Monthly Archives: July 2008

Blue-Indigo-Anil: Natural Dyes of Oaxaca

These traditional Zapotec Mexican rug designs capture the beauty of the landscape, replicate the stone carvings on the archeological ruins of the Oaxaca Valley, and convey the artistry of the culture.  The first rug on the left, Zapotec Eye of God, uses the natural dyes of indigo blue, the cochineal bug, and pomegranates.  All the rugs shown here are of the highest quality pure 100% churro sheep wool grown in the Mixtec highlands of Oaxaca.  The next rug (left to right) is called Thunders and Diamonds.  This is a very traditional design in the village of Teotitlan del Valle.  This rug is naturally dyed, too, with lichens, cochineal, indigo and pecans.  The next rug is the Square Snail, that uses all indigo in various shades.  The snail (caracol) here incorporates the greca or fret motif, a symbol that represents the stages of life:  birth, growth, death, and rebirth.  The next rug to the right of the Square Snail is called Contemporary, designed by Federico Chavez Sosa to incorporate the traditional Mitla ruins with a new look.  The last rug is Pina de Maguey.  The pineapple of the maguey cactus grows beneath the earth and is cultivated to produce both mezcal and tequila.  The Oaxaca valley is filled with maguey fields.  This rug, which Federico also designed, combines the traditional Zapotec Diamonds pattern with the interpretation of the maguey (or agave) plant.  is also completely dyed with indigo.  The color variations of indigo, from deep blues and purples to paler shades, results from the amount of indigo used and whether it is mixed with an acid or base.

These rugs are available for sale and can be special ordered in any size, up to 9′ x 12′

See my website and the Rug Gallery for more examples of great Mexican rug patterns.

Graduation Fiesta at the Elementary School

We walked up to the Presa (reservoir) that day, it was a Friday, very early before it got too hot, and on the way back stopped by to say hello to Ester, Russio and their three girls–Jazmin, Ester and Rocio–who live in the house with the golden bull and the cackling guacalotes just in front of our friend Annie on the hillside at the outskirts of town. What was once a donkey path in front of their modest adobe casita has become a graded thoroughfare, enabling small cars and trucks to come into town from the remote mountain villages. The walking is easier now, not as many granite outcroppings to traverse as we pass through cactus meadows with grazing sheep, cattle and horses. Development is extending its reach even in Teotitlan.

Please come to the escuela this afternoon at 3 p.m., Ester and Russio invited us. Today is the elementary school graduation; daughters Ester and Rocio will be participating in the fiesta. Come, they said, even if you’re late. After noodling around the village, stopping for coffee at The Sacred Bean Cafe, and visiting with Josefina and Magda at Las Granadas Bed and Breakfast, I went to the elementary school, drawn by the music coming from the plaza. It was after 4 p.m. and things were just getting going.

This is the second graduation ceremony I attended during this visit. As I watched this group of first through sixth graders at the elementary school, I was struck by how children are taught at an early age to dance, sing, play, laugh, honor their cultural traditions through dance, revere their history, and demonstrate appreciation for the customs that define their identity as Zapotecs and as Mexicans. What I noticed was how the ceremony of something even as simple as an elementary school graduation takes on epic proportions. Here is the village’s very own Guelaguetza. It appeared to me that the entire village turned out in support. People dressed up in their finest frocks and fanciest shoes,

there were reserved seats of honor for parents and close relatives of the graduates. Everyone participated to collectively bless the future of all these young people with their presence, whether they were graduating or not. The village as extended family promoted a feeling of well-being, joy and comfort. The area was bedecked with balloons and flowers. Drinks were handed out gratis to family members of the graduates. Along the periphery and outside the school, vendors sold refrescas (soft drinks), helados and nieves (ice cream and sorbet), and postres y dulces (pastries and sweets). Students giggled, laughed, were nervous about whether they would do well, played tag, hung on their mother’s

skirts, stood soldierly while posing for photos, took their roles seriously, fell down and got up again, shouldered the burden of heavy baskets balanced on small heads, smiled in satisfaction of having done well at the end. All will go on to middle school, some of those will go on to high school, and then very few will continue on to university. Most will become weavers or laborers, others will work in Oaxaca or travel with coyotes to work in the U.S. Celebrations of village life cycle events are a constant, mixed with joy, tragedy and continuity.

Recipe: Agua Fresca de Pepino con Limon — Refreshing Summer Drink

Here’s what you can do with all those cucumbers (pepinos) in your garden! A thirst quenching liquid refreshment sure to delight all is Agua Fresca de Pepino con Limon. We had this last week in Oaxaca (at Los Descansos restaurant in Teotitlan) and it was delicious. Here is the recipe — really easy.

In your blender, add:

1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup hot tap water, blend to dissolve sugar (use sugar to taste)

1 medium English cucumber, washed, ends cut off (do not peel)

juice of 2 large limes or 4 small limes

1 cup water

12-16 ice cubes

Cut cucumber into 2″ cubes and add to blender along with lime juice and water. Blend until smooth. Add ice cubes, as many as needed to make the drink really “chilly.” Blend until drink is consistency of a smoothie.

