Zapotec Mexican rugs, blankets, weavings
Mexican Zapotec Native American Indian history - page 5 of 7

The Zapotec and Mixtec elite of prehispanic times shared many customs and beliefs, and it is likely they may have shared more in common with other Mesoamerican elites than with the bulk of Zapotec common people. The Spaniards documented Zapotec society as it functioned at the time of European arrival in Tzapotecapan, meaning Zapotec Territory, in the Aztec language. Spanish chronicles tell of a specialized and stratified society, with a class of political leaders, priesthood and commoners. No intermarriage occurred between the governing nobility and the common folk. The common people, farmers and artisans, paid tribute to the nobility. Nobility lived in magnificent ceremonial centers and managed affairs of state, cultivated the knowledge of the sacred cycles of nature, communed with the gods, and conducted warfare. While commoners could attain great wealth, they could not acquire noble status, nor eat certain foods, nor use clothing and ornaments that were reserved for nobility.

There are currently 422,937 speakers of some Zapotec language, which is the minimum criterion used to establish the population of Zapotecs, according to statistics compiled by the Mexican government. Even though the majority of these people reside in their native state of Oaxaca, an important nucleus of Zapotecs also lives in both the Mexican capital Mexico City and in Los Angeles, California. In their home state, Zapotecs live throughout the central valleys, the eastern and southern mountain ranges, the Pacific coast and in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

As in ancient times, the majority of today's Zapotecs lead a subsistence lifestyle, producing a number of craft items, principally textiles, Zapotec rugs and pottery. Prehispanic marketing cycles are alive and well, and can be seen at the mercantile exchanges Zapotecs continue to organize at major regional market centers throughout the state, on a weekly rotating schedule. At such markets one can find Zapotec rugs, tropical products, seafood, the toasted ‘traveling tortilla’, totopo, from the isthmus, pottery and woven wraps from the central valley, sandals and coffee from the heights of the Northern Sierra, and the full assortment of products resulting from Zapotec specialization and effort. A great majority of today's Zapotecs are bilingual, speaking their mother tongue and Spanish, but the Zapotec language is prevalent in such market settings. The majority of the monolingual Zapotec population is women, and the lack of literacy is three times greater among Zapotecs than among the general Mexican population. Even though Oaxaca is the most "Indian" state of modern Mexico, racism thrives and markedly limits the health, quality of life and potential of hundreds of thousands of Zapotec, whose hard work and ambition is often not wanted for any more than traditional menial tasks. As a result, there is a high rate of out-migration among the native population of the state, primarily to Mexico City and Los Angeles, California. This has created sociocultural vacuums and distortions in the rural communities of Oaxaca, and the need among Zapotecs to develop skills to cope with new and unfamiliar challenges and pursue their livelihood. Even though Zapotecs have been a disenfranchised people, they include are a growing number of professionals; physicians, engineers and professors. Some of the Zapotec have assimilated without a trace, in order to escape the limited future available to today's Mexican Indian. It is an understandable trade-off, although tragic in the context of legacy more than 3 millennia in the making. A few Zapotecs struggle on behalf of the rights of their people, both in their native Oaxaca and in the new environs where their needs have taken them.

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Mexican Zapotec Native American Indian history - page 6

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