page_title: Xochistlahuaca
section_title: Culture
hierarchical_section_title: Xochistlahuaca / Culture
caption_attribution_description: English: Facade of the Xochistlahuaca Community Museum
context_page_description: Xochistlahuaca is a town in Xochistlahuaca Municipality located in the southeast corner of the Mexican state of Guerrero. It is part of this state's Costa Chica region and while near the Pacific Ocean, most of the territory is mountainous. The population is dominated by the indigenous Amuzgo ethnicity, whose women are noted for their traditional hand woven garments, especially the huipil, which is made both for home use and for sale outside the area.
context_section_description: Most of the municipality's cultural heritage is based on that of the Amuzgos, as the largest community of this ethnicity. Children from the municipality have been gathering indigenous oral stories for recording as part of the Concurso National de Narraciones Orales en Lenguas Indígenas (National Contest for Oral Narrations in Indigenous Languages). Juana Iriabth Moctezuma Tapia won the contest in 2004.
  Most of the population is classified as Catholic although there is a small but growing percentage of Protestants. Protestantism was introduced to the region by the Instituto Lingüistico de Verano in the 1940s. Catholic beliefs are generally a syncretism with Amuzgo ones. On the feast day of Saint Mark, which comes at the beginning of the rainy season, chickens are sacrificed over a set of blue rocks which represent thunder and lightning. This is in petition for abundant rain and crops for the coming growing season. The end of the growing season and harvest are marked by the feast day of the Archangel Michael on September 29. Traditional medicine men and healing are still preferred by many as illness is generally conceived of as spiritual. Other important festivals include Carnival and the feast day of the Virgin of Guadalupe on December 12. In the community of Cozoyoapan, the feast day of Saint Sebastian on January 20 is important.
  Most women and even men wear traditional clothing, made with either commercial or hand woven fabric. Industrial weaving has made hand weaving obsolete except for specialty garments or for those made for sale. the Amugo women of Xochistlahuaca are known for their hand woven fabric using the most traditional techniques and designs. Most of this fabric is sewn into huipils, a traditional women's garment and other traditional items such as tablecloths, napkins and rebozos. All pieces are original with no two exactly alike. Amuzgo women begin learning the weaving process when they are children with simple tasks such as cleaning and carding cotton. As they grow, they learn more difficult techniques and designs from the mothers and grandmothers using a traditional backstrap loom. Historically, weaving was to make clothing from the family, but it has become an important source of income for many Amuzgo families. A number of Xochistlahuaca weavers have won awards for their work such as the Premio Nacional de Ciencias y Artes  in 2004 and the weavers receive support from federal and other sources. Cooperation with government and university institutions has allowed the weavers to create new items and designs including pants, bathrobes, skirts and more. However, the huipil remains the most common and most sought-after item even though they tend to sell better to foreign buyers than Mexican ones as foreigners tend to appreciate the effort that goes into traditional weaving.
  The traditional diet of the municipality is based on corn and other locally grown products. Chocolate is generally consumed as a beverage, especially during special events such as weddings. Tamales are a fundamental part of the diet and come in a variety of forms and fillings such as sweet corn, pork, chicken, freshwater shrimp and more. One local dish is called the cabeza de viejo or old man's head and there is a type of sweetened tortilla called a ticaso.
caption: Amuzgo man in traditional dress in front of the Amuzgo Community Museum
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D60", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.00", "Image DateTime": "2012:04:06 11:39:03", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "216", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "27680", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9027", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/125", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Unidentified", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:04:06 11:39:03", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:04:06 11:39:03", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "18/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "18", "EXIF SubSecTime": "70", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "70", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "70", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3872", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2592", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "27540", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 1, 2, 0, 1]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "27", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Portrait", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Soft", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}