Valladolid Adventures Part 4: Handicrafts at the Fiesta

A pair of smiling Yucatecas display their wares. They wear the traditional Maya huipil (pronounced "weepeel" and sometimes spelled hipil). More of these garments hang behind them, including some in children's sizes. The women were warm and friendly, typical of the people you encounter in Valladolid.

Theirs was one of the wide variety of handicraft booths at the fiesta in the Parque Principal. (see Part 3 of this series). In this posting, I will show you a selection of the handicrafts, but there were many more than I have space for here. The Maya have been known as skilled artisans for thousands of years. Hand-made huipiles, for example, have been worn by Maya women since long before the Spanish arrived.

Huipiles are often worn as day-to-day garments, but some are more formal. The basic huipil is a tunic which can be worn on its own, but often is accompanied by a kind of petticoat called a fustán, as seen above. The fustán above extends down to the ankles and some of these petticoats are decorated with horizontal embroidery as well as lace.

All the huipiles that I have seen in Yucatan were white cotton, due to the hot and humid climate. However, wool is used in parts of the Maya world that have chilly mountain temperatures, such as the Mexican state of Chiapas and in Guatemala. In Yucatan, I have often seen Maya women wearing their white huipiles while sitting on the curb of a busy street selling vegetables. How they keep the garment so clean is a mystery to me.

A friendly vendor offers stacks of sombreros. Broad-brimmed hats for both men and women can be found almost anywhere in Mexico, but particularly in Yucatan where the sun is very bright. In fact, the Mexican word for a hat, sombrero, derives from the word sombra, meaning "shade". Sombreros come in all sizes and styles, from those with narrower brims, to cowboy-style, to the classic sombrero, with its very wide-brim and high peak. Today, few Mexicans wear the classic version, other than mariachi musicians and the charros of Mexico's rodeos. However, the classic sombrero dates back at least 600 years.

Wealthy landowners in Spain wore broad-brimmed hats as far back as the 15th century. In the 16th century, cattle were brought over from Spain to Nueva España (Mexico). Soon, strays went feral, creating immense wild herds. Early hacendados (hacienda owners) hired vaqueros (cowboys) to round up these cattle and drive them to market in Guadalajara and Mexico City. To protect themselves from the hot sun the vaqueros soon copied the hacendados' broad-brimmed hats. Thus was born the Mexican cowboy and his sombrero. It would be another 200+ years before the first American cowboy donned his hat!

Looks like this cobbler is hoping Big Foot will stop by. What caught my eye was the size of the shoe he is displaying on his table. If not for Big Foot, then maybe Paul Bunyan? Some of his other wares include huaraches (leather sandals) for normal-sized folks. These have become popular throughout Mexico. During the 1960s "counter-culture", huaraches were widely adopted in the US.

Huaraches are believed to pre-date the 16th century arrival of the Spanish. The word huarache derives from the Purépecha word kwarachi, which translates as "sandal". The Purépecha-speaking people live in Michoacan and their ancestors once populated the Tarascan Empire, which was the bitter rival of the Aztecs. Early versions of the huarache have also been found in the Mexican states of Jalisco and Guanajuato.

A booth selling carved wooden masks caused me to pause. Carole and I have assembled a small collection of indigenous masks over the years, including examples from Mexico, Costa Rica, and Panama. We are always on the lookout for interesting additions. The booth above contains masks of all sizes, as well as other wooden carvings. The imagination of the artisans who create the masks is extraordinary.

Masks were intended to disguise the wearers' identities and transform them into the animal, deity or monster portrayed during rituals, ceremonies, and dances. The use of masks probably dates back to the Paleolithic Age (Old Stone Age). Indigenous masks are usually constructed from wood, bone, obsidian, shells, and natural fibers. The most ancient ones found are usually made of stone, bone, or stucco, because those substances were able to survive the passage of time. Stone masks from very early Mexican civilizations such as the Olmecs (1500 BC - 400 BC) are examples. 

The duality of the cosmos emerges from the helmet of an Aztec Eagle Warrior. The face is bisected vertically, with the dark left side showing an indigenous face, while the lighter right side is a skull. Duality was a fundamental concept of the pre-hispanic world. It was believed that everything has its opposite and the two halves make up a whole: light and dark, life and death, etc. Neither part cannot be appreciated or understood separate from its opposite. This is still expressed during Mexico's annual Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) fiesta.

Eagle Warriors, along with the Jaguar Warriors, were the most important Aztec military cults. Members of these warrior cults  dressed themselves to appear like their animal totems. Joining one of the cults required long training and lots of battle experience. The taking of war prisoners for sacrifice was considered an essential task for an aspiring cult member. All this didn't originate with the Aztecs, however. They borrowed the idea of the warrior cults from their predecessors, the Toltecs (900-1200 AD), who are considered one of the most militarized--and enigmatic--civilizations of ancient Mexico.

