トームのインスタグラム(tomenyc) - 12月6日 01時03分

#CasaViviana has worked in the elaboration of candles for four generations –EL UNIVERSAL
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This artisanal and highly creative trade was shared from a family to a whole community as a way to improve economic conditions
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José Hernández Alavés is part of the family that, for four generations now, has worked in the elaboration of artisanal candles that are used in the celebrations of the community. “My great-grandfather began this work: it was continued by my grandmother, my mother, and now us… each one addressing the needs of their time,” he says.
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The owner of the workshop, Viviana Alavés, José’s mother, is a recognized master in Oaxaca for the elaboration of “seashell candles,” called this way because they were decorated with flowers whose mold was a seashell.

In times of the great-grandfather of the family, the candles were used in the ritual of “La contentada,” (coming to terms) which was the moment in which men proposed to women after they had stolen them from their homes.
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Traditions in this community are very strict. Before, they thought trades had to be taught only among relatives. When she was in charge of the workshop, Viviana Alavés witnessed the peak of Catholicism.

The religious boom implied that the six families who elaborated candles gave service to the church the whole year in exchange for food, but in the 1970s, Viviana decided to go out of her community to promote her products in other towns and exchange them for others.

“We were very marginalized back then, and seeing the lack of income, the families who made candles stopped making them,” adds José.
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Viviana was the only one who focused on spreading the trade to obtain profits. The family had to walk in ways where no roads had been built yet to offer the candles to be used in religious celebrations.
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Currently, approximately 10 families in Teotitlán del Valle work in the elaboration of candles; however, collaborators in Casa Viviana say the others are at the ready of the new models they design. The workshop produces nearly 700 candles per month.
@casavivianaoaxaca @eluniversalmx
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