Shaan beů: moon Goddess

$ 12,000.00

Size: 80x63cm; 2.6x2ft

Weaver: Guillermo Martínez Lorenzo

Materials and methods: Criollo sheep wool, agave fibers, and henequen--all hand dyed with natural dyes. Turkey feathers were hand dyed and added for ceremonial touch. This rug was woven on a Zapotec walking loom of the XVI century style using a 7 threads per inch reed and a cotton warp.

Design, patterns and symbols.

This is an original and artistic design from Guillermo, it is the second iteration of the Moon Goddess, here depicted in blue and red colors to show the effects on the moon on water and blood. We call the Moon Goddess "Shaán Beů" in our Dixzaa language. Shaán is the word we use for mother, saint, and thus most appropriately translated as Goddess because our cultures were matrialchal. For instance, we call the earth, Shaán Gueshliuú, mother earth but we also call the sun Shaán Gubiísh, mother sun. Shaána, means my mother, so it is undoubtedly Matriarchal to call the sun Shaán.

The Moon Goddess was woven using wool dyed with a gradatiion of cochineal tones from magenta to light pink to remind us of the intimate connection of woman and the moon. The word Beu means moon but pronounced slightly different Beuû means coyote or wolf because they too have a strong connection to the moon with their howling and their nocturnal activity. Reminds me of the book woman who run with wolves.

In our culture we do everything with the phases of the moon, we sow the corn with a new moon and harvest it with a full moon. One is advised to cut hair with a full moon to have strong hair or with a new moon to stimulate growth. The moon is also used to predict the rainy season, a waxin moon is more likely to bring rains for a certain period. Even to say cheers, we say Tchishbeuu, wich can be translated a the word of the moon, or more figuratively, with the permission of the moon, because if the moon has such an effect on water, imagine the effects it has on distilled agave within our bodies.

This rug invites us to contemplate our direct relationship with the moon and how it subtly and some times very evidently affects aspects of our lives and our environments.