nancybrown

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Day of the Dead in Patzcuaro, Michoacan






From 10/30 to 11/2 we visited friends Lee and Judy Parker, who have a house in the center of Patzcuaro. It's an oasis behind walls, carefully restored, and decorated with fine examples of area folk art.

The city is in an area where people follow the traditional, indigenous practice of building altars of flowers on the graves of dead family members, and placing the person's favorite belongings at the grave.

We made many visits to the central plaza, which is a madhouse of activity. Vendors sell traditional foods, like sugar skulls; artisans display their works all around the perimeter; and there are crowds--teenagers, tourists from Mexico City, locals from the country around Patzcuaro. Every year there is an exposition of the best work of Michoacan's artisans, and you can buy excellent folk art for great prices. One of our favorite purchases was a clay pot made in the nearby pueblo of Cocucho by Juana Alonzo Hernandez, shown here with her pots. We also got some jugs (we may convert them into lamps) from the pueblo of Huancito.

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Joaquina in her golf cart


Joaquina loves the golf cart she got last spring. She took me for a ride, a hair-raising experience. She wants to make a sign for it that says (in Spanish) "Caution, vehicle makes continuous stops," like on mail trucks in the U.S. This makes sense, since she delivers the mail using the cart.