Zapotec Floor Loom Weaving

The tradition of Zapotec floor loom weaving has roots over 2000 years in paying homage to the Aztec gods, and of honoring mother earth and their ancestors. There’s a sense of responsibility in passing down these skills to keep the tradition and culture alive. Both boys and girls learn these skills as young as eight or ten years old. They first start with learning how to comb and wash the wool, then work their way up to spinning, dyeing, and weaving. Simple pieces start with straight lines and in the second or third year incorporating patterns and symbols. The symbols that are traditionally woven into these textiles represent aspects of the materials and spiritual worlds. They serve as connections to the gods and ancestors.

In Teotitlán del Valle, a weaving center in the state of Oaxaca, we visited another collective at Susi and Pancho.

Skeins of naturally dyed local wool

Examples of simple rug patterns

Susi spins the wool and Pancho sets up the floor loom

Floor loom weaving is a physically demanding craft that uses the movement of your body to power the loom. Your body becomes an extension and a part of the machine. There are two ‘ski-like’ planks that are called treadles that you shift your weight on to move the heddle, which opens up the warp threads so you can weave the weft threads horizontally. Any sort of patterns or symbols require some form of embroidery skills in which you’re weaving back and forth threads to create the pattern. It requires some level of planning and mathematics to get the design mapped out within the desired space. With each line you have to consider how you build on the line before to create the larger design, and fill in the remaining space with the larger weft color.

Similar to my backstrap piece, I chose undyed wool and a golden yellow yarn dyed with pericon. And a simple ‘dual’ color with alternating ‘puntas’ throughout.

The art of floor loom weaving, like most weaving methods, is a form of moving meditation. An act of devotion, discipline, mindfulness, and creation. Weaving together the threads of life and paying homage to mother earth/natural world, the universe and ancestors.