Basketry of Mexico has its origins far into the pre Hispanic period, pre-dating ceramics and the domestication of crops. By the time the Spanish arrived, there were a number of indigenous forms, a number of which are still made today. These and products that the Spanish introduced form the combined tradition that remains today. Like other Mexican handcrafts, sales to tourists and collectors is important, but basketry is not as popular as other handcrafts. Basketry techniques and materials vary from region to region depending on the vegetation available (with about eighty species of plant use nationwide), with important traditions in Sonora, State of Mexico, Michoacán, Veracruz, Oaxaca and the Yucatán Peninsula.
History
Pre Hispanic period
Basketry was one of Mesoamerica’s oldest crafts, important since the early hunting-gathering period and predates both the manipulation of fire and the creation of pottery. The craft was originally developed from simple containers for gathering foodstuffs in nature and storage, to other items such as mats, boxes, chairs, cradles, sandals and some clothing items. Basketry in Mexico has two lineages, one indigenous and one Spanish, distinguished mostly by the products made. Many products that date back from the pre Hispanic period still survive such as mats called petates, carrying braces and baskets for the transport of wares to market. The last two were particularly important in the period because there were no beasts of burden, and merchandise was carried by men over land. Some pre Hispanic pieces were very finely woven with intricate designs, comparable to European tapestries.
Much of the history of basketmaking has been lost since baskets are biodegradable. There are only fragments of basketry from archeological records because of the degradation of the biological materials used to make them. The best finds have been in dry caves and rock croppings, as well as basket impressions in ceramics. Most of the finds have been in arid and semi-arid areas in the northwest of Mexico, with some found at the Ocampo and Romero caves in Tamaulipas, containing evidence of both coil and braided wares. Other significant finds include those at Coxcatlán Cave in Tehuacán, Puebla, Guila Naquitz, Oaxaca, the Gallo Caves and Chaguera Cave in Morelos, as well as in Michoacán and the Valley of Mexico. These include evidence of rope and bag making.
Colonial period As no complete pieces survive, the best evidence of pre-Hispanic and colonial period basketry forms is from contemporary codices such as the Mendocino Codex, written chronicles and pieces that appear in paintings. They confirm the existence of indigenous products such as , seats (), seats with back (), , , , boxes (petlanali), sandals, nets, fans, (carrying braces) and more. They also indicate that a number of products and techniques have since disappeared. For example, in the Valley of Mexico, lakeside communities such as Xochimilco and Xoltocan were dedicated to making items such as from the rushes growing at the water's edge. However, this has died out with the draining of the lakes.
Indigenous artisans continued to make basketry through the entire colonial period. Unlike other handcrafts, it was considered completely domestic and therefore not regulated like ceramics and woodworking, nor was there any formal teaching by Spanish missionaries. However, European designs, such as baskets with handles, sombreros, palms braided for Palm Sunday and heart decorations were introduced, along with the working of wheat and rye straw.
19th century
Likewise, no pieces from the 19th century survive, but at that time, the painting of everyday scenes became more popular, including images of homes, which show the survival of indigenous items like petates, along with sombreros and European style baskets. European travelers in Mexico documented what they saw, including the lives of common people, with baskets getting mentioned. One item noted in the records of this time but not before is that of the capote, a kind of rain cape created with layers of palm fronds.
20th century to the present
The early 20th century saw a revived interest in Mexico's handcraft traditions, including basketry. During the early 20th century the making of hats from palm and other fibers was taught to prisoners in municipal jails, something that survives to the present. Writer Manuel Toussaint noted the quantity and quality of baskets he found in Oaxaca during his travels, along with those in Puebla and the State of Mexico. For the 100th anniversary of the conclusion of the Mexican War of Independence, artists such as Dr. Atl, Roberto Montenegro and others organized an exhibition of the country's handcrafts and folk art. The exhibition resulted in a large catalog, of which Chapter 16 was dedicated to basketry. It provides a snapshot of the state of the craft at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th. In this catalog, Dr Atl affirms that the most important basketry item remained the petate, noted the use of as basic utilitarian items, with documentation of the large basketry production in the states of Puebla, State of Mexico, Guanajuato, Michoacán and Jalisco. The creation of miniature figures from Silao, Irapuato, Guanajuato and Santa María del Río, SLP are also mentioned. However mention of the work done in the north of the country is absent.
Despite the interest in documenting handcraft traditions, no complete pieces from before the 1960s remain. Although not as popular as other handcraft traditions, basketry can be found all over Mexico, especially in indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Chiapas and Veracruz, with many created for collectors. However, a number of basketry items are still make for local use, such as a cradle used by indigenous women in the Sierra Norte of Puebla, and pieces created for ceremonies in various parts of Mexico, such as special baskets created by the Seri in Sonora and the Nahuas in the Huasteca region for Day of the Dead.
