Tag Archives: Magdalena Aldama

Day 5 in Chiapas: Into the Clouds, San Andres Larrainzar and Magdalena Aldama

It is humbling to be here in the Chiapas highlands. Maya women are talented weavers. They create cloth that is rich in symbolism using the simple, ancient technology of the back strap loom. It can take three to four months to make a huipil with this method. This last day on the road, two hours up the winding, misty mountain road to Larrainzar and Aldama shows me once again how extraordinary talent comes from such humble living environments.

Families still cluster in small mountain villages. They live in concrete block houses with no heat or insulation. The government provides building subsidies and encourages people to move away from building with adobe or mud and daub, traditionally a much better insulator for cold and heat. Why? Because Mexico wants to show the world they are helping their poor.

Larrainzar is small. Aldama is even smaller. Some of the finest weavings in all of Chiapas are made in these two adjacent villages, which we visit.

What we wrote about our 2019 visit here!

Few speak Spanish. One or two, maybe. All are Tztozil speakers here.

We visit the family of Andrea and her daughter Victoria once again in San Andres Larrainzar. They are award winning weavers who welcome us after a two-year absence. Covid has had a huge negative impact on the informal economy here. People have had no visitors to appreciate and purchase their work.

Then, we travel another 30 minutes to the 4-pedal loom workshop of Jolob, where 80 men are employed on 40 looms to produce hand-woven cloth using a flying shuttle technique. This is more like a semi-automated factory where human labor take the place of machinery. This loom was developed in the 19th century industrial revolution and is commonplace in Mexico. The workshop produces home goods textiles for many U.S. designer brands. It gives us a great comparison to the slower process of the back strap loom.

When we arrive in Aldama at the home of Rosa Vasquez Gomez, she and I embrace. I haven’t seen her in two years. Her husband, Cristobal, was unjustly jailed during the land dispute between this village and neighboring Chenalho. Covid has slowed down the legal process to release him. We raised funds to help but more is needed. After a lunch of chicken soup, homemade tortillas, rice, squash and potatoes, we see what the women in the cooperative have made. I know that each purchase we make will help sustain the families here.

Rosa operated a cooperative in San Cristobal but she closed it. There were no visitors. Now they have no place to sell. We hear this as a repeated refrain.

Our final stop today is to meet Apolonia, Lucia, Martha and Mary, four talented sisters who have been recognized for weaving excellence by the Fundacion Banamex and the federal government. They consistently win top national awards. How, I ask, does such beauty come from such extreme poverty.

Tradition here runs deep. As with other villages we visit, women get their inspiration from the natural world and their spiritual beliefs. They help us pick out the stories in the cloth: frogs signal the coming of rain, essential for growing corn. We see diamonds and stars, representing the universe with its four cardinal points and light. Rows of planted corn, fruit orchards, worms and caterpillars, snakes and birds, all plotted out mathematically in the woven cloth, figure prominently. Designs are created using the supplementary weft technique. A four-selvedge textile with no fringe and no hem denotes the work of a master weaver. The cloth is not cut with a scissors!

Why are we here? To learn and to appreciate. We are also here to support artisans by purchasing directly what they make. In this way, we contribute toward sustaining the traditions — so important as mechanization takes over our world and indigenous traditions fade.

Chiapas Day 3: Designer Alberto Lopez Gomez Dazzles

A highlight of our time in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, is a visit to Alberto Lopez Gomez’ studio Kokul Pok’. He is the weaver/designer from Magdalena Aldama who was was recognized and invited to New York Fashion Week in 2020. Aldama is a remote village in the highlands about two hours from the city where women have been weaving on the back strap loom for centuries. He tells us he is invited to Washington, D.C. to exhibit and sell in April this year, representing over 200 weavers from his village and a few others who he works with. He is a young man with talent, vision and a mission. It is always satisfying to visit with him as he explains the weaving traditions of his village and his family.

Alberto learned to weave ten years ago at age 22 from his mother, who also taught him the symbols in the cloth. She is now deceased. He explains to our group the details in a magnificently woven huipil made by his sister Rosa Lopez Gomez. It uses hand-spun wool dyed with natural plants available locally, such as lichens and moss. Most huipiles today use commercially purchased cotton threads, so this piece is unusual. When he began to weave, he was ostracized because this is women’s work. But, he says women are not recognized either for their weaving skills and his goal is to bring more attention to the highest quality weavers in a very machismo culture. He talks about how he wants to uplift the important work of women: They prepare the yarn, spin and dye. They are the cultural guardians by including important spiritual and corporal symbols in the cloth.

Want to come in 2023? send us an email.

