Yucatan Women Gather for Artisan Fair Showcasing Traditional Crafts

Mérida, Yucatán — Artisans from 26 municipalities across Yucatán gathered for a fair offering a vibrant display of embroidered garments, woven items, sweeteners, and traditional foods.

Women from Xocchel brought sosquil and gold-thread embroidery; from Tekit came huipiles with floral stitching; Umán and other towns contributed melipona honey in amber jars; and Tixcacalcupul was represented by macramé weavers using cotton thread.

The aisles were colorful and varied. Tradition mingled with new technology as young entrepreneurs displayed traditional figurines made with 3D printing at affordable prices. Leather goods, desserts, and traditional dishes such as cochinita and lechón were also available.

All products were handmade — no imported items. The artisans’ hands are cracked, burned, and stained with achiote, thread, or wax. Grandmothers taught their daughters, and those daughters now promote their work on social media. To support this process, the Yucatán Women’s Secretariat (Semujeres) provides training in marketing, social media use, and sales.

Participants came from Yaxcabá, Seyé, Halachó, Opichén, Mérida, Chocholá, Homún, Tekax, Santa Elena, Kanasín, Hunucmá, Cuzamá, Izamal, Xocchel, Tixkokob, Motul, Tixcacalcupul, Mayapán, Umán, Dzan, Dzidzantún, Maxcanú, Tekit, Hocabá, Telchac Pueblo, and Muna.

Among them was Zelmy Rodríguez Chan, who, despite her youth, preserves the knowledge she received from her parents, who learned from her grandmother. She has been embroidering for 20 years, since her preadolescence, and hopes to pass the skill to her daughter.

Zelmy embroiders huipiles, dresses, and blouses with colorful floral designs. In her family, finishing a dress or embroidered huipil in cross-stitch can take up to eight hours, spread across different times of the day.

She also uses technology, specializing in machine embroidery for other garments with multicolored patterns that stand out on light fabrics suitable for the hot season.

Her work, she says, defies time, keeping alive a tradition passed down from her grandmother as part of an inherited knowledge between generations. Nearby, young women accompanying their relatives recorded reels for social media to ensure the tradition is not forgotten.

A few stalls away, the air changed with sweet and earthy aromas. Beekeepers from Umán and Xaya, a hamlet of Tekax, brought melipona honey — from the sacred Maya bee “that does not sting.” They explained that their great-grandparents used this honey to soothe coughs.

Doña Brillante Contreras, from Umán, offered samples of her thick, traditional honey. She also brought products from European bees, as her family has run a business for 10 years distributing soaps, candles, propolis, and toasted seeds mixed with honey.

From Xaya, the Network of Women Entrepreneurs brought products made with melipona honey, not only as traditional food but also in soaps and decorative candles made from wax.

Artisan Blanca Estela Yam Chan explained that the group formed eight years ago, though their knowledge and dedication to beekeeping go back much further. They decided to start a business and promote their products on social media.

Nearby, the aroma of traditional food filled the air. Miriam May from Kanasín, with 35 years of experience, offered red cochinita, lechón, and black cochinita.

She said that four decades ago she had to take on this work alone to support her children; gradually she learned about marketing and profit margins, eventually building a stable source of income for her family.

The fairs organized by Semujeres have become a space for women entrepreneurs to offer their products in different settings and find a good response from the public.

Tourists, neighbors, and workers from the area strolled through the aisles. By 5 p.m., several artisans had already packed up their stalls with good sales, making it clear that in Yucatán, embroidery, weaving, cooking, and community knowledge endure.

The fair brought together 92 artisans from 26 municipalities, all in one state keeping its traditions alive.