Cocuchas.com: Santiago Family

...truly artful, museum-quality cocuchas gigantes delivered to your door.

The Santiago Family is the one family in Cocucho who is able to make the museum-quality cocuchas gigantes that Cocuchas.com sells. The following photos were taken in 2004, when I first met the Santiago family. They are a big part of my love for cocuchas.

The Santiago family live and work in a Purepucha structure known as a troje, in the remote mountain village of Cocucho, Michoacan. Felix and Francisca work together in making the hand-built cocuchas using the traditional methods taught to their ancestors by the Spanish over 300 years ago. These fotos were taken in their home in Cocucho, Michoacan, where they live with their six children, Felix’ mother and youngest brother. This small, dirt-floored, multi-purpose room serves as a bedroom, living room and work room.

Felix (left) Francisca (right) married at ages 19 and 16 respectively. By the time Francisca was 26 she had 6 children to care for. They work as a “team” and consult with each other on every matter. Their native language is Purepucha, not Spanish.

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