In one of my favorite country-folk tunes, the singer pledges,
“Just a hand-woven love song – is all I have to bring to you.” (Portales by Ray
Wylie Hubbard). When I was touring the Yucatán Peninsula, I saw some actual
“hand-woven love songs” in the form of the hammocks that are made there.
The City of Mérida in the Yucatán is famous for the hand-made hammocks that many
of its citizens devote themselves to producing. For the most part, they use the
same techniques that were used by their Mayan ancestors over 1,500 years ago,
and their work is a study in continuity and community.
A guide ushered our group through one of the hammock-weaving businesses where we
saw the artisans using a variety of materials. Some of the hammocks were being
made of silk or cotton, but sisal is still the most commonly used fiber. Sisal
is an indigenous plant that is so strong and useful that countless people died
through the centuries, warring over which faction had the right to control its
trade. Countless Mayan people died in virtual enslavement, working to produce
and harvest the sisal crop at the behest of the Spanish conquerors.
If we wanted to buy a hammock, ones of undyed sisal were suggested as the most
natural choices. Still, the multicolored ones were eye-catching. I ended up
buying a hammock of varied blues and purples, created with traditional dyes made
from tree sap and cochineal bugs.
But as interesting as these details of production were, I was even more
interested to learn how these hammocks are woven into the fabric of the
persisting Mayan/Mexican culture as a whole. The hammocks are produced in three
sizes: individual, couples and family. The large family size is the most popular
among the area residents themselves. Here, the “family bed” in the form of a
hammock is not an arrangement that anyone has to advocate. It is already taken
for granted. It is assumed that families will share the one large hammock they
own. Cosleeping is the norm. . . .
Rosalie Schultz learned primarily at home, while
helping in her family’s Chicago printing business. She still lives in that
childhood home where business and residence were mixed together and where there
was only one common bedroom. Contact her at
rosalies101@gmail.com.