Alberto is still the only man from Aldama who weaves. But he does more than that. He is a designer and guides innovation by suggesting color palates that go beyond the traditional. The workmanship of the pieces is of the highest quality. The weaving is dense and filled with meaning.

We learn about the symbols as Alberto explains each row of weaving. Our study tours are educational experiences that go deep. We see the triangles on the main panel of the textile and hear that this represents the universe. The side panels are where the weaver expresses herself by including symbols that are important to her. This one includes God, Catholic crosses, the plumed serpent, the union of mother and father, four cardinal points, the center of the universe, stars, orchards. Larger stars and smaller stars are Venus and the constellations. We see flowers and corn that represent the planting and harvest seasons. Women represent in textiles what they see around them in the natural world. When stars are in alignment, the elders teach that this provides notice of the coming rains. When a garment is worn and the arms are outstretched, it forms the symbol of the cross. The serpent design has a deep meaning: it connects earth and sky with the god of earth.

Alberto Lopez Gomez considers himself to be a voice for women in his community. He weaves, designs, communicates the history. His inspiration comes from dreams. His dream is to bring these textiles to other parts of the world and disseminate ancient Maya tradition through the textiles.

  • Facebook: Alberto Lopez Gomez
  • Instagram: Albereto Lopez Gomez

Alberto and Sue

Defense Fund for Cristobal Santiz Jimenez, Chiapas Friend

Our friend, Cristobal Santiz Jimenez, is a community leader in the Tzotzil Chiapas village of Magdalena Aldama, Chiapas. He was arrested on March 14, 2020, and imprisoned on false charges, according to the Fray Bartolome de Las Casa Human Rights Center and our friend Alejandro Alarcon Zapata.

Cristobal is still in prison, and may be there indefinitely: All court business is halted because of COVID-19. His wife and family have run out of money.

My photo of Cristobal when we visited in 2019

I am asking your help to make a gift. To secure his freedom. To provide food for his family. To provide legal assistance. To keep him safe in prison.

Any amount is appreciated.

Defense Fund for Cristobal Santiz Jimenez, Make Your Gift Via PayPal Send to Alejandro Alarcon Zapata alejandroalarconzapata@gmail.com I am sorry. We are not set up as a charitable fund and this is not tax-deductible. You would give, as we have, out of the goodness of your heart.

We just visited Cristobal and his wife Rosita on March 2, during our 2020 Chiapas Textile Study Tour. We have visited them for four years. They talked about the on-going boundary dispute that has turned into an armed conflict by neighboring Santa Marta, Chenalho. They were scared then, and more so now. Aldama is a smaller village, more vulnerable.

Rosita

Here is the back-story sent to me by Alejandro, who is our point-person and trusted information source.

***

San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. as of March 14, 2020

Urgent Action No. 03

Incommunication, criminalization and arbitrary deprivation of liberty of community defender Cristóbal Sántiz Jiménez

The Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center, A.C. (Frayba), documented the facts of human rights violations perpetrated against Mr. Cristóbal Sántiz Jiménez, (hereinafter Cristóbal) with the following facts: The arrest was made when he left his job today at 6:50 hrs . After 5 hours of being incommunicado, we confirm that the arrest was carried out by the State Attorney General’s Office, who transferred him to Tuxtla Gutiérrez and it was at 12:20 p.m. when the family was informed of the arrest of Mr. Cristóbal and his transfer to State Center for Social Reintegration of Sentences, N.14, el Amate, based in Cintalapa de Figueroa, Chiapas.

Cristóbal Santís Jiménez, peasant, belonging to the Tsotsil peoples, is representative of the Permanent Commission of Communards and Displaced Persons of Aldama. Member of the families that were attacked with high-caliber weapons by a paramilitary group from Santa Martha, Chenalhó and stripped of their land. He is a community defender, representative of the Permanent Commission of Communards and Displaced Persons of Aldama since the conflict arose due to widespread violence and forced displacement by the paramilitary group of Santa Martha, Chenalhó. In addition, Mr. Cristóbal has held traditional positions in his native town of Aldama, as a Traditional Regidor. Mr. Cristóbal has been working as a watchman for 21 years at the 133 Industrial Training Center in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chiapas.

As a spokesman for the displaced communities, he has denounced the omissions of the Mexican State due to the escalation of violence in the upper Chiapas region. He was present during the signing of the Peace Accords, which was preceded by Governor Rutilio Escandón and Undersecretary Lic. Alejandro Encinas, immediately afterwards he participated during the so-called Banderazo de Paz. He has repeatedly faced threats from both the Mexican State that demanded his silence in exchange for his freedom; as well as death threats by the armed paramilitary group of Santa Martha, Chenalhó.

