The Rosete Aranda Puppets: A Century and a Half of an Entertainment Enterprise

The history of Mexico’s most famous family of puppeteers, the Rosete Arandas, began between 1832 and 1835 when the Aranda siblings, brothers Julián, Hermenegildo, and Buenaventura and their sister María de la Luz began to make puppets in the town of San Lucas Huamantla, Tlaxcala. After working in the textile factory or selling fodder to travelers on the main road between Veracruz and Mexico City, they made clay and plaster figures with strings, dressed them with scraps of cloth, and enjoyed creating performances at home.¹ They developed the uncommon capacity to make puppets and manipulate them while creating entertainment after work.

From the beginning, the puppets of the Aranda family were folkloric, artisanal, existential and, above all, family-oriented, with plays born out of the popular annual festivities that took place in the open air plazas and formed the unique world of the people.² The elements that the Arandas took from life in the plazas included popular images and small-town language. These elements formed the basis for a realism that was the foundation of their artistic creations in the family business. The craft of making figures formed part of the cultural traditions present in the state of Tlaxcala and nearby localities. Tlaxcala inhabitants used clay in the production of images for their religious ceremonies for centuries. Hearing about the artisanal abilities of the Arandas, the local priest invited them to design and stage the annual nativity in the town’s church for the Christmas celebration. The Arandas created a special set of Bethlehem and the usual religious figures, made with clay and wire so they had some movement. This turned out to be an innovative experiment that pleased the priest and the whole community so much that they asked the Aranda family to create another play. This time, they staged a traditional pastoral. The priest’s request inspired the artistic and dramatic ambitions of the Aranda siblings, who made small puppets, invented plays, and staged them at home for an audience they described as relatives, Indians and peasants. Others heard about their plays through word of mouth that spread among the residents of the nearby towns and later among hacendados who began hiring them for them to perform on their nearby haciendas.³

In Humantla, few recreational spaces existed beyond the public square. Seeing an opportunity, Margarito Aquino, a resourceful individual, accustomed to many family reunions, built a warehouse where he put swings, slides, gliders, see-saws, trapezes and rings so that children could amuse themselves. The Arandas were among those who would visit the afternoon recreations that Mr. Margaraje—as he was popularly known in town—organized. Don Margarito soon asked the Arandas about the possibility of amusing visitors with their puppets. They accepted and began giving public performances; they also exchanged ideas about the puppets and plays with Aquino. Soon, they improved their production of wooden puppets that measured 30 centimeters high and, with the help of thin wires, could move the head, trunk, arms and legs.

The Arandas used local materials to construct their puppets: clay for their heads; local and regional wood, such as treated pine and cedar, zompantle or reddish colored wood, to construct bodies, legs and feet. White pine was also used for heads and stucco—widely used by the makers of religious images and prints—was utilized in the making or repairing the faces of the puppets. Among other inventions, the family developed a special hinge, which shows the resourcefulness of the Aranda brothers. They used the hinge instead of cloth for the joints of the puppets so that they would move more realistically. Later, in order to manipulate the puppets, they conceived of the now-famous commanding crosspiece with very fine threads that were substituted for wires; both of these innovations remain in use in Mexico and abroad. All told, these innovations gave the public the illusion that they were watching human beings.

With confidence based on the experience they acquired at Mr. Margarito’s recreation center,⁴ the Aranda siblings...