ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, October 27, 1996 TAG: 9610300001
SECTION: TRAVEL PAGE: 6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SUZANNE MURPHY-LARRONDE SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
A young man strains under the load of a creaking wooden cart packed high with succulent ceramic pineapples, a crop of delicately worked creations in green and yellow glazes. On the shaded plaza, a woman in an embroidered blouse and wrapped skirt, her long braids joined with ribbons, readies a display of woven reed baskets, Under the archway of an adjacent colonial building along the plaza, a shopper pauses to view plastic buckets heaped with carnations, marigolds, cockscomb and flaming red gladiolas.
This is the celebrated Patzcuaro Fair, an annual two-week gathering which begins in late October as part of solemn but festive Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico's west central state of Michoacan (pronounced mish-wah-KAHN). The Day of the Dead is an annual Indian celebration merging age-old rituals of ancestor worship with the Christian All Souls Day.
The open-air emporium draws artisans from across this agricultural region to sell their handcrafted wares. Everything from utilitarian items such as the hammered copper trays and pots of Santa Clara del Cobre to decorative objects such as the fanciful clay devils from Ocumicho and leering human skulls of crystallized sugar.
Thousands of the region's inhabitants, including those from the lakeside village of Patzcuaro, earn all or part of their living in the manufacture and sale of handicrafts. In fact, all of the country's major craft forms - lacquer, pottery, textile production, metalworking and basketweaving -still thrive here, especially among the indigenous Purepechan Indians.
Mexican craft tradition predates by centuries the arrival of Spanish conquistadores in the early 1500s. Samples of native ceremonial pieces, religious ornaments, weapons and everyday objects were highly praised by early chroniclers and admired across Europe for their beauty and workmanship. The colonials, in their turn, brought advanced techniques and tools to the New World together with their own expressive styles.
That the craft industries of Michoacan continue to survive and in some cases thrive, is in great part because of its early colonial history which evolved under the enlightened rule of one don Vasco de Quiroga. "Tata Vasco", as the Franciscan clergyman was affectionately known, established Patzcuaro as a marketplace and encouraged its surrounding settlements to capitalize on traditional skills by developing and promoting individual specialties in conjunction with agricultural activities.
To this day, many of these same villages are still closely identified with a specific craft item which can be found only there. Paracho is renown as Mexico's guitar capital, while Jiquilpan is known for its sombreros, Santa Clara del Cobre for its copperware, Quiroga for its furniture and Tzintzuntzan for pottery and weaving. Both Patzcuaro and Uruapan take pride in their lacquerwork. Patamban and Ocumicho have gained recognition for ceramics and the list goes on.
Mexican popular arts were all but ignored by the mainstream until early in this century when intellectuals and artists like Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo began drawing attention to their merits. Today, the evolution continues, fueled by the government support group, FONART, and by increasing interest on the part of collectors worldwide. States like Oaxaca and Jalisco, for example, are already famous for their handicrafts, and Michoacan is gaining an increasingly higher profile.
At the festive Patzcuaro Fair visitors can see the best of the new and traditional from across the state displayed along the walkways of Plaza Grande (Plaza Don Vasco de Quiroga). Typical of this market town are its polished lacquerwork trays and bowls, handloomed textiles and embroidered blouses. Dazzling the eye as well are objects of every size, shape and flamboyant color in straw, paper, wax, shell, bread and a local vegetable paste.
None are more whimsical and thought provoking than the array of ceremonial objects used to commemorate Day of the Dead. As October draws to a close in regional villages, shoppers begin scouring the markets for tiny marizpan Death figures and gaily dressed toy skeletons in papier-mache which coupled with incense pots, candles and massive bunches of orange marigolds will adorn home altars and grave sites in honor of the deceased.
Doing their part to enliven things, local bakeries prepare trays of the popular coffee cake-like "pan de muertos," (bread of the deceased) and stock their windows, as if in open mockery of death, with hundreds of tiny, edible skulls decorated with names and dressed as brides, politicians and athletes. Come sunset on Nov. 1, entire families take up all-night vigils at the candlelit tombs of relatives. On Janitzio, largest of Lake Patzcuaro's five islands, boys disguised as toothless old men perform the dance of "Los Viejitos", hobbling about on canes, then leaping and twirling furiously before collapsing in a heap.
Away from the fair, a more tranquil world awaits exploration along the narrow, cobbled streets of this whitewashed colonial town perched at 7,000 feet in the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains.
Among the locales easily visited on foot is the spectacular Casa de los Once Patios (House of 11 Courtyards) now housing an artisans center, craft shops, a museum and gallery.
Another must-see for handicraft lovers is the Museo de Artes Populares in the ancient Colegio de San Nicolas Obispo. Its collection includes apparel, ceremonial masks, religious objects; pottery and metalwork from throughout Michoacan. Displays offer only the best in craft samples and a preliminary visit can give shoppers a standard for measuring the quality of fair offerings.
To savour more in the way of local life, Plaza Bocanegra (Plaza Chica) named for independence heroine Gertrudis Bocanegra, is the setting for open-air produce and craft markets which operate at full capacity on Fridays; year-round. Also in this area is the public library with its murals by Juan O'Gorman depicting the turbulent history of Michoacan and the Purepechan Indians.
LENGTH: Long : 107 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: SUZANNE MURPHY-LARRONDE. 1. Visitors to October'sby CNBPatzcuaro Fair in Mexico's west central state of Michoacan are
treated to mounds of marigolds (above) and other flowers 2. (top,
left). Hand-embroidered wares, including blouses and quilts (left)
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