A Miracle in Mexico

Gathering Eggs by Silvia Ramirez.

In Mexico, when you meet a friend after a long absence, you say, "Que Milagro," which means, "What a miracle." When I first heard this, I didn't understand: "Meeting friends is a miracle?" I learned that this greeting, both simple and profound, is a portal into understanding a bit of the mysterious Mexican soul. As we look at the story of how rug hooking came to Mexico, we see that it is nothing short of miraculous.

In the mid-1990s, a group of expats in San Miguel de Allende (SMA) were searching for ways to help local impoverished women. Ted Mclaughlin, a Canadian antiques dealer, suggested rug hooking, perhaps thinking of the success of Grenfell rugs. Little did he know that within 15 years, rug hookers from all over Canada and the US would be donating carloads of wool and supplies and purchasing the rugs hooked from those supplies, bringing thousands of dollars a year to the people in the small village of Agustin Gonzales.

This article is from the June/July/August 2010 issue. For more information on our issues, check out our issues page.