“Muxe: pronounced - (Mu-sha) is a Zapotec word for a third gender. I ran across the Muxe while doing research for another project and became fascinated by the elaborate traditional costumes. Everything I had seen of the Muxe was very journalistic in nature and I decided to travel down to the southern state of Oaxaca to do something beautiful for these women. I had full size paper flower frames created and asked the women to dress in their finest for this series of portraits.” - Mark Holthusen
Feria de Huipil, Festival of the Garment Cuetzalan, Puebla, Mexico. Cuetzalan held a ceremony for the goddess of flowers, Xochiquetzal in October. ..The festival of the Huipil (from Nahuatl, an Aztec language, meaning blouse or dress) revives indigenous customs in music, dance as a response to people who were displaced from their land and beliefs. The Huipil contest is held in October to honor a young woman. Contestants are 14 to 20 years old, fluent in their native tongue, Nahuatl and Spanish, know how to weave and perform domestic work in rural communities. The young women are judged on their beauty and purity of their customs. The Tatiaxas, a council of men, delivers the vote of the winner in a hat to the lead Tatiaxa. The Huipil Queen is carried through town, and dancing breaks out in the Plaza of San Francisco..The Maseual is a collective group of indigenous women who sell their wares in markets in Cuetzalan.