A rebozo is a collaboration between Two people, he who makes the cloth or paño (the majority of rebozos are made by men in Tenancingo) and another (usually a woman) who elaborates the fringe or punta.
With a punta and without
Weaver
The ikat pattern one finds on rebozos most likely came from the Phillipines. Research seems to show that Mindanao was ground zero for ikat. In Mindanao Ikat means "to tie".
NOTE: Take a look at this paper by Edward Yulo, one of many writings on Ikat patterns in Indonesia.
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/8b7d/a788747d8cf4b9a6655856425a4824b7487b.pdf
Most Ikat designs look similar. It's the nature of the technique.
Ikat from the Phillipines on Albaca a platano fiber
Ikat from Tenancingo on cotton fiber
Let me state for the record that no one knows for sure how Ikat rebozos arrived in Mexico or Tenancingo. I like to think it was a love story. Here's what might have happened:
Spanish Galleons carried on a lucrative trade between the Phillipines and Mexico from 1565 until 1815. The galleons, laden with oriental delights left the Phillipines steering their way to the northeast at least 30 degrees latitude in order to encounter favorable winds. After the long trip across the Pacific, the ships turned south upon seeing the first indications of land. The California coast was to be avoided. It was unchartered land and water. On a good voyage the first land seen by the sailors would be the tip of the Baja peninsula. On a bad voyage they could see land much further north up to present day Oregon California border. California was in general dangerous. Expeditions to the coast often ended in disaster. Many never made it to the safe refuge of Acapulco. There were many shipwrecks when weather and unchartered waters did not comply. In 1600, the galleon Capitana disappeared without a trace. Nuestro de Senora Aguda reportedly ran aground on a rock west of Catalina in 1641. Another galleon, Francisco Xavier, may have wrecked just south of the Columbia river in Oregon in 1707. These are just a few. Legends abound about wrecked vessels during the Phillipine Mexico trade route.
There were other foreign dangers as well that plagued travel along the California coast. These galleons laden with riches became a magnet for pirates and coastal raiders who attacked settlements. Sir Francis Drake, a pirate who worked for the English royalty, as well as Thomas Cavendish another privateer plied the coast plundering spanish settlements and attacking galleons. If you didn't die of scurvy on the crossing you might succumb to a looting by pirates. George Compton, another marauder pursued the galleon San Sebastian in 1754. The galleon’s crew purposely ran the ship aground on Catalina Island to escape the picaroons set on destruction and pillaging. Compton, a rather unsavory character along with his barbarous crew captured and killed the surviving crew of the San Sebastian.
After 200 years of theivery the Spanish were compelled to colonize California. A series of forts or presidios were established along the coast. With the presidios, came the California missions.
From Baja the Galleons then sailed south to Acapulco. From this port city, much of the cargo was sent overland across Mexico and loaded at Vera Cruz onto ships bound for Havana, Cuba, where they would join the treasure fleet that sailed every year for Spain. In Acapulco mule trains were assembled that traveled over the knarled landscape passing through Iguala, taking on more gold, then Taxco for its silver. In that era Tenancingo was one of many stops but not to take on more riches but to leave some behind with those who offered respite and supplies for the caravan. The first store in Tenancingo which served this trans-mexico commercial line was founded in 1540 or so in Tepalcaltepec, about 3 kilometers from the present Tenancingo Center. Commercialism arrived early in this pueblo.
Acapulco Harbor Back In The Day
Once upon a time in the Phillipines an adventurous handsome Sama Bajau man with no family ties, named Melchor, signed on as a crew member for a spanish galleon to replace a cook's mate who died in a fight over a flirty tagalog girl while ashore in Mindanao. Melchor was a jack of all trades like so many Phillipinos. One day he might guide a plow,, the next day he was a wagon driver, then perhaps a tax collector, afterwards an attendant to gentry,, for ten years a weaver of cloth,, finally and now a sailor. Melchor's early life was given over to vagabondage however he always maintained a strong will to learn. In his ten years as a weaver on Mindanao he became an expert artisan in the making of ikat cloth on a backstrap loom. An adaptable creature, Melchor was tranquil not at all chatty. From the age of ten when he was orphaned he showed few signs of any real loyalty. His aunt who took over his care was too hobbled with pain to guide him. He ran the streets but his will to learn gave him work and kept him out of trouble.
Melchor, now the sea gypsy made the perilous crossing passing, a lucky one for the wits of the captain and the favorable winds, The first land they saw was Baja California so the galleon sailed south down the coast to the safe harbour of Acapulco. It was march and the Viceroy was assembling an enormous mule train. Melchor saw an opportunity and made the aquaintance of one of the muleteers. He proved himself was a valuable asset for he had a knack with equines as well.
