mxtoys

mexico / Mexico Toys
related: toys youtube: [|traditional toys] editing: [|Tourism and Crafts]

Mexican crafts are sophisticated art. Fashioned from clay, woven thread, wood and reed, these objects express the natural world where they were fashioned. media type="custom" key="27811867"

TOYS
Handmade toys are some of Mexico's most beloved crafts. Trompos, baleros, canicas, yo-yos, rag dolls, pinatas matracas, sonajas, silbatos, fautas, ocarinas caballitos mecedores y aviones de madera, caballitos de carton para jalar con rueditas, DF coches de lámina, soldaditos de plomo atrapa novios de paja, en Xochimilco miniaturas en Puebla cocinas, muebles, ahora se usan como pequeñas vitrinas "jugueteros", se venden como juguetes para adultos Miniaturas tambien hechas con fibras, Animalitos de barro en Amatenango, altos de Chiapas las peponas de Celaya Guanajuato, carton aglutinado y policromado, muñecas de trapo en el Parian en Puebla, figuras con hojas de maíz, las mulitas

guajes laqueados en colores en forma de helicopteros, carruseles, Alcancias de barro en loas ferias Another popular game: Serpientes y Escaleras (Snakes and Ladders) Traditional Mexican toys have a special role in Mexico. Part is the respect of simpler times and simpler toys. We also see the incorporation of toys in contemporary art, including jewelry and paintings.
 * KITES** - Kites (Papalotes). Butterfly ('mariposa') in the Nahuatl language. The windiest months are February and March. They are often made with papel china. Question - can the kites be dismantled?
 * GLOBOS** - Cantoya, Oaxaca
 * MARIONETES** - Marionettes (titeres) are sold in front of the tourst hotels
 * LOTERIA** - Mexican loteria is a version of 'Bingo' in which the colorful playing cards have images of traditional figures such as 'El Catrin' (The Gentleman) and figures that are a bit darker in color such as 'El Borracho' (The Drunk) and 'La Calavera' (The Skeleton). When a specific image is drawn, the name is shouted outloud and players mark their cards with beans (frijolitos).
 * Do these traditional toys still play a role in modern Mexican culture or have they fallen out of favor?**

Like most folk art, Mexican toys document an authentic slide of local culture. Many of the toys are created specifically for fairs and fiestas or for specific Saint's Days. Much of the adult folk art -- the elaborate wooden figures (alebrijes) -- are derived from children's toys.
 * Are Mexican toys an authentic piece of Mexican culture?**

Oaxaca, Chiapas
 * Is there anywhere in particular the handicraft is especially thriving?**

Where can I purchase handmade wooden toys?

DF - The [|Museo de Arte Popular] has an exhibit focusing on Mexican toys on the second floor. CHIAPAS - Little animals (animalitos) and toy Zapatistas MICHOACAN - Wooden toys and children's guitars and violins
 * TOY TOUR**

OAXACA SHOPPING TRIP: TOYS FOR KIDS
Baleros Maromeros, Matracas Kites, [|Oaxacan Graphic Arts Institute (IAGO)] Pinatas, [|Mercado de Artesanias]

Comments from [|Marlene Ehrenberg]:

México is a country with a very young population, 50% at least are under 15 years of age.

Children are the richness, happiness and fortune of the families and a very important help in the country side, were there is a lot of poverty.

Folk art is in our veins and the family gathers to do all sorts of precious art.

Dozens of fiestas are celebrated, specially for little children, they love to disguise, from the moment of birth, all the birthdays have a piñata, since they are 3 years in a ceremony of presentation in the church, ( día de las mulitas, día de la raza, ) Painting their faces….

I have seen how the children themselves produce their own toys, very naïve and witty. Incredible imagination and immensely colorful are the characteristics

IMPORTANT

Some toys are manufactured specifically for local fiestas and fares that move from one place to an other (itinerants) so they introduce new objects to the different areas. But there is a continuous production of them all year around in their place of origin.

Adults also collect toys and miniatures.

