By Jaqueline Quesada \/ Translated by Samai P\u00e1ez<\/b><\/p>\n
The artisanal production of indigo in <\/span>Santiago Niltepec, Oaxaca<\/b>, is at a critical point. This natural dye, of great cultural importance, faces economic and climatic challenges that put its continuity at risk.<\/span><\/p>\n Paulino Toledo<\/b>, a member of the community of Santiago Niltepec and a connoisseur of the indigo tradition, describes the complex production process: \"It begins with the planting of jiquilite in May, then it is harvested in August, September and early October.\" This is an artisanal process that requires time and effort and depends heavily on climatic conditions.<\/span><\/p>\n \"This year, the lack of rain affected production,\"<\/b>Toledo said. Production costs vary, but the price per kilogram of indigo ranges between<\/span> $3,000<\/b> Mexican pesos (approximately <\/span>$159<\/b> US dollars). However, the presence of intermediaries that buy at low prices and resell with high profit margins, make it difficult to obtain a fair economic benefit.<\/span><\/p>\n The lack of organization among indigo producers impacts both trade and access to supports. <\/span>. \"There are small groups of producers, but there is nothing consolidated,\"<\/b>. \"There are small groups of producers, but there is nothing consolidated,\"<\/span><\/p>\n Added to this is the competition with synthetic dyes, which are cheaper. \"Synthetic dyes displaced natural ones,\" Toledo highlighted that <\/span>\"in the past, indigo was fundamental for the community economy.\"<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n Fortunately, indigo is experiencing a resurgence thanks to the efforts of master craftsman <\/span>Jes\u00fas Armando Rodr\u00edguez Cruz<\/b>who teaches courses and workshops, training a new group of people who are dedicated to dyeing shirts, clothing and even the traditional clothing of the state.<\/span><\/p>\n Despite the challenges, members of the community of Santiago Niltepec such as Paulino Toledo keep this ancestral tradition alive. The international growing interest in indigo, the <\/span>Feria Cultural del A\u00f1il (Indigo Cultural Fair)<\/b>, , the use of social networks for its promotion and the training of new dyers, provide a ray of hope for the Mexican<\/span> \"blue gold's\"<\/b> future.<\/span><\/p>\n An Ancestral Legacy of Latin America\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Its history dates back to pre-Hispanic times, where the Mayans used it in <\/span>rituals, ceramics and painting<\/b>.The famous Mayan blue, used in murals since <\/span>300 AD<\/b>, is an example of millenary nanotechnology, combining indigo with <\/span>palygorskite clay<\/b> to create a pigment of exceptional resistance, as seen in the murals of <\/span>Bonampak, Chiapas<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n With the arrival of the Spaniards, indigo production intensified in Central America. <\/span>El Salvador<\/b> became an important production center in the <\/span>16th century<\/b>, where it was a pillar of the Salvadoran economy until the appearance of industrial dyes.<\/span><\/p>\n Interest in indigo is being revitalized throughout the region, with festivals such as <\/span>the Indigo Festival in Suchitoto, El Salvador<\/b>, promoting culture and identity through this ancient pigment.<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Por Jaqueline Quesada La producci\u00f3n artesanal de a\u00f1il en Santiago […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":64390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37,180,183],"tags":[93,223,227,235,410,323,95,465,242,89,343,49,224,50,88],"class_list":["post-64389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-molanews","category-mola-news","category-noti-mola-news","tag-disenadores-sostenibles","tag-diseno-de-moda","tag-diseno-latino","tag-ecologia","tag-fashion-blog","tag-fashion-news","tag-innovacion","tag-internacional","tag-latinoamerica","tag-moda-etica","tag-mola-blog","tag-noticias-de-moda","tag-sostenibilidad","tag-sustainable-fashion","tag-universo-mola"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/universomola.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/universomola.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/universomola.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universomola.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universomola.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64389"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/universomola.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64391,"href":"https:\/\/universomola.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64389\/revisions\/64391"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universomola.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/universomola.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universomola.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/universomola.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}