Gusiúu: lightning, the cosmic roar of the jaguar

Size: 30x60cm 4.9x8.2ft 12"x24"

Weaver: Zenaida, San Miguel del Valle 

Dyer: Leonor Lazo González and Samuel Bautista Lazo

Materials and methods:  Criollo sheep wool spun in the mills of Tianguistengo. Hand dyed using natural dyes: Béé (Dactylopius Coccus), Yauhtli (Tagetes lucida), Pomegrante skins and pecan husks/shells. Aniline dyes for bright orange and green. 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 center motiff desgin depicts the cosmic snake that descends from the skyworld in the form of lightnings. Just before the rainy season, at the end of May, there are many lightning storms in the central valley of Oaxaca; these lightnings storms are believed to start the sprouting of many seeds and also a type of pine mushroom that is very tasty. It is as if trees know it is time to turn green and start growing off shoots, even before the first rains fall, some acacia trees are already growing green buds because they can tap to deep underground water table with their long snakey roots. Lightning thus, connects the water from the sky with the water from the underworld and starts the rainy cycle. Hence, this rug has this ancient pattern that is used in prayers and ceremonies to ask for rain for our milpas.