refunds are not possible. If there is a cancellation on or before December 1, 2018, 50% of your deposit will be refunded. After that, there are no refunds.

Required–Travel Health/Accident Insurance: We require that you carry international accident/health/emergency evacuation insurance. Proof of insurance must be sent at least 45 days before departure. In addition, we will send you by email a PDF of a witnessed waiver of responsibility, holding harmless Norma Schafer and Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC. We ask that you return this to us by email 45 days before departure. Unforeseen circumstances happen! Be certain your passport has at least six months on it before it expires from the date you enter Mexico!

Plane Tickets, Arrivals/Departures: Please send us your plane schedule at least 45 days before the trip. This includes name of carrier, flight numbers, arrival and departure time to our destination.

Reservations and Cancellations.  We accept payment with PayPal only. We will send you an itemized invoice when you tell us you are ready to register. After December 15, 2018, refunds are not possible. If there is a cancelation on or before December 15, 50% of your deposit will be refunded. Aft that, there are no refunds.

All documentation for plane reservations, required travel insurance, and personal health issues must be received 45 days before the program start or we reserve the right to cancel your registration without reimbursement.

Terrain, Walking and Group Courtesy: We will do a lot of walking. Being here is a walker’s delight. If you have mobility issues or health/breathing impediments, please let us know before you register. This  may not be the study tour for you. Traveling with a small group has its advantages and also means that independent travelers will need to make accommodations to group needs and schedule. We include free time to go off on your own if you wish.

Ancient design revived by Luis Adan on the back strap loomHealth and Well-Being: If you have mobility issues or health impediments, please let me know. Our travel to remote villages will be by van on secondary roads with curves, usually not for more than an hour or so. When you tell me you are ready to register, I will send you a health questionnaire to complete. If you have walking or car dizziness issues, this may not be the trip for you.

Breakfast at the cooperative–sopes, eggs with hierba santa

Reviving Lost Textile Traditions in Tututepec, Oaxaca on the Costa Chica

Villa de Tutupec de Melchor Ocampo  is a mountain town above the Pacific Ocean on Oaxaca’s Costa Chica. During our recent Oaxaca Textile Study Tour: Valley and Coast, we spent almost a complete day there immersed in the region’s cultural history.

Tututepec is tucked into the fold of a mountain that overlooks the Pacific coast and off-shore lagoons. We get there driving through papaya groves — the biggest growing region in Mexico.

Ancient design revived by Luis Adan on the back strap loom

Get on the list for the 2019 Oaxaca Coast Textile Study Tour. 

Tututpec is the oldest pueblo on the coast.  People settled there before 800 BC. Once the power center of the Mixtec people who defied conquest by the Aztecs, Tututepec is now rediscovering her roots. A small museum near the Zocalo features stelae and ancient relics from the nearby archeological site. The Codex Columbino (original is in the British Museum) tells the story of Eight Deer Jaguar Claw.

Reproduction of one page of the Codex Columbino in the Tututepec Museum

Eight Deer Jaguar Claw unified the region on the northwest border of Oaxaca, rich in gold, fish, fresh fruit and vegetables. It included parts of modern states of Puebla and Guerrero, about the size of Texas. The capital was Tututepec.

Native Oaxaca brown and green cotton, waiting to be spun

Hundreds of pre-Hispanic ceramic whorls point to a vibrant native cotton-spinning tradition using the malacate or drop spindle. The whorl is an essential part for turning the wooden stick. Wood disintegrates. Clay survives.

Malacate — drop spindle — with native Oaxaca cotton

After the museum orientation, Luis Adan meets our group to guide us to his mountain home.  Here, after a delicious lunch of two different moles, we see how this twenty-six year old young man is reviving the lost traditions of his village.

Our group of textile travelers at the home studio of Luis Adan

Originally, only the people descended from Eight Deer Jaguar Claw were allowed to use the traditional brocade (supplementary weft) designs in their huipiles. Cochineal must be dyed only during the full moon so it is more intense, they say here.

Very portable, the back strap loom, a universal fabric-making tool

The story goes that a village mayor sometime between 1900 and 1930 commanded that all the women bring their huipiles and blusas to the zocalo. When the pile was complete, he set the cloth on fire. There were no remains except memory. Identity through the stories told in the back strap loom weaving physically disappeared.

Native brown Coyuchi cotton with native green cotton design in supplementary weft

Why did he do it? My interpretation is that political and social conformity is a powerful force to guarantee assimilation. If clothing is indigenous identity, rulers have the power to destroy and redefine self. Only now, almost one hundred years later, the cloth is resurrected from the fire. What do you think?

Embroidered collar, native white cotton dyed with caracol purpura

Luis Adan shows us how he is making the drop spindle to spin native cotton grown nearby. He saves the seeds. He did research, learned from his grandparents, and is recreating the designs lost in the fire. He uses the natural dyes that are known in this part of Oaxaca: cochineal, indigo and caracol purpura.

Get on the list for the 2019 Oaxaca Coast Textile Study Tour

Dressing Denise in an indigo, cochineal, caracol purpura dyed posahuanco

The back strap looms that Luis Adan uses are hand constructed from local wood. We spend the afternoon with him in awe that a young man would dedicate and devote himself to recapturing a lost art.

Luis Adan at the back strap loom

He uses clay pots to ferment the indigo, which he grows himself. This year, because of heavy rains, there was not much native cotton or indigo produced. Cotton doesn’t like water. It is planted in August and harvested in December. The different varieties are planted far apart so they do not cross-pollinate. Here, too, the men tend to the crops and the women weave, except for Luis Adan!

Caracol purpura dyed cotton thread before it goes to the loom

The endangered caracol purpura makes it difficult to find enough to dye with. The native brown and green cotton offer a subtle contrast to the brilliant purples, reds and blues. The blouses and dresses are a loose weave because the climate is hot and humid.

Mixtec stelae, excavated from Spanish church, Tututepec Museum

Come with me in 2019. Send an email. 

Taking notes, with intense indigo dyed native white cotton