Mexico’s Candlemas season is drawing people into a repair market in downtown Mexico City, where worn Baby Jesus figurines wait on work tables for hands, faces and other missing details to be restored before they are needed in church. With time running short, dozens of artisans and workshop workers fix broken limbs and reconstruct disfigured features using plaster, gouges and sandpaper, according to the Associated Press.
The repairs often follow the same pattern year after year: some households discover their plaster figures have lost a hand, a nose, a finger or even a head, and they then seek a workshop to restore the pieces in time for the upcoming feast. The Associated Press described the work as meticulous, with figurines arranged closely together as the artists and helpers complete the restorations.
Candlemas, also known as “Día de la Candelaria,” falls on Feb. 2 and marks the end of Christmas celebrations in Catholic tradition. The feast commemorates the Virgin Mary’s purification and Jesus’ presentation at the temple, and the AP account tied the restoration rush to that deadline.
Many Catholics keep Baby Jesus figurines in Nativity scenes displayed in their homes during the Christmas season, and on Candlemas they take the figurines to church to be blessed. In that setting, families look to bring the figures back in good condition for the blessing ritual rather than start over with new figurines.
The Associated Press reported that some people choose not to replace their figurine even when repair might cost more than buying a new one. The decision, the AP story said, often comes down to sentimental value—especially when a figurine was a gift or has been kept for years.
María Sánchez Arena, 61, told the AP that the point is not the purchase price. “It is cheaper to buy one, but it is not so much the one you buy, but the one someone has given you, (it’s) why you have it. Nothing more,” she said.
Outside the repair tables, figurines also appear for sale in the same downtown area ahead of Candlemas, underscoring how the market combines replacement goods with restoration services. For families arriving with broken pieces, the goal is to leave with figures repaired in time for Sunday’s church pilgrimage tied to the Feb. 2 observance, the Associated Press reported.