🌟🧵Ojo de Dios 🌄👁️ Yarn Story from Mexico

Have you ever painted a picture? 🖌️ Or shaped something from clay? 🧱 Cut paper into snowflakes or braided thread into a friendship bracelet? That’s art! People have been making art for thousands of years.

Art isn’t just something pretty. It’s a way to show what we feel, what we dream, and what we wonder. It helps us take something invisible—like a memory, a prayer, or a wish—and make it real, with our own two hands. ✨

Art can be made with pencils, paint, rocks, feathers, bark, beads, bones, sticks… anything! But what all art has in common is this: 👐 people use their hands and their imagination. 🌈

Today my story is about a very special kind of art… one that comes from a very warm and colorful land. This country is known for its deserts and jungles, spicy foods, high mountains, and celebrations filled with music and marigolds. People there wear wide-brimmed hats to shield their eyes from the sun, and they dance in the streets during festivals. 🎺🌵💃

Can you guess? It’s Mexico! And in the tall mountains of western Mexico, where the sun rises early and paints the hills gold, a group of Indigenous people called the Huichol (WEE-chol) have lived for many centuries. They grow corn, tell stories and make something special with bright yarn threads called the…👁️Ojo de Dios – The God’s Eye. And it is made a purpose. 💫👁️

It looks simple: two sticks tied together in the shape of a cross. Bright yarn is wrapped around and around the center, layer by layer, color by color. Red like fire. 🔴Blue like rivers. 🔵Yellow like corn. 🟡Green like the mountains. 🟢 The finished creation looks like a woven diamond. But it’s not just decoration— the center of the ojo represents the God's eye that watches over us, sees our journeys, and keeps us safe. 💫 The Huichol people believe it holds blessing, and protection.

Some say the ojo points to the four directions: North, South, East, and West. Others say the four ends represent the basic elements – earth, water, wind, and fire.🌍🧭

Remember, I said that this eye was made with special purpose. Long ago, when a child was born, the father or grandfather would begin weaving an Ojo de Dios for the newborn. He would wrap the yarn carefully, blessing each layer with hopes for the child’s life. Each year, he added new color and more wishes. Until the child turned five, and the Ojo de Dios had five beautiful colors—five colors of love and protection woven in thread. 🎂🎨 🎁🌟 When the weaving was complete, some families placed the finished Ojo in a special place, like a home altar or even a temple, as a way of giving thanks for the life of the child. 🙏✨

The Huichol people didn’t just make Ojos de Dios for children. They also made them for long journeys, sacred ceremonies, and other rituals. Some were placed high up on trees, where the wind could carry their blessings far and wide. 🏔️ Even today, Ojos de Dios are made and gifted as symbol of hope, peace, and love.They are used in schools, festivals, and family homes. 🎈🎨

Even though the Ojo de Dios was born high in Mexico’s sunlit mountains, it has traveled far beyond them. 🌄 It crossed deserts and oceans, passed from hands to hands, and found new homes all around the world. 🌍

Today, children everywhere weave their own Ojos de Dios—sometimes as decorations, sometimes as gifts, sometimes as symbols of hope, protection, or joy. 🧶💫

Each one is hand made, and each one is unique.Each one carries the story of the person who wove it. 💛💙❤️

Now let's make Ojo de Dios!🎨💫 What colors will you choose for your ? You could start with your favorite color—or perhaps a color that reminds you of something special: the ocean 🌊, the sun ☀️, a flower 🌸. I like using complementary colors—colors that sit opposite each other on the color wheel, like red and green, or blue and orange. 🎨🟢🔴 Perhaps you prefer analogous colors—those that sit side by side on the color wheel. Or experiment with light and dark, warm and cool—anything that makes your design shine in your own way! ✨Whatever you choose, your Ojo de Dios will tell your story. 🌈✨

🧶 I wonder… what other meaningful art traditions people have created around the world, using threads, yarn and color?🧵✨You might want to explore next the dreamcatchers made by Native peoples of North America—woven circles hung above beds to protect sleeping children from bad dreams. 🌙✨

Discover the story for the similar to God's eye Tibetan yarn mandalas. Colorful wheels woven with threads (or sometimes even made with sand!) that help people focus and feel calm during meditation. 🎐🌈

Explore something more advanced made in Japan. A beautiful tradition called kumihimo—silk or colorful cords braided by hand. Long ago, samurai used them to tie their armor, and today they’re still worn for beauty and luck. 🎋🇯🇵

With Montessori joy,
Vanina 😊