Here in the Tlacolula Valley, and most villages surrounding the city of Oaxaca, the apron is more than a utilitarian article of clothing used to protect the wearer’s garment from getting soiled. It is a statement of identity, style, and social class.
Tlacolula market scene with women’s aprons as personal and village identity.
Walk around the Tlacolula Market on Sunday, or any day for that matter, and you will see women, old and young, covered in aprons. You can identify their villages by apron style.
For example, women from San Miguel del Valle wear a bib apron with an attached gathered skirt that has a heavily embroidered hem. The aprons worn by women from San Marcos Tlapazola are cotton with pleated skirts often trimmed in commercial lace or bric-a-brac.
Evaluating apron style, quality and price. Do I really need a black one, too?
Teotitlan del Valle women prefer gingham cotton aprons with scalloped bodices and hems, trimmed in machine embroidered flowers, plants, fruits and sometimes animal figures.
There are fancy aprons, more densely embroidered for Sunday wear and special fiestas, and simple ones for everyday to cook, wash clothing and tend to babies, grandchildren and guajolotes.
He likes to cook, too. Having fun in the Tlacolula market.
The apron is worn by grandmothers and granddaughters alike. It is a uniform that conveys personal identity, social status and wealth. The heavily embroidered apron cost much more, as much as 350 pesos compared to the everyday 150 peso variety.
Rosario wears her apron with hand embroidered bodice
You would want to wear your fanciest apron to the market to bring the oohs and aahs from contemporaries who admire your choice of color and design. Market day, a daily occurrence in Teotitlan del Valle and a regional weekly event in Tlacolula, is the social center for towns and villages. It is the time when women greet and mingle with each other, some even sneaking off together for a morning mezcal.
Apron as fashion statement! Who needs a fancy dress?
When you get home, you change to the daily apron for working.
Aprons are handy because they have deep pockets. Perfect for holding the coins of commerce. They are also convenient because you don’t have to wear a bra.
There are about eight different apron vendors in the concrete building of the permanent Tlacolula market. One of my favorites is along the exterior aisle closer to the bread section. They are from San Pablo Villa de Mitla and the machine embroidered aprons are filled with fanciful images of birds, fruit and flowers.
Rocio, left, demonstrates how this apron looks. She is proud of their work.
- Tejidos y Bordados Alondra, Rocio Lopez Mendez, Proprietor, Pipila 9, Mitla, Oaxaca, abel_971@hotmail.com, cel 951-203-8333
Every apron is different. You need to try on at least several to compare size and quality. Make certain there are no stains and that the embroidery around the neck and the pocket placement is even.
One for her, one for him!
Harvesting Espadin Agave for Mezcal in My Front Yard: Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca
Mezcaleros Hilario and Emmanuel loading agave espadin piñas
Only in Oaxaca do you wake up to find a guy cutting down agave cactus for mezcal in your front yard, Kalisa Wells told me yesterday morning. Kalisa is house-sitting for me in Teotitlan del Valle while I’m sojourning in Durham, North Carolina.
First, cut off the sharp, spiny leaves
Kalisa is really there to puppy sit until Luz and Sombra come of age, ready to adopt out. It should be soon. Then, she’ll be taking care of Mamacita and Tia until I get back.
Kalisa Wells took all these photos! Thank you!
There has been espadin agave on the land where I live among the maize fields ever since I can remember. When I first arrived, twelve years ago, these were tiny immature plants. Omar, youngest Chavez Santiago family son, tells me these agave were planted seventeen years ago! Now, some are sending up reproductive shoots, topped with baby agaves. Bees swarm and give up agave honey. After a few months, the mother plant dies. Topples over. The dead stalk can be used for fire wood or home construction.
Farmers want to harvest the agave when it is ripe and before it sends up the stalk, when the sugar energy is concentrated in the piña, perfect for making mezcal.
When Teotitlan del Valle mezcalero Hilario and his son Emmanuel showed up to cut and dig out the piña, Kalisa took photos and a video to send to me. She keeps me informed about life around the casita. Don Federico supervised. It’s his land, his agave, and this is his cash crop.
Niss Gubaa Dau mezcal brand, Teotitlan del Valle
Seems Kalisa has been buying local mezcal from them for a while. They make the distilled brew in their patio, behind the molina (mill) across from the church and market.
Almost ready to dig out. See the video for how they do it.
They are working hard on all the agave, writes Kalisa. I hear the sound of primitive and very effective tools. I hear the Zapotec language and the smell of fresh cut agave drifting into the casita.
Teotitlan del Valle mezcal brand contact information
Demand for artisanal mezcal has skyrocketed around the world. There are now more than 300 brands. There is worry and big buzz about whether there will be enough agave to satisfy the demand. Every food and beverage writer weighs in on this as they come to Oaxaca to sample the offerings.
What’s left — only the remains of leaves and a piña to be loaded.
Small operations, like those of Hilario and Emmanuel, are still producing home grown, home distilled mezcal for local consumption just as they have been doing for hundreds of years. Fiestas in Teotitlan del Valle are fueled by mezcal. It is de rigueur to bring a bottle as a host gift.
(Here in North Carolina, we call this beverage, moonshine, made the same way in a shiny, copper still.)
Some mezcal facts and tips:
I see by the photos that the landscape of my front yard has changed, denuded of espadin. The agave in my front yard and along the fence line is no more. Last year, I planted rows of immature espadin plants in anticipation that someday Don Federico might harvest these treasures.
Before the cutting, my garden decor.
I’ve expanded my cactus garden to include tobala, tepeztate and cuixe. It will take them many more years to mature and offer me unlimited high desert beauty. They may certainly outlast my lifetime!
The tipsy glass of liquid gold — Pineapple Lime Mezcalita
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Posted in Cultural Commentary, Food & Recipes, Oaxaca Mexico art and culture, Teotitlan del Valle
Tagged agave, cost, economics, espadin, harvest, mezcal, mezcalero, Oaxaca, production, supply and demand, Teotitlan del Valle