Mexico - Tehuantepec, a matriarchy in the land of machos
64 images Created 13 Sep 2012
“Mi vestido soy yo”, My Clothing My Self, used to say proudly Frida Kahlo. Frida’s relationship to her body was complex and her attire, inspired by the typical style of the Zapotec women of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, not only made Frida an object of veneration but also gave her an identity. Through her ethnic dress Frida identified with the Tehuanas, an archetype of the pre-Columbian Mexico represented. The myth of Tehuanas arises in the mid-nineteenth century, powered by artists, adventurers and speculators who traveled the Isthmus when it was one of the points of passage between the two oceans, before the Panama Canal. All the chronicles of travels express a particular fascination for the Zapotecas women of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. When the Tehuanas dance the sones during their festivities, the Velas, floral skirts and huipiles, the traditional embroidered shirts, transform the dance floor in a sort of magical mobile garden. But the showy trajes and the rich golden ornaments that accompany them are above all an instrument of auto-representation for these active women which control the local markets, an independent economic power reflected in the self confidence. Even in the festivities, when the women dance more among them than whith the men, often seated and watching.
The real national anthem of Tehuantepec is La Zandunga played every noon also by the clock of the town hall of Tehuantepec, the sleepy unofficial capital of a matriarchy unique in Latin America. The Tehuanas do not need to show off their independence, when the band attacks the first Son Istmeño hundreds of women dance to the slow melancholy of the music while the large skirts create the impression of a physical volume greater than the actual, the silhouette is transformed into a large cone which transmits a image of stability and firmness and men appear thinnner. The Vela goes on for days and nights, powered by unimaginable amounts of alcoholic beverages, and when the sun of a new day comes up start Byzantine diatribes on the dress to wear in the next Vela.
The real national anthem of Tehuantepec is La Zandunga played every noon also by the clock of the town hall of Tehuantepec, the sleepy unofficial capital of a matriarchy unique in Latin America. The Tehuanas do not need to show off their independence, when the band attacks the first Son Istmeño hundreds of women dance to the slow melancholy of the music while the large skirts create the impression of a physical volume greater than the actual, the silhouette is transformed into a large cone which transmits a image of stability and firmness and men appear thinnner. The Vela goes on for days and nights, powered by unimaginable amounts of alcoholic beverages, and when the sun of a new day comes up start Byzantine diatribes on the dress to wear in the next Vela.
