Two Villages -Part 1

On Monday we took a little road trip to two villages in the hills surrounding San Cristobal. This region is home to many indigenous groups. they speak four different languages, and many do not speak Spanish. Each group dresses in a unique style and creates textiles accordingly. They have some affiliation with either Catholic or evangelical Christianity, but it takes a unique format where mysticism, shamanic healing, and indigenous forms of worship are practiced inside the churches. All day we were in these villages, but with a few exceptions were not allowed to photograph anything because of a deeply held belief that taking a photograph steals a piece of the spirit of the person/building/animal/tree/street. So my photos today reflect that.


Our first stop was San Andres, where we walked up this street for several blocks to visit the home of a family of weavers. (Illegal photo).


The weavers make their own natural dyes from a variety of plants they demonstrated. They use a blackstrap loom, meaning that the weaver has a tight harness around her back to keep the loom taut.


They make a variety of textiles such as the gorgeous ones shown here, and the ones they are wearing.


Here is a dye pot producing purple yarn.


Daniella and Judy soaked it in.


This is Carol Karasik, our guide for the day, and author of a well-known book in the textiles of Chiapas. All these photos taken with permission!


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Location:Calle Real de Guadalupe,San Cristóbal de las Casas,Mexico