Women and Fair Trade Festival, November 12-13
Sunday, 23 October 2011 14:31
This year St. Hildegard's chose to be one of the sponsors for the Women and Fair Trade Festival in order to support the groups of women who come to Austin from their faraway cooperatives bringing their products and giving us glimpses into their struggles and successes. These women-led communities are involved in the kind of work that makes our world more beautiful and our knowledge of helping one another more encompassing. We at St. Hildegard's also work for similar goals in Austin in our own way which is one of the reasons for supporting the Women and Fair Trade Festival.
Since we first encountered the vendors and their products in 2003, the atmosphere of our own community has taken on a deeper and more colorful texture. The fabrics from Jolom Mayaetik, as well as from other vendors from the festival, have hung on the walls and graced the altar during our services during different seasons. Through the years, these hangings have offered a feeling of connection to the lives of the indigenous women in Los Altos de Chiapas, San Antonio, Palestine and our own neighbors so close to the Texas border with Mexico.
In Los Altos de Chiapas region more than 300 women bring their products to Jolom Mayaetik - a cooperative whose headquarters are located in San Cristobal - to be paid for their work, thus keeping alive their ancient traditions. Keeping their heritage alive and finding a fair price is a way to offer an alternative to the domination system within our competitive consumer culture. This region-wide cooperative allows for communication among groups very distant from each other and allows them to work together to as a means to solve their poverty, lack of resources and racial discrimination.
This self sustaining cooperative is an inspiration that strengthens our own commitment at St. Hildegard's to seek emancipating speech about God that challenges the assumptions woven into language by what we know as the Domination System; that is any establishment that seeks to gain by the work of others without representing, honoring and supporting those workers' lives. In referring to God or addressing God with non gender based titles, in avoiding the exclusive use of male pronouns, and in celebrating the religious lives of women, we seek to include, represent and honor all people who worship God.
A few years ago, we developed a reflective liturgy season at St. Hildegard's called Acompañamiento. This is a Liberation Theology concept that invites us all to walk with the poor and needy, but “to walk not in front, not in back, but beside the people.” This was a way to feel connected to all oppressed people in Latin America and particularly with the women who come every year to offer their arts and crafts.
At St. Hildegard's we humbly seek what is helpful when we engage with the work of oppressed people instead of offering advice or cast off material goods, things we think would improve their lives. Acompañamiento invites us have a more solid and long term relationship with impoverished communities in order to work with them as they ask for what we can give to fulfill their own objectives.
We feel especially in tune with the long traditions of these weavers, sewers and crafters at Women and Fair Trade, for their respect for the people who have walked in this life before us and for their daily work in harmony with Mother Earth. Whatever we can do to make their visit possible is an honor and a privilege.
