Handicrafts markets in major towns-

Oaxaca City and Puebla, Mexico City and Guadalajara all have major handicrafts markets, I often bought from these wholesalers for our export business. They would gather some exceptional textile pieces for me as a gift or for purchase. These markets serve a large area of indigenous peoples and many of the owners of the stalls became my friend and would tip me off about certain villages. At that time and still to today they serve as conduits from the village producers of textiles. The unfortunate side of the market vendors is that they often pay so little for the good that the overall quality goes down. However they serve the purpose of maintaining in a visual way the goods available in the region. Some times it is very important to pay great attention to the small vendors who might have roots in certain villages were other indigenous groups gather on market day. It is a two tiered type of delivery system, the remote village brings their good to the market town and in the market town the wholesaler purchases the costumes and then brings them to the city handicraft markets.

Research using books and reference materials

Mexican Indian Costumes by the Cordreys has been my bible for collecting. These fantastic couple travel Mexico for over 30 years, when travel was not so easy and establish a collection of textiles and masks. They are my idols and have inspired my search for the remote and hard to find. While they collected it is understandable to me that occasionally bit of is information slipped into their collection. I have heard other collectors comment on this but vast majority of their work is inspirational and is a major preservation effort. There are other who have by their works contributed greatly to the understanding of Mexican Indigenous textiles , Chole Sayer’s books on Costumes, patterns and Handicrafts have been wonderful guides and have lead me to some very interesting places. There are also publications by various cultural organizations whose motivation is to present indigenous issues to the Mexican public or to commercialize the works of certain groups. These magazines are periodic and often go out of business and therefore are hard to find.

There a number of states that publish books about handicrafts and these books are useful, I have one for Michoacan, the State of Mexico and the Sierra of Puebla they are all great resources. Recently some state have made the effort to have web sites. They often might mention in passing tradition dress but do mention handicrafts, Vera Cruz is a good example, while the state of Hidalgo leaves one with the impression that there are no indigenous people in the state.

Cultural events and museums- The Serifin Textiles Museum and the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City are excellent places to get an orientation about textiles. The Museo Serif in has around 4000 pieces, there typical exhibits are always top notch. The second floor of the National Museum of anthropology is dedicated to the contemporary indigenous communities and is the BEST source for a over view of that world. It is hard, because the first floor of the museum easily can take a day to cover thoroughly which is dedicated to the ancient cultures.

The Museo de Artes Populares in Coyoacan often has exhibits related to textiles and indigenous peoples; it is located a half block of off the square. Both the Museum of Anthropology and Museo de Arte Popular have excellent libraries of books about pre Hispanic and contemporary culture.

National Institute for Indigenous peoples – The National Institute is an enigma, a governmental organization in charge of helping the Indian in Mexico, but few of the employees have ever been to an Indian village. They were a positive part of the negotiation between the Zapatista in Chiappas and the government. The have a small book store with some interesting material. They also have a library that with some difficulty can be accessed. Their web site www.ini.gob is only in Spanish but has recently been up graded and has lots of interesting material. They have a list of all the indigenous groups in Mexico and their location and other anthropological information.

Census – Some years ago I came upon a Census from 1950 with every state and district in Mexico and the percentage of indigenous language speakers with maps showing the towns of the districts and the town. It was my main resource, since uncorrupted information about Indian population is very hard to find in Mexico. According to the Mexican government 10% of the population is indigenous according to the CIA fact book the number is closer to 30%. Although I don’t like it, I believe the CIA. At a recent conference on Indigenous human rights in Jan. 2001, every group that presented complained about the accuracy of the census. However by using this census I have planned many trips based on the information, figuring that at least there would be some grandmothers who would still have costumes in use.

