Recently I have spend a great deal of time in the Mazahua communities in the State of Mexico. They are a front line group , who faces the difficult task of living within 2 hours of Mexico City and less than an hour from the capital of the Mexican State of Toluca.
The Mazahua women wear a combination of costumes which vary largely depending on the region or municipality that they live in.
There seems to be two things that are costants in the costume the “reuedo” or petticoat and the belt. The petticoat is worn show slightly from the bottom of the dress or apron , which ever is longer. The belt is worn under the garments to hold the skirt up and to add strength as they work in the fields or grind corn. Recently I have documented over 40 villages which will soon appear on the website. www.mexicantextiles.com .

Bob

Hello

This is an explanation of the terms indigenous / Indian / ethnic and traditional groups.

Inside Mexico, there exists racism directed at the indigenous peoples, while I consider it to be a perverse auto racism the word "indio" translated into English "Indian" has a marked negative connotation inside Mexico.. Since the Zapatista movement, there is a growing understanding that this enormous segment of the population can no longer be marginalized and victimized by the modern Mexican society ( Mestizo). The word "traditional" is a code word for indigenous and the word "indigena" or indigenous in English has been adopted as a respectable way to identify these ethnic groups. The word "ethnico" or ethnic is seldom used in Mexico to identify these groups, however in the American context the word could easily apply, due to a distinct language, dress and customs and food. The word "tribo" or tribe is never used except by Americans who bring their own dictionary to the discussion. I do not use this word at all.

In the context of this web site I often use the word Indian, this is directed to the English speakers and not intended to be a racist slur as used in Mexico.

I do use the word Indian however the word indigenous better.

Native American or North American Indian are probably also correct ,however people from the USA and Canada would assume we are talking about groups from the US or Canada because they don't think of Mexico of being part of North America.

Aboriginal is never used.

Meso American cultures are understood to be those cultures which are from Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador.

Pre Cortezian are also understood to mean those cultures attacked by Cotez and the Spanish invaders.

Pre Columbian are all cultures that existed in the “new world” at the time Columbus encountered them.

Recently I have seem the word in Spanish "originarios" original peoples? Yet another way to describe these ethnic groups or a way to marginalize them again?

The purpose of the Mexican Indigenous Textile Project is the preservation of the textile memory of Mexico. During my travels, I have been finding more and more villages with only one person that continues to wear traditional indigenous costume. I can’t help but feel a sense of urgency in the documentation of these peoples. In deciding how best to distribute the information I decided to use the internet first and latter photo exhibits and finally printed material.

The internet is a new medium for study and resource development. In the past, as people developed books and eventually printed them, the process of revising them and updating was slow and difficult. Important works would sit on library shelves and few people would be able to see them and use the accumulated knowledge in them. Today all that has changed, now with the World Wide Web, we have ability to share and study a broad range of issues and topics.

Initially the Web site www.mexicantextiles.com displayed textiles from my collection. However, it soon became clear, that the amount of cultural and textile information that I had accumulated to document the collection needed to be presented in an educational format. The web was the perfect media for this because the presentation of the textiles and cultural information could be incremental and graphical. Since then, the project develops information about the textiles from specific indigenous groups by field study. This information is then developed, edited and included in the web site. The purchase of textiles has been limited, to allow the limited resources available to be focus on documentation of the actual state of Mexican indigenous textiles.

The development of this web site requires extensive travel throughout Mexico. The indigenous groups included in this study are dispersed around the central part of Mexico. Most are located in areas that are just now getting paved roads and other modern conveniences. To reach most of these towns there is a drive of up to 9 hours and some are actually more depending on the conditions of the roads.
Travel in Mexico is some times difficult due to the lack of road signs or even worse conflicting signs. In most rural areas there are often unmark roads that can confound the driver, as you arrive at a cross roads there are inevitably no one to ask. My general rule is to ask everyone I see. After 6 years of documenting there are over 400 villages on the web site it continues to grow. Below is an explaination of the reasons that I continue this work.

