Happy Thanksgiving and Welcome to a Week of Black Friday Specials from Oaxaca Cultural Navigator. Today, we are offering amazing, designer baskets — home goods for holding just about anything. Plus, we have two hand-painted gourd bowls from Oaxaca, perfect for serving fruit, breads, and candy. Scroll down to see two gorgeous, colorful hammocks hand-woven in Mexico’s Yucatan.
First up, sustainable, hand-woven palm baskets, environmentally conscious shopping! Big price reductions. We want to sell these! I have brought back these wonderful palm woven bags from Oaxaca’s Mixtec region. In this mountainous area that borders northern Oaxaca state and southern Guerrero state, palm grows naturally. Artisans harvest the fiber and weave these baskets by hand — environmentally sustainable for interior design accents. I love the warm beige color mixed with fibers dyed black. The result is a stunning graphic design that goes well with any decor.
These beautiful baskets are perfect for storage and to hold:
- toilet tissue
- clothing
- rolled towels
- laundry
- trash
- hats and gloves
- throws and blankets
- French bread loaves
- houseplants
- anything else that needs containing!
How to Buy: Send an email to norma.schafer@icloud.com and tell me the item(s) you want to purchase by number, your email, your mailing address and which payment method you prefer: 1) Zelle bank transfer with no service fee; 2) Venmo or 3) PayPal each with a 3% service fee. I will send you a request for funds and then add on a flat rate $19 mailing fee because an oversize box is needed! Happy to combine shipping if you buy more than one piece. Note: Thank you for understanding that all sales are final.
#1. Palm basket with lid, soft sided and flexible construction. Use as one piece or separate for two containers. 12” high x 10-1/2” diameter. Was $58. Now $38
#2. Fringe Basket with Zigzag Pattern. 12-1/2” high x 11-1/2” diameter. Was $72. Now $58
#3. Diagonal Tote. 14” high x 12” diameter. Was $66. Now $38
#4. Criss-Cross Bag, extra large, with leather handles and snap closure. Sturdy handles fixed with metal grommets. 18” high x 20” wide. Was $97. Now $67
#7. Serpent bag with leather handles and magnetic tab closure. Sturdy. 14″ high x 19″ wide. I use mine to store rolled towels next to the shower. Was $72. Now $59
#8-Left and #9-Right. Hand-painted and enameled gourd bowls from Oaxaca. Perfect for serving and display. #8 is painted with a dusky blue background and is 5-/12” high and 10-1/2” diameter, Was $54. #9 is painted with a black background and 5” high x 10” diameter, Was $54. Take your pick. Now $44 each.
Look forward to spring! Both of these colorful hammocks are handwoven in the Yucatan, Mexico. They are made with sturdy, strong all-weather nylon, and extend to 15 feet. (Does not include ties or carabiners.) Suspend from trees or posts, or get one of those free-standing hammock stands.
#10. Persimmon hammock, extra large. Easily holds two people. Was $110. Now $72.
#11. Sky Blue hammock, extra large. Easily holds two people. Was $110. Now $72.
Note: These are heavy. Mailing cost is $22 each.
Reflections: Oaxaca Day of the Dead 2022
The intensity of organizing three Day of the Dead programs — a culture tour, a writing workshop, a folk art tour– in Oaxaca this October and November gave me little time to adequately reflect upon and write about how Day of the Dead is spiritually satisfying, evolving and changing in Oaxaca. Now, back in Northern New Mexico until the New Year, I have more time to think and write about the experiences of visiting cemeteries, reflecting on memory and loss, and describing how village celebrations take us deep into Zapotec culture and tradition. Why? Its downright COLD here and having gone from eighty degrees Fahrenheit in Oaxaca to a chilly low of eleven degrees, complete with snow on the ground and atop nearby mountains, I am inclined to hunker down and stay indoors. Saving grace: New Mexico sunshine that keeps the spirits elevated and a glow of optimism alive.