1.We're trying to determine whether the colorful, beautiful handcrafted Mexican toys we've seen photos of (trompos, baleros, canicas, yo-yos, rag dolls, pinatas, etc.) are actually something you can find in Mexico.

In the whole country of México traditional toys are elaborated as an additional source of income and pass time.

2., and in particular, in which city they are most commonly found/produced.

Depending on the material used to manufacture them it determs the place

Wood : music instruments, guitar’s, cars, planes, baleros, trompos, in Paracho, Michoacan

In Silao, moving toys, difficult to describe, sepents and wrestlers

Gourds of calabas (Guajes)

Cart board (Carton) dolls and masks

Earthen where (Barro) miniature

Jewelry of glass pearls: Huicholes from Nayarit

bracelets, necklaces, rings, diadems (Pulseras de chaquira)

I have two granddaughters (4 and 5) and they love to play with these.

Metal, and in Oaxaca tin plate and in San Miguel Allende, Guanajuato

planes made out of soda aluminium recicled (avioncitos de latas de refresco)

lead soldiers, etc in DF Mexico City

glass marbels (Vidrio)

fibers (Fibras)

paper, rehiletes with shining colours

Textiles: rebocitos, Costums of the local place( trajes de china poblana y de charro) desquise of devils and sceletons, día de muertos (disfraces diablos, Calaveras, princesas)

Wool,

Cotton

candy

UNUSUAL MATERIALS: vanilla, chewing gum CHICLE, horns, bones, shells, seeds, nuts, avocado seeds, some insects are put into miniature toys to move the ears ore tails, etc

Cantinflas, (Mario Moreno Cantinflas, Paspartu in 80 days around the world)a famous Mexican comic is also a favorite doll, like Charly Chaplin

And lately Frida Kahlo, she has become an icon…..

Some good friends, artist a sculpture just copied a silver toy for me, a little bird that moves thanks to a little ball, a jewel as a weight, like a pendulum, that moves the head and the tail.

A jeweler girl friend is doing trompos and baleros as pendants, also in silver, etc

3. And in your opinion, do these traditional toys still play a role in modern Mexican culture? Very much indeed, specially in the villages and countryside and in the cities in some social strata of intellectual families that appreciate our culture and plenty of foreigners that prefer “real original toys”

4. Are they an authentic piece of Mexican culture? Definitely

5. Is there anywhere in particular the handicraft is especially thriving, or not so much?

The wooden toys are easy to transport, they travel better, but the whole country, Our Metropoly DF, the State of Mexico, Michoacan y Guanajuato, en Oaxaca of course, en Chiapas estan haciendo animalitos de lana, como fue moda los Zapatistas.

6. What is the difference/distinction between festival toys, miniatures, and children’s toys? Festival “toys” are globos de cantoya, balloons made out of china paper and with a fire device can fly, specially at night,, piñatas, originally at Christmas time for the posadas, (introduced by the Spaniards 500 years ago to help convert the native population), “tiro al blanco” is more a game, but to shoot on a target and win a toy is a must in the ferias, “gritar la Loteria” with black beans.

Fiestas

Day of Independence 16. September, a lot of cardboard trumpets, matracas, whistles, hats, toy rifles, flags, etc…..

5 de Mayo

Day of the dead

Miniatures are available every where in the Parian Market in Puebla, the influence there is also from China, the big merchant boats coming in to the Port of Acapulco, very fragile glass objects’ more for putting them in a showcase, glass cabinet.

Books and ferry tales, are essential as well, with lovely drawings

Well, it is a never ending story my dear.

And also, are handcrafted toys in Mexico safe from lead and other toxins found in some mass-marketed toys? Yes, a few years ago the authorities of the ministery of health started supervising any object that had lead and showed them how to avoid it with new materials.

How can travelers be responsible about purchasing eco-friendly, handcrafted toys in Mexico?

Visiting our native markets where they will find them cheaper, in every village the artisans have areas where they personally sell their products. In bigger cities some museums and folk-art stores are also selling, of course much more expensive and sad to say most of the artisans get a very low payment and they travel from very remote places and usually are poor.

Editing
[|Tourism and Crafts]

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