On Sunday Robert took us on a tour of Suchitoto. In the
course of it, we stopped in at Arte Añil where Irma keeps alive the local
tradition of dying cloth with añil, indigo.
Or perhaps I should say that Irma
has brought back to the life the ancient tradition. She explained to us that,
although making indigo from the leaves of this plant goes back thousands of years,
the ancient methods of making indigo and dying cloth had been forgotten in most
of El Salvador by the end of the middle of the 20th century.
When the conquistadors made their way in 1522 to the region
that was to become El Salvador it was inhabited by various indigenous people,
the best known group being the Mayans.
On Wednesday Robert and Tita took us on a tour of local sites, including Mayan temples
Tita, who, unlike the vast majority of El Salvadorans is not of mixed blood, Meztizo, but is from a pueblo of indiginous people, is the same height as the average pre Columbian Mayan was.
The Europeans´ diseases had preceded them already killed 80% of the
population. Those left resisted the invasion, yet, despite many battles, the
city of San Salvador was established by 1537. Pedro and Gonzalo de Alvarado.
The Spanish were disappointed to
find there was no gold to be had, but quickly discerned the potential profit in
the indigo dye made by the natives. The Spanish dubbed it “blue gold”.
 |
| On our tour, at San Andreas, we got to see the remains of a 16th centureyIndigo factory |
This became the first
in a long line of mono crops that was to be the basis of El Salvador’s economy,
with the local people forced to work in slave-like conditions for a small
number of wealthy landowners who exported, mainly, a single crop. Though over
the centuries there were many rebellions, and many efforts made to redistribute
the land, no fundamental change would come until the end of the civil war in
1992.
But, back to the 1500´s. Irma explained that the conditions
set by the Spanish in the making of the dye were very harsh and many people
died. They tried importing African slaves, thinking they might survive the work
better. This did not go on for long, but there is some African within the mix
of genes in the Salvadoran people.
 |
| characteristic look of coffee plantations, with the squares formed by trees used to make shade and break the wind. |
El Salvador obtained independence from Spain in 1821, but
the landowners remained in control. Over the course of the 19th century coffee
plantations began to appear, and when in, 1857, synthetic dyes were discovered,
the indigo factories were entirely replaced, mainly by coffee plantations. The
government operated for the benefit of the landowners and for the vast majority
of the population there was no alternative to working on the plantations.
In 1931 the military dictator Maximiliano Hernández came to
power in a coup d’état. Meanwhile, the
Marxist revolutionary leader Farabundo Marti was organizing indigenous farmers
to oppose the government and demand the redistribution of land. In 1932,
Hernandez responded to Marti´s efforts with an operation that came to be known
as La Matanza, the Slaughter. 30,000 people, including nearly all of El
Salvador´s indigenous population were slaughtered. With them went the knowledge
of the ancient art of añil, indigo.
Farabundo Marti was executed, but he was not forgotten, and
when the opposition reformed in the 1970s to demand the redistribution of land,
they named their party after him. The Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación
Nacional, or FMLN was the major opposing force to the government during the 12
year civil war.
Great post, Margot! I love that she has revived this wonderful art!
ReplyDelete