The Alfeñique fair (Spanish: feria del Alfeñique) is an annual event that takes place in the city of Toluca, Mexico in which vendors sell traditional sugar skulls with names labeled on the forehead, as well as candy in a variety of shapes, …
The Alfeñique fair (Spanish: feria del Alfeñique) is an annual event that takes place in the city of Toluca, Mexico in which vendors sell traditional sugar skulls with names labeled on the forehead, as well as candy in a variety of shapes,…
01 · What it is
Living Tradition
Documented cultural tradition on record; family classification awaits an editor.
02 · Where & name
Mexico
Written in its own script on record as Feria del Alfeñique.
03 · How it is doing
□□□□ (Not yet assessed)
Documented in open cultural records, but no cited field assessment of its current vitality has been added here yet.
04 · Proof & reuse
1 cited source
Every claim links to a public record below. Free to quote, teach, and share under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Common Questions Answered on Record
What is Alfeñique fair in plain words?
The Alfeñique fair (Spanish: feria del Alfeñique) is an annual event that takes place in the city of Toluca, Mexico in which vendors sell traditional sugar skulls with names labeled on the forehead, as well as candy in a variety of shapes,… In local script on record, it is written Feria del Alfeñique.
Where is Alfeñique fair practised or documented?
Sources on this page place Alfeñique fair in Mexico.
What is the current condition of Alfeñique fair today?
□□□□ (Not yet assessed): Documented in open cultural records, but no cited field assessment of its current vitality has been added here yet.
How do I cite or share this Alfeñique fair entry?
Cite as: "Alfeñique fair." folkroom, https://folkroom.org/art-forms/alfenique-fair, text CC BY-SA, with attribution.
The Alfeñique fair (Spanish: feria del Alfeñique) is an annual event that takes place in the city of Toluca, Mexico in which vendors sell traditional sugar skulls with names labeled on the forehead, as well as candy in a variety of shapes, in order to celebrate the Mexican holiday Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead). Chocolate and sugar skulls are used to decorate altars dedicated to the dead during the celebration.
The fair starts in the middle of October and lasts up to the beginning of November. Hundreds of people sell their wares at Los Portales, a series of arches surrounding the so-called place, where people can go and buy their own skulls for their altars. Every year a contest takes places in order to give a prize to the best candy skull and to the best decorated business.
Alfeñique is an Arabic word "alfainid". This word was referred to the preparation of a pastry of cooked sugar stretched into very thin layers. The alfeñique came along with the Spanish and then the aztecs made figurines with amaranth for their altars. These were known as the first alfeñiques in the New World. In colonial times, the nuns related the “alfeñique” as a traditional figurine for the months of October and November to celebrate Día de Muertos.
There is also an annual Alfeñique fair in the city of Guanajuato.
The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Alfeñique fair”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence.
Alfeñique fair is annual event in Toluca, Mexico, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. 1
The source record links this tradition to 1 external register, which can be verified through the citation. 1
