Yagul Archeological Site: Oaxaca’s Hidden Treasure
Yagul is one of those magical places in Oaxaca that not many people visit. When I first went there in 2005, it was mostly rubble, secreted away up a hill beyond Tlacolula, on the way to Mitla. Access was (and still is) a narrow, cracked, pot-holed macadam pavement. In those intervening years, there has been […]
Day of the Dead in Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca: Guiding the Disfuntos Home
The bells in the Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca church tower start ringing on November 1 at 3:00 p.m. and continue all night and into the next day, November 2, giving the disfuntos (the visiting souls) the sound to follow home. They follow the trail of scent, sight and sound: marigold flowers, copal incense, simmering […]
Recipe: Venison Meatballs and Deer Hunting
What does this have to do with Oaxaca? Read on. You’ll find out! Those of us who live at Blue Heron Farm in Pittsboro, NC, have been plagued by an overpopulation of deer. This fall, our community association invited our local Backyard Bow Pros to come in and thin the herd using the old-fashioned way of […]
Posadas in Teotitlan del Valle
Christmas in Teotitlan del Valle starts nine days before with posadas (procession) every night. The nine days represents nine months of Mary’s pregnancy, according to my Zapotec friends. On the first night, the baby Jesus is taken out of the creche in the church along with Mary and Joseph and carried through the streets under […]
Experimenting with Cochineal: A Pinch of This and a Tad of That
In July 2007, when Andrea Donnelly, a textiles student, came to Teotitlan from NC State University to do a natural dyeing residency with Eric Chavez, I listened to their conversations and took notes. Erick talked about how few people are coming to their home in Teotitlan since the teacher’s strike, so he appreciated that Andrea […]