For every example here there are thousand more in the field.

Mexican textiles have existed for more than 7000 years, but now in many villages’ traditional embroidered blouses, backstrap woven huipiles, loomed quechquemitls and belts are worn only by the grandmothers. Mexico's indigenous textile culture is in danger of extinction. The [embroidered] designs on blouses and huipiles are particular to specific towns and ethnic groups, so that the textiles identify the groups and villages that various textiles come from. Sometimes the marker is ribbons or the way hair is combed. The 7000 years old time line ends with these grandmothers.

These wonderful, colorful textiles link the indigenous peoples with culture and cosmovison of their native culture. As grandmothers, daughters and granddaughters sit with other family members to make the garments they discuss style and techniques but also more important points about behavior, customs of marriage, child birth, the herbs used for healing, how to make a tamales, etc. These links are lost when women stare into the one-eyed Cyclops that is the TV or wash floors in Mexico City.

When Cortez came to Mexico almost all the women wove cloth for garments and ceremonial use. It is natural that these talents gradually disappeared in the face of European machine made goods and now, over time, with the Asian dynamo and its inexpensive clothing. However it is not natural that the long cultural heritage of Mexico’s indigenous textiles be abandoned to the scrap heap of history, without some sort of attempt to conserve this incredibly rich cultural treasure.

The Spanish in all their colonial institutions drilled into the population that to be an Indian was the bottom of the heap. These biases have been passed down from the Spanish to the Mestizo population that now rules Mexico. This mestizo population has continued the discrimination of the Spanish towards the “indios.” It is no wonder that most Indians want to leave that part of them selves behind.

Below are some of the principal factors leading to the decline of the use and manufacture of indigenous textiles in Mexico. They are personal observations based on an intensive six-year study of the pueblos in Mexico.

1. Globalization

Around the world indigenous cultures are under pressure from the forces of modernization and globalization. In Mexico, years of government neglect and a persistent racism have created an economic desperation which has forced generations of men and women to flee the poverty of their communities. These indigenous people immigrate to the big cities of Mexico and the USA. Traditional dress marks them as indigenous, and in a society where being an “indian” puts you at the bottom of the social ladder, that is not good. So for decades, as people leave the communities, they leave behind their ancestral knowledge of how to weave and/orembroider and the social identity that the Mexican indigenous textiles and language provide.

Road building has created a really fast way for the indigenous population to abandon their villages for a better life just about anywhere else.

With the introduction of the internet TV and printed material, into these small communities the spread of western fashion has been accelerated.

Immigration –

A steady increase in the indigenous population and the child survival rate has led to increased migration from the villages to the cities in Mexico and the US.

Recently in the Sierra Zongolica the operator of an ECO tourism center with support from the CDI and other government institutions left to go to the US to pick oranges for a year.

In every village, without exception, people migrate to the US out of desperation, true they sometimes send money back to support the town festival but they return with ideas of modernization. Traditional dress is viewed as a marker of the old ways. They almost never wear traditional clothing again, and in some cases their wives also give up their garments to be modern.

In Santiago Mexquitlan this woman was photographed in traditional dress in January 2005. Six months later, when I returned to give her photos , she no longer was wearing her costume (uniform) . When asked why, she said that she worked in Toluca and no one wore costume there; and if she wore her costume, they ( the mestizos) would stare and laugh at her.

2. Rebellion of youth

Who are the Cholos? No, it is not another indigenous group, well not a historical one, they are young men and women who have left the village to work either in Mexico City or the US and return dressed as gang members who resent or hate their culture. They influence the younger kids by bad example. Recently in some Totonacan towns in the Sierra Norte of Mexico I obeserved a group of 20: some with spiked hair, dressed in black with pierced tongues and noses, they seem like they landed there from another planet. A village elder said to me that they come home and act badly and “se sienten hombre” which means they “feel like men.” [typical teenage rebellion?]

