The Weavers of Teotitlan del Valle
by Mildred Boyd
In the hours before dawn the village nestled in the valley only 26 kilometers from the city of Oaxaca is deceptively quiet. As soon as there is enough light to distinguish colors, however, the rhythmic clatter of the old fashioned looms starts. First one, then another and another, until the air vibrates to what is, essentially, the very heartbeat of Teotitlan Del Valle, for this is no ordinary sleepy Mexican village. It was founded by the Zapotecs more than 8,000 years ago and has always been a center for arts and crafts. Today, it has a population of less than 5,000, but 150 of its families own looms and some 600 people are directly, and hundreds of others indirectly, involved in producing the textiles for which it is justly famous.
As the day grows older, the tour buses start to arrive and, though there is large cooperative market displaying a collection of the rugs and wall hangings, the more avid collectors prefer to visit the family homes to see the work in progress. True connoisseurs head for the workrooms of those who still work in the old ways, carding and grooming the raw wool, processing their own natural dyes from raw materials and dying the skeins of yarn before ever sitting down to the loom.