Mexican Zapotec rugs, blankets and weaving history - page 1 of 3

A truly informed understanding of Zapotec textile production begins with knowledge of its history. According to local legend, the Zapotec, Ben'i rini dich za'a, wandered into the Valley of Oaxaca long ago following a constellation of stars, which pointed to a rock outcrop. Modern day Teotitlán lies directly below this rocky crag, which the inhabitants of Teotitlán still refer to as ‘brother rock’. The name of Teotitlán in Zapotec means ‘at the foot of the rock’.

Archaeologists believe this area of the Valley of Oaxaca was settled more than 2500 years ago; however, the archaeological record doesn't tell us very much about pre-Hispanic textile production. Archaeologists excavating in a cave near Mitla found fragments of a cotton textile and ceramic spindle whorls are present in the archaeological record, but little else remains. In short, except that cotton was spun into yarn using the drop spindle technique, a technique common to Native American groups throughout the Americas, we know very little about how textiles were made during this period. Consequently, claims that the techniques of Zapotec textile production have changed little over the centuries simply cannot be substantiated.

Our first concrete and reliable information about Zapotec textile production comes from the period of the Spanish conquest. The Spanish conquistadors arrived in the Valley of Oaxaca in the early 1520s, and Aztec tribute lists from just prior to their arrival, indicate that the area around Teotitlán, Santa Ana, and San Miguel supplied large quantities of cotton textiles to the Aztec Empire as tribute. It was common for the Aztec to take tribute in products locally produced, and as a consequence, it seems highly likely that the towns in the Valley of Oaxaca near Teotitlán were involved in textile production. Paying tribute in the form of cotton textiles, however, was quite common in pre-Hispanic Mexico and therefore, this area was not unusual in this respect.

Since the local environment is not suited to growing cotton, the Zapotec of Teotitlán and other nearby villages, in all probability, bartered for raw cotton brought to market in the Oaxaca Valley from coastal regions such as the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Just as during the pre-Hispanic period they did not cultivate cotton, today Zapotec weavers do not own large numbers of sheep. Contrary to popular conception and following a centuries' old tradition of bartering for cotton at market, for at least the last 400 years Zapotec weavers have bartered for or purchased wool and sometimes yarn rather than raising their own sheep and spinning yarn themselves. While as recently as 30 years ago they did purchase raw wool in the markets at Tlacolula, Ocotlan, and Oaxaca City, and spin it into yarn, they have also long bought wool spun in other communities at the same markets. In fact, Chichicapa, a small village hidden away in the mountains between Ocotlan and Tlacolula, has long been a producer of fine woolen yarns, which today are still sold at Sunday market in Tlacolula and at Friday market in Ocotlan. The current practice of purchasing woolen yarn is therefore not a deteriorating, inauthentic practice. It is a practice that has developed more recently but which has its origin in pre-Hispanic patterns of exchange and textile production. That the Zapotec do not spin the majority of the yarn they use, is therefore not something to be hidden from prospective textile buyers, but something to be celebrated and understood in its proper context, as a centuries' old tradition of exchange of goods in open air markets.

• Mexican rugs, Zapotec rugs
• Mexican Zapotec history
• Monte Albán
• Mexican Zapotec weaving

Mexican Zapotec rugs blankets weaving history - page 2

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