Episode 136: Tejiendo un legado (Weaving a Legacy) - Revisited

In El Salvador, waist loom weaving is a revered craft, historically undertaken by women — until Ronald Vega had to take over the job from his sick mother, becoming the first man in his family, and his country, to practice this ancestral technique.

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Transcript

Martina: ¡Hola listeners! For this special season of the Duolingo Spanish Podcast, we are revisiting some of our favorite stories from Indigenous communities across Latin America! Today, we’ll travel to El Salvador, to hear an episode from May 2020. It features Ronald Vega, who became the first man in his family to practice his community’s ancestral art of weaving. Keep listening to hear his story, and stay tuned until the end for a special note from me! Now, onto the episode.

Martina: Twenty-eight-year-old Ronald Vega starts his work day with a ritual. At home, in Panchimalco, a city nine miles from the capital of El Salvador, he picks up his craft loom. It's a weaving device made of pieces of wood and some thread. He ties one end to a hook on the wall, attaches the other end to his waist, and then he starts to weave, or tejer.

Ronald: Yo nací en una familia de mujeres que dedicaron toda su vida a tejer artesanalmente. La madre de mi bisabuela, mi tatarabuela Ángela, fue la primera que aprendió este oficio. Ella se lo enseñó a mi bisabuela Cleofes, pero como ella no tuvo hijas, se lo enseñó a sus nietas: Claudia, Catalina, Sabina, Elena y Carmen, mi madre.

Martina: Ronald's hands make short and precise movements. He slides the wooden rods over a surface of taut threads, interweaves them with the help of other pieces of wood and slowly, the object begins to form. The threads become a piece of fabric with stripes of violet, red, yellow, and fuschia. He’s using a waist loom, or telar de cintura.

Ronald: El telar de cintura es un oficio tradicional que podría desaparecer muy pronto. Lamentablemente, con el tiempo, hay menos personas que saben cómo hacerlo. En mi país, todas las que lo hacen son mujeres. Todas, menos yo.

Martina: Bienvenidos and welcome to the Duolingo Spanish Podcast. I'm Martina Castro. Every episode, we bring you fascinating true stories, to help you improve your Spanish listening and gain new perspectives on the world.

The storyteller will be using intermediate Spanish, and I'll be chiming in for context in English. If you miss something, you can always skip back and listen again. We also offer full transcripts at podcast.duolingo.com.

Martina: Cleofes Rivera, Ronald's great grandmother, was well known in her community for the fabrics she made using a waist loom. A lot of people traveled to Panchimalco from the capital, San Salvador — and other nearby villages — to buy her fabrics.

Ronald: Ella aprendió a tejer a los 8 años y continuó hasta los 90. Era toda una celebridad en el pueblo porque vivió hasta los 105 años.

Martina: Panchimalco is a colonial village with an indigenous population that maintains many ancestral customs. It's one of the few places where some people still speak Náhuatl — the region's original language. It's also one of the few places in El Salvador where they practice waist loom weaving.

Ronald: Lamentablemente, yo no conocí a mi bisabuela, pero mi madre me dice que era muy simpática. Ella siempre insistió en que sus nietas aprendieran a usar el telar de cintura.

Martina: Waist loom weaving is a textile manufacturing technique of pre-Hispanic origin. The weave, or tejido, is made by interweaving two groups of threads, which are pulled tight across a loom with the help of pieces of wood.

Ronald: Primero, hay que hacer la base del tejido. Para eso, hay que poner los hilos de colores, uno por uno, en una estructura de madera que mantiene el tejido tenso. Se ponen tantos hilos como sean necesarios para obtener el ancho que se desea.

Martina: To achieve the tension necessary for keeping the threads in place, one end of the loom is tied to a hook, a board, or a tree. And the other is tied to the waist of the person weaving.

Ronald: Los tejidos son de colores fuertes y alegres y se pueden combinar hasta nueve colores distintos. Existen diferentes tipos de diseños, con rayas o con cuadros. Algunos se fabrican con hilo y otros con lana. Además de ropa y telas decorativas, hay tejidos que se usan en celebraciones típicas y religiosas. Son una parte fundamental de la identidad y la cultura de mi país.

Martina: Originally, this system of weaving was practiced exclusively by women from indigenous groups. They were mainly in present-day countries like Bolivia, Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador. Pre-Hispanic cultures venerated their weavers, spinners, and embroiderers.

Ronald: Para los pueblos originarios, tejer era una habilidad sagrada que los dioses les daban a las mujeres. Cuando una niña nacía, se hacía una ceremonia de presentación del telar.

Martina: Just like many women from Panchimalco, Carmen Vega, Ronald's mother, became the heir to that ancestral weaving technique when she was very little. She learned by watching her grandmother Cleofes and her cousin Claudia — who's now one of the village's expert weavers.

Ronald: Mi madre estudió hasta tercer grado en la escuela primaria y empezó a tejer a los 11 años. A los 15, ella ya estaba trabajando en el telar.

