Secundino Bazan Mendoza is eighty-five years old. He is the subject of today’s Oaxaca, Mexico portrait photography session along with his wife Rosa Rosa Bazan and adult daughter Ester. This was pure serendipity.
Portrait of Rosa, Secundino and Ester by Norma Hawthorne
Secundino is a weaver of traditional blankets and serapes. He shears the local sheep raised in Teotitlan del Valle, preferring them to those raised in the highlands because the fleece is thinner and softer. He cards and then washes the wool in the stream that runs through town, rubbing it against the river rocks to soften it even more. Then he spins it himself and weaves it. The wool is undyed and Secundino weaves a traditional early Zapotec design that is not used much today.
(Portraits of Secundino by Norma Hawthorne in natural light with reflector.)
When U.S. importers came to Teotitlan del Valle in the 1960’s and 70’s, they found great weavers like Secundino who were making horse blankets, serapes and ponchos. The importers wanted to meet the marketplace home decor demand for Santa Fe Style. They asked the weavers to make floor rugs and employ Navajo designs. The village became even more well known and prosperous. Over the years, many local families began exporting their own rugs, working with dealers in the U.S., and becoming entrepreneurs in their own right.
Lifelong Partners by Jessica Santiago Guzman
Secundino Bazan Mendoza never changed. He kept weaving the blankets and serapes using undyed natural wool. He would weave two mirror pieces on his one small loom and stitch them up the center the way it was done a hundred years ago. The way his father and grandfather taught him. He may be the only one in the village still doing it this way. He can complete two or three blankets a year now.
(Above: Rosa and Secundino in front of Norma’s blanket. Photos by Norma Hawthorne.)
That’s why when I heard that Secundino had another blanket on his loom I asked to buy it. And, when I ran into Ester, his daughter, at the church on Good Friday she told me it was ready. Then, she asked me if I wanted to come to her father’s house to take a photo of him and the rug. The family became our unplanned for Day 7 photo shoot. This was going to be our selecting and editing day for the entire week. So we did it all!
(Above left: Jessica Santiago Guzman checking the camera settings. Above right: Maria and Jesus, daughter and grandchild of Secundino and Rosa. Both photos by Norma Hawthorne.)
We met Ester in front of Las Granadas B&B at eleven o’clock in the morning Teotitlan time (an hour difference from Oaxaca, which went on Daylight Savings last week — let the confusion begin). Then, we commandeered two tuk-tuks (moto taxis) to take our group of six up the steep hill on the other side of town to Secundino’s humble home.
Portrait by Jessica Santiago Guzman
Two years ago, Secundino fell and broke his hip. The family thought he would never be able to stand and weave again. His recovery was one year long. Now, he is able to weave in twenty-minute stretches, taking long rest breaks, for about four hours a day. It takes him three or four months to weave a complete blanket.
Secundino's Loom by Richard Carter
I hope you agree with me that we have captured a tradition that is passing in Teotitlan del Valle, and in addition to taking glorious photos we have documented a weaving way of life that will become part of history.
Hands by Richard Carter
Thank you to instructor Matt Nager, and participants Richard Carter and Jessica Santiago Guzman for capturing these moments. And, special thanks to the family of Secundino Bazan Mendoza for inviting us into their home and giving us the treasure of their time and patience and willingness to be photographed.
(Above left and center photos by Richard Carter. Above right photo by Norma Hawthorne.)
Upcoming photography workshops give you more than photographic techniques. They give you a cultural immersion experience. Summer 2012 Market Towns and Artisan Villages. October 2012 Day of the Dead.
Carnival in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico
Carnival is a Catholic festival traditionally celebrated before Lent, six weeks before Easter. In Mexico it combines masquerade, dancing, music and mucho mezcal and is usually a two-day event that goes long into the night.
Here in Teotitlan del Valle, the rug weaving village located about 15 miles outside of Oaxaca city in the Tlacolula valley, Carnival begins the Monday after Easter and continues for five days. The Teotitecos believe the time to let loose is after Easter Sunday. Each of the five districts in the pueblo will host a daily festival that begins around 3 p.m. Oaxaca time. If you come, look for the big red and blue striped fiesta tent that will cover the patio of the host home.
Oaxaca Photography Workshops offer cultural immersion, too.
We were told the festivities start in the municipal plaza at 5:00 p.m. Teotitlan time. This can be very confusing since Oaxaca city goes on daylight savings time but in Teotitlan time never changes. So, Oaxaca time is one hour later than Teotitlan time. I have found it is important to clarify an appointment hour by asking: Oaxaca time or Teotitlan time? Otherwise, you run the risk of being too early or too late. The ancient Zapotecs believed that whomever controlled time controlled the world. They adopted this from the Mayan concept of time. They were right!
My friend Merry Foss and I arrived in the plaza at 5:15 p.m. to find it empty. The benefit was that we got a prime seat at the top of the steep stairway that was once the foundation of the ancient Zapotec temple. We had a vantage point high above the plaza. Soon, the abuelas with their grandchildren arrived and filled in the seats around us. Merry had a conversation with the woman next to us who was wearing a traditional 20-year-old silk rebozo with an extraordinary hand-tied punta (fringe). The discussion focused on the merits of weaving and wearing rebozos in cotton, silk or art silk/rayon, and how well they drape. It was a good way to pass the time.
By 7:00 p.m. Teotitlan time, Carnival was in full-swing. Vendors selling bags of potato chips seasoned with salsa and fresh-squeezed lime juice made their way through the crowd. Ringing the plaza were street vendors whose carts were filled with cakes, cookies, churros, cream cones, nieves with fruit flavors like tuna and limon, corn cobs on a stick smeared with mayonnaise and sprinkled with chili, and aguas de sandia or horchata or lemonade.
Nearly the entire village was present represented by all the generations. The ceremonial aspects include honoring the village leaders who volunteer for one to three-years to keep the services operating. They sit in prominent reserved seats. The volunteer police force are present in new green manta cotton shirts and symbolic clubs. They are watchful that every one behaves themselves.
The band tonight was in fine form and the music was definitely perfect for toe-tapping from the bleachers.
Oaxaca Photography Workshops offer cultural immersion, too.
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Posted in Cultural Commentary, Oaxaca Mexico art and culture, Photography, Teotitlan del Valle, Travel & Tourism, Workshops and Retreats
Tagged blogsherpa, Carnival, Easter, Lent, Mayan calendar, Mexico, Oaxaca, Teotitlan del Valle, time