MEXICAN ARTISANS REVIVE THE FORGOTTEN ART OF DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS DECORATIONS
Enthusiasts from Xochimilco workshop challenge mass production and consumer culture making their own papel picado stencils.
Mexican artisans are struggling to preserve the traditional manufacture of paper cut-out decorations used in altars for the Day of the Dead.
Despite increasingly popular techniques of mass-production, second-generation paper cutter Yuridia Torres Alfaro still produces her own stencils at her family’s workshop in Xochimilco, on the rural southern edge of Mexico City.
From the young ages, the girl was fond of crafts, over time, the childhood dreams contributed to the prosperity of the family business ‘Papel Picado Xochimilco.’
While modern factories use longer-lasting plastic sheets, laser cutters or pre-made stencils, Torres Alfaro does everything by herself, using the same methods which Mexican specialists applied 200 years ago.
“The workshop began its work 34 years ago, only a few like-minded people worked together, but over the years we began to grow and develop,” Torres Alfaro recalled.
In 1988, her father, who had worked for many years as a schoolteacher, received a large order for the manufacture of city government office —festive skeletons, skulls, grim reapers and Catrinas.
According to the Codex Mendoza, the Mexicans used amate paper to represent the Gods during the Night of the Dead. If dark paper was used it was used to summon the spirits of the underworld, if it was light paper then protection was required. Today, amate paper is no longer used, instead of it, artisans experiment with tissue paper or fabric, depending on how the design will be used.
According to the experts the “new” tradition of tissue paper usage is probably a continuation of a far older pre-Hispanic tradition of painting ceremonial figures on paper made of fig-bark sheets. In this regard, for the masters of the 18th century, tissue paper was a cheaper alternative, which retained the characteristics of the original material – it was thin enough so that, with sharp tools, extreme care and a lot of skill, dozens of sheets can be cut at the same time.
But the most important component of the future masterpiece is the stencil – with the help of it, artisan marks the parts that will later be cut out, leaving an intricate, airy web of paper. The finished decoration can be stretched from one house to another or across the street, but more often, it is hung above Day of the Dead altars that Mexican families use to commemorate — and commune with — deceased relatives.
The holiday begins on October 31 – on this day honors are given to those who died in accidents; the next day, November 1, families commemorate those who died in childhood, on the final day of the holiday, November 2, they remember all those who died as adults.
Аlong with black and white, bright colors are also used, each of them has its own meaning: Orange signified mourning, blue was for those who drowned, yellow was for the elderly deceased and green for those who died young.
Many Mexicans even leave the decorations for the whole year, however, in this case, more durable plastic products are used.
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Main sources: NBC News, The Washington Post, El País https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/mexico-artisans-make-traditional-papel-picado-dia-de-muertos-rcna54517
