Sandra Bustillos explains how to use a rebozo

Sandra Bustillos is a young Tarahumara Indian mother from Norogachic, Chihuahua, in the Copper Canyon region. She now resides in Ojinaga, Chihuahua, where she is raising three children. She sews the traditional Tarahumara dresses like the one she is wearing here, and mostly sells them to other Indian women. All Tarahumara women carry their babies in rebozos.

Photo number one - Sandra balances the baby on her shoulder with one hand while she prepares to throw the rebozo over him. Sandra: "This is really better done with the help of another person until you get used to doing this."

Photo number two - Having draped the rebozo over the baby, she adjusts it and prepares to pull the ends down around herself. "Make sure the baby is balanced up there and that you are putting tension in the cloth so that he can't move."

Photo number three - The baby is now quite sucure and adjusted, and she has the ends twisted to hold him from slipping. "We usually just hold them by twisting them, but if the rebozo is long enough, you can tie a knot in the ends."

Photo number four - Sandra pulls her hair out of the way as she ties the ends in a simple square knot - easy to tie, easy to untie, and quite secure.

Photo number five - "After you tie the ends in a knot, the baby is now completely secure and you can free both hands."

Photo number six - Just for an added sense of security, she likes to hold onto one of the rebozo ends when she doesn't need to use both hands.

Photo number seven - "To breast feed an infant, you simply slide him around in front. The rebozo nicely covers up anything that you don't want prying eyes to see."

Photo number eight - When she slides the baby around to the front, the knot is moved around to the back. "This is all very easy to accomplish, and causes no discomfort for the baby."
You can see in this picture that niether the girl nor the woman have their rebozos tied in a knot. They are both just holding them in place with the pressure of one elbow. Tarahumaras are trained from childhood to do this, such that they never forget to keep their elbow pressed to their side, and they never drop their load.

Mixteca women, on the other hand, use rebozos that are at least 90 to 100 inches long, so that they can tie the ends in a simple square knot, or, if it is long enough, in a slip knot.