Papel de Chino in Mexico

Walk into any paper store in San Miguel de Allende, and you can buy sheet after sheet of colored Papel de Chino, tissue paper. When the Spaniards came to Mexico, so did the Manila Galleons sailing from China and the Philippines to Acapulco with fragile cargo that was wrapped in this fine tissue paper. China invented paper, hence the use of Chino in the name. Papel de Chino is used all the time and everywhere.

This was in Uruapan on an outdoor table at the large craft fair that I went to last March.
These stairs in front of the church in Patzcuaro were decorated with the purple and pink Papel de Chino flowers for Easter week.

Homes around San Miguel de Allende and Patzcuaro are noted for decorating their foyers on the Friday before Palm Sunday. It is a celebration of La Virgen de Los Dolores, Our Lady of Sorrows.

I love the use of the Papel Picado, cut paper, for his decorations in the Parade in Uruapan.

On the church in Patzcuaro, the "purple" tissue is symbolic of Easter.

The column is gracefully decorated with the Papel de Chino flowers.

A simple, little table is dressed up with the papel picado as the table border.

The uses for the Papel de Chino are endless!