KWABLA has entered into partnerships with artisans of the Zapotec culture from Mexico. To browse KWABLA's catalogue of goods or listing of artisans from the Zapotec culture, click on the icons at the bottom of the page. The Zapotec name comes from an Indian civilization that existed in Central America and Mexico from 500 BC until approximately 1500 AD. They were credited with having developed both highly advanced forms of communication and technological capabilities beyond the norm for that time. So the story goes, these advancements were bestowed upon the Zapotec Indians from a visitor from outer space. Depictions of "The Astronaut" can be seen today in the "Temple of the Inscriptions" near the rain forest of Sierra de Chiapas. The Zapotec indigenous people of Mexico are primarily located in southern Oaxaca and on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Little is known of the origin of the Zapotec people and their culture. Unlike most native peoples of ancient Mexico, the Zapotec had no traditions or legends of migration, but believed that they had been born directly from rocks, trees, and jaguars. The early Zapotec were a sedentary, agricultural, city-dwelling people who worshiped a pantheon of gods headed by the rain god, Cosijo—represented by a fertility symbol combining the earth-jaguar and sky-serpent symbols common in ancient Middle American cultures. A priestly hierarchy regulated religious rites, which sometimes included human sacrifice. The Zapotec worshiped their ancestors and, believing in a paradise underworld, stressed the cult of the dead. Even today images of happy, living skeletons drinking, dancing and even marrying permeate Zapotec art, especially sculpture. The Zapotecs had a great religious center at Mitla and a magnificent city at Monte Albán, "The City in the Sky", where a highly developed civilization flourished for possibly up to 1,000 years. With its magnificent temples, tombs, ball-courts, and hieroglyphic inscriptions, Monte Albán dominated a society of over 100,000 people, with farflung territorial outposts. The Zapotecs assimilated the religion of the Spanish missionaries during the 16th century. Today, the Zapotec are predominately Catholic. The Zapotec today are mainly of two groups, those of the southern valleys in the mountains of Oaxaca and those of the southern half of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec; together they number some 350,000. The social fabric of modern day Zapotec life—customs, dress, art, weaving, songs, and literature—still retains strong elements of the ancient Zapotec heritage, particularly in the present-day states of Oaxaca and Juchitán. Today, many Zapotecs are very talented artists using ancient techniques to create unique works of art in pottery, sculpture, and weaving, as well as traditional garments. To browse KWABLA's catalogue of goods or listing of artisans from the Zapotec indigenous culture of Mexico, click on the icons below. Catalogue of Goods from the Zapotec Culture Listing of Artisans of the Zapotec Culture