Day of the Dead in San Pablo Villa de Mitla
Each Oaxaca village celebrates Day of the Dead a bit differently, according to their own customs. In Mitla, the spirits (difuntos) leave their tombs and follow the scents of copal and marigold back to the family homes on November 1. The transition from the underworld back to the world of the living happens in the […]
Day of the Dead in Teotitlan del Valle: Altars + Artisans
While we spent most of the day in Teotitlan del Valle learning about the Day of the Dead traditions here, we started out in Santa Maria El Tule at the home studio of flying shuttle loom weaver Alfredo who uses naturally dyed threads to create clothing — blouses and shawls. Oaxaca Cultural Navigator tour partner […]
Day of the Dead on the Ocotlan Highway 2023
Oaxaca City is at the apex of three valleys: Tlacolula, Etla and Ocotlan. Each is separated by a mountain range, so you have to go through the city to get to each. Yesterday, a group of 12 gathered in the city to explore some of the artisans along the Ocotlan Highway where villages specialize in […]
Giving Back: Oaxaca Learning Center Scholarship Funded by Oaxaca Cultural Navigator LLC
We have just established a Friends of the Oaxaca Learning Center (FOLC) named scholarship fund that will support underserved Oaxaca students to further their university education. Our goal is to help encourage young people and advance their communities. We’ve been working on this over the past several months with FOLC board president Bob Anyon and […]
Day of the Dead Decor + Oaxaca Day Tours
We have some Day of the Dead decorations for sale on our new website Shop Oaxaca Culture. I’m leaving for Oaxaca early Monday morning, so if you want to purchase, please do so before 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 22, to give me a chance to package up and mail to you! Send me an […]
Southwest Road Trip: The Last Trading Posts
We wanted to call this The Trading Post Tour! We went to five. In the mid-1800’s and well into the early 20th century, there were more than 300 trading posts dotting southwest United States of America tribal lands, mostly in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, where Native Peoples lived. Usually owned by Anglos, they were […]
Southwest Road Trip: Center of the Ancient World at Canyon
Chaco Canyon and Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a remote site operated by the National Park Service in collaboration with the Navajo Nation in the Four Corners Region of New Mexico. The Ancient Puebloans occupied the site from 850 CE to 1250 CE, until a forty-year drought necessitated a gradual migration to the Rio […]
Southwest Road Trip: On The Floor of Canyon de Chelly
We have hopscotched through four states — New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado since October 1, 2023. We left Canyon de Chelly (pronounced SHAY) and Chinle, Arizona, yesterday morning and are back in Gallup, NM, before going on to Chaco Canyon, NM, where we will see the annular solar eclipse on October 14 as it […]
Southwest Road Trip: Ancestral People of Mesa Verde
We commonly know them as Anasazi, a Navajo name that is interpreted as ancient enemy, considered disrespectful by the 26 tribes who descended from these ancient peoples. This includes the Hopi, the Acoma, the peoples of Taos Pueblo, and all who live along the Little Colorado and Rio Grande rivers. These descendants of the people […]
Southwest Road Trip: Monument Valley Monsters
According to Navajo legend, the red sandstone buttes of Monument Valley that stand 1,000 feet above the desert floor, trap long-defeated monsters that are part of the Navajo creation story. Monument Valley is a Navajo Tribal Park and almost everything here is Native owned and operated. We are here for three nights, spending the first […]
Southwest Road Trip: We are on Hopi Time
The Hopi Nation is situated atop three magnificent mesas in eastern Arizona, about an hour-and-a-half across the New Mexico border. They are in their own time zone — Mountain Standard Time — where time never changes and we have been confused since we arrived here! Mostly because the rest of the surrounding world is an […]
Southwest Road Trip: Zuni Pueblo to Gallup, NM
There are 23 Native American tribes in New Mexico. In Oaxaca, we count 16 distinct indigenous groups each with their own language. My sister and I decided to do a Southwest road trip about six months ago instead of making an international trip. We chose to do a wide circle starting from Albuquerque (ABQ), traveling […]
Day of the Dead in Five Parts
I wrote the draft of this last year during Day of the Dead during our Women’s Creative Writing Workshop, and recently rewrote and edited it to read at SOMOS The Taos Literary Society last night. It was well-received and I want to share it with you. Creative writing is an important aspect of my life […]
National Hispanic Heritage Month, Crypto-Jews, and High Holidays
National Hispanic Heritage Month began on September 15 and continues to September 24. It officially recognizes the contributions Hispanics and Latinos make to our national culture in the United States of America. Coincidentally, the Jewish High Holidays, Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, the Days of Awe — emphasizing renewal, reconciliation, and self-reflection — began on […]
Drumroll! Shop Oaxaca Culture Now Open
Shop Oaxaca Culture — https://shop.oaxacaculture.com — is our new online marketplace for all things Mexico! We hope you check it out. Of course, we offer clothing including amazing blusas (blouses) and huipiles (dresses), rebozos (shawls) and bufandas (scarves), made by our weaver friends in Oaxaca, Chiapas, Guerrero, Puebla, Michoacan, and remote villages tucked into mountain […]
