Monday, April 30

Post-Script. Had some interesting experiences on my last day in Chiapas so why not share them?

I met Rivkah at 10 am at Tierra Dentro to look at the paintings by EZLN artists. Note the previous posting of the painting by Tomás that I bought. Rivkah will be thinking about how gender relations are portrayed in these paintings, in comparison to representations of Zapatistas by other artists like Gustavo Chávez Pavón, who did much of the work at Oventik, and Beatriz Aurora, who does the posters that have also become post cards. We also went to another store with similar material.

Later Sara B. joined us for a walk to the Museo de Medicina Maya (Museum of Maya Medicine). While Rivkah and Sarah sat in the orientation room reading the museum pamphlet, I went into the next room, a chapel, and watched a healing ceremony in progress. The healer or ilol was a man, and his patient was a woman facing an operation for colitis. The ilol insisted that her real problem was cancer and that it could have been caused by the sin of envy, at which she affirmed that she is a business-woman and this would apply.

By the time I had entered, the patient had already set up very slender candles in three rows on the floor, and soon after she lit them while the ilol prayed. He then took a raw egg in his hand with branches of what I think was sage, and rubbed it on all the saint statues in the room while praying to them. First was Christ on the cross, then St. Peter, St. Lawrence, St. John, and I forgot the last. He then had the patient stand and alternated brushing the saints and swatting the patient with the branches still held in his hand with the egg. Finally he cracked the egg on the edge of a glass holding clear liquid (either water or posh) and emptied the contents into it. He examined the configuration of the yoke and found an extrusion which he said corresponded to the woman's cancer. He explained this to her, she paid her 40 pesos, and it was over.

I rejoined Rivkah and Sarah and we walked through the rest of the museum and went into the medicinal garden, after which we returned the museum to watch their video on the method of parturition in the local Maya tradition.

The photographs above show the chapel and the diorama of childbirth in the museum and are taken from the web. Note that the kneeling figures in the chapel are also manequins.

Friday, April 27

Today was the last day of classes, topped off with a fantastic party hosted by Kinoki through the efforts of Rhett. As each person left, Maria Louisa captured their final comments on videotape. I left with Rita. We were both very tired. I said almost nothing but Rita really rose to the occasion and gave an inspiring impromptu talk.

Rita will be leaving on Sunday and I leave on Tuesday. LASOM students will be all moving on, some staying in Latin America for a time. But as this is the official end of the program, it is also the official wrap-up of this blog.

Thursday, April 26

This morning I walked Rita to Na Bolon, the home of Franz Blom and Gertrude Duby that has been made into a museum and research institute. Rita noticed that a room had been opened with a small exhibit of Chiapas traje. I was very happy to see chronological arrangement for three displays: Aldama, Chamula and ZInacantan. Usually Chiapas traje is represented as timeless and unchanging, but here the dramatic changes became obvious. This is especially so at Zinacantan (see photo) where the explosion of complex design may be due not only to the more industrialized technology of aniline dyed threads and machine embroidery, but also perhaps to a greater influx of wealth through tourist dollars and a broader investment in floriculture.

Later I met Sara for a visit to a weaving workshop using large European style looms. These are variously called floor, foot, treadle and pedal looms. We were told to go through the Los Arcos hotel to the workshop in back. When we went inside, we found two men in the process of weaving fabric and two others involved in the more tedious process of attaching cords to the treadles. We spoke to the elder of two men involved the weaving process. He turned out to be a kind of foreman of the workshop, the longest standing employee also in charge of ordering threads. We noticed the punched cards that program the design, and he noted that these have been in use for quite a long time, sometimes requiring repair. We also commented on how physically demanding the process seemed to be. He admitted this and other difficulties, but also showed that he was proud to have been put in charge of the workshop.

In the afternoon I participated in Rita's last Spanish literature class, in which we returned to the Castellanos book and disscussed it in relation to the preface and afterword. Rita also asked me to comment on the story told in the last chapter, which is a bricolage of elements from the Maya Popol Vuh as well as Greek mythology and both the Old and New Testament. I argued that this section was stylistically quite distinct from the rest of the book and wondered if it had been added. I also argued that it might be designed as subtle critique of magic realism.

After the break, Rita asked students to meet in groups and then report to the class on what they understood as the major themes, threads, or accomplishments of the course. The discussion was very lively and most contributed. Prominent among the themes was the importance of local conditions and the intricately interwoven power relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups which we not only read about in the book but also took part in as non-Indigenous tourists visiting and even holding class in an Indigenous community (Chamula).

