If you were one of the hundreds of visitors to the Chili Cookoff in Ajijic you may have noticed a booth displaying some fine examples of woolen rugs made by Zapotec people from the state of Oaxaca. Additionally, you may have seen these rugs on sale at the Goddess Collection, Calle 16 de Septiembre 30, Ajijic. Several members of one family made the long trek to Jalisco to offer their traditional hand-woven products to the Lakeside community. In the following interview with Cat Gonzalez, brothers Raul, Federico and Jose Chavez Sosa and Raul's wife, Beatrice Bautista, talk about their craft and life in the community of Teotitlan del Valle, Oaxaca.
How do you feel about being asked to make non-traditional designs, such as the "Navajo" rugs sold in Taos and Santa Fe, New Mexico and woven in Teotitlan del Valle?
Raul: My mission is to rescue the old designs. If we don't weave them, they'll die out. I mean motifs like the stepped fret from Mitla and the Greek key, a series of interlocking rectangles. And pyramids, of course, because Oaxaca has so many ruins. Also gods, diamonds, corn goddesses, mountains and rain.
Do you tire of making the same motifs?
Raul: No, because it's always interesting to combine the colors in a different way, and place certain motifs together. Each rug is different. I never make the same one twice.
But do you sometimes make rugs to order that are not strictly Zapotec?
Raul: The market dictates. If my family needs to eat and someone wants a dozen Navajo rugs, we'll make them. Or Picasso fish, another good seller. But it makes me sad.
How many people in Teotitlan weave?
Beatrice: About 95 percent of the population. Children start by tying off the ends of rugs and then at age 10 or 11 make their first rugs.
When did weaving begin in Teotitlan?
Beatrice: About 500 years ago, I think.
Tell me a little about the process of making rugs. For instance, I can feel the lanolin in the wool when I rub these between my fingers.
Jose: Yes, that's because after the wool is carded and tied in hanks we take it to the river and hit it with rocks to soften the lanolin. We don't wash it with soap, we wash it with the root amole. Everyone in the family works at it.
Beatrice: It's rare to find a person who doesn't know how to card wool. The children help take out debris from the raw wool, and also card it.
Where does the wool come from?
Beatrice: Tlajolula, a nearby village with a big tianguis (outdoor market). In olden times we sold rugs only in [the state of] Oaxaca. In the winter people went over the mountains to pueblos who needed them, and traded them for black potter or other things or for money. But we didn't sell to outsiders.
Was this in your lifetime?
Beatrice: No. My 95-year-old great-grandmother told me.
Zapotecs live to be very old. What is their secret?
Beatrice: To sleep on a petate and a rug, walk far into the hills to collect lichens and mosses and the cocchinea, which can only be harvested in August.
Can't you gather these insects at other times of year?
Federico: Yes, but they don't make a good red color if you collect them at other times. I have colors that no one else knows how to make, because the wool is put in different dye baths to get the color I want. Sometimes it is a combination of four different plants.
Do they color fast?
Federico: Yes. To set the dye, they are put in a second solution. They can be washed with the same soap you would use to clean a fine sweater. Aniline dyes fade in the sun. Natural dyes persist forever. Look in museums and you'll see Zapotec rugs more than 100 years old and they're still vivid.
What are some of the designs you saw as a child and don't see any more?
Jose: Animals, like the tigrillo.
What's that? There aren't tigers in the mountains, are there?
Jose: No, it's smaller than a tiger and spotted like a Dalmatian. Also there were designs of the eagle, the aguila de Atzlan.
I see Oaxaca changing -- cyber cafes in the capital and huge crowds in July for the Guelaguetza. Do you think your children will retain Zapotec values?
Raul: Their moral values won't change. To honor those around you, for example.
Everyone? Not just one's elders?
Jose: Yes, every person. Traditional values won't die out. I teach my children to cook Zapotec foods with chipotle chili and to make special tortillas which really taste of corn.
Raul: I teach my children moral courage ... to have a sense of self-worth no matter what the world says. Many people have more money, but money doesn't make an honorable person. Think of the great civilizations and temples we built!
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