Mezcal ceremony

Size:130x200cm; 4.2x6.5ft

Materials ans methods: criollo sheep wool dyed with aniline dyes. Handwoven on a Zapotec style loom of the 16th century adapted from European styles. Woven using a 7 threads per inch reed. 

Weaver: Misael Mendoza

Patterns and symbols: the center motif is the eye of the feathered snake with a chain link of butterflies of wisdom. The frame of agaves, our spiritual drink, makes a diamond shape to represent the window to the spirit world; as the popular say has it, Mezcal doesn't get you drunk, it gets you magical. Our elders open their days with a little shot of Mezcal and close it with another little shot. The chain like pattern is a decoration of floating warp that we add to the smile pattern, and part of the Mezcal magic. This whole central figure represents the central valley where we grow our milpa food system that integrates agave in its ecosystem of agroforestry, all the little specs represent seeds. 

The other symbols represent the cycle of life, the sacred fifth pointed cross of balance and harmony, the weaving spider and a DNA helix with the seeds that transformed our culture and which we also transformed with dedicated tending.