Posted onFriday, January 12, 2024|Comments Off on Back to the Oaxaca Villages: Teotitlan del Valle and Mitla
My friend Chris returned to Ajijic, Lake Chapala, Guadalajara, yesterday morning, so it’s been a day of quietude, plus packing to get ready to leave for the Oaxaca Coast early Saturday morning. We have a 14-person tour going to discover handmade textiles on the Costa Chica.
My family wonders when I rest. In bits and pieces, fits and starts, at night when REM sleep kicks in. It’s going to be a very busy winter. After the coast, we go to Michoacan, then I take off for Bacalar in the Yucatan to visit my Taos friend Susy Starr who owns a rug gallery that she opened in the 1970’s. I’d call her an original Hippie. Then, to Chiapas (please join us, we won’t offer this tour again for some time), then to the Mixteca Alta. I’m trying to reschedule medical appointments in New Mexico so I can have a month of unfettered time here before returning in the spring.
Zapotec carved stonesUsed to construct church foundationOfferings box, ancient and beautifulMe and Chris. I’m shrinking.
Instead of spending the day in the frenzy of the city, we spent the morning at the Teotitlan del Valle village market, one of the few surviving daily markets in Oaxaca. After we stopped in the church for some silent prayer (it’s all about our health, these days), we drove south along the Pan American Highway MEX 190 to San Pablo Villa de Mitla to visit Arturo the weaver, Armando the doll maker, Epifanio the antique dealer, and Reynoldo, the maker of fine quality table linens.
Armando’s sister, Norma, my tocaya, made us chocolate atole with plenty of aspuma
The chocolate atole (above) is so thick, we can eat it with a spoon!
Then, back to Mo Kalli for the second time this week to eat the amazing food prepared by traditional cook Catalina Chavez Lopez. She is a hidden treasure, tucked into the hillside in the Tres Piedras neighborhood of Tlacolula.
Seguesa, my favorite molePassion Fruit waterEmpanada appetizer
Walk the artisan lane at the Sunday Tlacolula Market and you will see handmade dolls for sale from San Bartolome Quilana. Their traje (dress) is a replica of the brightly colored floral head scarves and aprons the women of the village wear. Their embroidered faces smile at all passersby.
San Pablo Villa de Mitla doll made by Armando Sosa, Norma’s collection
Every culture makes dolls, it seems. Are they merely playmates for little girls or collectibles for adult women? What do they evoke? Is there some meaning beyond the external? Is a doll more than Barbie, the iconic figure created in 1959, that symbolizes girl as empty-headed plaything?
Everyone here, it seems, is making and selling dolls. At Arturo Hernandez’ weaving studio in Mitla, his wife Marta is making dolls to sell to tourists. In Chiapas, there are doll recreations of Sub-Commander Marcos and his tribe. Villages there make and dress dolls in their traje, too. Papier-mache doll figures from Mexico City city that look like puppets with floppy limbs depict street walkers, cherubs with rosy cheeks and glittery gowns. Giant dolls, called mojigangas — dance in front of Oaxaca’s Santo Domingo church for every Saturday wedding calenda.
Dolls from Chiapas and Oaxaca, Norma’s collection
Dolls are not frivolous playthings just for little girls, said Ellen Benson at her talk at the Oaxaca Lending Library this week. The room was filled to capacity with almost 70 people attending.
Ellen Benson with Keep My WiFi Working talisman
She explains. We call them action figures if they are for boys. In cultures around the world they are idols, effigies, saints, totems, shamans, power objects, and healers. Dolls are objects of cultural significance. They bring good luck, they are supplications for a good harvest, they are used for magic, storytelling and veneration.
A doll is NOT belittling and should not be considered as gender stereotyping, Ellen goes on to say.
