Artisans Fight to Survive in ‘the Town of the Nativities’ in Mexico

Religious items produced in Asia can be purchased in Mexico City markets at lower prices than their Mexican-made equivalents. Many merchants sell both Asian and Mexican products, which they say gives consumers the choice of either lower prices or locally made products. RNS photo by Irving Cabrera Torres

AMOZOC, Mexico (RNS) — It’s known as the town of the Nativities, or los nacimientos. For more than a century, Amozoc, in central Mexico, has been the home of craftsmen skilled in creating religious figurines, who have passed their skills down through generations.

José Luis Ramírez checks on the small retail section of his workshop. While sales of Nativity sets make up much of his business, the best-selling pieces are still figures of Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose feast comes two weeks before Christmas. RNS photo by Irving Cabrera Torres

But the industry has undergone tremendous change in the past decade, due to competition from Asian imports and the increased cost of materials. Out of the roughly 600 families that once produced Christian figurines in Amozoc, only 200 families remain.

José Luis Ramírez mixes plaster at his family workshop. He learned his family’s craft, practiced over four generations, as a child. RNS photo by Irving Cabrera Torres

Luz Ramírez paints the hand of a life-size Magi statue at the family’s Amozoc workshop in central Mexico. The thousands of religious figures made each year are hand-painted. RNS photo by Irving Cabrera Torres

Luz Flores said that the September 2017 earthquake that hit the state of Puebla dramatically hurt Amozoc artisans. Many figures and materials were lost, the final blow for family-run businesses already suffering from lower sales in recent years. RNS photo by Irving Cabrera Torres

José Luis Ramírez, a fourth-generation artisan in Amozoc, is among those who have seen the landscape change rapidly in the past decade. Sales at his family’s workshop have fallen by 40 percent over the past three years. Ramírez blames competition from figurine factories abroad that produce work that is of inferior quality but less expensive.

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Source: Religion News Service