Some years ago in Santa Anna Hueytlalpan, Hidalgo, I noticed a black wrap skirt hanging on a cloths line. Inside the compound there were young women washing and chattering, we struck up a conversation. The conversation gradually drifted to the black wrap skirt, which turned out to be their grandmother’s. I asked if they had one? With a tone of ridicule in their voices they said they would never wear that since it made them look like grandmothers.

In the embroidery town of Zoatecpan, Xochitlan de VS [spell out], Puebla, I was shocked to see the rapid transition among younger women. Only four years ago it seemed that 80% of the people in town wore a traditional blouse. This Christmas at the town’s festival the number was down to 50% or less..

3. Media

On any given day there is not a word about indigenous communities or their customs in the mainstream media. TV is almost entirely filled with reasons not to wear indigenous clothing, as can be seen on almost all Telenovelas (soap operas_, Just imagine a woman who, after 35 years, gets a TV and watches “Rubi.” All she can think about is how ugly, fat, poor and forgotten she is and how much she wants to be someone else. .

Outside of Channel 22 and 11, both public educational channels, there is not a word about indigenous people, almost nothing about indigenous dress, and sometimes the only visual hint that there are 15 million indigenous people in Mexico is a vase or some sort of handicraft as a prop on the studio set.

In the Casas de Cultura (cultural centers) we can find a smattering of presentations dedicated to indigenous peoples and their crafts. The Museum of Popular Art does a reasonable job of presenting these forgotten people.

As with many other social and cultural events in Mexico the presence of such exhibits in Mexico City and beyond are under- reported. Sometimes I take the metro and get off at every just stop to see what notices have been posted.

5 Garment substitutions based on costs

– In the early 1970s during the heyday of the hippie peasant-wear fad, I exported ten thousand[?] garments a month. These were gathered from all over Mexico and shipped to Nuevo Laredo, where my friend Caesar would consolidate and drive the goods into the US. One day I arrived to do my customs entry and Cesar had on the most stunning Guayabera shirt. Since I was buying Gauyabera shirts wholesale at $15 from the Yucatan it piqued my interest.

“Hey Caesar , where did you get that amazing shirt? “

He replied he’d got it in Laredo for seven dollars; it is made in Taiwan”

I will never forget that and what it meant for textiles from Mexico! This was 1972.

6. Loss of heritage skills like weaving and embroidery.

In the town of Huehuetla, Hidalgo, Maria. a Tepehua weaver, makes four quechquemitls a year. They sell for 1000 pesos, about a hundred dollars each.. That is out of the reach of all but a few people in the town. Compounding the issue, she is the only weaver left who can weave a quechquemitl

Maria’s daughters wear western cloths, speak Tepehua and do not know how to weave the quechquemitl. Maria says that it is too much work for them to weave.

In San Miguel Ameyalco, Lema, about 30 minutes’ ride west of Mexico City,, there are a small number of weavers who use ancestral skills to produce indigenous crafts for sale. Some years ago the town was famous for ayates (carrying cloths), used for agricultural purposes. When I first met Maria de Jesus she lamented the fact that she knew 750 designs on the backstrap loom but her daughter was taught in some handicraft school how to make pictures from colored straw. So when Maria passes awaythose [designs will disappear with her?]

In the Mixtec weaving communities along the coast, traditional costume is confined to the oldest generation. Weaving skills have been passed on, and there is a large number of women dedicated to weaving, using traditional methods but not so many traditional garments. There are also garments made to look like traditional ones but were never actually worn or used before.[mention the role of government programs in designing and promoting crafts? or explain how these came to be]

Among Mixe in Tamazulapan there has been a rapid decline in the people wearing the white huipil and the dark blue wrap skirt which, in turn, has reduced the number of weavers who make these items. Some have turned to making reboso for resale.

