San Pedro Cajonos: The silk sanctuary of Oaxaca

High successful the mountains of Oaxaca, Mexico, thousands of worms are thriving.  From their discarded cocoons, the artisans of San Pedro Cajonos are spinning reels of the finest silk. This trade dates backmost to the 1500s, passed down for generations. 

Silk represents quality and refinement, often associated with wealthiness and power. This awesome of luxury and presumption has a analyzable past successful Cajonos, challenged by the influx of imports and illness introduced by planetary commercialized and aboriginal synthetic materials. Fortunately, successful caller years, Oaxaca’s silk accumulation (sericulture) has experienced a revival, with the emergence of planetary connectivity, and cooperatives similar Yagaa, housed astatine the Silk Sanctuary successful the Zapotec assemblage of Cajonos.  

The Silk Sanctuary of San Pedro Cajonos successful Oaxaca. (Anna Bruce)

Silk accumulation successful Mexico

Yagaa means upland successful Zapotec, which makes consciousness arsenic Cajonos is nestled amongst the conifer wood of Oaxaca’s Sierra Norte, astatine 10,000 feet supra oversea level. It is simply a three-hour thrust northeast of Oaxaca City, a thrust that takes you retired of the cardinal valleys, up steep slopes to a cooler micro-climate, cleanable for the silk worms and the mulberry trees that provender them.  

Silk was introduced to Mexico by the Spanish successful 1523. While the manufacture initially flourished, it began to neglect successful the aboriginal 1600s. This was owed to European plagues and contention from Asian silk. Although the Indigenous communities were forbidden from utilizing Spanish level looms, they went connected to sphere the trade by adapting silk to their accepted backstrap looms. 

A important revival began successful 1993 with the enactment of groups similar the Yagaa corporate hosted astatine the Silk Sanctuary (El Santuario de la Seda) successful Cajonos. The corporate aims to unify section artisans to assistance them vie successful planetary markets.

In Cajonos, the assemblage raises a section assortment of silkworm they telephone “criollo” (wild). These worms are noted for their spot and absorption to disease, which has attracted involvement from planetary laboratories.

The mulberry histrion and its silkworms

The process begins with the mulberry histrion (morera), the sole nutrient root for the worms. These trees necessitate astir 4 years to scope their productive stage, astatine which constituent they supply capable leaves to provender the silkworms. Tree attraction includes yearly pruning, accordant watering, pest control, and fertilization.

Silkworm rearing consists of 5 stages, lasting astir 42 days, depending connected the climate. During this time, the silkworms molt each 5 days and turn from astir 3 millimeters astatine commencement to 8 centimeters successful their big stage. 

Sericulture has survived successful Cajones partially owed to its distant location. With the emergence of the internet, these masters of silk began to prosecute a caller marketplace for their craft. (Anna Bruce)

In the 5th stage, the silkworm begins to rotation its cocoon, which is the main earthy worldly for making silk thread. Afterwards, the silkworm transforms into a pupa and, aft astir 3 days, emerges from the cocoon arsenic a moth. Once this process is complete, the cocoons are cooked, which allows for the winding process and, subsequently, the hand-spinning.

It takes astir 15 to 20 days to get 250 grams of silk thread, capable to marque a silk shawl 3 meters agelong by 70 centimeters wide. 

Ancestral techniques

The Yagaa artisans support their ancestral techniques, specified arsenic spinning with a malacate (a accepted spindle utilizing a gourd and stick) and weaving connected backstrap looms. These methods nutrient accepted garments, including huipiles (tunics) and rebozos (shawls).

Weaving connected a loom is the 2nd process and takes astir 7 days. The finishing, which consists of interlacing threads oregon knots to make the intricate geometric figures, tin past up to 10 days.

Finally, dyeing with earthy dyes takes betwixt 1 and 3 days, depending connected the desired shade.

There is besides a concerted effort to revive earthy dyes made from section resources specified arsenic cochineal to nutrient red, indigo for bluish and pericon (a tiny chaotic marigold) for yellow. From these dyes, Indigenous artisans tin marque a rainbow of colors. 

The worms of Cajones are noted for their spot and absorption to disease, which has attracted involvement from planetary laboratories. (Anna Bruce)

A distinctive diagnostic of silk accumulation from Cajonos is the respect for the silkworm’s beingness cycle. Unlike concern methods, wherever larvae are often killed, Oaxacan artisans let the moths to look from their cocoons earlier harvesting the silk.

The dependable of silkworms eating

Raising silkworms and making textiles person been an important portion of the household system and section artisanal knowledge. Traditionally, families raised the worms wrong their homes, often successful kitchens oregon bedrooms, viewing them arsenic portion of the household to guarantee they person loving care. 

Visiting the sanctuary successful Cajonos, I spoke with Lidia Cruz Mendez, an artisan with the Yagaa collective. She intelligibly loves some moving with silk and the worms that enactment her practice. She encouraged maine to prime 1 up and fto it beryllium connected my hand. It was brushed to the touch. She past took the worm and held it to her feature earlier giving it a small buss connected its head. This heavy affection permeates the silk accumulation astatine the sanctuary successful Cajonos. 

Lizbeth Isidro Cruz, treasurer for the sanctuary, explains that “as a sanctuary, we rise astir 40,000 silkworms per season, which devour astir a ton of mulberry leaves, their lone food.” This echoes my speech with Mendez, who described how, during the precocious season, determination are truthful galore worms that the dependable of them eating is similar a dependable downpour of rain. 

The sanctuary of Cajonos

The sanctuary is located connected the outer borderline of a crisp crook conscionable beyond the entranceway to Cajones itself. It is simply a factual structure, designed to integrate with the earthy landscape. The LAMZ architects created a web of diagonal pathways that link platforms astir pre-existing trees, thereby respecting the earthy signifier of the site. 

The archetypal backing for the sanctuary was provided by erstwhile Governor Alejandro Murat and his wife, Ivette Morán de Murat. Cruz explains that arsenic a collective, they submitted a proposal, outlining the cultural, societal and economical value of moving with silk, arsenic good arsenic its imaginable interaction connected the community. “They provided enactment for the operation of the sanctuary, which was completed successful October 2020. Since then, arsenic a cooperative, we person been liable for its maintenance, maturation and promotion of this craft, which is 100% integrated and handcrafted by 12 maestro artisans.”

The accumulation of silk successful San Pedro Cajones is similar an intricate tapestry. (Anna Bruce)

The sanctuary serves arsenic a multifunctional abstraction containing dedicated rooms for silkworm cultivation, a spinning store and a museum. This includes a show country for humanities artifacts utilized by ancestors and a conception dedicated to the archetypal stages of silk cultivation.

An intricate tapestry

The past of silk successful San Pedro Cajonos is similar an intricate tapestry. The assemblage has cautiously gathered the delicate strands that weave done their history, interlacing them with a modern infrastructure to make a cloth that is some resilient and beautiful. It is affirmative to spot a revival that connects artisans with the wider world, keen to devour their products. It is besides indispensable that platforms similar the Silk Sanctuary and Yagaa observe the worth of the past and artisanal enactment going forward. 

Anna Bruce is an award-winning British photojournalist based successful Oaxaca, Mexico. Just immoderate of the media outlets she has worked with see Vice, The Financial Times, Time Out, Huffington Post, The Times of London, the BBC and Sony TV. Find retired much astir her work at her website or sojourn her connected societal media on Instagram or on Facebook.