The Dy(e)ing Art of Mexico's Indigenous Mixtec People Carey Reed - PBS Newshour
go to original December 4, 2015

Habacuc Avendaño holds out cotton thread that has been dyed a greenish-blue and purple from the liquid of a marine mollusk. Mexico's Mixtecs have used liquid from the sea snail for centuries to dye thread for their brightly colored clothing. A dwindling sea snail population threatens that practice. (ClothRoads: A Global Textile Marketplace)

On the shore of Mexico’s Huatulco National Park, Habacuc Avendaño loosens a snail out from underneath the craggy rocks.

Holding several strands of white thread, he flips over the snail to reveal its flesh, gently squeezes it and rubs the white liquid that emerges onto the string.

The thread turns yellow, green and finally purple after drying in the sun.



As he has done for decades, Avendaño returned the snail to its humid but shady home among the rocks.

For centuries, the indigenous Mixtec people of Mexico’s Oaxaca region have used the purple dye that comes from milking a sea snail to make their brightly colored clothing, but the snail – and their way of life – is in danger.

Advocates say the snail (Plicopurpura pansa), known to the Mixtecs as tixinda, is under threat from poachers and increased tourism in the area.

Read the rest at PBS Newshour

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