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My first visit I took the pot-holed highway south out of Oaxaca City and a long, dusty road passing through another Indian village to get to Teotitlan. It was small with dirt streets, meager houses--mostly with dirt floors and outdoor kitchens and outhouses. The only school was a grammar school (three grades) and there was very little electricity. Now, driving directly from the Oaxaca highway into town you see many shops with colorful weaving displays in front. You pass stores, large houses, an Internet cafe, a hotel, and a world-class restaurant. Many streets are paved. Most of the houses are bigger and better, with electricity, indoor plumbing and many with telephones. There are more schools, a health clinic, sports fields, street lights and other signs of success. Forty years ago the weaving designs were much more basic and there were no women weavers. Now you see many women weaving, running businesses and driving cars (of which there were very few in those days). Now new cars and pickups abound, although oxen and burros still roam the streets. All this prosperity is due to the industriousness of the Zapotec people, the help of a few buyers from the U.S. I was traveling with a Judie Fein, travel writer, Paul Ross, filmmaker/photographer, and the owner of Starr Interiors, Susanna Starr. Judie and Paul were filming the weavers for a video (which will appear on this site soon). Our tour of the weaving process was interspersed with attending celebrations and many invitations to join local families for hot chocolate, mescal, tamales and countless other traditional Zapotec fare. We accompanied Alta Gracia, a dye-maker to a small village in the mountains where yarn for the weaving is purchased. When we arrived a loudspeaker system announced we were buying wool. Elderly women started showing up at our car, each with a few balls of yarn to sell. The wool comes from Churro sheep which were introduced by the Spanish around 500 years ago. Women card the wool then spin it using the centuries-old drop spindle method. This and mescal (an alcoholic beverage made from the maguey plant) are the only industries of this village.
Returning to the weaving village, wool in hand, we watched it spun into skeins on a traditional spinning wheel. Alta Gracia lights wood fires under large metal cauldrons of water in an outdoor shed. When the water comes to a boil, she adds just the right amount of dye to get the color she wants--an artist in action. She then adds mordant to set the color. After the wool cooks just long enough, it is cooled and taken to the river to wash and rinse several times. The colorful skeins of yarn are hung on a special pole to dry in the sun. A rainbow of drying wool.
After drying it is ready for the loom. Rugs, wall hangings and pillows in an array of colors and designs will emerge from this once simple wool. Alta Gracia's husband is a master weaver and her three sons--in their twentys and thirties--are also skilled weavers. A very enterprising family: her daughter has a small flower nursery on their property and they raise much of their own food, as do many families in the village. At fiesta time, Alta also fires up several barbecue pits and sells barbecued meat to the neighbors. This family, as most in this town, still speak the Zapotec language. Spanish is used mostly for dealing with the outside world and many are now learning English to better work with tourists and rug dealers. We arrived a little before the Day of the Dead, in time to see the preparations for this important feast day. The market bustled with activity. Everywhere were flowers, sugar cane, special breads, sugar skulls--everything needed to prepare the alter to entice the "difuntos" or deceased to return. The market is next to the church which the Spanish built atop a Zapotec temple. Part of the temple is visible and many stones in the church have Zapotec symbols carved in them.
For Day of the Dead, each family decorates their alter with candles, flowers, food and photographs of departed relatives in anticipation of their return. They also set up a small children's alter nearby for those who have died in childhood. The first day is when the children return--church bells ring in the afternoon announcing their arrival. The next day the children depart and the adults come to visit the living. In the evening they depart the houses of their loved ones and go to the cemetery where--before leaving-- they are joined by the living for a lively fiesta with bands playing, mescal, beer and soda to drink--the festivities last well into the night when the "difuntos" finally depart for another year. (WARNING: Staying too long and too much mescal--might hinder departure.) As we leave these warm, caring people we are delighted to see that they have had a modern day success and yet have maintained their 5000 year old customs and values. —John Lamkin is a freelance travel writer and photographer |
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