Mexico - Tehuantepec, a matriarchy in the land of machos
63 images Created 13 Sep 2012
"Mi vestido soy yo," My Clothing, it's myself," used to say proudly Frida Kahlo. Frida's relationship with her body was complex. Her attire, inspired by the typical style of the Zapotec women of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, made Frida an object of veneration and gave her an identity. Through her ethnic dress, Frida identified with the Tehuanas, an archetype of pre-Columbian Mexico represented. The myth of Tehuanas arose 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 into a magical mobile garden. The showy trajes, the traditional dress, and the rich golden ornaments that accompany them are, above all, an instrument of auto-representation for these active women who control the local markets, an independent economic power reflected in their self-confidence. Even in the festivities, the women dance more among themselves, with the men often seated and watching.
The 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, a Song of the Isthm, hundreds of women dance to the slow melancholy of the music. The enormous skirts create the impression of a physical volume more imposing than the real, transforming their silhouette into a large cone that transmits an image of stability and firmness, and men appear thinner. 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 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, a Song of the Isthm, hundreds of women dance to the slow melancholy of the music. The enormous skirts create the impression of a physical volume more imposing than the real, transforming their silhouette into a large cone that transmits an image of stability and firmness, and men appear thinner. 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.
