Visitors to the Copper Canyon area are always pleasantly
surprised by the wide variety of craftsware and folk art available for
purchase. The remote life and character of the Tarahumara Indians has
fostered a tradition of crafts making as a part of their life-style.
While traveling through the region you will find very inexpensively priced
baskets, belts, dolls, pottery and musical instruments.
The baskets are made out of the leaves of the agave as well as pine needles
and range in size from tiny to large. Visitors purchasing baskets find
that they can pack them one inside the other to conserve space during
their trip. Once at home, the baskets of pine needles hold their scent
of pine forests and become a wonderful reminder of the trip, and they
are utilitarian as well as beautiful. The Tarahumara pottery is quite
sturdy and is designed to be more functional then decorative.
Music is an important part of the Indians daily living and also plays
an important roll in their ceremonies and festivals. Their musical instruments
include violins, drums and wooden flutes. They learned the art of violin
making from the Spaniards in the 18th century.
Carved wooden dolls dressed in typical Tarahumara fashion are for sale
in a variety of sizes and portray the various activities of Tarahumara
life—mothers wearing shawls while carrying babies on their backs,
ladies weaving on hand-looms, and men carrying tools or musical instruments
and wearing their traditional headgear.
Crafts can be purchased from the Indians who set up their merchandise
on rocks along the trails and in all sorts of unlikely nooks and crannies.
Crafts are also available in stores, and one that we recommend is the
Mission Store in Creel, located right on the town square. Profits go
to the hospital which serves the Tarahumara Indians.
Click Here for information on our Copper Canyon Tours.
