Lifestyle

The Weavers of the Apus- If they stop weaving we cease to exist

This gorgeous pieces were originally designed and created by locals in Pacchanta, Peru. A magical place at the base of Apu Ausangate. The grandfather mountain of initiations, permission and offerings. The mamita iladoras and tejedoras. The Mother weavers of this lands. They  work closely with don Eusebio. He is sort of a mayor of this town, with a smile and a heart bigger than the sun. He works for the weavers, his community and his family. A weaver himself. That is his vocation, devotion and calling.

When I met him I had an idea. The idea was to design a functional evolution of somethings they had already been making for a long time. He was open to all my ideas. Let’s add sleeves, make them slightly longer, a bit more rugged, make the hood bigger. Adding pockets was a no go in this first prototypes. I wondered If by working with them I was supporting something bigger than myself, if I was here to help them in any way. Help them improve their way of life…clean up the plastic on their lands, perhaps help with their children’s education or medical bills…I started to wonder if these thoughts were some egotistical train of thought coming from an old program in me thinking that somehow I come from the “civilized” world, the western world. Deep inside me I felt like they needed my ‘help’. I realized I had been creating a romanticized and poetic version of my role here. Informed by the meeting between the condor and the Eagle. The ancestral and the modern. An illusory story to validate that I am here to be some kind of savior. They don’t need my help, they don’t need our help. What kind of help am I offering? If I come to their land to bring my misconstrued illusions of education, money, health, community, hygiene, politics and spirituality. I am wrong. But if I come to their land with an open heart, ask for permission to be there, ask for permission to buy their crafts, ask them if their want to work with me and they say “you are welcomed here” and they say “we want to work with you”. This is a new narrative. They don’t need our education, religion, agricultural structures, political views etc… we gain much more from them than they gain from us “the Westerners”, the little brothers and sisters.

I am here to be of service to them. I am here to support the weavers of the Apus, the earth, the moon and the sun. I am here to support the mothers of the earth whom still carry the wisdom of weaving prayers on a wearable, decorative and functional piece of cloth. Those who weave prayers in the water, air, earth and fire. A prayer that will remain in the physical and spiritual form well after my body decomposes back to the great mother and my spirit embraces the one once again. A prayer that is celebrated by the protecting spirits on this lands, our ancestors. To me, These thoughts and intentions are proof that we remember. We remember that we are a part of something miraculous, something beautiful, something magical. We remember that we are the ancestors. We are the protectors. We are God and Goddess. This is what I am here to do… I am here to be a bridge between many worlds. I am here to learn their stories and share them with those far away. and I will continue to walk this mountains for as long as they give permission and my body can handle it. If my last steps happen here I would consider myself a lucky man.