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Stories from the global community
Come along on the journey!
Day 26: To Guerrero, Mexico, home of Coconut Masks!
Destination:
Guerrero, Mexico
Guerrero is a state in Mexico on the Pacific Coast. Its largest city is Acapulco, known as the original Mexican resort in the 1950's for Hollywood stars and now as a spring break destination. It lies 238 miles west of Mexico City. The summers are hot, around 100°F and the winters cool averaging 45°F.
Fun Facts:
Guerrero's coat of arms
was
designed by renowned Mexican muralist Diego Rivera in 1923. The
central design features a Caballero Tigre (Tiger Knight) on a field of blue dressed in traditional jaguar skin battle suit. Rivera chose this image because guerrero is Spanish for knight, and the Tiger Knight was a powerful figure among the Aztecs who populated the region before the arrival of the Spanish. The descendants of the Aztecs are the Nahuatl people, our artisans for today.
Art Form:
Coconut masks from Guerrero Mexico
The first Europeans to see a coconut shell were Portuguese explorers to India. In 1448 sailors named the fruit Coco because it resembled the face of The Coco, the name of a ghost traditionally used in Portugal and Spain to scare children.
Although native to Asia, the coconut palm tree is thought to have arrived in the Americas before Columbus. In Mexico coconut palm trees grow in coastal areas.
When dried the coconut shell hardens but remains soft enough to be carved which enables its use in craft making around the world. In Guerrero coconut shells are used to make masks.
These masks, known in Spanish as Mascaras de Coco, are whimsical and colorful faces, animals, suns and mermaids. They are made of a half coconut shell by Nahuatl artists who live in the more remote Mezcala region along the Balsas River Basin in Guerrero.
The first masks were based on traditional images such as the jaguar and devil masks or
human faces.
In the 1950's encouragement from tourists visiting Acapulco inspired artisans to make other figures such as mermaids, popular animals such as pigs and cows and fruit shaped masks such as strawberries and watermelons.
The Artistic Process:
Once the coconut shell has been picked, cut in half and cleaned, it is soaked in water for 10 to 15 minutes. The outside of the shell is then scraped and cleaned with a knife and later sanded until its surface becomes smooth.
Once smooth, the masks are shaped using clay or dirt mixed with glue, and decorated with cactus spines, seed pods, dried flowers or dyed fibers and even goat horn. Once the mask is shaped and the clay has dried, acrylic paints are applied giving a glossy finish to the entire mask. Coconut shell masks reflect the culture and hearts of the artisans that make them.
While many coconut masks are finished as faces, others have painted canvas "bodies" attached that originally mimicked traditional dance costumes and more recently are whimsical representations that are referred to as "dolls."
Masks are also made to mimic more elaborate traditional costumes worn in yearly parades and celebrations. For example, the Tigrada carnival of cats has deep roots associated with Mesoamerican mythology and rituals designed to invoke Tepeyollotl, the Jaguar God and protector of the mountains, to ensure fertile earth and abundance of rainfall.
Translated into little coconut masks, they still carry similar characteristics.
The Company: Arara Enterprises
Maribel and Claudio De Lucca
live in San Diego California and through their store Back from Tomboctou, have imported Mexican Folk Art for over 3 decades.
In addition to supporting the artisans that live and work in Guerrero Mexico they teach traditional Mexican crafts like Day of the Dead sugar skulls, paper mache, papel picado (banner making), paper flowers, and piñata.
As Maribel says, "We are fortunate to have enjoyed years of friendship with many of our artisans and their families."
Keeping traditions alive.
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Shopping . . .
Are you ready to explore
what we have in our store?
Each mask or figure is one-of-a-kind based on the artisans' sense of whimsy and invention. Amazing!
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Don't forget to stamp your Passport!
Click on the
"stamp" to add to your "passport."
We keep track of your stamps for you!
"Collect" at least 12 different "country" stamps during the second 20 days of our around-the-world trip to
be entered
into the drawing for a $25 gift card.
At the end of our 80-day
Around the World
excursion, all eligible travelers (minimum of 48 country stamps)
will be
entered into a drawing for . . .
a Grand Prize
$100 shopping spree gift card!
Thanks for traveling with us today.
Where to next? Stay tuned!
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After almost two months of having our store closed in
Brookside, we
re-opened yesterday.
Our masks were on and our eyes were smiling. Customers joined us in this new "dance" of social distancing. We're learning the new "steps" and the "do-si-do's" and we didn't step on anyone's toes. We're ready to dance again today.
We look forward to welcoming you to our "world" inside our store and to see in person all the hand-made products we've been exploring on these "journeys."
Our door is open but there will be noticeable changes both visually and with procedures.
If you missed my letter 2 days ago, here's the short story:
*
We will welcome 6 customers into the store at a time.
* We will have hand sanitizer right inside our door and will require its use before you shop.
* We'll wear masks to protect you, and ask that you wear masks to protect us.
* If you forget your mask, we'll have disposable face coverings available for you.
* Please note that our restroom will be unavailable.
* We will only accept credit card payments; no checks or cash.
* Our store will be open Friday through Sunday and then closed Monday and Tuesday of next week. All of our shopping hours are listed below my signature.
This new journey for all of us will no doubt have more twists and turns. We are grateful for your support and understanding and ask for your patience as we shop together but differently.
For those of you who cannot or choose not to shop in our Brookside store right now, we thank you for your continued online shopping support. And, yes, we plan to continue our global "journeys" with additions to our online store.
And I can't say it enough times -
YOU are an important part of what makes World's Window so special! THANK YOU!
World's Window
"Nobody can define you like you."
P.S.
We are glad to be on this around-the-world virtual journey with you and delighted that you are traveling with us. We hope you are learning some new information as we travel along.
If you haven't already done so, invite some friends to come along! There's still room on this journey!
Send an invite
P.P.S.
We're keeping our trip "log" up to date. If you think you've missed a day or are new to our journey, click
here
to review where we've visited the last 25 days.
"Soft" Opening Dates: Friday, May 15 from 11 am to 5 pm
Saturday, May 16, 11 am to 5 pm
Sunday, May 17, 12 noon to 5 pm
Temporary Hours starting May 17
CLOSED Monday and Tuesday
OPEN Wed through Sat, 11 am to 5 pm
Sunday, 12 noon to 5 pm
As always we are "sharing the world" through clothing, jewelry, folk art, textiles and hand-selected gifts -
and
buying locally-owned is a gift to your community!
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One way to support us
right now
is to purchase
World's Window gift cards.
In-store gift cards can also be purchased by calling
us at 816-361-2500.
And, with all gift card purchases
we'll ADD 10% more
to the value of your gift card as a "Thank You" for shopping small and local.
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See what's happening on our social sites:
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