Woman Weaver Warriors and The Backstrap Loom

The backstrap loom is a pre-hispanic instrument used by women to weave textiles. Connected to the roots of the past this loom has a lot of cognition in codices and has become a big symbol of woman power and femininity. This tradition is still alive in various small towns in Oaxaca. It is one of the most culturally and environmentally diverse states in Mexico. Sixteen indigenous groups reside and more than 100 living languages are recognized.  

The loom is conformed of two groups of thread, the warp vertical threads that determines the length. The second is the weft; the horizontal threads intersecting the warp determines the width. The ends of the warp must be tied to two pieces of wood or sticks which will support the fabric. These wood parts of the loom are carved out by the men. The upper part of the loom must be tied to a fixed point like a tree or a pole (in ancient times it had to be a specific type of tree). The lower end is supported by a mechapal that is taught by the waist of the weaver to tighten the loom. In many cultures the upper crossbeam of the loom is called the “beam of heaven,” the bottom represents the earth as if in between the woman is weaving the world into creation. The mechanism of this loom permits the weaver to take it anywhere, the practicality of this loom brings great liberty to work wherever she is. 

When a girl is born a miniature rolled up loom is tied to her crib. Later on that same little loom becomes their beginning interactions with weaving while playing. As they grow their loom accompanies them through life, a life of dedication to their craft. When they die they are buried with the various parts conforming their looms. 

Most myths around weaving are of one specific part of the loom, the tzotzopaztli, el machete, the sword, used to tighten up the threads. It is made of hard tropical wood, the process of carving this tool has a ritual of asking the tree for permission in carving this from their branches. 

The tzotzopaztli is easily depicted in ancient codice. As seen in the following images, various representations of distinc goddesses holding a tzotzopaztli.  

Xochiquetzal

This representation of the goddess Xochiquetzal is holding a shield and arrows and a turquoise tzotzopaztli while sitting on a reptile. Some specialists suggest that this representation contains a caracol purpura and cactus (grana cochinilla) representing the rituals associated with the extraccion of two of the main natural dyes of Mesoamierca.

Chalchiuhtlicue

The Goddess of water, of rivers and lagoons.  She is carrying a shield and arrows, in her hands a bud of cotton and a tzotzopaztli. She is standing with a waterfall at her feet with a woman and a man flowing from it, in front of them is a basket of fruits. The water is decorated with precious stones and shells accentuating her scaredness.

One of many myths related to woman weaver warrior  

San Pedro Mixtepec, Zapotec community 

Sierra Sur of Oaxaca (Miahuatlán)

The story tells that a group of townspeople from a neighboring town San Pedro Leapi went to commission a silver candle holder for their patron saint, whose celebration was coming up. Once the silver maker was done with the candle holder some people from San Pedro Mixtepec arrived at his shop. The maker asked them, “where are you coming from?” they responded “San Pedro” leaving out Mixtepec. He assumed they were there to pick up the silver candle holder and handed it over to them without a doubt. 

Once the people of San Pedro Leapi found out about the mixup they wanted vengeance. They sent over a snake nagual (nagual is a mythical creature found in al mesoamerican folklore, it is a human with the capacities to transform into an animal) to destroy San Pedro Mixtepec. The creature planted itself on the shallow riverbed that crossed the town, which slowly started overflowing and flooding everything. 

Panicked about what was happening to their town, the peoples of San Pedro mixtepec went to another neighboring town San Mateo del Mar, a town well known for its elders wisdom on naguales. They asked the eldest woman of the town how they could defeat this monstrous nagual and save their town. She referred them to another town San Tomás Quierí where they met a woman mdzit, a comet nagual. After talking about their problems for a while, she agreed to help them but told them to go back to their town and wait while she recuperated after giving birth. 

A few weeks later, the comet nagual woman arrived in San Pedro Mixtepec ready to help them defeat the snake nagual. She asked all the weavers of the town to throw their looms and all textiles into the river, so she could use them as weapons. There was one warning that if she won the battle white foam would appear throughout the water, but if she was defeated it would be red foam. Once the battle initiated there was a big thunder, time stood still and the battle was over Comet Nagual  split the Snake Nagual in two with el Machete. 

Andean Backstrap Loom (TRCO 2.52)

Patacancha, Peru

This backstrap loom was used and belonged to Andean weaver Sabrina Medina Diaz, from the village of Patacancha, a Quechua community in the region of Cusco in the highlands of Peru. 

La Faja 

Long and narrow woven rectangle with three blue/green tassels on both ends. The base of the weave is red and white and mostly covered with colorful geometric motifs, mostly diamonds within diamonds.  Sporadically there are bird-like figures with long beaks. The backside is solid red with white lines that outline the long rectangle. 

This piece is a faja (belt). Fajas are used to hold up the enredos (skirts). This one being so colorful and with tassels suggests of being used in special occasions/ceremonies. (Everyday ones are usually very simple in design). 

Tassels give volume to the piece, they have no function apart from being decorative. They are fairly simple to make. 

Signs of being worn are very evident in some places of the Faja but definitely not on a daily basis. 

These images were taken with the Dinolite  at 200X magnification to see the deterioration of the fibers. 

This close observation allows the visibility of fundamental information to the objects: their weave structure, the material, and their condition. The image above shows that this was made  in plain weave and embroidery using cotton and a synthetic filament.

The backside of a textile tells us so much about how it was made. The finishing touches and details.

Closely looking at this Faja, from its macro to micro level––  from the context of the tool which was used to make–– has pointed at so many possibilities of symbols related to women, the weaver warrior throughout time. This research has initiated a longer road of investigation of how it was used and by whom. It is not the end of the blog post, it's only the beginning.