About the Mayan Community
Mexico is an exciting country full of history, culture, and natural resources. So diverse from the dry deserts in the north, the blue oceans in the Caribbean and the dense thick jungle in the South.
It is there in the South you will find the origins of one of the most amazing and fascinating civilisations. The Mayans. They were so advanced for their time, with development in the writing system, art, maths, astronomy and the well known and practised Mayan Calendar. Little known fact, they invented the zero in the mathematics field and discovered the use of the cocoa bean now used in modern day chocolate. Their religious belief also was one of a kind, in which they prayed and worshipped the sun god and practised human sacrifice.
Nowadays there are many communities around Mexico and Central America whos aim is to keep the Mayan culture and traditions. Deep in the South is one such community whos daily practice is too keep this going. You can see this in their everyday living from the food they eat, the Mayan dialect they still speak and the traditional Mayan dress they wear. The women's job is to make all the bright coloured and patterned textile products by hand. Every product is meticulously stitched in a traditional style to the region, while the Mayan men in the community work hard in the workshops, making all the leather products by hand.
Mariano, his family and his workers have been producing leather bags out of their cattle for decades in a traditional and sustainable way, and the craftsmanship that he learned from his dad has been passed down from generation to generation. From the curing of the leather, to carefully hand stitching the bags and hand tooling the stunning designs, this makes every product truly unique. For them this is the only way of life that they know, a humble and simple existence, but one they should be very proud of.
By supporting us, you support a trade at the most basic level. When you purchase from us you'll feel good to know that you're supporting a community and the artisans family and helping keep this amazing Mayan culture alive for generations to come.
We are committed to:
- Helping the economy of the indigenous artists.
- Working directly with them.
- Establishing fair trade principles.
- Building relationships to help them grow.
- Giving back a percentage of profits to the communities