Hacienda Sotuta de Peon and the production fo Henequen (sisal)

One of the products that brought great wealth to Merida, was the production and trade of sisal, called henequen in Mexico.  Henequen are the fibers that come from the white agave plant, which was grown on haciendas around Merida.  The land that the plantations were on was given to the conquistadores and soldiers by the Spanish crown, in exchange for a percentage of the crop.  The local indigenous population was given work on the plantation.  However, in many ways the work was akin to slave labor in so far as the work days were very long, the workers lived on site, and were paid low wages in a currency that was specific to the hacienda where they worked.  Each hacienda had a chapel and a company store with high prices.  The hacienda bosses were happy to give an advance to wages earned, but prices were so high, that workers were almost never able to catch up.  If an individual died with a loan outstanding, the loan balance was passed to the children, thereby tying entire generations to the hacienda.

In later years, a Mexican President attempting to provide a fair value for work to the general population, took back 90% of the hacienda lands from the owners and parceled it out to the work population as part of a large scale land reform.  This gave the wealth back to the population.  However, there was a great flaw in the plan.  The hacienda owners, with only 10% of their land remaining, decided that they could not continue the business and invested their fortunes in other things.  The workers, without the tools and knowledge to run the business, could not function without the land owners either.  As a result, many haciendas were abandoned and reclaimed by the jungle, left in ruins.  The population was without work.  Most of the henequen haciendas were gone.

Subsequently, another Mexican president shared the Agave crop with Brazil and Africa.  The production there sored and Mexico’s dropped as a result.  With the invention of synthetics, the demand for sisal dropped to zero.  Today, Mexico is an importer of sisal. 

In the mid-1980’s the Hacienda Sotuta de Peon and surrounding lands were repurchased by a Yucatan investor of German heritage, with the intent of developing a living museum to pay homage to the henequen tradition of Merida.  The jungle was cleared and the white Agave plants were replanted.  The hacienda was restored to its former glory.  The tooling was re-acquired and today we have the opportunity to see how henequen was turned into twine by the Maya by hand, as well as how steam (and later diesel) machinery was used to make the process more efficient. 

The processes for the development of henequen were demonstrated for us at the hacienda.  The process begins with the harvesting of the white agave leaves.  One must use great caution when handling the leaves, as they have sharp spines at the ends, which could leave you blind if they poke you in the eye. 

The harvested leaves are then crushed to separate the fibers from the other parts of the plant.  The juices and leftovers are used as animal feed and fertilizer.  The fibers are then hung in the sun to dry and cure.

In the past, the fibers were baled and then shipped in bulk and spun into twine and other finished products at other locations.  They were shipped from the port of Sisal, which is why most of the world knows it by that name. 

To prepare the henequen fibers for finished products, they must first be combed.  We got to see the traditional form of combing fibers by yanking them across a set of spikes.  This was a very labor intensive process that was also used by the Maya.  Later, machinery was employed for this purpose.

Once combed the fibers can be twisted into twine.  Again, early peoples did this by hand, and later a variety of machinery took over.  Multiple spools of twine are then twisted together for rope of various thicknesses and strength.

At the height of production, the Hacienda of Sotuta de Peon processed 400,000 agave leaves per week.  Today, the fibers are prepared for demonstration and then sold at 10 pesos per kilo (below cost) to the local population, who use them to make crafts and products to be sold in the local marketplace and to tourists.