Mexico Cooks!

Feria de Artesanías (Artisans' Fair), November 2009, Pátzcuaro, Michoacán

Esferas de barro y su platón (clay spheres and their platter) from Zinapécuaro, Michoacán.  Feria de Artesanía, Pátzcuaro 2009.

Carved wooden molinillos (chocolate beaters), rolling pins, and spoons from Quiroga, Michoacán.

The state of Michoacán, rich in clay, copper, wood, and other natural resources, is home to thousands of highly skilled artisans.  Their traditional work includes the use of all of those natural materials.  Each year during Pátzcuaro's festivities for the Day of the Dead, an all-Michoacán artisans' fair entices tourists from all over Mexico (as well as from the rest of the world) to support the local crafts-making economy.

Floreros de barro (clay vases) from Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán.

La Huesuda (the bony woman) on a platter, Capula, Michoacán. La Huesuda is among the many, many Mexican terms for death.

Piñas (pineapples) from San José de Gracia, Michoacán.  These were originally made to be containers for serving agua fresca (fruit water).

The November artisans' fair in Pátzcuaro and the larger all-Michoacán artisans' fair in Uruapan that takes place annually from Palm Sunday through the end of Easter Week are the biggest income-producing events for many of the state's artisans.  Due in part to the global economic crisis, in part to fear of the AH1N1 virus, and in part to reported drug-related violence in Mexico, tourism all over the country has fallen to record low levels.  During 2009, most Michoacán artisans have experienced a precipitous drop in sales.

Comedor (dining room table and chairs), Cuanajo, Michoacán.

Highly decorated platones de cobre (copper platters) from Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacán.  Photo courtesy of this Flickr user.

Michoacan's artisans work using centuries-old techniques to create both traditional and modern designs.  Among village families, skills are passed from generation to generation.  It's unusual to find an artisan who has formally studied his or her art, but it is far from unusual to find enormously talented artists, even in the smallest towns.  

Cocuchas (pots from the tiny Purhépecha town of Cocucho), Cocucho, Michoacán.

Detail of cross-stitch blouse, Pátzcuaro, Michoacán.


Figuras de barro (clay figures), Ocumicho, Michoacán.

Many artisan families are currently confronting the tension between the desire to continue to produce arts and crafts and the overwhelming need to feed their children.  In an economy geared toward the purchase of necessities, not luxuries, the purchase of personal and home adornment comes last for the average tourist.  Although sales were up somewhat at the 2009 Pátzcuaro artisans' fair, in general sales for 2009 have been very low.  


Viejito de trapo (Dance of the Viejitos rag doll).

In many instances, young artisans have left their family's traditional work altogether to seek employment in other sectors.  Thousands of young men have left Michoacán to try their luck in the United States.  Hands that once worked clay, copper, wood, and reed now wash dishes, bus tables, and pick crops far from home.  The questions that plague the artisans who remain in Michoacán are: who will keep the traditions alive?  Who will continue the work of centuries?  Do today's young people care if the old ways die out?

Platón (platter), Guadalupe Ríos, Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán.

Some municipalities, such as the copper arts-producing town of Santa Clara del Cobre, the pine needle arts-producing town of Casas Blancas, and the rag doll producing town of Zirahuén, are working together to find a solution to the artisans' need for support. In Santa Clara, nearly 90% of the town is employed in the copper industry.  Municipal authorities recognize that artisan productivity is vital to the town.  The town governments have proposed a grant of two thousand pesos (approximately $155 USD at today's exchange rate) each to 35 needy artisans for the purchase of necessary materials to continue working in their traditional fields.  The sole requirement for participating in the grant program is that the recipients document how the money is spent and how many people  are either direct or indirect beneficiaries of the program.  Of course, one very small municipality's tiny stimulus program will not save all of Michoacán's artisans, but it may help stave off their need to stop production.  The larger question is whether this generation and those to come recognize the value of their historic work.  That remains to be answered.

Vajilla (dishware), Capula, Michoacán.

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Día de los Muertos: November 2, 2009 in the Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán Cemetery

Graves decorated for Noche de los Muertos (Night of the Dead) in the Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán panteón (cemetery).  These recent graves lie within easy sight of the yácatas (Purhépecha pyramids, mid-center in the photograph) just across the road.  The yácatas were formerly both a priestly burial site and the site of ancient Purhépecha religious ceremonies.  

The packed-earth paths among the graves at the cemetery in Tzintzuntzan wind through old trees and dappled sunshine.

