Ancestral Clay Studies in Chiapas, Mexico

The Land of the Jaguars with Tsoontajal.

In the Spring of 2023 I journeyed to Chiapas, Mexico to attend the residency program, TERRA ANCESTRAL. The residency program started with an opening ceremony led by a j’ilol shaman, Maestra Maruch Mendez. She was our spiritual guide before communing with the land, in order for us to receive the permission of the ancestral spirits, to begin to cultivate a relationship with the land that we would be harvesting our clay. We worked with the Tsoontajal collective, who was founded by the Lopez family who are an indigenous family native to Chiapas. The Lopez family consists of Maestra Carmen, Maestra Agustina, Maestro Bonifacio, Maestro Juan, Maestro Roberto, Veronica, and Reinaldo. The family led us on how to harvest wild clay by a mine near by their house. They shared with us their ancestral practices of how to source the materials through embodying reciprocity with the earth before they begin their creative process. They offer pox, an ancestral fermented drink made of sugar or corn that is native to Chiapas, to the land. A prayer is said in their native language giving thanks and paying their respects to the earth. Once the pox is given to the land they drink the ceremonial beverage and begin to extract the clay. Afterwards they go to a nearby sand mine to retrieve the sand that will later be mixed with clay. They demonstrate the process of creating the clay and the various stages to hand build, burnish and decorate with natural pigments. Lastly, they demonstrate the ancestral firing process. Maestra Agustina and her family were guides demonstrating how one can continue to honor ancestral memory and on cultivating a deeper relation to the earth through one’s creative practice.