Maps -– Maps about Mexico interior are generally more like guides than maps. When traveling in the back country I usually ask the locals and then average the answers for accuracy. There is also a governmental organization call Institute Nacional de Estatistica Geografica e Informacion, they have a small store in the Mexico city airport. I have found that the maps they sell to be decent however since road building is at a frenzied rate they are quickly out of date. In addition I have found them to be incomplete; many roads are not registered since only a small percent of the people would ever go there. One thing I have done in the past is look for older topographical maps that show roads and then look for areas that have no roads. Why- that is simple! Since Mexico’s Indigenous populations are at the bottom rung of society they got the roads last. Using this technique just recently, I found Coyomeapan and Cuatla in the state of Puebla. See Nauha of Puebla page. On a recent trip mentioned above after finally finding someone in Coyomeapan that had a costume to sell and I explained about my interest in other textiles the woman told my of Cuatla and then gesturing toward an area with only basic road told me that behind that mountain people still wore the types of blouses they used in Coyomeapan. It is hard to imagine something that would get my curiosity going more than that comments. After about an hour I did find Cuatla and bought a costume there also.

Word of mouth- Here is how this works – On a recent trip to the market town of xxxxxxxx on the edge of the market we found a woman selling quechquemitls and wonderful woven belts. She told me where her village was located( well sort of). We broke out the map and then went to the village, it had lots going on, after finding a family we spent time talking and bought a few pieces. By the way buying something changes the relationship and I often buy things that I don’t need just to change the relationship. Well, after that exchange they permitted me to take their pictures and broke out lots of different textiles but most importantly they told me about San Gregorio. San Gregorio is not in any book that I have ever seen, using their direction we found the village and purchased one of the most beautiful belts I have ever found. Many times in my conversations with vendors in markets or in social situation people will mention villages or towns that have handicrafts or textiles, it is important to wrigt this down.

Markets /Third class bus stations– Mexico’s state are organized by districts , they are like counties, often the district capital has a tianguis or market at least once a week. These markets by them selves are just so interesting and expose a great deal about the local area and about it’s people. Often the local indigenous population comes to these markets in pick up trucks or third class buses. By hanging around the third class bus stations I have found lots of towns that have interesting costumes.
A number of years ago in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca , a woman with the most amazing costume walked right by me. As she made her rounds in the market I stayed a respectful distance behind her, finally she stopped and sat on the steps of my hotel. That meant she was in my territory, I approached her however she didn't’t speak Spanish only Mixteca. Soon her father in law came along and explained that she was from El Porvenir Tijaltepec. On a future trip I was finally able to get there but requires a interpreter and a visit to an even more remote town market.

Handicrafts collectives – All over Mexico’s indigenous areas there are handicraft collectives , list of them some times can be found and often at one they will know of another. Please remember that these organizations are intended to help the handicrafts person earn a better living than what they can get by selling to the mestizo wholesalers. I always try to find them and but from them. These groups come and go without other knowing that they no longer exist. It is still good information because even if the Handicrafts Union disappears the artisans are still there. A great example of this type of union is in Santa Thomas Jalieza districto de Ocotlan Oaxaca. They have been able to make a living by joining together in form of price fixing where the belts cost the same from everyone in the village.

Festivals- – Festivals in Mexico have a variety of characteristics , above all religious the civic and political. Most festivals where traditional costumes are worn are religious in character many Indian towns celebrate their Saints with colorful processions and different events that can last many days. It seems that there are festivals going on somewhere in Mexico almost every day. The religious festivals in the indigenous villages are an important cultural event and local costumes are often worn.

There are also events such as the Guelegetza in Oaxaca and the Atlixcayotl festival in Atlixco Puebla o the Coastal dance festival in Oaxaca. There are many others that bring to life indigenous costume and customs. There are a rich source for collecting, in the Guelegetza , distinct villages are nominated to represent their ethnic group.

Grandma- – In all villages and towns and markets the oldest generation is usually still wearing costume and traditional dress. In the village of San Jose Miahuatlan in Puebla I spent some time in the weekly plaza after about 2 hours a grandmother appear in what I believe to be an extinct costume. She was the only example that I have ever seen. It is often fruitful to start asking because these wonderful women are very conscious of the loss of their cultural identity and costume.

Observation Nothing works like observation and curiosity and passion , on many trips that were planned as 3 week vacation my itinerary often changed as opportunities presented themselves.

CDI - Commision for the developmnt od Indigenous people www.cdi.gob.mx is the national organization responsible for developemnt and cultural preservation. the web site they maintain has many helpful items that I use to locate and document indigenous peoples.