Pour into a wine glass and serve immediately. Makes 4 6-ounce servings.

If you want to add some pizzaz, add one ounce of clear tequila for a refreshing twist on Margaritaville.

Museo Textil de Oaxaca: July 2008

“From Mitla to Sumatra” is on exhibit at the Museo Textil de Oaxaca through early August. It is an extraordinary display of weaving from Oaxaca and her surrounding villages, plus similar designs that are prevalent in Indonesia, Africa, and China. Alejandro de Avila, the exhibition curator, has subtitled the grouping, “the art of the fret.” The fret, or greca, is a ubiquitous design that appears in textiles around the world — a wonderful commentary about our connection to each other as human beings. This exhibition features clothing and rugs that incorporate the design of the fret. The museum’s permanent collections include traje or clothing representing the the many indigenous people’s of Oaxaca, including woven and embroidered blouses, skirts, shawls, rugs, belts, and other articles of decoration and clothing. This is the only museum of its kind in Mexico, and if you are in Oaxaca — a locale noted for its incredible textiles — this is eye-candy you won’t want to miss. Since the museum does not yet have a complete website, I though it would be helpful to give you a taste of what is in store when you visit.

There is a great museum store on site that offers silk and wool handwoven scarves, two beautiful shawls woven by Roman Gutierrez, an array of precious, intricately woven huipils, and some wonderful books on weaving for sale. Francisco Toledo has donated his library of world textile publications, and the biblioteca at the museum is spacious and comfortable, open for public use.

I just love the design of the gas stove in the dye kitchen at the museum. The counter top is cement with an integrated color of warm yellow. The backsplash is broken tile shards from the pottery village of Atzompa.

The museum’s director, Ana Paula Fuentes Quintana, anapaula@museotextildeoaxaca.org.mx is a textile artist who studied in Barcelona where she earned a master’s degree. She encourages everyone who is interested to come and visit. The coordinator of education is my friend Eric Chavez Santiago, educacion@museotextildeoaxaca.org.mx who organizes programs for students, teachers, and artists, is creating a display of natural dye materials, and is developing certification for weavers to authenticate their use of natural dyes.

Here is a photo (above) showing the restoration process of a very special huipil, in an area dedicated for the preservation of textiles.  The museum relies on volunteers for this work.  If you are interested in knowing more, please read The Unbroken Thread: Preserving the Textile Traditions of Oaxaca.

Museo Textil de Oaxaca is free and open to the public every day except Tuesday. Funded by the Alfredo Harp Helu Foundation, its mission is to preserve the textile traditions of Oaxaca, teach and educate about the weaving process, restore antique textiles, and showcase the textiles from Oaxaca and around the world. It is housed in the renovated 18th century Casa Antelo and a part of the ex-convent of San Pablo. The facilities are extraordinary: arched colonial doorways and windows, stone walls and floors, and original frescoes that have survived. The original owner of the Casa Antelo was a cochineal merchant, so the link from past to present is particularly cogent.

Coming Soon: Workshops for Children and Young People, ages 6-10 and 11-16, from July 14 to August 16. Contact the Museum for more information and to register: 501-1104 or 501-1617, extension 104.

New Exhibition Opening Friday, August 15: Woven and Crocheted Plant Fiber Handbags, opening reception that evening.

Address: Hidalgo 917, corner Fiallo, Centro de Oaxaca, two blocks from the Zocalo

[Note: For weaving workshops for artists, teachers, weavers, knitters, and anyone interested, please use the Search tool on this blog to see the blog post: Oaxaca Weaving Workshops: Dancing on the Loom. We teach all levels, from novice to experienced. We are not endorsed by or associated with Museo Textil de Oaxaca.]

Dance of the Feather: Danza de la Pluma

Coming Wednesday, July 9, 2008, Teotitlan del Valle

Nine young Zapotec men in their 20’s and 30’s bedecked in bold primary colors – red, green, yellow, black — and crowned with feathered headdresses the size of a large moon, leap and twirl into the air, shake rattles and raise a carved and painted wooden talisman to the sky. They are reenacting the Spanish conquest through dance as an annual ritual of remembrance. The accompanying band, a crew of both veteran and youthful musicians, play flutes, cymbals, drums, trumpets, tubas, clarinets, saxophones, in an oompah-pah cadence reminiscent of a Sousa march with hints of German polka. They chant and speak a conversation between Moctezuma and Cortes, in which Cortes says there will be a special god that will come in the appearance of Cortes and conquer the Aztecs. The entourage includes Malinche, the Aztec princess who learned Spanish, became courtesan to Cortes, and betrayed her people according to lore. Two masked clowns, the buffoons, parade between the dancers and along the sidelines, make mocking gestures. Village children represent the Spanish soldiers in a parade that takes place before the dance begins.  Click here to see short documentary film “Dance of the Feather: A Promise & Commitment” on YouTube.