Wednesday, April 25

Today's fieldtrip, organized by Brent Skura to go with his class, was to La Albarrada, an agricultural and technical training and experimental facility operated by the state government of Chiapas. We were first treated to an overly basic discussion of why trees are good for the earth, and then were fortunately handed over to a more interesting teacher, Dagoberto de León López, on the agricultural practices that they teach. The organization brings in people, free of charge in most cases, for two month training sessions. The agricultural training consists of eight modules, each a week long. About 20% of the training is study or theory, and the other 80% is the practical learning experience of working the farm.

Maestro Dagoberto explained the two emphases of the program: the integration of different aspects of agriculture into a sustainable system, and the development of techniques that can be easily applied by campesinos with few resources and few external materials available. The organization is also run in an integrated way: participants in the program work the fields and what is produced also feeds them during their stay. See Photo of Dagoberto explaining these issues to the class on the grass.

Another good example of the integrated nature of the program would concern the rabbits, whose feces are transformed into organic fertilizer and which are also eaten as meat. Once trained, campesino families can be presented with a breeding pair of rabbits to take advantage of the method. See Photo of Peggy talking to Dagoberto.

A good example of adjusting the technology to the resources available to campesinos involves growing oyster mushrooms. Dagoberto teaches techniques of growing the mushrooms on discarded organic waste like maize cobs with the kernels removed, or maize stalks: things that might normally just be burned. He also showed us a frame that can easily be used to provide the heat and darkness that mushrooms require, and discussed simple methods of keeping them moist so that they will fruit. When I asked how they seed the maize cobs with spores, he offered to show us, as some cobs were actually ready for this procedure, having been soaked previously for 24 hours in water with quicklime. He asked for a volunteer to participate and Andrés threw himself into the task (see photo). The spores have been commercially placed into sorghum seeds using holes made in the seeds with a needle. Andrés and Dagoberto each filled a plastic bag with seeded maize cobs. The bags had large squares cut out on each side over which material from surgical masks was taped, allowing the fungus to breathe without letting in insects that would devour it.

Dagoberto also showed us a compost pile and discussed methods of using the soil as well as the water runoff for fertilizers. with red wrigglers and talked about their mating and growth cycle. He talked about methods for separating these worms from soil one intends to use. He is quite funny, so he began by saying you should give them names and then call them. But he went on to note that the worms do not like the light, so one can make a pile of the soil and they will go down to the bottom, letting you take off the top. Another way is to put the vegetable waste they will be eating on another part of the soil and they will travel to it.

We also got to see raised fields, known popularly by the Nahuatl term "chinampa." Dagoberto showed us the route the water takes as it is brought from a river through canals to a series of graded fields and then returned to the river.

After the tour, the group retired to Tierra Dentro for lunch and a discussion of what had been learned.

Tuesday, April 24

Rita returned this morning from her excursion to Mexico City where she presented a talk on her research at UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México).

This afternoon Rita and I hosted her Spanish classes for a viewing and discussion of the 1954 film made from B. Traven's "Rebelión de los Colgados" (Rebellion of the Hanged). Rita introduced the context of the film in terms of 1950s nationalism in Mexico. She discussed characteristics of Mexican cinematic melodrama and advised students to pay attention to three main cinematic elements: text, image, and music. When the film concluded she opened a discussion of ways in which the film departed from the book which the students have read. A lively discussion followed. It was noted that the role of Candido Castro, as the starring role played by Mexican superstar Pedro Almendáriz, took on a greater and more extended importance than in the book. Much discussion surrounded the movie's ending, which reverses the theme of the second half of the book. In the book, the rebelious workers realize they must fight rather than just return to their homes, but in the movie the short rebellion culminates in a quick return home with the prospect of complete future happiness. This expresses the prominent post-revolutionary nationalist ideology of indigenismo with utopian fervor that is far more positive and simplistic than Traven's novel.

Monday, April 23

Spent part of today working at home, revising lectures based on new materials, including trip to Guatemala. Went out to buy presents, mainly textiles. Later had a great walk with Sara. That's it!

Sunday, April 22

Thanks to an invitation from Alica's mother Sara, I was able to go with the two of them to Acteal for a memorial mass. As may be seen on the blog entry from February 18, the massacre of 47 persons, mainly women, on December 22, 1997, is commemorated by a mass on the 22nd of every month. Our host today was Father Pedro Arriaga, an old friend of Sara's who also happens to be a priest, living in San Cristobal but responsible for the municipio of Chenalho in which Acteal is located. He also lives less than a block from me, so it was easy to meet up with them for a ride in his comfy truck. On the way, he pointed out many historical features associated with violence and displacement, especially pertaining to the Zapatista struggle, and for part of the time we listed to Zapatista radio as well.

