Lilia
Lilia is a silk rebozo weaver; she lives and works in San Pedro Cajonos, in the Sierra Norte. She raises her silk worms in her home.
She migrated to the United Estates in 1998, looking to better her economy, when her two sons were small. She did not have a husband. In California she took care of her sister’s children, constantly thinking of her own, constantly spinning her silk. There, Lilia was attracted by men’s clothing; the jeans, the jackets and over all the shoes, she missed her children very much and wanted all those things for them.
After a year she returned to San Pedro Cajonos. Her father exploited her, Lilia weaved rebozos that he sold and she did not receive one-cent. With out his father’s knowledge she entered a rebozo in a competition and won first price. This gave her the self-confidence to seek her independence. Today one of her sons helps her with the weaving; the other is lost in alcoholism.
Her day begins always at three in the morning. She makes silk and ixtle rebozos. Her son also weaves; it is she who does the endings, the enpuntado. To work with ixtle it is necessary to do it outside, under the warmth of the sun, for that she uses her son’s hat; she does not want a hat of her own. While she weaves her son makes the salsa and cooks for her.
Lilia dreams of having a machine that could do her silk weavings, but she is conscious that the true value of her work is the fact that it is made by her own hands.
August 2008
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Lila |
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Ethic dress