[tires whooshing]
[gentle acoustic guitar music]
[Isaac speaking Spanish]
[mellow music]
[Isaac speaking Spanish]
[Guadalupe speaking Spanish]
[Isaac speaking Spanish]
[bright music]
[Isaac speaking Spanish]
[gentle music]
[Isaac speaking Spanish]
[motors running]
- Teotitlan, they have been
a weaving community for millennia.
And the Isaac Vasquez family are respected in Teotitlan
and beyond Teotitlan for the work that Don Isaac has done.
He took very seriously the task of relearning
what had been lost, because the weavers had been using
synthetic dyes for a very long time.
And he, by trial and error, by really working
with the dye stuffs, came back to a mastery of cochineal,
of all the hues that you can obtain.
And in my opinion, he is the master dyer in Teotitlan,
and his family continues with this tradition.
[Lila speaking Spanish]
[Isaac speaking Spanish]
- Alejandro: What was woven for the rural market,
because these were worn as blankets by men
in the valley of Oaxaca and in the mountains beyond,
made the transition to tapestries
that are hung on walls or displayed on floors.
In this transition, the weaving tradition
has become enriched immensely.
And people are now doing finer tapestry than was ever done,
and they're much more experimental.
[Wilmer speaking Spanish]
[bells ringing]
- We celebrate Dia de Muertos, and one of the traditions
that they have here in Teotitlan is that from 3 p.m.
when the spirits come and visit us, from that time,
the bells keep ringing 24 hours.
My father's from Teotitlan del Valle.
I am half Zapotec, half Michoacana.
And since I was born in the United States, half American.
[Lila speaking in Spanish]
I met Wilmer and we fell in love,
and we are planning to marry pretty soon here in Teotitlan.
The Vasquez family celebrates Dia de Muertos.
We buy in the market bread.
[Vanessa speaking in Spanish]
Flowers, fruit.
Then we buy nuts, seeds.
We make chocolate, and that's for the altar.
[Lila speaking Spanish]
[Isaac speaking Spanish]
- The belief is that Maria Vasquez comes,
and there must have mezcal, soda, and beer,
because that's what she loved to drink.
If there's none of those things there,
then something might happen, like a superstition.
[family chatting in Spanish]
[bells ringing]
I do see influences from Oaxaca in Los Angeles.
One of them is Dia de Muertos.
They have the same food, same kind of altars.
But here in Teotitlan, this is serious.
This is not like a game.
Dia de Muertos is a really,
really heart-to-heart celebration.
[gentle music]
[Isaac speaking Spanish]
[bright music]