Villages in this area of Oaxaca date to pre-Colombian times. The people suffered first through Aztec rule and later through the Spanish Conquest. Regardless of who ruled, the people tilled the precipitous slopes and little changed of their way of life.
Major change finally did come with the opening of the migrant labor trail in the World War II years. Men from the village left to plant and harvest crops in California and many never returned, or came back only for the village saint's festival, usually held in February. Today, Yatzachi el Bajo has a population of between 300 and 400. A census would show that most - perhaps 80 percent - of the population is more than 70 years of age. A few pre-teens remain, waiting until they follow on the migrant trail or leave to attend school in Oaxaca City. The older people still look after their grandchildren; the children of men who now spend most of their time working in Oaxaca City or in California. Money the men send back supports their wives and children until the day when they too will leave.
Thus, a way of life passes. Whether in Yatzachi, or in Asia or in Africa, or indeed in many rural U.S. areas, the number of small and subsistence farmers are are tapering off. Perhaps, if we call attention to this trend, ways can be found to preserve parts of a way of life that speak to man's relationship to the land and arise from the symbioses which comes when one is dependent on and responsible for the land.
My purpose in this photography was to document this way of life, which may be lost in a few years. I have tried not to romanticize this life, nor to only show its hardness. I have been given a rare opportunity to enter, in a small way, into the life of Yatzachi and hope that when I return there with a set of these photographs, people will say, "Yes, that is the way it is."
Fires are built under five foot wide vats filled with sap. For nearly a week, sometimes more, the fires are tended 24 hours a day. Steam rises from the vats, warms the night air, and brings on a camaraderie among the men and women tending the boiling-off. At a critical time, determined by generations of experience, the vats are removed from the fire and the is sugar poured off into earthen bowls.
When growing, the beans climb up the corn, and the squash spreads out to preserve the moisture and to mulch the new plants. Harvest comes early for the beans and in October and November for the corn. It is then stored on the cob until partly dry, then shelled and spread out on a sheet to sun dry further. When dried, the corn is separated into different containers. The best corn goes for tortillas, the next best for seed, and the remaining corn is fed to the livestock. Corn furnishes the major caloric intake for most people, with beans providing protein. Meat comes from the poultry and from the few pigs in the village.
A majority of the inhabitants of Yatzachi are over 60 years of age. For some, such as Senor Marcelino Pilar, who is a curandero, or healer, the passing of years without an apprentice means his knowledge of herbs, of plants and of indigenous healing will not be preserved. The loss of this indigenous knowledge can mean the loss of several centuries of information about the natural environment.
If you would like to send Bill a comment about this essay, you may
contact him by e-mail at:gillette@rmi.net.
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