Acteopan, Puebla is close to the border o the state of Morelos, the recent Autopista to Puebla passes nearby. The town´s principle handicraft is clay pottery. The older women still wear embroidered blouse, however most are purchased. Bob Freund
6/25/2005 for more information contact: info@mexicantextiles.com

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The town of Acteopan is a medium size village located in the south of the state of Puebla. The recent Autopista (freeway) has bypassed village and this has left the ceramic handicrafts of the village in a lurch. The town is located on the old road to Puebla from Cuautla, Moreols. In the first picture, there is an old style granary made from ceramic and palm. These granaries are directly connected to the Nahua heritage of this village. In a number of surrounding villages I also noticed these silos.

The village is conservative and I was asked a number of times if I had presented myself to the officials of the village (which I had) and then every thing was fine. It took a while to find some women who were still using embroidered blouses. It turns out that a number of grandmothers still use them; however they are no longer embroidered in the town but rather purchased from other villages during fairs and festivals. The blouses I saw being worn were from the prolific embroidery town of San Gabriel Chilac near Tehuacan. I asked about the blouses from Magdelena which is not very far from here and was told that they cost too much. These two women turned out to be sisters Marta Medina Medina and Petra Medina Medina and lived on the same street. The more I hung around the town, I saw older women with their embroidered blouses underneath there over-blouse. There is also an embroidered slip worn here, but not shown.