Elongated wooden masks lined the front of another booth. This sort of mask is popular not only in Yucatan, but in other places I have visited in Mexico and Central America. For example, we saw similar masks at the crafts fair in Tequisquiapan, a Pueblo Magico near the city of Querétaro, when we visited a number of years ago. Such masks are also popular in African cultures. There seems to be something appealing about the long, narrow form.

Valladolid, like Tequisquiapan, is also a Pueblo Magico (Magic Town). This designation is awarded to cities or towns that have particular cultural or artistic significance. Often these places have preserved beautiful colonial architecture and promote activities that demonstrate Mexico's deep cultural heritage. The program began in 2001 with a handful of pueblos and has grown to a total of 117 throughout the nation. However, that number was recently capped at 117 because of a perception that the designation has been over-used and that some communities may not measure up to the strict requirements. Most that I have visited do, however.

A grinning skull. This is another very popular format. Notice the "tattoos" on the skull's forehead and cheeks, as well as the small green dots on the teeth, representing jade. Pre-hispanic nobility inlaid their teeth with jade as personal beautification. This might seem a little bizarre until you remember the plastic surgery and tattooing that modern people undergo in order to "beautify" themselves. The decoration of actual skulls, as well as artistic representations of them, occurred in pre-hispanic cultures dating back thousands of years. 

Death was not seen as a final end, but as another form of being. The Aztecs, as well as people in other pre-hispanic civilizations, often kept the skulls of the deceased. They were de-fleshed and covered with with turquoise mosaics. The eyes were imitated by placing white shells and black obsidian in the sockets. In the civilization of Teotihuacán (100 AD - 650 AD), people not only kept the skulls of relatives, but sometimes also carved their de-fleshed bones into daily household implements. This was a way to keep a connection with loved ones who had passed.

There is a lot going on with this mask. The carved wood face has frowning eyes and a mouth that seems to howl. A pair of hands holds the model of a small temple under the chin. Resting on the head is a striped iguana, similar to many living versions I have seen in Yucatan and Central America. This mask was probably not intended for wearing, because it would be much too heavy. However, it is an eye-catcher, without a doubt. For those who are especially interested in indigenous Mexican masks, I highly recommend a visit to the great mask museums of Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi.

"Step right up and get it while it's hot!" A husband and wife team offer a selection of local delicacies for hungry passersby. Food was another popular item among the many fiesta booths. I am generally cautious about "street food", although some claim they eat it regularly without untoward results.  It is wise to watch the seller a bit before purchasing anything. Is the booth swarmed with customers? That's a good sign because locals generally know what tends to be safe. Also, does the person handling the food also handle the money? Money is especially unsanitary because it passes through so many hands.

Cases of turista (sometimes called "Montezuma's Revenge") are not uncommon, even among locals and long-time foreign residents. Stomach upsets and diarrhea are the usual result, but simple preventives and remedies are available. These include regular use of probiotics as a prophylactic. Loperamide (Imodium) is the usual over-the-counter treatment if you are unlucky. Sometimes stomach parasites can be a problem requiring a a doctor's visit. While not generally dangerous, they can be persistent and may require lab tests to determine the variety, with some being particularly resistant to treatment. 

A young European couple inspects the wares of another food seller. During our visits to various parts of the Yucatan Peninsula, most of the foreigners we met were young European "backpacker" types, with a sprinkling of Canadian retirees. People visiting from the US seem to stick to Cancun, Tulum, and other "tourist bubbles". Perceptions of safety may be the cause, since people in the US tend to view the areas outside the bubbles as far more dangerous than they actually are. This is not to say that there isn't crime and violence in Yucatan and Mexico in general. There is and it can sometimes be horrific. 

However, most of the violence is related to in-fighting among the drug cartels or between the cartels and the government security forces. Foreign visitors are rarely targeted. As someone once said, if you don't plan to deal drugs or join the Mexican police or Army, you'll probably have little trouble here. After after nearly 18 years of travel throughout the country, we have never had a problem. We do exercise normal caution, keep our valuables locked up, and avoid sleazy bars and walking down dark city streets. However, that's good advice for anywhere in the world, particularly in the US where random violence is truly horrific.

A Yucateca in a traditional outfit shops at another booth. This one is filled with a wide assortment of goods. These include Virgen de Guadalupe plaques, catrinas, jaguar masks, multi-colored turtles, dream catchers with vivid feathers, and much more. A friend of mine used to use the yiddish word tchotchkes (small inexpensive trinkets) to describe such things. There were many more booths at the fiesta, but I have given you a fair taste of what you might find here. If you have a chance to wander through a handicrafts fair like this, you won't regret your experience, although your wallet may be a bit lighter at the end.

This completes Part 4 of my Valladolid Adventures series. I hope you enjoyed it. If so, please leave any thoughts or questions in the Comments section below or email me directly. If you leave a question in the Comments, please remember to include your email address so that I can respond in a timely manner.

Hasta luego, Jim