Xixi
My grandmother Adelaida believes that a newborn’s belly button should be buried under a tree in the land where the baby is born, an ancient tradition amongst the Mexican indigenous communities that gives the creature a sense of attachment to the land, a home.
In the decade of 1940,Adelaida migrated from the Mixtec Highlands of Oaxaca to Mexico City looking for adventure and opportunities. 50 years later she went back to build a house in Santiago Nundiche, her hometown.
The word Xixi means “aunt” in the Mixtec language and it ́s and it ́s the respectful way to call an old woman like Adelaida in the towns of the Mixtec Highlands, a region isolated among valleys and mountains that has kept strong cultural features of it ́s prehispanic identity, as if time had become still.
In the decade of 1940,Adelaida migrated from the Mixtec Highlands of Oaxaca to Mexico City looking for adventure and opportunities. 50 years later she went back to build a house in Santiago Nundiche, her hometown.
The word Xixi means “aunt” in the Mixtec language and it ́s and it ́s the respectful way to call an old woman like Adelaida in the towns of the Mixtec Highlands, a region isolated among valleys and mountains that has kept strong cultural features of it ́s prehispanic identity, as if time had become still.