Village Stay: Be Down with Bii Daüü

The Village Stay Experience as told by :

Allison Keen, Mollie Anctil, Colin Rugg, Vanessa Calu, Gemma Cirignano, Miguel Charters

Flora, Fauna, and Folklore

On Wednesday morning, we woke up at 5:30 and set out for a 4 kilometer hike up the uniquely shaped Mount Pikacho in time for the sunrise. Steeper than we had originally predicted the climb to be, the sunrise hit us when we were two-thirds up the mountainside. This beautiful yellow glow helped power us up the rest of the way. At the top there was a shrine to the Virgin Mary and two crosses (the third had blown away..). The locals that accompanied us had brought flowers to lay at the altar and changed the water of existing flowers. The 360 view from the peek onto the valley below was absolutely worth it. We could see all of Teotitlán and much more! Those of us who are in the arts and sciences track also got a kick out of identifying the many plants along the trail (lots of cactaceae and bromeliaceae).

While the group spent a few hours enjoying the anthemic view of the valley and towns surrounding us, our guide to the mountain willingly shared with us a brief history of the land and people of Teotitlan. He first told us that the view we were taking in had not always been so green but instead was covered with water, glaciers, and ice in the many millennium before us. Due to this people lived higher up in the mountains and much of their religion had been based around the nature of the mountain.. As time went on, the water from this great valley drained into the river that flows through Oaxaca city today and the land became farmable for the people and communities began expanding downwards. For much of history before the Spanish conquistadors invaded the land, the land surrounded Teotitlan, along with Monte Alban, was fought over for the right to farm in these areas. Monte Alban served as a great strategic vantage point for the warring cultures of the Zapoteca and the Mixteca. For much of the history the Zapotecs were in control of this land and this is why the people in village and the surrounding towns speak Zapotec.

Yet, the mountains did not serve the sole purpose of being a militarily strategic viewpoint for the Zapotec during war, it also provided a sense of proximity and closeness to the gods whom the Zapotecs worshipped. Zhan-Woobeesh and Zhan-Bewoo, the Sun god and the moon god, respectively, were the two gods that the Zaoptec often climbed the mountains to worship. The mountain, besides being host to various families in the Zapotec community, the people began burying their dead in the mountains after the Spanish arrived. Our guide mentioned that many people in the community believed that there were many unrested and bad spirits that still lay awake in the mountain that if you were to take a compass on the mountain, it would be forever unbalanced as the spirits of the dead were disrupting the forces of energy on the mountain. Skeptical of this, Lance and Miguel decided to test this theory. Much to their amazement, the compass that we had pulled out from our bag was in fact going crazy. Lance, the skeptic that he is decided that the vast deposits of Iron-ore in the mountainous terrain surrounding us would be enough to disrupt the compass. However, Miguel, much like Agent Fox Mulder of the 1990’s cult classic, X-Files, wanted to believe in the extraordinary forces surrounding us. The main reason that the Zapotec people began burying their beloved ones in the mountains was because they wanted their people to be buried closed to Zhan-Woobeesh and Zhan-Bewoo.

As the Spanish moved in and took control of the land, the culture of the Zapotec was what one could say ‘influenced’ heavily or effectively forever altered. One of the biggest influences of the Spanish that is clearly visible is the big church in the middle of the town. Before the Spanish there was Zapotec temple that was the central point of the city and once the Spanish arrived, they tore down the temple and with the decrepit remains of the temple, a new and empowering church was constructed in the town center. It is still very easy to see the remains of the former temple as a vast majority of the church was built with the rubble of the temple. Due to this reconstruction, and forced adaptation of the beliefs, much of Teotitlan is Catholic. However, there is some integration of Catholic and Zapotec deities. In the town of the Teotitlan, the Virgin Mary was one of the perhaps most renown figures. Our guide mentioned that the people especially liked her since the Virgin of Guadalupe and the Virgin Mary so closely resembled one another. Interesting enough, the question of reclaiming old Zapotec traditions and holidays was brought up and the only real holidays that are observed are the winter and spring solstice. Beside those two nothing else is really practiced. Although the town itself is heavily Catholic, there are still a few subtle Zapotec beliefs that have managed to stand the test of time in the small town of Teotitlan. Although our conversation on the mountain ended up with the conclusion that the Gods of the Zapoteca may have been forgotten, there were still various other parts of the Zapotec culture, such as the food that were still practiced with traditional techniques. Eager to learn more about the food in Teotitlan, the group headed to bottom of the mountain to learn more about the variety of flavors that that filled the morning air.

