Santa Maria Cuquila

This past month, I have been traveling weekly to complete interviews with various artisans from different pueblos in Oaxaca. One of my project assignments was to visit Santa Maria Cuquila to complete an interview with a traditional weaver and a ceramics artisan. Cuquila is famous for both of these traditional forms of artisanry. And up until very recently, these art forms served as a primary source of income for these individuals.

The artisans still use the traditional processes to weave and create pottery. Cuquila is one of the only pueblos in Oaxaca that has preserved the original ceramics making process that predates the Spanish conquest. Above is a photo of Sra. Marcaria. She only speaks Mixtec, so I had to have Emiliano (our host and a member of the Union of Community Museums committee) translate everything into Spanish. Marcaria was a very gracious hostess and took time to show us each step of the weaving process. Here she is beginning to form the hilo (skein of yarn) with the wool she collected and cleaned from one of the sheeps the family owns. She wears a huipil to help preserve this weaving tradition. Though she does not weave huipil, that form of artisanry is prevalent in other nearby pueblo communities. Huipiles are often worn for celebrations such as weddings, festivals or religious ceremonies.

My interview with Abraham, the ceramics artisan, was a little easier because we were able to converse directly in Spanish. He was also a wonderful host and took time to show us how to prepare the clay with renilla (a bonding agent collected from a specific type of rock in the region). He has been working with clay since he was a child and still spends a lot of time completing special orders for other community members and people who request products during the holidays.

Rosie, one of the newer ProMexico participants and my wonderful photographer, and I stayed in Cuquila for two days. I´ve become accustomed to sleeping in rather rustic accomodations during my pueblo visits, but this trip proved to be a very humbling experience. Emiliano was kind enough to host us for the evening and we were put up in his guest house, which is located a few miles outside of town in the mountains. Cuquila is very beautiful, but very hilly. And unfortunately earlier that afternoon, we had a terrible storm that lasted about four hours, leaving the streets flooded and everything soaking wet.

While our accomodations were very nice (we had a real bed and electricity), we did not have any running water and I´m pretty sure I saw a bat outside our door right before we had dinner. (Ask to hear my bat story sometime if you haven´t already heard it. I am very afraid of bats, even though I know they won´t harm me.) I shrieked when I saw that bat and Emiliano immediately built a fire outside our door after I explained what happened. He said the fire would ward off any other animals that might be nearby. Rosie and I were both thinking, "Oh dear God! What other animals could possibly be out here!?"

Our trip to the outhouse, located up the mountain to Emiliano´s house was quite an adventure because there are absolutely no lights what so ever and you can barely see your hand, let alone the latreen. So we lit a candle and proceeded to make the short climb up the hill to the latreen using its light and the light of our cell phones. The latreen was really clean and the next morning we discovered they had painted "Bienvenidos a Cuquila" on the front of the door in yellow paint, which I thought was really nice. Rosie and I have learned that baby wipes can be used for anything. We use them to wash our feet, which get dirty during our daily walks, especially in the pueblos. They are great for washing hands and faces, cleaning tables and counter tops and sanitizing somewhat questionable things. If you ever come to Mexico, I highly recommend baby wipes!

Our trip to Cuquila was very successful in terms of the work we accomplished for our artisan exhibit. We learned a lot about the different weaving and ceramics processes and also about the history of the community. Working here was a wonderful opportunity to put some of my anthropology skills to use. We also received a lesson in humility, which has made us even more grateful to the individuals generous enough to open their homes and kitchens to us as we do our work. A lot of the people in Oaxaca live daily without the luxury of running water or electricity. Simple tasks such as washing the dishes become very laborious because there is a constant struggle to conserve what little water there is. I have certainly had to step outside of my own comfort zone to accomplish some of my work here. Yet doing so has proved to be an incredibly rewarding and life enriching experience.

My Visit to México

One of my goals during my stay in Oaxaca was to venture to other parts of Mexico. After talking to a few friends, I decided it would definitely be worth it to visit the D.F. and fortunately I had the opportunity to do so a few weekends ago because I was invited to Rachael´s brother´s wedding, who also happens to be a good friend of my family. I boarded the bus to Mexico early Thursday afternoon and was well on my way around 3:00. It took over an hour to simply get out of the center of the city, due to the numerous street barricades and insane amounts of traffic that have accrued as a result of no police presence here. The drive to Mexico from Oaxaca is really pretty. I passed through a number of mountains and valleys along the way. And the time passed rather quickly until we arrived on the outskirts of the city around 7:30 that evening. Once we reached the D.F., I felt like it took us almost two hours to get to Tasqueña, the bus station where I was to be picked up. I was so happy to arrive that evening. Not to mention I was starving!

I stayed at Marco´s apartment in Coyoacan, which is a historic neighborhood within the city. The area has a number of really interesting museums, restaurants, shops and a lovely park surrounded by numerous cafes and storefronts. The next day we ventured over to the Anthropology Museum and spent over three hours exploring the different exhibits. The museum is organized according to the various cultural regions in Mexico. We spent a lot of time looking at codices and Olmec ruins. The Olmec region is in Tabasco, which is where my familia Oaxaqueña is from. This is a photo of Marco beside an Olmec sculpture (they have the same shape nose).

The morning before the wedding, we decided to visit Frida Kahlo´s house, which is also located in Coyoacan. Her home houses a museum now and you can see a number of her paintings and belongings. There is a large garden area in back (pictured here). The museum is amazing and I highly recommend visiting if you ever have a chance to go to Mexico. It was really interesting to see the work she completed right before she died.

Around noon on Saturday, we drove up to the north side of the city for the wedding. The ceremony and reception took place in a garden just a few miles outside of the D.F. We left three hours early for the wedding because we thought we would have enough time to change prior to the ceremony. Traffic was really heavy that day and it took us all of that time to reach the location. So we ended up changing in the tiny bathroom of the ceremony site, which was rather comical because we rushed about only to find we were the first guests to arrive. About an hour after the wedding was supposed to start, guests began to filter in. The wedding party arrived all at once and the civil ceremony, which was very short, was followed by an elaborate celebration that involved the consumption of large quantities of mezcal and a LOT of dancing. Part of the groom´s family is from the Isthmus (a region south of Oaxaca). Traditionally women from the Isthmus wear very ornate wedding garb with ribbons in their hair. Pictured here is one of the cousins performing a traditional dance in which candy is thrown into the crowds. The dance serves as a means to wish the couple well, to ensure they have a sweet future together. They also perform a snake dance in which everyone participates and forms a huge congo line which is led by the newlyweds. The festivities lasted until two or three in the morning. I returned home on a bus the next day with 40 of Rachael´s nearest and dearest family members and friends, most of whom I got to know very well during our 8 hour drive.

Being a part of a family has given me the opportunity to do a lot of things I would not have had a chance to see or do otherwise. Witnessing a Mexican wedding ceremony and reception was quite an experience. Celebrations are strongly valued here and people enjoy having any excuse to throw a party or festival. To the left is a picture of Marco and me after we´d been dancing for what felt like hours. You can tell we were both kind of tired. After the wedding I retired my dancing shoes for about a week.