Most artisans make the items part-time, as a complement to other economic activities, and workshops are based in family homes, with various members participating. Some artisans have organized into cooperatives to promote their work. However, most basketry products are easily replaced by manufactured goods, and in areas the resources needed to make them are becoming scarce. Basketry has declined in Mexico with the introduction of plastic containers in the 1970s and similar products imported from Asian since 2005. For these and other reasons, basketry is not as important a handcraft as others such as ceramics, but it still plays an important domestic and commercial roles in rural communities in states such as Guerrero, State of Mexico, Oaxaca, Puebla, Sonora, Michoacán and Veracruz.
A microcosm of the basketry market is in the La Merced Market in Mexico City, which sells products from Puebla, Tlaxcala, Querétaro, Michoacán, State of Mexico, Guerrero and San Luis Potosí. There are about 30 stalls selling basketry products in La Merced, many of which have been passed down through the generations. Most of the sales are to other merchants, such as those who sell tacos de canasta, traditional sweets and bakeries. Many of the sales occur in conjunction with certain celebrations. Holy Week sees the sales of baskets and palms. For Day of the Dead, petates, chiquihuites and small baskets are bought as altar decorations. For Christmas, baskets are used to hold food and traditional decorations. Many of these sales are to people from the edges of Mexico City where traditions survive better. However, many of these stalls must now offer cheaper Asian made goods along with other items in order to stay in business.
Where tourism has a favorable impact on conserving basketry traditions, it tends to have a negative effect on the resources used to make the products because of demand.
Materials
Basketry is related to other textiles arts, except that the plant fibers used are stiffer, ranging from rigid, hard works made from branches or strips of wood to the nearly cloth-like pieces from leaf fibers such as ixtle (maguey fiber) and henequen. Apart from ixtle and henequen, the vegetation used can be divided into two types: hard or semi rigid, which include materials such as wood strips and willow branches or canes to softer materials such as palm fronds, reeds, straw and other plant stems. The latter materials create items of more flexibility than the first. The materials used in a give location vary, depending on the local vegetation, and since it mostly depends on plant fibers, it is mostly a rural occupation, being close to sources. Materials may be mixed in the making of a piece, generally to provide patterns and textures, sometimes color.
Since most materials are taken from the wild, basketry affects the surrounding ecosystems to varying degrees. In Mexico about eighty species of plants are used in basketry from twenty botanical families. These include agaves (Agavefourcroydes, A. sisalana, A. letonae, A. zapupe, A. funkiana), rushes and reeds (Arundo donax, Phragmites communis), palms (Acanthorriza mocinni, Brahea dulcis, Sabal mexicana, S. causiarum, Acrocomia crispa), yucca (Yucca glauca, Y. elata, Y. treculeana, Y. mohavensis, Y. baccata), and various others (Smilacaceae, Bignoniaceae, Araceae, Dilleniaceae, Sapindaceae). It also includes the use of some trees such as willow (Salicaceae), pines (Pinaceae) and aquatic plants such as the lily (Eichhornia crassipes) and thalia (Thalia sp.). Cultivated plant fibers include wheat and rye straw, along with hennequin. In the past decades new materials have made their way into Mexican basketry including synthetic fiber strips, chains, metal rings, cloth strips and leather.
Hennequin and ixtle work does not use the entire plant, but rather fibers are extracted from the plant. Hennequin is grown in the Yucatán Peninsula and ixtle may be grown or gathered from wild plants in semi arid areas in various parts of Mexico. Both have been used to create string carrying bags, and nets, which hennequin having great value in the past in the making of rope.
In the latter 20th century, the development of synthetic fibers, particularly polypropolene and polyethylene as provided artisans with often cheaper and more colorful alternatives, important in areas where natural plant fibers have become scarce. However, they have not replaced the use of natural materials. One community particularly noted for their work in these strips is Zapotitlán Palmas in Oaxaca.
Basketry products
Basketry items are generally of three types, flat items, two- or three dimensional forms for carrying or those used for storage. Most of these are utilitarian, used then thrown away when worn out. Basketry in Mexico has two lineages. Indigenous products include , , , and , many of which survive to the present day.
Petates are large flat mats made from reeds or palm fronds. Those made with the latter have wider weaves. They have been used to wrap bundles, to sleep on, bury the dead and event to celebrate marriages. They are still relatively common, especially in indigenous communities. Tompeates or were made to store and transport fruit, vegetables and other merchandise for market. In the pre-Hispanic and early colonial period, they were tied on a person's back with a mecapal (brace) to transport as there were no beasts of burden in the pre Hispanic period. Today the term is still used in some areas to refer to a container used to keep tortillas warm. Sometimes the term tlaxcal is used instead. Petacas were large containers used to store clothing, and in the pre Hispanic and colonial period may have been the only furniture like piece in houses of the poor.
Cacles, and were clothing items.
Items introduced by the Spanish include handled baskets, sombreros makes with braided fibers, , braided palm fronds for Palm Sunday, and heart decorations makes with straw ().