THE STORY OF THE PALM WEAVING NEEDLE POINT

THREADS OF HISTORY:
The Palm Weaving Needle Point

The Museum of South Texas History preserves hundreds of artifacts for their unique connection to the history and heritage of the borderlands. One of those artifacts within the collection is a needle point donated by Marcia Olivarez.

According to Olivarez, this needle was used to help weave palm leaves together to make a weather-proof roof for a palapa. Palapas, which are open structures with roofs made from palm fronds, were set up to shelter workers from the elements. They originated in the Philippines. The word palapa is a Tagalog word meaning palm leaf. The Spanish colonizers brought this structure to Nuevo España, or Mexico, and they have been used ever since.

The process of weaving a roof for the palapas involved feeding a palm frond through the eye of the needle, and then the needle would be fed through the roof and back down again, weaving the fronds together

This needle was used on El Rucio Ranch in Rio Grande City by Olivarez’s grandfather.

Currently, this artifact is kept in the museum’s collections storage with plans for future display. Stay tuned for more details on the museum’s website www. mosthistory.org.