It must have been a sight, hundreds of men, soldiers, and women, more than 350 mules, burros, horses, wagons laden with cargo moving out over the rugged landscape,, passing through Tierra Colorada, Ocotito, up to Chilpancingo, crossing the Rio Balsas at Mezcala. They stopped in Iguala for a week where Melchor balked at the bare hills, heat, and desert climate. Taxco El Viejo was a bit more lush amd agreeable but like many mining towns rowdy and dangerous. The voyage continued over rugged hills but ever gaining altitude the dusty line of men and beasts inching upward to the higher plateau in the center of New Spain, passing the Grutas de Cacahuamilpa then Ixtapan de la Sal and entering the fertile cooler valley of Tenancingo. There the mule train stopped for two weeks to replenish supplies and take a much needed rest. By now Melchor was restless tiring of stubborn animals and convoluted landscapes. Tenancingo was flat with forests and rivers. There were gentle winds and fields being pIanted. It spoke to him like a promise and anyway Melchor was ripe for a change. All that was needed was a sign which appeared in the small adobe pueblo of Tepalcaltepec. It came in the form of a embracing smile from a stable owner Jacinto Lopez's daughter, Lupita. It seemed the young Lupita was prepared for a change as well, and this handsome Phillipino looked Mexican. After the two week layover ended, with spring rapidly approaching, the mule train moved on towards Mexico City leaving Melchor and his budding heart behind.
Courtship was short yet deeply sweet and lasted a lifetime. Roots had finally extended and pegged in the deep soil of this high valley. Melchor began working in the stables but soon found a place with his cherished Lupita in the expanding center of Tenancingo. He fashioned a backstrap loom from scraps of wood and she opened a small tienda.They prospered through hard work and partnership he making fine ikat rebozos and she selling beans and sugar and pulque. Four of their eight children learned the craft of their father and their workshop grew.
History does not hold much importance in Mexico as in many other places wracked by daily strife and rebozo history is also threadbare,, but after speaking with some older reboceros here in Tenancingo I discovered a few could remember that their fathers, grandfathers, and great grandfathers were invovled in rebozos. That covers at least 200 years. If the galeon trade stopped in 1815 well rebozos in Tenancingo may have a much older history.
Probably when muletrains were assembled in Vera Cruz returning with goods from Spain they could have carried elaborately knotted fringes on mantillas meant for Mexico's wealthier criollos.
Knotted fringe of a mantilla from Spain
No one can say from whom or when the first empuntadora in Tenancingo learned her trade. That may always remain a mystery. Originally the fringes or rapacejos on rebozos from Tenancingo were shorter and simpler. Many remember the short triangular style called Punta Español. At some point the fine macrame from the mantilla was adapted onto a rebozo from Tenancingo. Indigenous images and patterns began to appear in the ever lengthening fringes.
Punta Español
Thus the rapacejo of Tenancingo was born with figures of ducks, birds, flowers, letters, hearts, cocoles, arcs, and just plain beautiful macrame.
The empuntadora's craft evolved. She became the person who could raise up a mediocre rebozo and transform a finely made rebozo into something sublime. However as her importance grew her recognition diminished. The weaver garnished the credit and the empuntadora was relegated to the nameles shadows.
In the last few years though a glimmer of light has illuminated the work of certain knotters because they have won some national premiums associated with textiles, but for the most part the empuntadora is still a concealed commodity. Weavers have always taken advantage of her position. This army of craftswomen has always been poor for they plied their craft as a pastime between the hours occupied by family matters. Their creative voice was weak. They knotted out of necessity and were paid a pittance receiving little recognition in the elaboration of a rebozo which really is a collaboration. There was once more than 1000 empuntadoras in Tenancingo.That number is dwindling as are the weavers.
There are more empuntadoras the further out one ventures from Tenancingo center in the the poorer hinterlands. In those regions necessity still rules yet each year it is more difficult to find an empuntadora. Why be paid 10 dollars for a month's work. They can make more working in a papeleria. Their daughters have other interests so the artistic lineage is eroding. Economies and societies change.
The tianguis in Tenancingo on sundays on the corner of 14 de Marzo and Madero offers a window to the past and glimpse of the future. Here you will find sellers of rebozos but the empuntadoras outnumber the weavers. They come to sell their work, and at the same time to buy untied rebozos from the weavers. They add a knotted punta and return the next sunday to sell. It is one of the few ways they can make a little more money. I would guess from my informal survey that a majority of the empuntadoras are from Zumpahuacan, a poor pueblo 16 kilometers from Tenancingo. The trend is disturbing. I have met empuntadoras who have left the art to grow flowers or find work elsewhere. They don't voice it but after pressed they will admit to the economic abuse by weavers. The idea of being a participant in a special worldwide club never was and now isn't enough to sustain. There may come a day when they will not be there for us and the reboceria of Tenancingo will suffer a blow of their own making.
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