Food & Frappuchinos

The food was delicious in Teotitlan! Every morning our host mom and us would head off to the market to buy the ingredients from desayuno and comida. She would carefully choose the fresh breads (which were often still warm), vegtables and meats. We would head back to the house, and the cooking would begin. Every day the home would smell of something new and delicious. Each day was a different traditional Zapotec dishes, soup, and more. Plus, the food felt like it was never ending. Our host mom kept offereing more and more. Most of the time, I couldn’t say no because it was so amazing! Not only was the food great, the fresh squeezed juices were amazing as well! Our group often met at the local cafe for some wonderful frappuchinos and to catch up with one another!

Fashioning rugs

Many families in Teotitlán de Valle create tapetes, or rugs, to make a living. Teotitlán is, in fact, best known for these homemade artisanal tapetes. Bii Dauu, the cooperative through which we were given our family home-stay assignments, consists of many different families who individually work to make their products but sell them together in one place. Bii Daü prides itself on using all organic dyes and locally sourced wool. Every UVM student had a completely different experience at their home-stays, so it is important to keep in mind that I can only speak about one experience. It was explained to me by my family, that during Semana Santa, all work must stop by Wednesday. However, on Monday and Tuesday, I had the opportunity to watch the family in action. There were about 7 looms total, each working on a different project. My home-stay sister, Soledad was making about 8 little coin purses. I watched her create the swatches on the loom (and even got to work the loom myself for a little while), cut and tie together the excess strings, sew the sides, and finally, sew on a zipper. It was so incredible watching how fast the family works and how much they love their work. Soledad told me that she doesn’t mind waking up early in the morning because working on the loom makes her really happy. Below are some pictures depicting different steps in the process of making the coin purses.

Families

Families come in all shapes and sizes. Although we all had different experiences with our host families, we can all agree that they were incredibly gracious families. Mollie and Vanessa stayed with the Rafaela and Mariano, owners of the Bii Daüü Cooperative. They got to see the everyday life of this family. They ventured every morning to the market with Rafaela to purchase the day’s food. They watched Mariano weave rugs and learned about the intricate process to create the natural dyes used. The chicas attended the daily processions and sermons at la iglesia during Semana Santa. Other households would share card games and tricks to pasar tiempo with the family. Every afternoon the Bii Daü families would cook a lovely comida to share with us and get to learn from one another the customs of our cultures - we even got to learn some Zapotec phrases! It was humbling to experience the community life and see firsthand the importance of maintaining close relationships with family in their culture.

Festivities

   In terms of festivities, we were able to witness the parades and services given in celebration of semana santa. This began in our first day, when some of us marched with a large procession of the figures of Jesus and the Virgin Mary around the town to ask for donations to help fund the processions for the rest of the week. Part of these donations were in the form of nieves and tamales for the leaders of the procession, as well as for the entirety of the people marching with them. Along with this, we were witness to two other processions, both of which were on Holy Friday, and were separated by a mass and other special church services separate from the typical Sunday church. The morning procession was representative of Jesus meeting with Mary, as the two figures were paraded on different routes and met in the town center for another ceremony. The final procession took place after the afternoon recitation of the “siete palabras” said by Jesus before his crucifixion. After the crucifixion itself was played out on the altar, the figure of Jesus was lowered into an ornate golden coffin which was then processed to the town graveyard, where a service was given to lay him to rest. All of this was very moving, and gave off a real sense of the reverence that the community of Teotitlan del Valle gives to their religion, especially on semana santa when we were there.