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

Building upon this pattern, today wool is trucked into Teotitlán and Santa Ana from as far away as the Mexican State of Puebla. Once cleaned and spun into yarn, frequently in Teotitlán's yarn factory, it is either purchased by weavers or distributed to them in Teotitlán, Santa Ana, and San Miguel. From this perspective, something as seemingly out of place as Zapotec weavers purchasing yarn from a wool processing plant supplied with raw wool trucked in from Puebla, is in fact a perfectly natural outgrowth of the historical development of Zapotec textile production.

Zapotec textiles are woolen, weft faced tapestry weavings made by Native Americans from the state of Oaxaca in Southern Mexico. The terminology weft faced tapestry weaving is a technical way of describing the structure of the textiles that they make. It describes a woven made by interlacing two distinct sets of threads, the warp and weft, where the weft threads form the surface of the textile and the textile's design is created by introducing differently colored weft threads.

Zapotec textiles are both an economic livelihood and a means of self-expression for Zapotec weavers. The Zapotec are a Native American people who live in what is currently the State of Oaxaca, Mexico. Oaxaca has one of the largest indigenous populations in Mexico and the Zapotec are one of the most populous of those groups. They are, however, the living descendants of a people that we today recognize as one of the preeminent cultural forces of pre-Hispanic Mexico along with the Olmec, the Maya, and the Aztec. Today the ruins of the cities and towns inhabited by their ancestors are scattered in the fields and on the hilltops that surround many of their communities.

Anthropologists, who have been living among and studying the Zapotec since the 1920s, have traditionally recognized three distinct Zapotec groups. Based on locale, the three groups are: the Isthmus Zapotec, who live on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec near the Chiapas border; the Valley Zapotec, who live in a large valley in the center of the State; and the Sierra Zapotec, who live in the mountains to the North of that valley. Each group is distinct culturally and linguistically and there is a great deal of diversity within the groups. The textiles marketed as Zapotec are made by the Valley Zapotec in the communities of Teotitlán del Valle, Santa Ana del Valle, and San Miguel del Valle.

Teotitlán del Valle, is the largest and most prosperous of these three Zapotec communities currently involved in making Zapotec textiles. Teotitlán was quite literally built on top of pre-Hispanic ruins and many of the houses and public buildings include stonework scavenged from them. All three communities are also quite near several well-known archaeological sites including: Lambityeco, Dainzu, Yagul, and Mitla. Today Teotitlán has a population of about 9000, and two outdoor textile markets. Santa Ana is about 5 kilometers to the east of Teotitlán, has a population of about 2,500; and San Miguel is the smallest of the three communities.

The Zapotec are a modern Native American people living in a modern though rural community. For the Zapotec, weaving is an artistic endeavor, but weaving is also a means of providing for their families in a very uncertain economic universe.

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

Mexican Zapotec rugs blankets weaving history - page 1

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