Mexican Religious Folk Art

Religion plays an enormous role in the lives of Mexican artisans. Over 90% of the country is Catholic but that figure doesn't account for the importance of indigenous beliefs, which influence so many of the Mexican crafts and Mexican folk arts found in all regions of the country. There is a mixture of belief systems that erupts into folk art depicting the mescla (mixture) in the most amazing and imaginative ways. Many of our folk art pieces are ceramic, and not on the website, because of the difficulty and expense of shipping, but if you are interested in Ocumicho Last Suppers or large clay Trees of Life or paper mache Judas Figures, let us know!

"The lives of the races before the Conquest were completely dominated by religion. There were exacting gods for every activity, and everything that people did and created was in the nature of an offering to these deities,to whom they also gave their blood and lives. Thus for those who survived the Conquest, the destruction of their gods and the necessity to accept new ones were great blows. However, they learned to make the best of what they could not help. Some of the natives were sincerely impressed by the miraculous apparitions of the saints, asking for Christian temples wherever an important pagan one was destroyed; others pretended to accept the new religion but went on with the old one in secret. In any case, after over four centuries of Christianity, the natives to this day treat their saints as idols. And there are still pagan traits in Catholic ritual and Christian ones in the pagan..."
Frances Toor, A Treasury of Mexican Folkways

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