When we arrived at Acteal about 10:30, Padre Pedro had to meet with some people preparatory to the mass, so Sara, Alica and I went into the small church which was the major site of the massacre. As we sat on the church benches, looked at the statues and the crosses on the walls each inscribed with the name of one of the victims, an elder woman came in and began lighting incense. We did not know then that she would play a major part in the mass, and that her name is Juanita. After paying our respects in the church, we went to the cenotaph room below the amphitheatre-like open chapel. I noted a new mural on the largest wall, that had not been there in Februrary. More on that also. Up above, in the open chapel, a marimba band was playing, with drum and guitar backup.

The ceremony began about 11:30. About a dozen men in full traje (white shirt and shorts, black over-shirt with blue crosses sewed on, be-ribboned hats) marched in procession to the church with Padre Pedro. They lined up in front of the church and then a few went in while the rest moved slightly away. Then an equal number of women, also in full traje (blue skirt, striped and brocaded huipil, white shawl with brocade flowers, and ribbons braided in their hair) performed the same ceremony in front of the church. The men who had gone into the church then came out with flags, and others carried out musical instruments. A procession then formed which led up the concrete stairs to the conical memorial at the side of the road. The official men went first, followed by the official women, and then others. They were led by the orchestra consisting of a wood or bamboo recorder, a trumpet made to sound like a conch shell, a violin, a guitar, a harp, two drums, and a rattle. When we got to the top, the procession re-formed. As guests, Sara, Alica, and I were asked to join the procession after the official men and women, as we followed the orchestra and circumambulated the monument three times counterclockwise. Padre Pedro called this, "making the caracol (conch shell, in this case)" and asked us to use the experience to let the memory of the deceased enter our hearts.

We then descended the stairs and entered the open chapel. On the main stage-like area was an altar table, at the front of which Juanita placed a chair from which she kept renewing the incense. Three crosses were placed in front of the altar. Seats were arranged on the main floor on four sides around the altar and crosses. At the back were the leaders of the ceremony. On the right side were the offical men in full traje. On the right front was the orchestra in white traje, without the black over-shirt and hat. On the left side wsa the chorus, women in front and men behind. On the left front were the official women. The rest of us sat in the audience, with men on the right and women on the left. Many very young children, probably age 5-8, were charged with the care of babies up to 2 years old, carrying them on their backs, and entertaining them. Apparently they were filling in for their mothers, the official ladies sitting at the front. I also noticed a Spanish and a Swedish lady sitting in the audience that I had met in the workshop at Frayba the previous Monday.

The ceremony in the chapel began with a speech by the Presidente of Acteal, then us five foreigners were asked to come to the microphone and introduce ourselves, after which the chorus stood to sing a hymn in Spanish and Tzotzil. At other points in the ceremony, other guests were asked to come to the front as they arrived. These included two US couples from Colorado, a group of Italians, a religious school group mainly from wetern Mexico, and three K'iche' Maya from Guatemala.

The Abejas organization provided a speech which was then read, and we were informed that we could obtain copies in the Acteal office. The thrust of the speech was a condemnation of the policies of President Calderon, who uses force and violence. The Abejas testify that this doesn't work, that violence only breeds violence as they know only too well. Denunciations were launched against the arrests of protesters in Merida (protests against the meeting of Bush and Calderon in March), in Oaxaca, and in Atenco.

After the speeches came prayers, the censing of the crosses, reading from a Tzotzil bible, all punctuated by humns from the chorus. Padre Pedro's sermon was in Spanish but after each paragraph a man translated it into Tzotzil. Then the musicians headed a procession of "offerings" for the altar, including the wine and wafers for the ceremony, as well as buckets of huge chrysanthemums.

The ceremony with the host involved much kneeling and praying as well as standing and singing, followed by the officials leading a dance with the traditional orchestra. After this, all present shook hands with those around them, wishing each other peace, and the wafers were distributed.

The chrysanthemums were then passed out to the official men and women and to the foreign guests. Carrying the flowers, we went in procession down into the cenotaph chamber to conclude the ceremony. One of the K'iche' men, a Maya priest, gave an oration and lit candles in front of the pictures of the victims. As we again knelt, Padre Pedro performed a ceremony which I could not see, but seemed to involve holy water. Part of the ceremony was a blessing and inauguraiton of the new mural, which he said had been painted over Holy Week in early April. The names of the deceased were then recited, after which we deposited our flowers in the bucket placed in front of the memorial photos.

The ceremony then concluded, we were invited into a lunch consisting of sopa de frijoles with potatos, tortillas, and a manzanilla tea. On the ride back to San Cristobal, Padre Pedro was kind enough to stop for a minute while I took some pictures of the beautiful church painting at San Pedro Polho.