El Frayba requested precautionary measures number 284/18 before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to protect the life, safety and integrity of Mr. Cristóbal Santis Jiménez and his family.

For this reason, this Center for Human Rights considers that the State Attorney General’s Office is perpetrating serious human rights violations, such as criminalization, arbitrary deprivation of liberty, placing Mr. Cristóbal at a high risk to his integrity and security. personal.

This Center for Human Rights requests the immediate intervention of the federal and state government to implement pertinent actions for the prompt release of Mr. Cristóbal.

We request from national to international civil society to send your appeal to:

Lic. Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Constitutional President of Mexico Official Residence of the Pines. Miguel Alemán House. Col. San Miguel Chapultepec, C.P. 11850 Mexico City.

Fax: (+52) 55 5093 4901

Twitter: @lopezobrador_

Lic. Olga Sánchez Cordero. Secretary of the Interior of Mexico Bucareli 99, 1st. floor. Col. Juárez. Cuacthemoc delegation

C.P. 06600 Mexico City.

Fax: (+52) 55 5093 34 14;

Email: secretario@segob.gob.mx Twitter: @M_OlgaSCordero

Lic. Rosario Piedra Ibarra. President of the National Human Rights Commission,

Héctor Fix Zamudio Building, Blvd. Adolfo López Mateos 1922, 6th floor. Col. Tlacopac San Ángel. Álvaro Obregón Delegation. C.P. 01040; Mexico City.

Fax: (+52) 0155 36 68 07 67

Mail: Correo@cndh.org.mx

Twitter: @CNDH

Lic. Rutilio Escandón Cadenas. Constitutional Governor of the State of Chiapas Government Palace of the State of Chiapas, 1st Floor Av. Central y Primera Oriente, Colonia Centro, C.P. 29009. Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, Mexico

Fax: +52 961 61 88088 – + 52 961 6188056; Extension 21120. 21122;

Mail: secparticular@chiapas.gob.mx Twitter: @JuntoscnRutilio

Lic. Ismael Brito Mazariegos. Secretary General of the Government in Chiapas Palacio De Gobierno, 2o. Floor, Centro C.P. 29000 Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas. Switch: (961) 61 8 74 60 Ext. 20003

Mail: secretariaparticular.sgg@gmail.com

Lic. Juan José Zepeda Bermúdez. President of the State Commission on Human Rights Fax: (961) 60 2 57 84

Mail: presidencia@cedh-chiapas.org

The children in Rosa and Cristobal’s family cooperative of weavers

And more from Alejandro ….

Cristóbal Sántiz Jiménez is a community defender of human rights, representative and spokesman for Tsotsil communities in forced displacement of Aldama, cultural promoter and traditional authority. His arrest occurs in the context of criminalization and threats to his life, liberty, security and integrity due to the constant denunciations of the omission of the Mexican State in the escalation of violence in the Altos de Chiapas region. Members of the Specialized Police of the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Chiapas, detained him on March 14, 2020, when he was leaving his job, kept him incommunicado for 5 hours and is currently incarcerated in the State Center for Social Reintegration of Sentenced Persons. , No.14, el Amate, based in Cintalapa de Figueroa, Chiapas, Mexico.

A journalist, Cristóbal’s friend, asked to AMLO for his liberation, check this link [AMLO is Mexico’s President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador]

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10158611152441178&id=630961177

Thank you for doing what you can!

Alberto Lopez Gomez: Mayan Chiapas Textiles Have Meaning

Here, I am sharing four short videos from our recent 2020 Chiapas Textile Study Tour. They each explain the symbols that women weave into their cloth.

The first two videos introduce you to Albert Lopez Gomez and his reason for starting a cooperative to help his family and village of Magdalena Aldama. He wants to bring international recognition that weavers deserve for maintaining textile traditions.

Read Weaving Men in Chiapas/Casa Kuxtal about men who weave in Mexico and the effort to redefine gender stereotypes.

Thanks to Claudia Michel for this video

The last video features Alberto Gomez Gomez from neighboring San Andres Larrainzar. Here, he explains the meaning of a small textile with 160 warp threads. It took his mother Antonia Gomez Santis two weeks to weave working five to six hours a day on the back-strap loom.

We will revisit these remote villages on our 2021 Chiapas Textile Study Tour: Deep into the Maya World. Registrations are coming in and space is limited. Don’t delay if you are interested in participating.

My dream is to support the people of my village, to open doors, to sell directly, and to provide better education and opportunity for our children, and to make higher standard of living.