Oaxaca is a mecca for Day of the Dead celebrants, now attracting hordes of visitors from around the world. On Oaxaca streets, I heard German, Italian, English, Portuguese, Spanish, French and Chinese. On the evening of November 2, when Zapotec residents of Teotitlan del Valle accompany the spirits of their deceased ancestors back to their gravesites, sit quietly to honor their memories, perhaps having a picnic supper with a mezcal toast, a group of Korean tourists intent on capturing the moments, approached with heavy-duty telescopic lenses, pointing cameras into sacred spaces. I reminded our travelers to be respectful, to ask permission for photos, and to not gawk. Gawking is not culturally responsible tourism.
At strategically located corners throughout the Historic Center of the city, local entrepreneurs set up face-painting stations. For $150 and much more, one can become a Calavera Freda, complete with a ghostly appearance and head topped with a fake floral crown. We also heard of families offering authentic experiences at the cost of $200 per person to join in a family meal followed by a cemetery visit. Those of us who live in Oaxaca applaud this creative approach to earning extra income, particularly when visitors are willing to pay any price, it seems, to participate in a more intimate experience.
We heard tell of another scene, this more private, whereby only those invited could buy a $250 ticket to a secret venue in Santiago Matatlan, Mezcal Capital of the World. You have to know someone who knows someone to get in. In addition to the ticket cost, arriving in costume is mandatory. A van picks-up the party-goers at a secret meeting point in Oaxaca city and takes them to an undisclosed location where mezcal flows freely well into the night, and a frenzied dance-party Burning Man-style ensues, entertaining revelers.
We eschew these experiences, preferring a more culturally quiet and sympathetic approach to the holiday. This is one important reason we are based in the villages. What I did notice this year in our Teotitlan del Valle cemetery, is that no visitors appeared wearing face make-up like they did last year. I also noticed that more visitors were there under the auspices of local families, hovering with them around their family gravesites. There were more villagers sitting around the cemetery this year than last. Perhaps, this is because our group arrived earlier at four-thirty in the afternoon. Most of us departed by six just as the light was waning. Yes, there were tourist vans, but fewer and smaller than before. We did hear that the village authorities had intervened to discourage large groups.
When we went with Arturo to his mother’s grave in San Pablo Villa de Mitla the day before, we arrived in late morning. At noon, the difuntos (deceased) arrive, announced by the cohetes (firecrackers). This is the signal to leave and accompany the spirits back home. There were very few foreign visitors here and participating felt so special. At the home altar, Arturo said a prayer to his mother, lit the copal incense and invited her to partake of special pre-Hispanic foods on display at the altar–chocolate, tortillas (corn), squash, water, chile, honey, peanuts, pulque, beans, limes –all native to Mexico.
(Let me introduce you to Arturo Hernandez, an outstanding weaver who has gained worldwide recognition, and invited to the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market. He has been a good personal friend for many years)
How do you know her soul will follow you home, someone in our group asks.
I ask her in Zapotec to come with me. I feel her with me in my heart. I talk to her. I let her know our happiness and our challenges. I also ask her to remember me and welcome me when it is my time to join her. She is inside me and it brings us both joy to have this day together, Arturo says.
The base of this altar is constructed with three arches or openings, representing three stages–birth, life, death. They are replicas of the arches found at the nearby Mitla archeological site. Mitla, once known as Mictlan, meaning Place of the Dead or Underworld. This was a major Zapotec burial site for royalty. With the Spanish conquest, the openings were renamed to become God, the Son of God and the Holy Ghost.
After the altar ceremony and explanation of this important tradition, we followed Arturo to the al fresco dining area where his wife Marta had prepared a delicious meal of mole negro, chicken, rice, tamales and nopal salad for us, followed by my favorite dessert, nicuatole, a corn pudding. Buen provecho!
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Posted in Cultural Commentary
Tagged culture, customs, day of the dead, Oaxaca, San Pablo Villa de Mitla, Teotitlan del Valle