Brightly Striped Table Runner
This colorful striped table runner was hand-woven with cotton threads on a back-strap loom by a member of Tsobol Antsetik (Women United), a weaving collective with its base in the community of Chixiltón in the municipality of Chenalhó. It measures 17” wide by 65” long including fringe. Each end features a row of brocaded cosmograms. $50 includes postage.
Napkins (Set of 4)
New item! We’re delighted to be able to offer dinner napkins in eight different colors with symbols of ancestral significance to Maya weavers. Designs depict a woman, a holy toad, a corn plant, the plumed serpent, K’uk’ulkan, and the Maya cosmogram. Each order comes with a symbol brochure describing the significance of the designs and a photo tag of the woman who wove the napkin. Background colors don’t vary, but please allow for slight variance in colors of the designs. When ordering please use napkin numbers 1-8.
$31.50 for 4 napkins, includes postage.
Placemats and Napkins – Set of 4 each
Olive Placemat with Quezalcoatl Napkins
Red Placemat with Maya Cosmogram Napkins
These placemat and napkin sets were woven on a back-strap loom by a member of Tsobol Antsetik (Women United), a weaving collective in Chixiltón, Chenalhó, Chiapas. The placemat is based on the traditional tortilla cloth used in Chenalhó. Two different sets are available. One set has striped placemats with an olive green background and red napkins with designs depicting Quetzalcoatl, the plumed serpent (see photo of a table set for dinner). The other set has striped placemats with a red background and red napkins with designs depicting the Maya cosmogram. Each set comes with photo tags of the weavers who made the set, a description of the napkin designs, and an insert explaining the significance of the tortilla cloth in a woman’s life. (In the past and still today, it is customary when a woman marries for her mother-in-law to give her a tortilla cloth. When she dies, her relatives lay a tortilla cloth in her coffin.) Placemats measure 13” wide x 20” long. Napkins measure about 13” x 15” (including fringe). Sets of 4 placemats and napkins are $50 including priority postage.
Tortilla Warmer
This tortilla warmer is decorated with images of corn. It was embroidered by Estrella Margarita, the youngest member of the collective Luchom Jolom Antsetik (Women Embroiderers and weavers). The tortilla warmer holds large or small tortillas and comes with an insert with Estrella Margarita’s photo and directions for how to make tortillas from scratch, using field corn, just as women do in Estrella Margarita’s community of Tsabalhó, Chenalhó. It is $15, including postage.
Black Table Runner
This beautiful striped table runner was woven with cotton threads on a back-strap loom by Elvia Zenaida Pérez Pérez of the weaving collective, Luchom Jolom Antsetik (Women Emboiderers and Weavers) based in Tsabalhó, Chenalhó, Chiapas. It features the Maya cosmogram and comes with a brochure explaining the significance of this design. It measures 21” wide x 90” long, including fringe, and is $85, including shipping.
Embroidered Square (English or Spanish)
“When a woman rises no man is left behind.” or “Cuando una mujer avanza no hay hombre que retroceda.”
This cloth (6.5” x 7”) is embroidered with the face of a Zapatista woman and a phrase that expresses a core principle of the Zapatista movement — that when women enjoy equal rights with men the whole community rises as one. Embroidered by a member of Tsobol Antsetik. Price with postage: $20.
Las Abejas Cloth with Beeswax Candle
These embroidered cloths are each accompanied by a beeswax candle. They honor the blood, sweat, and tears of all people resisting injustices throughout the world. In lighting this candle may you be strengthened to stand alongside them. The cloths were embroidered by members of Jolom Luch Maya (Maya Embroiderers and Weavers). The group is comprised of 24 members of Las Abejas (The Bees), a Catholic social justice organization based in Acteal, Chenalhó, Chiapas, Mexico. Las Abejas lost 45 of its members, mostly women and children, in a massacre by a paramilitary group on December 22, 1997. In the face of COVID, threats from criminal organizations, and the government’s disregard for their human rights, the Bees keep seeking justice for their fallen brethren. For more information go to www.acteal.org
When ordering, please specify which words you would like: “Mujeres Abejas sembrando la vida, cosechando la paz” (Women Bees sowing life, harvesting peace) or “Mujeres Abejas tejiendo resistencia” (Women Bees weaving resistance). Each 12” x 12” square comes with a votive beeswax candle. Price with postage is $25.
Lace Edged Zapatista Cloth
These cloth squares were embroidered by the women of Luchom Jolom Antsetik – Women Embroiderers and Weavers – a small collective that recently formed in Tsabalhó, Chenalhó, Chiapas. We’re delighted to offer them to you for framing or using in another way. When we saw the words, inspired by the Zapatista movement, they reminded us of wearing masks during the pandemic, how by protecting others from getting COVID, we showed our hearts. We hope the words and image speak to you this way, too. The squares measure 9×9 inches and are $15, including postage.