Dance of the Feathers, Teotitlan del Valle

This oral and performance history is centuries old, transmitted generation to generation as homage to indigenous survival. While the Spaniards decimated the native Mesoamerican population by as much as 95 percent as a result of disease (smallpox, influenza, etc.) and superior weaponry, the rich cultural traditions have nevertheless survived. The Dance of the Feather existed before the Spanish conquest, according to Uriel Santiago, one of the dancers I talked with. Originally it was an Aztec ritual dance to communicate with their gods for rain, sun and corn. The Aztecs dominated much of Mesoamerica, including the Mixtecs and Zapotecs of the Oaxaca region. When the Spanish conquered the Aztecs, they had not seen the dance in Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital. Bishop Manuel Gricida Martinez first saw the dance in the Mixtec village of Cuilapam. He thought it was a great way to modify tradition and incorporate the new Catholic religion – so most of the music and songs used in the dance are now Spanish and French. The Spaniards also introduced long pants and the big feathered crown that we see today. The dialogs were designed by the Spaniards to prove the power of the empire. In Teotitlan, Uriel tells me there are three different codices with three different dialogs, and there is a controversy about which one is the accurate version.

At least 10 villages in the Oaxaca Valley have their own version of the Danza de la Pluma that is held during the week honoring the particular village’s patron saint. Each village uses similar dance patterns, however Teotitlan del Valle costumes are much more elaborate. In Teotitlan del Valle, the Danza de la Pluma is scheduled to start this year on July 9 (this is one week later than usual). Practice for the actual three-day dance-a-thon is grueling. There are at least 15 different complex dance sequences that are performed continuously in the church plaza for 10-hours. The dancers, who volunteer as part of their practice to give back to their community, make a three-year commitment, and each group has a teacher who designs the choreography and dialogs. The teacher has told the dancers that they can adapt the dialogs, so it is difficult for Uriel to know the true history and he believes it is likely that the original dance is lost. What does remain intact, he says, is the dancers’ commitment to the village Church of the Precious Blood and its saints. He loves the emotion of dancing, the interdependency of his dance partners, and the link of the dance to his faith.

This week I attended the all-day practice held in the front yard of the Moctezuma, Manuel Bazan, in preparation for the July 9 event. The wives, mothers, and sisters of the dancers and musicians had already gathered early in the morning to begin the meal preparations for afternoon comida, to which we were invited. At 3 p.m. the music and dancing stopped, the men took their seats at table and raised a traditional toast. The fiesta tradition is to toast first with two shots of mezcal followed by two Corona Victoria’s. The women, who included a physician, the director of the kindergarten, teachers, vendors and merchants, served traditional chicken soup flavored with Yerba Santa (a delicious herb), followed by a platter of roasted chicken, vegetable mix of fresh corn, nopalitos (cactus), and carrots, spicy black bean refritos, and plenty of fresh corn tortillas hot off the comal (tortilla griddle) made with locally ground maize that was discovered and cultivated here more than 6,000 years ago.

Sitting across the table from me was Jorge Hernandez Diaz, PhD, professor of sociology at Benito Juarez University, the Oaxaca state university. A graduate of the University of Connecticut, he has written numerous books about indigenous culture and documented the Dance of the Feather as performed in various villages throughout the Oaxaca Valley. The Guelaguetza, the state organized dance extravaganza for which Oaxaca is famous, features La Danza de la Pluma for 10 minutes during the weeklong event. This hardly does justice to this centuries-old tradition, he told me.

We talked about how necessary tourism is for Oaxaca in order to preserve these historic cultural traditions, how weavers and carvers and potters depend upon tourism in order to continue their art and craft, and how concerned he is for the future of this culture because tourism, which fuels the economy, has been dropping off since 2004. Professor Hernandez Diaz talked in particular about San Martin Tilcajete as an example of what is happening. Here many very talented carvers have left the village and their art behind to work in bigger Mexican cities or to go to El Norte. Only the most famous and commercially successful have been able to make a reasonable living. The professor is calling San Martin a ghost town.

For me, cultural preservation is by definition a delicate balance. I believe we have a responsibility to be respectful and tread lightly as we explore indigenous cultures – whether they are here in the Oaxaca Valley or other parts of the world — in order to sustain and promote traditional lifestyles and art forms that are in danger of being lost. One important way of doing this is to promote and support people to continue to create by valuing their time and the quality of the their work. This will help them stay in their villages with their families, rather than going off to a distant land to earn a living –something that most don’t want to do.

So, for example, when I talk in my blog https://oaxacaculture.com and website www.oaxacaculture.com about preserving Zapotec natural dyeing techniques and formulas, this about being willing to compensate weavers and paying a higher price for a textile that is woven with cochineal, indigo, moss, or pecan shells because the process takes so much longer to complete – and being enough of a knowledgeable collector/consumer to know the difference between a piece made with synthetic (and toxic) dyes and those made from natural plant and animal materials.

My blog captures search engine terms. Many people are inquiring about safety in Oaxaca since the APPO and teacher demonstrations of 2006. We travel to Oaxaca several times a year and are building a casita here. The city and surrounding environs are safe, secure and inviting. The people are warm, open and generous. Please don’t hesitate to visit!