Patzcuaro Day of the Dead Market

Over the last few days we have been busy purchasing local treasure to decorate our new home.
Artisans from all over Michoacan come to display and sell their works at the Day of the Dead market in Plaza Grande in Patzcuaro.



Patzcuaro
While, as you can see below, many villages in the area specialize in one craft or another.
Whereas Patzcuaro has a sampling of it all.




This is Mateo, manning his booth at the mercado. When the mercado closes on Sunday you will be able to find him and his wares in their regular location beside the Biblioteca near Plaza Chica.


Santa Fe de la Laguna.
At the north end of Lake Paztcuaro, just west of Quiroga, is the village of Santa Fe.
It is well know for its pottery, in a variety of styles and color, including the black ceramics seen here.





Tocuaro

Tocuaro is a village on the south end of the lake very famous for its masks.
One of our favourite artists is Sra. Enenida Castillo.




We have many of her pieces in our new home.
If you are looking to obtain one of her pieces after the market is gone, you can find her across the street from the south end of Plaza Grande.

Cocucho

Unique in both size and shape, it can be hard to communitcate the grace of these vessels if you haven't seen them so I will let the pictures speak for themselves.







Capula

Capula is located about half way between Morelia and Quiroga.






Probably most well know for its Catrina (The iconic Day of the Dead figurines) you can find almost everything you want pottery wise from full sets of dishes, striking display plates or just some macetas (pots) for your plants.



Ocumicho

Famous for its demon figurines, Ocumicho is nestled in the Purepecha Mesa.
I found the many scenes and figurines both eerie and intriguing.
To add to this atmosphere are the unique sounds of the Purepechan language, which you will find in may places in the area.



This is one piece that I had to get, I think I may have worked for her once!



Zinapecuaro

About 45 kilometers north east of Morelia you will find the sleepy town of Zinapecuaro.
Yet another town know for its ceramics, but what makes their creations stand out from the others in Michoacan are two very distinctive styles.
The first is a stylized gourds, squashes and pumpkins, the second, the distinctive polychromic style indicative of prehispanic pottery.





San Jose de Gracia

Last but not least of the pottery villages is San Jose, located 20 kilometers south of Lake Chapala, on the Michoacan side of the lake.

The distinctive "Pineapple" pottery is easily recognized by the typical shape and the characteristic green colour as shown in the photo below.


Religious items

Like most of Mexico, there is a very strong catholic presence in Patzcuaro, as you can easily see in the items at theses booths.







Stay with me folks, we are in the home stretch now!

Just a few more pictures to show you some of the .....


Textile Arts

I have to say I was completely charmed by this young lady modeling her families rebozos.




While wandering through the center of Plaza Grande I came across a full size loom that they had setup for demonstration purposes.



And a little further on I discovered at the back of one booth, a woman working away at building more inventory.




I would like to thank you for coming on this tour of the market with me, and thank you for your patience. I am not an expert on mexican crafts, or this area (yet) but hopefully in a few years I will be. I hope you have enjoyed looking at these pictures as much as I did taking them.


Before I leave, I would like to share one more picture with you.

This is young Jose, one of the performers of the "Dance of the Little Old Men"
who kindly posed for me for "solo un refresco senior".