San Bartolo Coyotepec is a town and municipality located in the center of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is in the Centro District of the Valles Centrales region about fifteen km south of the capital of Oaxaca.
The town is best known for its Barro negro pottery - black clay pottery. For hundreds of years pottery has been made here with a gray matte finish, but in the 1950s a technique was devised to give the pieces a shiny black finish without painting. This has made the pottery far more popular and collectable. The town is home to the Museo Estatal de Arte Popular de Oaxaca (State Museum of Popular Art of Oaxaca) which was opened here in 2004, with a large portion of its collection consisting of barro negro pottery. There is also a barro negro mural on the recently opened Baseball Academy.
History
The area was the settled homeland of the ancient Mesoamerican Zapotec civilization going back at least 2500 years, with the oldest archeological finds being in the Valley of Oaxaca. Its Zapotec language name is , place of many jaguars (Panthera onca). In 1521, the area became an encomiendo under Bartolomé Sánchez who named the settlement, San Jacinto Leontepec. Later, this was changed to the current name. San Bartolo refers to the patron saint, Bartholomew and Coyotepec is from Nahuatl meaning "hill of coyotes".
Zaachila Zapotec is spoken in the town.
Pottery community of 2,000 years
San Bartolo is a Zapotec community, which has been making pottery for about 2,000 years. The clay of this area produces a distinctive color, which for most of San Bartolo's history was a Grey matte. This clay has been used to produce utilitarian objects such as jars, dishes and other storage containers.
The techniques for making the pottery have changed little during these centuries, with plates serving as potters’ wheels and design remaining traditional. One change has been the replacement of underground pits by kilns for firing the pieces. However, the most important innovation has been a polishing method devised by ceramic artist and potter Doña Rosa in the 1950s. Doña Rosa discovered that by polishing the nearly dry clay before firing, the gray color turned to a shiny black. This has made the pottery far more popular, and many pieces are produced now for decorative purposes rather than utilitarian. Since then, the aesthetic qualities of "barro negro" (black clay) pottery has become further appreciated due to the work of artisan-sculpture Carlomagno Pedro Martinez, who has displayed his barro negro work nationally and internationally.
Spanish era
The end of the Pre-Columbian era arrived with Spanish conquest and occupation of the Zapotec peoples region in 1521. It was first renamed 'San Jacinto Leóntepec,' It then changed again to 'San Bartolomé Coyotepec,' by Bartolomé Sanchez, a soldier of Hernán Cortés awarded a local Encomienda. The first church was built in 1532. From its Spanish foundation was one of the larger settlements with three neighborhoods. This settlement was laid out by the same architect that designed the city of Oaxaca. Vicente Guerrero passed through here after he was taken prisoner, and Porfirio Díaz hid here during the French Intervention in Mexico.
The town
The center of the town is similar to that of the city of Oaxaca, with a main plaza, parish church and municipal palace. The eastern side of the main plaza is dominated by a ceiba tree. In the tianguis or other markets, one can find regional dishes such as mole negro, mole coloradito, cequeza, higaditos and stews made from chicken or turkey. There are some pre-Hispanic remains of buildings which were ceremonial centers or houses for the ruling class. The rest of the town is divided into three neighborhoods called "centro" or "San Bartolo", "San Mateo" and in the north "Santa María". Very near there are two other communities called Animas Trujano and San Juan Bautistas la Raya founded around the same time as San Bartolo Coyotepec, but they are not considered part of the town proper. Next to the town is the hill called Zaapech or Jaguar Mountain which has always been considered sacred.
One of the major festivals here is Candlemas. The patron saint, Bartholomew the Apostle is feasted in August. During festivals such as these, local traditional dances such as De la Pluma and De los Jardineros Moros y Cristianos can be seen. Both date from the Spanish Conquest.
Mercado Artesanal (Crafts Market)
However two of the main attractions for the town are Mercado Artesanal (Crafts Market) filled mostly with barro negro pottery and the Museo Estatal de Arte Popular de Oaxaca (State Museum of Popular Art of Oaxaca).