For the love of piñatas
For one Mexico City family, the papier-mâché figurines are more than just a birthday treat
(Image credit: AP Photo)
A piñata designed to resemble Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto sits amidst other piñatas representing popular children's characters, at a La Merced market stall. The stall's proprietor said university students requested piñatas of
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell))
Piñatas in various stages of preparation dry on the rooftop terrace of craftsman Melesio Vicente Flores and his family, in the Iztapalapa neighborhood of Mexico City. After drying in the sun, the piñatas are brought inside to be painte
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Melesio Vicente Flores carries piñatas — designed to look like Disney princesses Elsa and Sofia — to his truck as he prepares a delivery to market vendors. Despite some past problems with copyright infringement crackdowns, piñata maker
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell))
Melesio Vicente Flores attaches a head to a structured piñata that, when assembled and painted, will resemble a Disney princess. While competition drives down prices, the cost of primary materials, such as newspapers, wheat flour, and
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell))
Cecilia Albarran Gonzalez smoothes layers of papier-mache onto the back of a horse piñata.
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell))
Veronica Macias, right, and her son Yosef Alejandro Cruz pick out a piñata resembling a pole-dancing stripper for her nephew's 17th birthday party. "Before, (piñatas) were just for Christmas parties," Cecilia Albarran Gonzalez says. "N
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell))
Guillermo Luna Martinez carries freshly painted piñatas representing Disney's Frozen snowman character Olaf downstairs, to where his wife will use paper to craft the character's eyes, teeth, and distinctive tuft of hair.
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A piñata resembling Sleeping Beauty stands among other partially finished piñatas, inside the workshop of Flores and Gonzalez. Piñata vendors keep the craftsmen apprised of the market. Perennial favorites include Spiderman, Mickey Mous
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell))
Cecilia Albarran Gonzalez lifts up a freshly papier-mached piñata in the form of My Little Pony, to carry it outside to dry, at her family's home workshop.
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell))