LAST CHANCE! Huiples Sale
Please purchase before Thursday, August 10. We will be mailing from Pinotepa de Don Luis, on the Oaxaca Coast, this Friday, August 11. Still some amazing, hand-woven beauties to carry you through the heat of summer! Monica contacted me this week and asked for help to sell her hand-woven, naturally dyed cotton huipiles and blusas. […]
Rare: Purple Snail Dye, Indigo Clothing Sale from Oaxaca
Monica contacted me this week and asked for help to sell her hand-woven, naturally dyed cotton huipiles and blusas. She is from the Oaxaca coast village of Pinotepa de Don Luis and is married to Rafael Avedaño, the son of the famed purple snail dyer Don Habacuc Avedaño. Rafa learned how to milk the purple […]
Oaxaca Screenwriting Workshop for Film + TV: We All Have a Story
Arrive Thursday, March 28 and depart Wednesday, April 3, 2024–Semana Santa Experience What makes a good story? And how do we translate that to a movie or television? We might say: That show has a good story line, or I love those characters (or not), or The plot is unbelievable (as in, either amazing or […]
Churro Sheep, the Heritage of Spanish Conquest, and Tierra Wools
There are so many similarities between living in Oaxaca, Mexico, and northern New Mexico. With the conquest, the Spanish brought the pedal loom and sheep to the Americas. Churro sheep, an Iberian peninsula breed and the first to be domesticated in the Americas, are especially sturdy. They survive, even thrive, in harsh climates and at […]
Clothing for a Hot Summer: Light and Airy
We need to dress lightly to be comfortable in this extraordinary heat. I brought these pieces back from Mexico when I returned in April, thinking they would be perfect for summer dressing, not realizing how much we now need lightly woven gauze cotton or beautifully embroidered linen to keep our bodies cool. We still want […]
News and Updates: A Brief Report
Good morning, everyone. I’m still in Taos and won’t be returning to Oaxaca until just before Day of the Dead. So, far, it’s been a whirlwind of a summer. Hot, dry, filled with non-stop activities and I’m holed up now, taking it easy. I’ve hosted my son’s 50th birthday party, joined a reunion of Chiapas […]
Textiles Front and Center: WARP
I’ve been a member of WARP (Weave a Real Peace) since 2017 when Thrums Books recommended that I organize an international textile conference in Oaxaca for the organization. Over the years, I have come to respect and embrace what they do even more — connecting textile artisans from around the world to support, encourage and […]
WARP Conference Marketplace, Kent State, Ohio
Yesterday was a travel day, from Taos to Albuquerque by car, then a flight from there to Denver to Cleveland. I arrived by bedtime and slept at an airport hotel, hauling one huge piece of luggage filled with Mexican textiles to sell at the WARP (Weave a Real Peace) Conference Marketplace. I got to Kent, […]
2020 Chiapas Textile Group Reunites in Santa Fe
In February 2020, a group of travelers came to together for a Oaxaca Cultural Navigator textile tour in Chiapas. We gathered in San Cristobal de las Casas and spent the next week together exploring weaving villages around this historic colonial city. In the process, many became good friends. It was only a week after the […]
From Mexico: Farmers’ Market Shopping Totes, Bags + Hammocks
‘Tis the season for fresh fruits and vegetables. Our Farmers’ Market here in Taos, NM, is in full-swing with spring produce and fresh flowers. Likely, you are living where it’s already summer and your markets are filled with summer squash like zucchini, crooked neck and yellow squash, lettuces, green beans, peas, onions, fresh eggs, chard, […]
Huipiles Sale and Furry Bath Mats Close-outs
Janet Chávez Santiago from Teotitlan del Valle is with me now in Taos. We were together last week in Nashville for a pop-up sale of Fe y Lola Rugs from Oaxaca. Then, we flew to Denver to visit friends and drive to Northern New Mexico early Thursday morning to return in time for me to […]
This Weekend, Oaxaca Rug Sale in Nashville, TN
We are coming to Parachute Home in The Gulch neighborhood of Nashville this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, June 9, 10, 11, 2023, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day. Come join us if you live in Nash or nearby! Janet Chavez Santiago is representing her family of weavers from Galeria Fe y Lola in […]
ORIGINAL! Mexico City Weekend Textile / Fashion Extravaganza, November 2023
We have dates! This tour is confirmed for November 15-20, 2023, 6 days and 5 nights. Please arrive by 3 p.m. on November 15. Registration is open to attend Original 2023. This will get you home in time for Thanksgiving! We are limiting this immersion experience to 10 savvy travelers who are interested in the […]
Meet Us in Nashville, TN — Pop-Up, June 9-11, 2023
If you live in or near Nashville, TN, or want to make a weekend trip to this legendary music capital, come join us at Parachute Home in The Gulch neighborhood. We will be there for three full days with Galeria Fe y Lola handwoven and naturally dyed rugs, and beautiful wearables from southern Mexico — […]
Ruta del Mezcal One-Day Tour
This is a NEW tour! Let us know when you plan to visit and we will schedule according to your availability (and ours!). We call this the Ruta del Mezcal — the Mezcal Route Tour — because we travel along MEX 190 Pan American Highway along the Tlacolula Valley where our final destination of the […]