Beal guiea: flowered serpent

Size: 130x200cm, 4.2x6.5ft 

Criollo sheep wool dyed with anilines woven on 7epi reed. 

Weaver: Mateo Zárate.

My teenage friend Mateo Zárate has just finished this superb exquisite and colorful hand woven rug on an European style of walking loom of the XVI century still used in our village, I know... you don't need to upgrade your technology every 18 months with built in obsolescence to make things faster and cheaper until we depleat the earths resources; XVI century technology does just fine. 

This is the pattern we call "Beal guie'a" the flowered serpent; which really is the state in which our spirit blossom. The "Quincunce" of fifth pointed cross dubbed by academics depicts the idea of perfect balance and symetry in the four directions, the four elements through which we relate to the world, the four seasons, the four types of awareness possible in the human experience: tonal (sound, words), nahual (dreams, intuition), spiritual and earthly.

The ancient knowledge of the flowered can be summarized in the phrase live a colorful and balanced life in each aspect of your awareness. The symbol has also a mathematical and cosmic interpretation by adding up numbers where each step represents 13 years; but that is something too complex to explain here.