Wooden masks give life to “huehues” at indigenous Mexican carnivals

Adrián Becerra is an artisan who for decades has been creating wooden masks that are used in February during the carnivals of the “huehues” in the Mexican state of Puebla, a longstanding tradition that emphasizes the merging of the indigenous and Spanish cultures.

Cold faces, laughing or serious, gazes that seem to look all the way to infinity, inert but real – these are the characteristics of Becerra’s carved wooden masks.

The artisan and sculptor began creating the wooden faces 30 years ago, taking for his main inspiration the masks that are used in the assorted pagan carnivals that are held nowadays in the region and which precede the religious festivals of Holy Week.

Becerra shared that his imagination takes wing when he begins to make the sketches and designs that will be basic elements in fashioning each of his creations.

Right from the start, he puts together the characteristics, the eye and hair color, along with features such as the size of the eyelashes and lips that will lure or frighten those who admire them in each of the carnival dances.

His masks have established a trend, given that for many years the traditional masks had been male and female faces featuring basic characteristics like a mustache of painted lips with rouged cheekes and simple, non-descript facial expressions.

“I’ve always been creative ... The masks that they made before were very basic. It was a simple average face looking human, but I began to put in different ideas and tried to make them look more realistic but at the same time more fantasy-like,” he said.

With these features as the basis for the masks, they are designed to represent the “huehue,” a Nahuatl word that translates into Spanish as “ancient” or “wise.”

Formerly, and in ancient times, the huehues were people with great clout in the organization of communities.

And during these carnivals, the indigenous peoples outfit themselves as these ancient personalities to celebrate and honor them, to dance, drink “pulque” (fermented agave juice), and also to make fun of the Spaniards after they conquered Ancient Mexico.

Becerra said that the cost of his masks ranges from 2,600 to 5,000 pesos (about $130 to $250), with the price depending on the type of work and the design that the customer requests as well as the number of days of labor it requires to make them.

Normally, one mask takes between three and seven days to create, but it’s an arduous process during which the artisan fashions them from pieces of cedar wood.

First, he takes a piece of wood and cuts it to approximately the size of a human face. Then, he traces the image of the face he intends to create and makes the necessary cuts in the material to get it ready for further, and more detailed, work.

Finally, he puts the wood into a metallic press that helps to hold it steady so that he can begin using a hammer and chisel to carve out the detailed features that are needed.

After this process, he paints on each of the facial features, like the eyebrows and the hair, and he attaches the eyes, which are made from glass, with the aim of making the mask look as real as possible.

The sculptor said that he has made hundreds of traditional masks, but in recent years he has innovated with some of the most typical designs, such as the one of the devil.

In addition, he has created masks representing cartoon or comical characters and incorporated ideas suggested by the customers, such as the characters of Maleficent from the same-named film or Harley Quinn from ‘The Suicide Squad’ movie.

Capes or cloaks are also a fundamental part of a huehue costume because the full outfit includes the mask but also this garment, which can be bordered, painted with oil paints and adorned with sequins or fringes.

Artisan Verónica Méndez Hernández said that a cape might take between one and three months to make, depending on how many hours each day the artist spends on it.

“I’m devoted to keeping alive the tradition of the Barrio del Alto (one of the first settlements in the city of Puebla) since because of migration the original people have moved to other neighborhoods, but they’re still fighting to keep the tradition of the huehues alive,” she said.