High up in the mountains, beyond the cobblestones and the caldos of San Cristobal de las Casas, are some of the best textile villages Southern Mexico has to offer; Magdalenas Aldama, San Andreas Larrainzar, Chamula, Zinocantan to name a few.
In fact, there are over 16 Mayan tribal villages in the mountain ‘hood, each producing unique, hand-woven, embroidered or handmade textiles that you will not find elsewhere.
Here are my top 3:
1. Chamula
This Mayan village is one of the closest to San Cristobal de Las Casas (only 11 kms away), the easiest to get to and home to the mystical St Juan Buatista Church.
This village is renowned for it’s ceremonial textiles: black, white and brown wilder-beast style garments that have been hand-woven on back-strap looms.
These traditional costumes are worn for ceremonies and official engagements and take a skilled artisana many months to make.
Wander around Chamula and you may be lucky to spot male Church officials and chiefs ‘rocking’ the furry tunic tops (the longer and shaggier the wool, the higher the status of the official) or female elders wearing full-length skirts and shawls.
The best day to visit Chamula is Sunday.
It’s market day and textiles a-plenty.
Snap up modern and traditional village embroidered satin blouses in jewel-toned hues, hand woven bags, decorative belts plus more amber and live chickens than you can poke a stick at.
Chamula is renowned for it’s Church: traditional Mayan religion meets 15th century Spanish Catholicism.
Pass through the aqua arches of St. Juan and prepare yourself for a spiritual encounter, unlike any other.
Inside, thousands of candles illuminate the pine-needle strewn floor, religious saints stare down at you from their glass coffins on the walls (I counted 52), and local families, church officials, priests and shamans gather amongst the heady clouds of copal for prayer, pox (posh), dance, healing and sacrifice.
This experience will blow your mind for years to come and make you look at Coca Cola and the chickens from the nearby market in a new way.
Allow yourself a half a day to fully soak up this experience.
Pro-Tip: Leave your camera at home and commit the experience to your mind instead. Taking photos from inside the Church or of Church officials is a serious offence and could land you in the lock-up. Also, most Mayan people do not like having their photos taken (they believe it steals the soul).
2. Magdalenas Aldama
Next stop on the list.
Located 32kms outside of San Cristobal de Las Casas, some say this region produces the most beautiful textiles in the highlands. I agree.
Wander the vertiginous streets and you will encounter a Mayan catwalk calle of intricately woven huilpils (pronuched weepils) in candy-coloured hues.
The older ladies of this village honour tradition and wear the woven rose-pink huipil adorned with multiple strands of agave-strung beads.
Younger women, defy tradition in favour of a more modern look.
Their huilpils are sun-bleached white and feature decorative neck-lines and sleeves in vivid indigo or purple, embedded with their secret handwriting: emblems and symbols they weave into the cloth.
And speaking of symbols…
The Magdalenas is famous for it’s diamond motifs woven into the huilpils as well as mud brick abodes and the maguey bag, a titanium strength string bag made from the fibres of an agave plant.
The Magdalena ceremonial huilpils, featuring the famed diamond motif, are positively stunning, taking a skilled artisana up to 2 or more years to make.
If you stumble upon one, snap it up.
I don’t have many regrets in life, except the day I ran out of pesos, and was unable to buy one.
Note – ceremonial huilpils do not come cheap (and please don’t bargain…more on that later), but a textile to treasure and bring pleasure for years to come.
Even better, your purchase will go towards supporting a family for at least a year.
Textiles are not the only thing on offer in the Magdalenas.
Like most Mexican towns, the Magdalenas likes to party, Mayan style. Festivals and fireworks are synonymous with celebration. Especially during daylight hours. During a recent visit I hit 'festival paydirt' and 'real dirt' as I ducked for cover from the overhead explosions.
Keep your eyes peeled for the local Chiefs and officials wearing white skirts, rainbow ribbon hats and maguey bags slung across their shoulders. I was fortunate enough to see fifteen or more men dressed in traditional costume, wielding white staffs and walking hypnotically around in a circle chanting.
Magical.
Mesmerising.
And better than the Da Vinci Code.
That is the Magdalenas.
3. Amatenango del Valle
Not technically a weaving village, this village, only 45 minutes outside of San Cristobal, specialises in clay sculptors, ceramics and machine embroidered textiles as colourful as a confectionery store, and just as sweet.
I fell in love with this village, and the talented Esperanza, who spends long days selling her Shamanic clay creations at a roadside toilet stop.
Like Esperanza, the young ladies in this village wear intricately embroidered blouses topped with mille feuille layers of lacey frills in an assortment of lolly-pop hues: aqua, lime green, sunshine yellow and sky blue.
The older women wear a more a modest ensemble – a traditional headscarf, checkered shawls in muddied tones or bright bumble-bee yellow and scarlet striped blouses with ribbon-edged black midi skirts.
Artisanas here are also dab hands crafting aprons in a dizzying array of colours. Like a modern Mexican Martha Stewart, they wear them over their blouses.
And now, so do I.
HOW TO GET THERE
Make San Cristobal De Las Casas, a Pueblo Magico (magical town) your base.
Allow a half a day to a full day per village visit.
Seek out a guide who speaks Spanish, who knows the villages and speaks one of the Mayan languages.
Sherri Brautigam, author of ‘Mexican Textiles’, endorses Cesar, who you can meet ad hoc at the main Cross near the Cathedral in downtown San Cristobal at 9.30am most days.
I have met Sherri, and endorse her endorsements.
If you are feeling brave and are confident with your Spanish, you can taxi your way out to one of the villages or find a collectivo bus in town (ask a local), a super cheap option. The downside is you will need to make your way back somehow and you will not get the insights an experienced guide can offer.
My favourite way to experience the village is to go on a textile tour and recommend Norma Schafer’s Cultural Immersions.
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