Bigidî: butterfly of wisdom and love

Size: 60x100cm; 2ft by 3ft

Price: $4,500 MXN pesos

Master Weaver: Justino Martinez Mendoza 

Materials and methods: Criollo sheep wool spun at the mills of Tianguistengo hand dyed by Justino Mendoza using natural dyes: Béé (Dactylopius Coccus), Yauhtli (Tagetes lucida), Xiuhquilitl (Indigofera Suffroticosa) Zacatlaxcalli (Yellow plant parasite), Zapote negro (brown). Handwoven on a Zapotec style loom of the 16th century adapted from European styles. Woven using a 7 threads per inch reed and wool rayon blend for warp.

Design, patterns and symbols.

The butterfly pattern is the nawal (spirit) of the sun, because butterflies hang around flowers to feed themselves and pollinate them. We call butterflies in Zapotec bigidî, their name contain the sillabe bi for wind, gî for fire and dî for melody. In ancient times some butterflies would have been used to make salves and ointments because of the miriad of chemical compounds that they have accumulated by visiting sacred plants makes them carry strong medicines. In many cultures butterflies represent transformation and trascendence from the eartly neeeds to the spiritual pursuits as the worm turns into a flying butterfly that fly away to far away places like the monarch butterfly. This transformation is possible to achieve when we use our bodies a a vehicle for spiritual journeing in the form of intentional dreaming (lucid dreaming) and entering trance states where we can tap into the unconscious part of our mind and make neural connections that are normally not possible to achieve in the day to day awake states. We weave the butterfly symbol as two inverted triangles that look like a sand clock with the antennas stylized in the middle of the sand clock; the idea is to live a life where we are balanced bewteen earthly needs and spiritual pursuits.  The butter represents the wisdom and love that comes when we live a balanced way of life and the beauty that we can create when our spirit blossoms.