Oaxaca’s Zapotec Weavers and the Rhythm We Lost

Inside Taller Primavera, a traditional weaving studio in Teotitlán del Valle, Mexico.

Our car groaned with effort as it pulled up a steep hill, tires crunching on loose gravel.

Through the passenger window, the surrounding landscape unfolded in rolling frames: blue mountain silhouettes, agave fields, cacti and wildflowers emerging from the cracked earth. Faded signs clung to the roadside, their colors worn and peeling in the sun.

The car rolled to a stop on the side of the road with a sigh. We had arrived on the doorstep of Taller Primavera, a traditional weaving studio hidden away in the unmarked backstreets of Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca.

Teotitlán is a humble town nestled into the arid hills that surround Oaxaca City. Despite its modest size, it is well known throughout Mexico and beyond for its textile and natural dyeing traditions. It was easy to see why– nearly every residential home we had passed on our drive seemed to double as a weaving workshop. Families hung their elaborately designed handmade rugs from adobe walls and red-brick arches like flags.

We knocked at the studio’s door and waited in the still afternoon heat as muffled footsteps drew closer from within. A moment later, the Contreras García family were greeting us in to their space with a cascade of handshakes and warm introductions.

Soft light filtered across the room inside. A half-finished rug stretched across the frame of a wooden loom, its geometric patterns illuminated by rays of sunlight.

Like most of Teotitlán del Valle, the Contreras Garcías are Zapotecs– the Indigenous people who have called Oaxaca home for more than 2,500 years. Teotitlán is among the oldest Zapotec settlements in the region, and, as in so many other towns throughout the Oaxaca Valley, the strength of its Zapotec heritage still shines brightly.

The vibrant Zapotec weaving traditions at the heart of Teotitlán’s identity long predate Spanish colonization. Since as early as 500 B.C., skilled Zapotec weavers traded their textiles throughout ancient Latin America. Much of the original technique is still intact today, including the symbolic geometric designs used, spinning the yarn by hand, and sourcing natural dyes from local plants, minerals, and insects. Each step requires knowledge, skill, and time.

We gathered around as Aquilina García adjusted her apron and knelt before a metate, the traditional stone mortar used for grinding maize, seeds, and — in this case — dried bugs.

Cochineal, a red dye produced from the bodies of insects that live on the paddles of the nopal cactus, is one of the most popular and culturally significant natural pigments used in Mexico. Like all of the dyes used in their workshop, its production is a labor of love.

Aquilina placed a small handful of dried cochineal onto the concave surface of her metate and set about rhythmically grinding the insects into a fine, vibrant red powder using a mano, or pestle. Finished spools of wool dyed in luminous hues of cochineal, marigold, and indigo hung on the wall behind her as she worked.

I watched on in wonder as her hands moved in a swift, intuitive rhythm. There were no shortcuts– each motion was deliberate, unhurried, and without compromise.

Aquilina grinds cochineal using a traditional mecate.

Flourishing artisan practices are the centerpiece of Oaxacan culture. The region’s traditional crafts– weaving, ceramics, woodcarving, and much more — have been lovingly maintained and passed down across generations in all their slow, intentional beauty.

The same is true of the region’s culinary scene: one never has to walk far in Oaxaca City to find women hand-shaping tortillas and cooking them on clay comal griddles, for instance. Food is an art form like any other, and the process is as much a part of the experience as the final product.

These traditions aren’t kept alive purely for nostalgia’s sake. Of course, there is intrinsic value in protecting local practices when it comes to cultural identity and expression. But there is also a much deeper message at play in the deliberate act of making something by hand, despite the availability of faster, industrialized alternatives.

Traditional, artisanal ways of making push back against industrialized production systems — those that prioritize speed and uniformity over craftsmanship. Anyone who has visited Oaxaca City knows that while it shares many characteristics with other urban centers, the strength of its artisan presence gives the city a unique flavor. Local culture models a slower pace of creating and consuming, often prioritizing practices that honor land, labor, and ancestral wisdom.

Read the full story, published December 5 2024, on A-Culturated.