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The history of Mexico's most famous family of puppeteers, die Rósete Arandas, began between 1832 and 1835 when the Aranda siblings, brothers Julián, Hermenegildo, and Buenaventura and their sister María de la Luz began to make puppets in the town of San Lucas Huamanda, Tlaxcala. After working in die textile factory or selling fodder to travelers on the main road between Veracruz and Mexico City, they made clay and plaster figures with strings, dressed them with scraps of cloth, and enjoyed creating performances at home.1 They developed the uncommon capacity to make puppets and manipulate them while creating entertainment after work.
From the beginning, the puppets of the Aranda family were tblkloric, artisanal, existential and, above all, family-oriented, with plays born out of the popular annual festivities that took place in the open air plazas and formed the unique world of the people.2 The elements that the Arandas took from life in the plazas included popular images and small-town language. These elements formed the basis for a realism that was the foundation of their artistic creations in the family business. The craft of making figures formed part of the cultural traditions present in the state of Tlaxcala and nearby localities. Tlaxcala inhabitants used clay in the production of images for their religious ceremonies for centuries. Hearing about the artisanal abilities of the Arandas, the local priest invited them to design and stage the annual nativity in the town's church for die Christmas celebration. The Arandas created a special set of Bethlehem and the usual religious figures, made witli clay and wire so they had some movement. This turned out to be an innovative experiment that pleased the priest and the whole community so much that they asked the Aranda family to create another play. This time, they staged a traditional pastoral. The priest's request inspired the artistic and dramatic ambitions of the Aranda siblings, who made small puppets, invented plays, and staged them at home for an audience they described as relatives, Indians and peasants. Others heard about their plays through word of mouth that spread among the residents of the nearby towns and later among hacendados who began hiring them for them to perform on their nearby haciendas?
In Humanda, few recreational spaces...