Martina: Carmen learned how to make scarves, rugs, tablecloths, and table runners. But what made her famous were her paños panchos — traditional Salvadoran shawls that women wear over their heads. Weaving one of them can take up to eight hours.

Ronald: Mi madre comenzó una relación con un vecino cuando era muy joven. Pero cuando mi hermano Ulises y yo éramos pequeños, nuestro padre nos abandonó y emigró a los Estados Unidos. Mi madre tenía que trabajar más de diez horas al día en el telar para poder mantenernos.

Martina: From a young age, Ronald was interested in seeing how the process worked — he'd marvel as his aunts and mother transformed cones of thread from shops in San Salvador into beautiful fabrics.

Ronald: Yo siempre le pedía a mi madre que me enseñara a usar el telar de cintura, pero ella no quería. Ella decía que era algo que solo las mujeres podían hacer. Eso era lo que decía la tradición, pero yo aprendí a tejer simplemente mirándola.

Martina: One day when Ronald was 15, he put a loom together and started making his first piece of woven fabric. Just then, Carmen arrived and saw him with the loom tied to his waist. She couldn't believe it. Her son knew how to weave. And he did it really well!

Ronald: Aunque al principio fue impactante para ella, porque yo soy hombre, mi mamá tuvo que admitir que yo tejía mejor que muchas mujeres. Con el tiempo, ella empezó a mostrarme algunas técnicas y a enseñarme las cosas más difíciles. Yo la ayudaba a terminar algunas piezas.

Martina: When Ronald finished high school, he was eager to find a career. He decided to study public relations at Andrés Bello University in San Salvador, because he had always liked interacting with people. This required a great financial sacrifice for Carmen, who was very proud of her son.

Ronald: Yo fui el primero de mi familia en ir a la universidad. Estaba muy contento por haber logrado ese objetivo. Mi sueño era graduarme y tener un buen trabajo. Me imaginaba como jefe de marketing o de publicidad de una empresa importante de diseño.

Martina: But in January of 2019, when Ronald was in his fourth year of college, Carmen started to feel pain in her left breast. She found a lump. At first, she didn't think it was anything serious. She didn't want to worry her children, so she kept working.

Ronald: El dolor era más y más fuerte y mi mamá se lo dijo a una vecina. Ella insistió y le dijo que tenía que ir al médico. Mi mamá habló conmigo y yo la acompañé a una clínica en San Salvador. Pero, en esa primera visita, los doctores no fueron muy claros.

Martina: What followed were many days of worry and uncertainty. Carmen remained in pain, and without a clear diagnosis. They decided to go to a public hospital where the doctors performed a mammogram, analyzed her blood, and then took a biopsy.

Ronald: Un mes más tarde, los doctores diagnosticaron a mi madre con cáncer de mama. Yo recuerdo que ese día fue muy triste. Nosotros llegamos a la casa sin creer lo que nos estaba pasando. Sentíamos que estábamos solos en el mundo y que Dios nos había abandonado.

Martina: Carmen had to start chemotherapy as soon as possible. Then, she needed surgery and finally, she underwent radiation.

Ronald: Una vez al mes, nosotros viajábamos desde Panchimalco a San Salvador para las sesiones de quimioterapia. Salíamos a las cinco de la mañana y regresábamos a la casa a las cinco de la tarde. Fueron días terribles y muy difíciles.

Martina: After each chemotherapy session, Carmen felt awful. She had nausea, headaches, and extreme fatigue. She couldn't work anymore, so the family was left without income to stay afloat and to pay for Carmen's treatment.

Ronald: Desesperados, nosotros decidimos contactar a mi padre aunque no habíamos hablado con él desde hacía muchos años. Lo buscamos por Facebook y cuando finalmente lo encontramos, le dijimos sobre la enfermedad de mi madre.

Martina: But Ronald's father failed to show up for his family once again. He didn't offer any financial support or even get back in touch with them to see how they were doing.

Ronald: Mi hermano trabajaba, pero el dinero que ganaba no era suficiente para pagar el tratamiento de mi madre y para mantenernos a los tres.

Martina: At the same time, the pending list of weaving orders for Carmen was getting longer and longer, but she couldn't do them anymore.

Ronald: En ese momento, yo tuve que tomar una de las decisiones más difíciles de toda mi vida.

Martina: While Ronald looked for a way to pay for his mother's cancer treatment and support the family, the weaving orders for Carmen continued piling up.

Ronald: Yo lo pensé mucho y no tuve otra opción. Decidí dejar de estudiar. Fue muy difícil porque me faltaba poco para graduarme, pero la universidad era muy cara y me quitaba mucho tiempo. Además, alguien tenía que tejer y responsabilizarse de todos esos pedidos.

Martina: It was hard for Carmen to accept Ronald's decision because she had sacrificed a lot to make sure he could go far in his career. But she had another concern, too: historically, waist loom weaving was a woman's job. Carmen was afraid of what people would say about her son.

