The sound of hammers and chisels striking stone rings out on most Sundays in the cemetery in the ancient town of Xochiaca, a village swallowed up decades ago by the urban sprawl of Mexico City.
While carvers in other areas long ago turned to mechanical cutters and polishers, the craftsmen here use only hammers, mallets and a variety of chisels and gouges.
With Xochiaca now lost in a labyrinth of city streets, they keep the old traditions alive. Many residents use stone mortars and pestles made by the stone carvers. Known as “molcajetes” in Spanish, these bowl-like grinders are the basic tool for making salsas. Unlike many craftspeople who want to see their works displayed in museums, the carvers here work free of charge to create and maintain carvings to decorate the local cemetery. Among those are an imposing, 20-foot stone Christ figure as well as European-inspired sculptures of the 12 apostles.
It refers, however, to a time when the lake that once covered much of the valley still lapped at the shores of Xochiaca. Builders would come looking for carvings, and ship them to Mexico City on barges over the lake.
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