MY LITTLE BIRDS

I’ve been quilt journaling since 2008. My 40+ collection of 8 ½ x 11 inch tiny quilts represent my hearty participation in this wonderful group of creative quilters who have signed on to share their quilt stories with each other. Early on in this journey, we had up to 13 members in our “Cybre Fibres” group, but slowly it became clear that for some of these women, their intention was greater than their abilty to produce. This past December we all made it known to what degree we were committed, and now we are down to eight. Our initial system was set to cycle through the list of women who would present a quilt journal theme for the month, and the circle would go round and round. With each completed quilt journal, we would send them, via internet, to the collective group with the story of their construction or of their inspiration (or maybe even both!). We now have changed this to each of us coming up with a theme for the YEAR (8 themes per year), and perhaps expanding on one or two of these themes.

With our Cyber Fibre changes, we quickly came up with our individual themes which are now giving us much food for thought. Here they are for 2012: Tree of Life, Light and Shadow, Finding Perfection in Imperfection, Mapping, All That Sparkles, Black Matters, Public Art, and Whirlwinds. Isn’t this a wonderful list?!

On my recent trip to Chiapas, I became familiar with the artist, Kiki Suarez, German-born but now living in San Cristobal. I quickly connected with her work: simple, bright, colorful, lively. www.kikitheartist.com I knew I had found new inspiration for my fabric work.

Birds had been on my mind, and I loved the whimsical birds I found in Kiki’s book. I thought I’d try out a few, and consider them to be a part of “The Tree of Life”.

CHIAPAS - PART TWO

I am back home now and spin-drying the full color memories of my trip to Chiapas. These are guaranteed to be color-fast, not to fade easily.

We were on the go each of our twelve days, either on our own, roaming the streets of San Cristobal de las Casas, or with our guide, Alex(www.cieloytierratours.com), exploring the ruins,

or the villages, or popular “water” spots:  Sumidero Canyon, Agua Azul or El Chiflon.

Since Chiapas provides 35-50% (two different figures I heard…take your pick!) of Mexico’s hydroelectric power, you can imagine how much water there is in this southernmost state of Mexico. Supposedly the rainy season is from May through October, which adds up to big rivers, big waterfalls, BIG water. And with big water comes amazing GREEN, particularly in the lower elevations.

Most amazing were our visits to the indigenous communities. With Alex we felt comfortable, rather than intrusive gringas. Under his direction, we put our cameras away, and tried to respect these villagers' requests to not be "in their faces” with our pushy western ways. San Juan de Chamula was the most unique village and certainly the strongest in their desire to retain their culture.

They have created their own religion (within the structure of the Catholic Church) and use this building as a gathering place for worshipping in their own way. The priests have been kicked out (except for baptisms) and it is common to see healers of all types at work, along with hundreds of candles burning (different colors for different requests),
pox and coca-cola being consumed (burping up coke is a way to rid oneself of the bad), groups or individuals chatting, all dressed in indigenous clothing that is the norm. As I said before, it was like stepping back in time.

All throughout these Mayan lands (from the Yucatan down to Honduras) there are many ruins of ancient sites. On this trip we visited three: Palenque, Tonina, and Tenam Puente.

To imagine what these sites must have been like 12 or 13 hundred years ago, with their incredible architecture and connection to the planets and the stars, seasons and their mathematical mastery is truly mind-boggling.

Another interesting aspect of this area was the recent revolution of the Zapatistas against the government. We saw two good movies on these revolutionary events that began in 1994, and although there is little that we witnessed on our trip besides signage along the roadsides and souvenirs in the shops, I believe it’s not over yet. The government has been more responsive to the Chiapanecans, but there’s a long way to go for the indigenous people to have their basic needs met.

Our travels in Chiapas once again confirmed that we are living in a truly amazing country with gracious people, fascinating history, and interesting culture. We never felt unsafe, as the northern media would like travelers to question. Go, visit, travel, search and find. All of Mexico is a jewel, waiting to be discovered.

CHIAPAS - PART ONE

I've been in Chiapas for almost a week now. Along with seven girlfriends from my Mexican home in Mazatlan, we arrived last Saturday and have been busy, busy, busy from our very first day. We've had a mix of free exploration throughout the city of San Cristobal de Las Casas and guided tours throughout the surrounding area with our wonderful guide, Alex. (www.cieloytierratours.com) If I could describe my experience so far, I would say I have been a time traveler into the world of Mayan culture and indigenous Mexico. Textiles and traditional dress are everywhere which is quite a  difference from other areas I have traveled in this amazing country.

Each Mayan village has its own distinctive dress. On our first day we traveled with Alex to the village of Tenejapa which was celebrating its annual feast of their patron, San Idelfonso. Men of political and religious status wore ribboned hats and black dresses woven from sheep hair along with various embellishments and accessories that identified their role. We were surprised to find out this dress was their daily attire, not just to be worn on this day of celebration. (These idigenous people do not like their photo taken as they believe it robs their soul so we had to be careful to only capture their dress from the rear.) The women had beautiful ribbons in their hair and wore village blouses and skirts, along with a wide, stiffly woven belt to help give them support in their daily activities of carrying heavy loads of wood, corn, and other items, not to mention children.

While in Tenejapa, we were allowed into their church while they prepared for their procession throughout town that honored San Idelfonso and other regional patrons. We were the only "gringos" there and Alex knew enough of the locals so that we didn't feel unwelcomed at all. It was a social setting with people chatting while they waited for the church officials to prepare the statues of the patron saints to be carried throughout town. Men would come to talk to Alex and the women would gather close by to curiously eavesdrop and watch us. As Alex described the role of the healer to us, the women watched his gestures and nodded, laughed, or whispered among themselves, and as time passed, smiled warmly to us. Once the procession began, the local distilled drink of pox (pronounced poash), carried in bottles by the women, began flowing throughout the crowd, even to us. Men wore a steer-horn vessel and a funnel around their waist that held any pox that they wanted to save until later. We spent about a half hour inside the incense filled church and were happy to follow the procession outdoors, into the fresh air, throughout the town. This was an amazing event that left a strong impression on all of us.

Later that afternoon in San Cristobal, we visited the museum of Dr. Sergio Castro who has devoted his life to serving the indigenous Mayan people in Chiapas. (Of the 5,000,000 people who live in this state, 1.5 are indigenous.) He personally greeted us and led us through his incredible collection of the traditional dress of individual communities, showing us examples of what both men and women still wear to this day. His medical work is renowned and well respected throughout the state and an award winning documentary has been made of the work of this amazing man. (http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?qid=4872)

The following day we traveled to the village of Amantenango where we visited two sisters who create brightly painted pottery.They too wore dress that  is specific to their Mayan village.

Another interesting visit was to Na Bolom (house of the jaguar), the home and center of Frans Blom and Gertrude Duby Blom who devoted their lives and studies to the Chiapas jungle and the Lacondones people who live their. Franz began his connections with this area in the 1920's, while Gertrude came a decade or so later, and they met in the mid 1940's. They too had an amazing collection of artifacts, including many textiles from the area. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na_Bolom)

 Cooperatives from surrounding villages are located throughout San Cristobal. On days when we're not touring with Alex, we make our way through town, visiting these shops that feature the textile work of women from individual villages.

As we wander through the streets of San Cristobal, we are starting to connect the local traditional women to their villages by the dress they wear. (Outside of their local villages, few men wear traditional dress.) We have just touched upon a tiny portion of this amazing state and look forward to six more days in Chiapas.