She should know. She is a maker of dolls using found objects. She is part of a Philadelphia art group called Dumpster Divers. She calls herself a Dumpster Diva, and she calls the dolls she makes Divas. She combs junk yards and yard sales, piles of rejects, has a basement workshop filled with memorabilia, bottle caps, ribbon, fabric pieces, shards and discards. Her work is widely exhibited. And she spends two-months each winter in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Detail, paint brush legs and found objects, Ellen Benson dolls
Dolls are used in play therapy, Ellen says. They tell stories of women, men and families. They are memory prayers. They may contain herbs or medicine, or ward of evil spirits. In the Hopi spirit world the color of the Kachina signifies direction, ceremony. On every continent, native peoples created dolls from available materials to pray, heal, symbolize the resilience of people.
Ellen has favorite artists who has influenced her doll-making: Terry Terrell, an outsider artist from Seattle who uses texture, carved wood, clay, twine and beads. Betye Saar who depicted the Liberation of Aunt Jemima (below), set free from the stereotyped image of black servant, released from the burden of being a domestic. Hugo Tovar, whose lifesize figures adorn the courtyard of Plaza Santo Domingo in Oaxaca. Paul Klee, who made puppets for his grandson. Nick Cave, who creates images that obscures race and gender, offering the freedom to be who we are.
The Liberation of Aunt Jemima, by Betye Tovar
We need to take a broad view of doll as a human figure, offering protective power and meaning. Doll-making is a way, perhaps, of self-reflection about who we are and who we want to be.
Ellen Benson’s Doll Family — they belong together!
So, when you walk the Oaxaca streets, keep your eyes open for dolls. They are more than a thing of beauty or playmate for a grandchild. They are a reflection of the culture.
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Eric Chavez Santiago is tri-lingual --Spanish, English, Zapotec.
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Norma Schafer has lived in Oaxaca since 2005.
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December 6-14: Oaxaca Textile Tour and Workshopsincluding dye and weaving workshops, Tlacolula market, spinning village visits, plus lots more. With Fiber Circle Studio, Petaluma, California. Registration open!
January 11-17, Deep Dive Into Oaxaca: Cooking, Culture + Craft.Take a cooking class and printmaking workshop, visit artisan studios, weavers, and potteries, eat street tacos, taste artisanal mezcal, shop at markets, and explore the depths. SOLD OUT
February 6-15:Guatemala Textile Study Tour: Cloth and Culture. Discover Antigua, Lake Atitlan and Panajachel, Chichicastenango Market, and visit Coban where they weave fine gauze cloth called pikbil. SOLD OUT
March 12-17: Deep Into the Mixteca Alta: Oaxaca Textile + Folk Art Study Tour 2025. This is cultural immersion at its best! Following the Dominican Route, we visit potteries, churches, Triqui weavers working in natural dyes, a cooperative in Tijaltepec that makes smocked blouses, the expansive Tlaxiaco Saturday Tianguis. Experience another side of Oaxaca.
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When you visit Oaxaca immerse yourself in our textile culture: How is indigenous clothing made, what is the best value, most economical, finest available. Suitable for adults only. Set your own dates.
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Ruta del Mezcal One-Day Tour.We start the day with a pottery master and then have lunch with a traditional Oaxaca Cook, who is the mole-making expert. In Mitla, we meet with our favorite flying shuttle loom weaver, and then finish off with a mezcal tasting at a palenque you may NEVER find on your own! Schedule at your convenience!
Teotitlan del Valle Map with select rug weavers, restaurants, village attractions
Tlacolula Market Map -- where to find food, shopping, ATMs, and more
Our Favorite Things to Do in Oaxaca -- eating, shopping, gallery hopping + more
We require 48-hour advance notice for orders to be processed. We send a printable map via email PDF after your order is received. Please be sure to send your email address. Where to see natural dyed rugs in Teotitlan del Valle and layout of the Sunday Tlacolula Market, with favorite eating, shopping, ATMs. Click Here to Buy Map After you click, be sure to check PayPal to ensure your email address isn't hidden from us. We fulfill each map order personally. It is not automatic.