Quality degradation – When I lived in Ocotlan de Morelos, Oaxaca, in the 1970’s many Zapotec women worked the famous San Antonio wedding dress, but not as a dress; it was used as an undershirt. During the late 1960’s and through the 1970’s the style of embroidery was made into a dress. The Zapotec embroiderers of the day had a polished skil,l and the dress actually had some cultural meaning. Today the sad quality of these dresses leaves a person who has seen and knows the classic blouse or dress ADJECTIVE? when only a glimmer of its past glory. They continue to sell but the younger generation no longer uses them. From time to time an older woman will make one for her daughter to wear

Changes in materials

The quechquemitls from Chachahuantla, Puebla, were originally a hand-knotted lace. They then moved to a commercial material with heavy machine embroidery. Recently the women have been switching over to a solid, store- bought gauze quechquemitl.

It is almost impossible to find 100% cotton material in any indigenous blouse Even in traditional huipiles synthetic fiber is slipping in. There are a few obvious reasons for this: cotton costs more than cotton / synthetic blends and colors are faster in the synthetic yarns.

The yarns can also be embroidered two or three times faster than the traditional cotton thread, whichmakes the blouses easier to commercialize.

In many cases the quechquemitl is a key indicator of how things are going , among the Totonacan women of the Sierra Norte of Puebla. hand-woven or knotted quechquemitls have been entirely replaced with store bought lace. Only ten years ago the quechquemitls of store-bought lace had embroidery on them.

In the municipality of Zongozotla, Veracruz, I noticed a fashion transformation happening. Instead of the white store-bought lace some women were using colored lace for their quechquemitls. The thing is that the white lace was a direct descendent of the back-strap woven cotton quechquemitl, which is also white. The quechquemitl made from colored, machine-made lace loses that connection.

The church –

In the Sierra Zongolica of Veracruz, road building has help people to escape the poverty of the region. Recently, in a village outside of Xoxocotla, I found no women wearing traditional costume. Apparently the church had been telling the women for years that it made them look Indian.

Summary – The movement of indigenous people towards the mainstream of Mexican society is well underway. The education system, government programs, road building, TV and immigration all play their part. The long history of discrimination and marginalization plays a large part in the desire NOT to be viewed as indigenous by the younger generation.

These young people relate more to modernism as an escape, than to ancestral duties and customs,

they gladly changed from poor Indians to poor Mexicans. They do this by not speaking the ancestral language, not dressing in indigenous specific ways and denying their heritage.

Indigenous wisdom – During my travels I often find myself listening to indigenous people explaining their ways and beliefs. From time to time I intend to post these little tidbits of illumination.

Maria, a mole maker in Actopan, Mexico – “Partidos esta para partirnos” Political parties are here to divide us. In Spanish it rhymes.

Two Purepechas women from Lake Patzcuaro region of Michoacan “men are like kites, they need a woman’s hand to keep them from blowing away”

Here is one that has a lot of variation but the clean version goes “ jale mas una mujer mas que una junta “ This translates “ a women’s pull is greater than a pair of Oxen” .

In the Sierra Zongolica there is a ceremony at the beginning of March, the herbal healers go to a cave and dance and pray. The purpose is to ask the earth for permission to cut herbs and to apologize for any damage humanity has done during the year.

Mexicans generally say this about Americans , that we are practical .

Crisis in Mexico’s indigenous communities-

Who are the Cholos , no it is not another indigenous group, well not a historical one, they are young men and women who have left the village to work either in Mexico City or the US and return dressed as gang members who resent or hate their culture. They influence the younger kids by bad example. Recently in some Totonacan towns in the Sierra Norte of Mexico I saw a group of 20, spiked hair dressed in black with pierce tongues and noses, they seem like they landed there from another planet. A village elder said to me that they come home and act badly and “se sienten hombre” which means they feel like men.

But why? It is not enough to say that these young men and women HAD to leave their villages to find work. Did they really have to leave? The answer lay in the statistics from many municipalities in 2005. They are alarming in one typical municipality, 280 children born 28 persons die, this is a receipt for immigration or civil war and for sure poverty. What is Mexico going to do with all these young people? America get ready for massive immigration from Mexico.