This little car, decorated with cempasúchil (marigold) flowers, fruits, and pan de muertos (bread of the dead) in the shape of human figures, is the cemetery ofrenda (altar, or offering) for a baby born in October and dead in November 2005.  Tiny white baby shoes are on the car's hood, along with a baby bottle.  Click on any photo to enlarge it.

The faithful Purhépecha believe that the angelitos, the dead children, are the first of the departed who come to re-visit their loved ones each year during the day of November 1, arriving at noon.  Their parents take an ofrenda (offering) of fruit, candies, and wooden toys to the children's graves and invite the little ones to come and eat.  Late in the night, the godfather of a dead child goes to the cemetery with an arco (arch) made of cempasúchil (marigolds).  At home, the parents have already prepared beautiful altars to honor the memory and spirits of their children.

Cempasúchiles, gladiolas, and candles adorn this grave.  The cross is made of red veladoras (candles in holders) in a framework of blue and white.

Each year, late in the night of November 1, the spirits of deceased adults make their way back to this earthly plane to visit their relatives.  The living relatives, bearing food, bright golden flowers, strong drink, and other favorites of the dead, file into Purhépecha cemeteries to commune with those who have gone before.  The assembled lay out blankets, unfold chairs, bring out plastic cups, cartons of beer, a bottle of tequila, and assorted food for their own consumption as they settle in for the long, cold night of vigil.

A band or two or three often wander the cemetery, hired for a song or two or three to entertain the living and the dead.

Copal incense burns, calling the souls of the dead home.  Candles, hundreds and hundreds of candles, flicker on and around the graves, showing the way home to the wandering spirits.  Food--especially corn tamales and churipo, a beef soup for festivals--and other personal gifts to the 'visitors' show that the spirits are still valued members of their community.  Special pan de muertos (bread of the dead) in the form of human bodies represents the relationship between the living and the dead.  Fruits, including bananas, oranges, and limas, are hung on the ofrendas de cempasúchil to represent the relationship between nature and human beings.

This elaborate bóveda de cempasúchil ( marigold arch) hung with an old family photograph and topped by a feather dove (the symbol of the Holy Spirit) decorates a family grave.  Under the photograph, an angel stands vigil.

Marigolds are used as symbols for their yellow color, which resembles the gold that was used as decoration for the ancient grand festivals.  The flowers were used to adorn the visitor in the form of crowns or necklaces.  Today, the belief is that the ofrendas de cempasúchil (marigold arches) aid the visiting spirits to identify their homes.  Cempasúchil petals are also strewn over the bare earth mounds of the graves.

These modern coronas (wreaths) are made of ribbons and plastic, much more durable than fresh flowers.  The brilliant colors eventually fade over the course of a year, but the wreaths will stay up till next October.

Cempasúchiles, pata de león (lion's paw, as cockscomb is known in this part of Michoacán), freshly cut gladiola, nube (baby's breath) and just-in-season wild orchids from the mountains are the flowers most commonly used on Tzintzuntzan's graves.

My favorite ofrenda of 2009: a terrific full-size bicycle made of cempasúchiles, decorated with fruit--and with pineapple on the seat!  The flowers at the base of the grave marker are wild orchids.  This style figural ofrenda is very unusual.

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Día y Noche de los Muertos: Day and Night of the Dead, November 2009

Catrinas de papel maché (death-mocking figures made of paper maché).  The catrín (male figure) and catrina (female figure) come from the late 19th-early 20th Century drawings by political cartoonist José Guadalupe Posadas.  Posadas drew his skeletons dressed in finery of the Porfiriato (the era between 1875-1910 when Porfirio Díaz, a Francophile, ruled Mexico) to demonstrate the pointlessness of vanity in life that, in the end, covers nothing but bones.

Día (y Noche) de los Muertos (Day or Night of the Dead) is celebrated in Mexico each year on November 1 and 2.  It's a festival both solemn and humorous, both sacred and profane: it's a wildly and uniquely Mexican fiesta (party), although other Latin American countries--Guatemala, Honduras, and Perú, among others--celebrate the dates in other ways.

Called Día de los Muertos in most of Mexico, in Michoacán the fiesta is known as Noche de los Muertos.  The traditional celebrations in Purhépecha pueblos (indigenous towns) near Morelia are among the most famous in Mexico.

Everywhere in Mexico, it's traditional to eat pan de muertos (bread of the dead) before, during, and after the early November Día de los Muertos.  Mexico Cooks! photographed this gorgeous pan de muertos at Panadería Hornos Los Ortiz on Av. Vicente Santa María in Morelia.

