The tradition recounts that the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego at Tepeyac in 1531, asking that her church be built on that hill. Her mestizo appearance and words spoken in Nahuatl awakened the devotion of the indigenous peoples, who recognized her as a protective Mother. Her cult grew to become a religious and cultural emblem of Mexico, a symbol of unity and resistance. Her image was the standard-bearer of the Insurgent Army in the War of Independence and accompanied leader Emiliano Zapata during the Mexican Revolution. Today, she is venerated by millions as the protective mother and refuge of Mexicans.

Goddess of the fertility of the Earth and mother of all the gods, of the Sun, the Moon, and the stars. Her name, which means “she of the skirt of snakes,” alludes to the Earth’s surface, which was believed to be covered in a weft of snakes. Creator and destroyer, she embodies the duality of life and death, with death generating life. Here we see her with a gaunt face and hands and feet with menacing claws. Her head has holes into which strands of human hair were probably inserted, and on the back of her head is inscribed her calendar name: Chicuei Malinalli (Eight Grass).

Goddess of the water of rivers, lakes, and lagoons, of fertility and births, and protector of women in labor and children. According to the Myth of the Five Suns, she ruled the fourth era, which was destroyed by a flood, reinforcing her creative and destructive nature. Today, the Otomí groups living in the area continue to make pilgrimages to the site where this sculpture was found.

This is one of the most commonly depicted female figures in central Veracruz. She is richly dressed and wears a mouth mask—perhaps made of human skin—that evokes Xipe Tótec, “our flayed lord,” god of vegetation and fertility, patron of sacrifice, bringer of corn and of war. This likely means that she is a local deity linked to agricultural worship.

Sello cilíndrico con figuras geométricas
Cultura tlatilca
Tlatilco, Estado de México
1400-900 a.C.
Barro
Museo Nacional de Antropología. INAH

Sello con grecas
Cultura del centro de Veracruz
Veracruz
200-900 d.C.
Barro
Museo Nacional de Antropología. INAH

Figurilla femenina con pintura corporal
Cultura chupícuaro
Chupícuaro, Guanajuato
600 a.C.-200 d.C.
Barro
Museo Regional de Guadalajara. INAH

Figurilla femenina
Cultura Preclásica del Altiplano
Altiplano central
800-400 a.C.
Barro
Museo Regional de La Laguna. INAH

Figurilla femenina
Cultura mezcala
Guerrero
800-400 a.C.
Piedra
Bodega de decomisos. CNME. INAH

OPUESTOS COMPLEMENTARIOS

Esculturas femenina y masculina
Cultura del Occidente de México
Tequilita, Compostela, Nayarit
200 a.C.-400 d.C.
Barro
Museo Regional de Nayarit. INAH

The principle of female-male duality served to define the realms of the universe and its phenomena in a logic of alternation and closure of cycles, the feminine night and the masculine day, the feminine rainy season and the masculine dry season, the feminine death and the masculine life… these symbolic categories join a long list of concepts such as cold and warmth, humidity and dryness, darkness and light, earth and sky, below and above, north and south, west and east, water and hearth, wind and fire, swelling and consumption, private space and public space, among many others.

Cooperativa Sna Jolobil (San Cristobal de las Casas, 1976)

Sna Jolobil es una organización sin fines de lucro indígena fundada en 1976, conformada por cientos de tejedoras de unas 30 comunidades chiapanecas. Su objetivo es revivir técnicas textiles mayas y vender productos para el sustento de las tejedoras y familias en los Altos de Chiapas.

Sus prioridades son preservar técnicas textiles de lenguas Tzotzil, Tzeltal, Chol y Tojolabal, difundir su cultura y respetar la naturaleza al usar materiales naturales y evitar la contaminación. Sna Jolobil ha salvado la indumentaria tradicional y otros objetos de sus comunidades, que de otra manera se habrían perdido. Su impacto económico, toma de decisiones colectivas y gestión productiva la destacan como experiencia representativa entre comunidades indígenas del país. El éxito productivo de esta organización, liderada por mujeres artesanas, inspiró la formación de nuevas cooperativas en otras áreas como el café y la miel.

En 2002, la UNESCO premió su trabajo y en 2017, recibieron el «Community Impact Award» del International Folk Art Market en Santa Fe, Nuevo México.