This huipil is a traditional motif from Magdalena Aldama. You see the red and yellow colors of the brocade weaving on the saints dressed in in these huipils at our village church.

Male and female, represent the first couple, share the same body in this weaving

Here is the head of the man, total body and feet, and on the other side is the head of the woman and her body. It’s repeated on the total width of the cloth.

Far and Away: Maya Weaving Village Magdalena Aldama

The locals call it Aldama, preferring to honor the 1810 Mexican Revolutionary War hero Juan Aldama, rather than the saint name imposed by Spanish conquerors. They are revolutionaries themselves here with most of the village sympathizing with the Zapatista movement.

Zapatista meeting house, Aldama

They are also extraordinary weavers of traditional huipiles and finely woven agave bags. The largest and finest bags take three months to make. The gala, celebratory fiesta huipil, made on the backstrap loom using supplementary weft technique to create the designs, can take eight months to weave.

Gala huipil from Magdalena Aldama, a heavy brocade woven on the back strap loom

I’m taking our Chiapas Textile Tour travelers on an adventure. As we climb the winding mountain road, we pass through Chamula territory where women are wearing the traditional wooly black skirts and men sport wooly white tunics and white hats. At the Y in the road we divert left. To continue right would take us to Chenalho and Chalchihuitan.

It takes Francisco three months to weave one agave fiber bag

As we climb, the mist thickens and droplets cover the windshield of our van. We are covered as if by a shroud. This is territory where wool and heavily woven cotton offer protection from the chill.

Children receive a ninth grade education, become weavers and farmers

In Aldama, women become weaving masters by age twelve. Their designs are mathematic. They count the warp threads. Dream their designs. Wrestle with design problems as they sleep. Wrestle with angels. The designs talk to them through Santa Marta, Magdalena and Maria.

This is a densely woven, cotton blouse used for daily wear

The patterns that emerge are magical and surrealistic. Lady Xoc appears as a figure hidden in cloth, transferred from the frescoes at Yaxchilan. You see her symbol in the cloth of the three villages — San Andres Larrainzar, Aldama, and Santa Marta. Triangles represent the universe. Frogs symbolize the coming of rain. The diamond contains a sacred sense of location. Put your head through the opening of the huipil and the wearer is at the center of the universe.

The symbol of the sunrise is a syncretic symbol of the birth of Jesus. Corn plants tell us the story of the dry season and also of fertility. Indigenous cultures depend on rain and sun to grown corn, squash and beans. To survive and thrive.

Our hosts, Rosa and Cristobal in Aldama

The textiles tell us this.

Other symbols are incorporated in the work we see: rabbit tracks and dog paws, foxes and butterflies. Clothing is part of the natural world.

Obscure light in cooking area. Photo by Mike Schroeder.

With the conquest, Dominican priests isolated each town, forcing them to dress in a way that would control their identity and their freedom of movement. We learn this from the cultural anthropologist I engage to travel with us. We learn that dress is part of cultural identity and carries with it political control.

In some villages, like in Zinacantan, we find out the colors and designs can change regularly — more associated with fashion trends than with anything else. There is pride now in what people make and wear to distinguish themselves.

Festival hat, handwoven bands sewn together, nine months to make

However, young people are moving toward blue jeans and T-shirts. Women are the culture keepers. Men leave their villages to find seasonal work elsewhere, adapting their dress to the dominant culture.

In Magdalena Aldama, there is a strong desire to keep the traditions and pass them along to the children. We saw ten year old girls weaving and embroidering along with their mothers, aunts and cousins.

Ancient guava tree, just leafing out. Photo by Mike Schroeder.

After being treated to a show and sale of their family’s work, Rosa and Cristobal invite us into their wattle and daub (mud and stick) house to sit down for lunch. There are seventeen of us. We are served delicious organic free range chicken soup, rice and steamed vegetables.

The hill town, San Cristobal de Las Casas

The kitchen-dining area is open hearth. Wood smoke fills the air. The fire heats a huge cauldron of broth and chicken pieces. It has been cooking for days and is fork tender. Toddlers run underfoot or are slung around the backs of their mothers, held tight by a handwoven rebozo. Our eyes water. Our mouths water. Cristobal brings out the pox and we sip the corn-sugar cane distilled beverage. It reminds me of mezcal.

Sunset in front of the cathedral

I am grateful for the women and men who traveled with me. They were generous of heart, spirit and resources. They understood that when then made a purchase, they give support to culture, tradition and the continuation of indigenous cloth.

Registration for the 2020 Chiapas Textile Study Tour will open soon. Dates will be February 25 to March 4. If you are interested, please send me an email: norma.schafer@icloud.com