Tepetitan, Cuetzalan, Puebla, Mexico, a Nahua village, and here the textile traditions of the region are still strong. This village first visited in 1993 when the road was impassable and again in 2001 and 2006. Fashion among the younger women is changing, the younger women pictured here are wearing a blouse with a ruffle on it, while the older women are wearing the older style traditional blouse. .
Bob Freund 2/5/2007
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The photos above are from a visit to the village in August 2006, we were searching for a quechquemitl for a store in New York. The blouse over the years has changed colors and now includes a ruffle. Over the past few year I have seen the ruffle gradually being used in more and more villages in the region. The purple and red on light blue material as well as the ruffle are particularly common in Tepetitan.
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My first visit to the Cuetzalan region in 1993 was very interesting; I was amazed at the extent of costume, especially since Oaxaca had lost so much in the way of textile tradition. The weekly market in Cuetzalan was amazing for a textile collector. During the first few hours I found this family from Tepetitan, and made my way there via a very difficult dirt road. Today it is paved and very easy to get there, if fact it was the road we had to take to get out of Cuetzalan after Hurricane Stan ( 0ct,2005). When I arrived in Tepetitan the road was so muddy it was not possible to advance. The blouse is finely embroidered with great detail; the quechquemitl is woven on a back strap loom as is the belt seen on the following pages.

The blouse and quechquemitl pictured here were purcahsed in 1993 from the family pictured next to them, The detailed embroiderey is amazing in it perfection. The quechquemilt is woven on a back strap loom and adorned at the very point with embroidery.