Toshkatl: the carrier of the Universe

Size: 130x200cm
Weaver: Juan Lazo Gutierrez
Price: 910 USD
Materials and methods: criollo sheep wool hand dyed with colorfast aniline dyes using an exhaustive method. Handwoven on a Zapotec style loom of the 16th century adapted from European styles. Woven using a 7 threads per inch reed. 

Design, patterns and symbols: the cross represent the union of heaven and the underworld intersected by the earth plane. On the 16th of May in valley of Mexico city, latitude 20 degrees where the globe can be divided in 20 equal parts it was agreed by our ancestors to start the year on the day in which there are no shadows, May 16th,  and kick start the year because this date also coincides with the transition of spring to summer. A celebration also observed by the Incas and many other ancient cutures around the world such as Beltane. The day of the solar Zenit varies according to the latittude but it is only observed in betwen the tropics of Cancer of Capricorn, in Oaxaca it happens on the 8th of May and August 5th. This rug depicts that cosmical cross of creation as seen in our calendar and this cross is surrounded by the diamond shape that represents the balance of the four directions of the universe. In the middle of this diamond we see the moth of knowledge and wisdom that comes at night and represetns the knowledge that is obtained through darkness, literally and figuratively speaking. 

Causes: purchasing this rug you help Juan's daugther, Diana, who is pictured here holding the rug to take care of some probable appendicitis issues. As artisans, we do not have health insurance by the Mexican government and although we have access to a local clinic their services are not full coverage so people often choose to go to private doctors and hospitals in the city, we hope that Diana won't need surgery but her family would be relieved to see their rug sold.