Zinacantán de las Flores is a small town in Chiapas, located in southern Mexico next to Guatemala. A town completely in love with flowers, as its name says, it is a flower-growing town. Last December we had the opportunity to go to that community and learn a little about their traditions, how they grow their flowers and how they make their textiles.
When we visit this beautiful community, the first thing that strikes us are its picturesque flowers, decorating every corner of this town from its churches, their dresses to its houses. Zinacantán has floriculture as one of its main economic activities, and for them it is an honour to decorate their churches, an activity they do for free, since it is an honour for them that their family is destined to develop such an activity.
It was a memorable moment, the first thing that captivated us was the kindness of its inhabitants, the smiles with which they welcomed us into their homes. Faithfully following their traditions, they offered us their sacred drink, (which cannot be rejected since for them this distillate allows them to establish a connection between the material and spiritual world, and has benefits such as curing ills. According to their tradition, each sip has and serves a purpose. They also shared with us their food, beans, pumpkin seeds, cheese and tortillas.
Apart from its kindness, welcomeness and generosity, we were also captivated by its colours, all its inhabitants dressed in typical costumes embroidered by themselves, which have flowers represented in bright colours with threads. We had the opportunity to see how the women create their own textiles with a loom called waist loom, and multiple flowers of different colours are embroidered on the fabric according to the creativity and inspiration of the artisan. Since during its elaboration they must be tied to their waist, a part of the beauty and creative work is hard work due to the physical effort it requires.
The strength and consistency that is needed to create a piece is admirable, the creation time can go from weeks to months, each piece is unique, reflecting in it a very personal part of the artisan, which makes these pieces true treasures.
We like to travel to learn about new florist techniques and trends, to keep up to date but above all to achieve what we have done so far, create unique products and Zinacantan, a town that we fell in love with, for its colours, its traditions, its strength, its charm and above all the kindness of its inhabitants that made us feel at home.