Ronald: A mi mamá no le gustó la idea al principio, pero después se dio cuenta de que no tenía nada de malo. Además, en mi familia nadie se opuso. Mis primas no se habían interesado en aprender el oficio y mis tías estaban contentas al ver que yo lo iba a rescatar del olvido.

Martina: Supervised by Carmen, Ronald started working full-time on the loom, which was located in the hallway of their house.

Ronald: Nadie en el pueblo me criticó por hacer ese trabajo que siempre fue hecho por mujeres. De todas formas, si alguien lo hubiera hecho, tampoco me habría importado. Yo sabía por qué lo estaba haciendo. Era para ayudar a mi mamá y para hacer algo por ella, después de que ella había hecho tanto por nosotros.

Martina: In no time, Ronald perfected his loom technique. He made the same fabrics as his mother and aunts: scarves, rugs, table runners, and paños panchos — Carmen's specialty. One day, representatives of a foundation that supports Salvadoran small businesses visited Ronald. His fabrics had been selected among the nation's best.

Ronald: Yo era parte de un comité de artesanos de mi pueblo. La organización dio una charla y algunos de nosotros fuimos a escucharla. Ese día, ellos descubrieron mi trabajo. Gracias al apoyo de la organización, yo participé en diferentes cursos para aprender nuevas técnicas textiles que apliqué a mis tejidos tradicionales.

Martina: Thanks to that training, Ronald innovated with new designs, and started making new products.

Ronald: Yo aprendí a hacer huipiles, que son unas camisas anchas sin mangas muy típicas de El Salvador. Cada huipil me toma dos días enteros de trabajo. ¡Mi mamá estaba muy sorprendida! Ella decía que yo tejía mucho más rápido que ella y que era capaz de hacer piezas muy difíciles.

Martina: Ronald was doing such a good job that his products were selected to be sold at two important stores in San Salvador. This gave him and his fabrics even more exposure.

Ronald: Yo me sentí muy feliz porque valoraron mi trabajo. Además, los conocimientos sobre diseño y ventas que aprendí en la universidad me ayudaron en la producción de mis tejidos.

Martina: At the end of a very difficult year in which she had to undergo an operation, chemotherapy, and radiation; Carmen went to the doctor to see if the treatment was working.

Ronald: Yo la acompañé. El doctor nos dijo que había que controlarla de cerca, pero que mi mamá ya estaba curada. Fue un día muy feliz para todos. Yo recuerdo la alegría que sentimos mi mamá, mi hermano y yo al volver a casa.

Martina: Carmen is still in remission, but the doctors have advised her not to return to work.

Ronald: Ella dice que se aburre y que extraña el telar, pero yo le explico que ya trabajó demasiado y que es momento de descansar. Ahora, el encargado del telar soy yo.

Martina: Ronald is proud to share his heritage with everyone who wants to learn about it. After his mother's recovery, he went to his local town hall and presented a plan to give waist loom weaving classes.

Ronald: Mi mamá se siente muy orgullosa de mí porque ahora muchas más personas conocen mi trabajo. Me gustaría poder aplicar las cosas que aprendí en la universidad a esta técnica de tejido milenaria. Yo quisiera tejer con materiales nuevos y modernizar los diseños. Para mí, mantener vivo este oficio es una gran responsabilidad.

Martina: Ronald is one of the last remaining waist-loom artisans in El Salvador. Young people just haven't been interested in learning the craft. Besides him, there are only five expert weavers in Panchimalco, one of the last places where this tradition remains. They are all from Ronald's family, and they are all over 60 years old.

Ronald: Yo soy el último de mi generación que aprendió este oficio. Además, soy el único hombre que dedica todo su tiempo a trabajar en el telar de cintura. A mis primas nunca les interesó y si yo no la hubiera aprendido, en pocos años, esta tradición habría desaparecido.

Martina: Ronald Vega lives in Panchimalco, El Salvador, and since this episode first aired in 2020, he continues to preserve the tradition of waist-loom weaving.

And I wanted to share a personal note about this story. It really made an impression on me when I first heard it because I have a deep respect and appreciation for this artform. In fact I have two tapestries hanging on my wall at home that were made by Mapuche women in Southern Chile. The fact that they are handmade makes them really special, because you can feel how much work goes into them, often by Indigenous women. That’s why I love this story. It challenges us to really value these ancestral practices and protect their future, like Ronald is doing.

So, thank you, Ronald, for sharing your experience and continuing your family’s legacy!

This story was originally produced by Inés Ulanovsky, an audiovisual producer and scriptwriter in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was adapted by Tali Goldman, a journalist and writer also based in Buenos Aires.

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The Duolingo Spanish podcast is produced by Duolingo and Adonde Media. I’m the executive producer, Martina Castro. Gracias por escuchar.

Credits

This episode was produced by Duolingo and Adonde Media.