Among the older generations there is desperation because they are unable to get the kids to work in the fields. This is not simple a economic activity, the world revolves around the earth and the cycles of agriculture, the weather and religious festivals. It is all part of a greater view of the world. Many “religious” festivals are based on traditional agricultural ceremonies. I recently witnessed the 12 Prayers ceremony in a Totonacan village in Veracruz. The women prayer for 12 days that nothing would happen to them ( not for bigger houses or a large screen TV) during the year and them placed all the prayers ( in the form of eggs) into a hole in the ground along with offerings. Is the land important you bet it is?

The land in many indigenous villages is very rugged and there is no way to plant except do every thing by hand. Even if the terrain was flat the prices paid for agricultural commodities does work to accumulate wealth. In the past subsistence farming was enough, grow what you need and if there is some left, over trade it for something that you need. This worked for thousands of years. Suddenly there are more mouths than the land can support. Not all that is learned is bad but the net result is that these people who were satisfied with a way of life that was based on agricultural cycles and inter relationships in the village has been gradually eroded by materialism and economic necessity based on over population.

Let’s add another nail in the coffin of agricultural indigenous Mexico, NAFTA, in 2008 the Indians will have to compete with American and Canadian commercial farming. The tariff free entry of grains will crush the prices of corn. Corn is the traditional food in the communities, Mexicans are the people of corn. So the peasant the is working a parcel of land on a steep hill side with a hoe is now being asked to compete with 40 square miles of land cultivated with genetically modified seeds and agricultural machinery that cost more than an entire village makes in a year.

In the next years we are going to see increased immigration to the cities, continued population growth, the gradual and certain erosion of indigenous values and agricultural way of life. There are efforts to replace agriculture with other forms of livelihoods these are going to take time and do not help protect indigenous culture. What does a trout farm have to do with the cycle that indigenous people live by? Nothing…

It's the end of August and I'm still recovering from the fall I took on April 16 in the small town of Las Flors in Ixhuatlan Vera Cruz. My arm was pinned for two months to my body and I've had two months of physical therapy. Starting on Tuesday I will have 25 days straight of physical therapy. I know my fans and people that read my web page will understand the delay in posting any more material.

I am working gradually to prepare the Nahua as a Veracruz, the Totonacan of Puebla and some other really great new tools to access these villages. There are now more than 350 villages that have been documented in starting in one month I will begin an intense effort to gather another 100 to 200 villages to post on this website.

Right now, I am deciding which areas will receive is in depth look and documentation. The Sierra Norte of Puebla, the way Huehuetla region of Hidalgo and surrounding towns in the state of Veracruz and San Luis Potosi are candidates. However with the recent hurricane many of these areas appear to be very wet which limits my approach by car. So I have been recently studying the states of Chihuahua, Durango and Sonora.

Again thank you for your patience I'll be back up and running soon so keep checking back frequently for new material to be posted. Bob

HI - This year will be a important year for the Mexican textile project. Some goals include a minimum of 20 villages per month with a concentration on the State of Mexico and Vera Cruz. Look for more Nahuas of Hidalgo also.

I have also started a vlog or video blog for everyones enjoyment. http://mexico_culture.blip.tv/ check it out. There is one post on it now but I expect to have more when I get back to Mexico.
Pending are the new villages from Chicotepec Vera Cruz and the new villages and collection textiles from the Nahua regions of Hidalgo .

I just returned from a trip to the Huasteca region of Hidalgo and Vera Cruz region of Mexico. This trip was hard on the car since there dosen't seem to be very many paved roads in the region.
After being stopped by bad roads in Zacualpan, V.Cruc I was force over the mountain and ended up in a small hotel on the main road to Huejutla.
The next morning I went to Tiangistengo and then followeded the central mountain range for 52 miles. The trip toook 8 hours. Durnig that trip I decided to raise my car up and inch and put a steel plate underneath. The car is lossing the battle with the back roads of Mexico.
There were two new villages on that day one is actuallay in the district of Tiangistengo and the other is in Vera Cruz, but there are no roads from Vare Cruz. The road ends there with a giant canyon in front of it.