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Tanya Isaeva Photography
Did you know that the colorful papers that often hang from ceilings and decorate walls at Mexican restaurants have a fascinating, centuries-old story to tell? Here are a few fun facts about papel picados (which translates to "perforated paper” or “pecked paper"), the decorations that are especially popular for Cinco de Mayo, Day of the Dead and other festive celebrations:
- The tissue paper used to make papel picados can be traced to Chinese culture; it is called China paper and has been used in Europe since the 16th century.
- San Salvado Huixcolotla, in the Mexican state of Puebla, is considered the birthplace of papel picado.
- In early Mexico, the Aztecs chiseled spirit figures into a rough paper called amate made from mulberry and fig tree bark. During the 19th century, Mexican people (many who worked in the fields at haciendas), discovered China paper while shopping at hacienda stores and started using it just as the Aztecs had used amate.
- Today, designs are commonly cut from as many as 40 to 50 layers of tissue paper that artisans punch intricate designs into with a chisel called a fierrito.
- In 1998, the governor of the state of Puebla decreed that the style of papel picado produced in San Salvador Huixcolota is part of the cultural heritage of the state of Puebla (Patrimonio Cultural del Estado de Puebla).
Sources: Origin Mexico and Wikipedia
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