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Preserving a Tradition
Tejido Weaving
Fifty years ago the ancient craft of tejido weaving was an all-but-lost art. But when Eufrosina Vasquez de Sabino was eight years old some people from the Museum of Anthropology and History in Mexico City came to her village of San Bartolo, Yautepec. Here they found one person in the village, an old woman, who still knew tejido. They encouraged her to teach ten local children aged between eight and ten the technique.
Though the exact origins of the craft are not clear, tejido is a form of backstrap weaving, where the loom is tied around the sitting weaver’s back, while the other end is attached at an acute angle to a tree or wall. The technique is used to produce rebosos (bands of material used to wrap and carry babies or worn around womans heads), fajas (types of belts), huipiles (indigenous blouses) and skirts. They are two ways of embroidering this type of clothing.
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Mexicans, She Says, Just Aren't Interested
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Eufrocina posing with a traditional costum |
One is added after but with tejido the embroidery is woven into the fabric during the same process through which the garment is created. In times gone past, clothing spun in this way was used as everyday clothing, though they contained less embroidered design. The ones with fancier embroidery were reserved for fiestas and the visits of local dignatories. Now the more ornate examples are worn by whoever buys them.
Though the las grecas (zig-zags) decoration that feature in almost all decorated tejido represent life the embroidered patterns are not really religious, but rather represent reflections of natural agricultural life. So animals such as roosters, goats and chickens are created in lines, along with mosquitos and eagles. Stirrups and compass points are also forms of decoration.
The dyes used to color the thread of cotton used for embroidering are derived from natural ingredients. Platano yields an earthy brown, grenada (a hard-shelld fruit with red pips) a yellow, brazil wood a red and cochinea diferent types of purples.
Though other places in Mexico exist where the process is still practised, Vasquez de Sabino’s hometown is the only one in Oaxaca. The other advocates in Mexico use different, thicker thread and sometimes painted synthetic materials. Though fewer people wear such garments these days the clothes are fashionable in certain sectors. Vasquez de Sabino says that people are attracted by “the finest and most delicate fabrics in Oaxaca” that can only be acheived through tejido.
But as Vasquez de Sabino says, “though we continue the tradition from our grandmothers,” fewer and fewer people these days possess the knowledge or bother to weave. Apart from Vasquez de Sabino, very few of the original ten chosen to receive instruction in San Bartolo back in 1951, still weave. The knowledge has been dispersed amongst younger generations, however, and there are approximately 15 people in her village currently practising the craft. She reveals that, “many people start to learn but don’t continue.”
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Vasquez de Sabino has been teaching classes approximately three days a week for 18 years. On the days when she is not teaching she weaves at home and sells the fruits of her labor.
“I would like for it to continue because it’s a tradition of the town. On my part, with my family it will because I am teaching my sons and daughters tejido and a respect for tradition and culture with it,” she states. She has even started to teach her husband the art of late and she says he really likes it.
The problem, she reckons, is that “everyone has their own work” and tejido is a time-consuming business. A faja, a modest-sized rectangular-shaped band of cloth, with discreet decoration, takes two months alone to complete. These tend to cost around $300 pesos. A whole traditional outfit, meanwhile, costs $5,000 pesos and takes a year to complete. These do not tend to be bought by individuals, however, and are more likely to be purchased by a museum.
Strangely enough it is tourists and visitors who are more interested in learning the techniques today than Mexicans. “Mexicans,” she reveals, “just aren’t interested.” When asked about younger Mexicans attitude in general to tejido she says that they shun it. “No they are not interested because they find it easier to buy their fabrics than to make their own.” She also believes that young people are far more concerned with their studies than in folk art.
In the meantime Vasquez de Sabino will continue to do her part to ensure the tejido tradition does not die out.
by Tom O'Meara
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This article was brought to you courtesy of iccoax.com Spanish language school in Oaxaca
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OAXACA TOURS can take you to the weaving villages of Teotitlan del Valle, Santa Ana, and Jalieza, in conjunction with your hotel reservation.
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 MAP OF OAXACA CENTRAL VALLEYS: Archeological sites and craft villages.
Archeological sites in Oaxaca: Monte Albán, Mitla, Yagul, Dainzu, Mogote.
Craft villages in the central valleys of Oaxaca: Tottitlan del Valle (weaving), Atzompa (greeen pottery), Arazola (wood carving), San Bartolo Coyotepec (black pottery), Ocotlan (clay figures, woven baskets).
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