These catrínes de barro (clay) are tremendously elegant.  They are the creations of acclaimed painter and bronze sculptor Juan Torres Calderón and his wife, clay sculptor Velia Torres Canals.  The Torres couple work in Capula, Michoacán, where they started the tradition of clay catrines in the early 1960s.

Cohetes (rockets) are another tradition for Día de los Muertos and other fiestas.  Coheteros carry bundles of long-stick rockets in local processions, lighting one after another during the duration of the parade.  The young boy walking behind the cohetero is carrying a pole to move electrical wires out of the way of the rockets.  The intense boom! boom! boom! of the cohetes announces the arrival of the procession.

Calabaza en tacha (squash in syrup) is one of the most traditional foods for a Diá de los Muertos ofrenda (home or cemetery altar to honor the deceased).  Learn its very simple preparation right here. 

During the Día y Noche de Muertos fiesta, a loved one's grave becomes a place to pray, party, and reminisce.  Candles, a glass of water to quench the deceased person's thirst, a bottle of his or her favorite liquor, and favorite foods such as mole or tamales, pan de muertos, calabaza en tacha, and seasonal fresh fruits are always placed on the grave. 

During this very Mexican, very special festival, the dead--at least in spirit--pay a visit to their loved ones here on earth.  It's a mutual nostalgia: the living remember the dead, and the dead remember the taste of home.

An acquaintance in Pátzcuaro dedicated this very large ofrenda (offering, or altar) to his deceased parents and other family members.  The colors, the candles, the foods, the photos, and the flowers are all part of the old traditional altar decoration.

Next week, Mexico Cooks! will take you to one of the most important cemeteries in Mexico for a last look at the special Michoacán traditional commemoration of Noche de los Muertos 2009.

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Day of the Dead 2009 in Pátzcuaro, Michoacán

This quirky calavera (skull, in this case about six inches high) is made of white chocolate with applied chocolate decorations dyed in various colors.

Every year, Mexico Cooks! heads for Pátzcuaro to see what's new and eye-catching in the world of alfeñiques (molded sugar trinkets for the Día de los Muertos--Day of the Dead).  Skulls, caskets, skeletons, and miniature food are found almost everywhere in Mexico during this season.  Some other sugar figures, made of azúcar glass (confectioner's sugar) as well as granulated sugar, are traditional just in Michoacán.  This year, white chocolate was the new kid on the block.

More traditional sugar skulls are made in wooden molds, dried, and then hand-decorated.  The eyes of these calaveras are sequins; the rest of the decor is stiff colored icing.

The artisan has applied white icing teeth, orange icing eyebrows and nose outline, green sequin eyes, and a blue-and-green patterned topknot.

Each of these one-inch calaveras has a name tag.  Pick the skull that matches your best friend, your romantic interest, or a relative.  Click on the photo to enlarge it for a better view--then see if you can find your own name!

These six-inch high molded sugar hearts bear sweet sentiments: Para Mi Corazón (For My Sweetheart) and Con Amor (With Love).

You can find more Mexico Cooks! photos and other information related to the Day of the Dead here, here, and here.

Tiny sugar representations of your dearly departed's favorite foods: pan dulce (sweet bread), enchiladas, tacos, and tostadas.  These little plates measure about three inches in diameter.

Six-inch-high sugary crosses.

In the open casket, the calaca (skeleton) partakes of his favorite drink.  Click on the photo to read the placard on the grave: "De tontos y panzones están llenos los panteones."  ('Cemeteries are full of fools and gluttons.')

Laid out on an old painted wood table, this sheet of papel picado (cut tissue paper) depicts a skull and an ofrenda (Day of the Dead personal altar in honor of the deceased).

Former Mexican president Carlos Salinas de Gortari in the form of a murcielago (bat).  Sin comentario (no comment), but this little candy made Mexico Cooks! laugh out loud.

Traditional sweet sugar gallinas (hens).

Coronas (funeral wreaths) with their motto Descansa en paz (rest in peace).

Sra. Gallina Roja (Mrs. Red Hen), made of azúcar glass (confectioner's sugar) rather than granulated sugar, sits on her nest with her huevos y polluelos (eggs and chicks).

Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe)--this time in white chocolate, dyed in multi-colors--watches over all of us, the living and the dead.

Mexico Cooks! will have more Día de los Muertos traditions for you in the weeks to come.  The annual holiday is just too big and colorful for just one week's article.

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