Mexico · Wax Sculpture / Ritual Craft
Vela escamada de cera; cererería
A beeswax candle-sculpture tradition in which thin, hand-shaped and hand-dyed wax petals are individually formed and assembled into elaborate flowers, ruffles, birds, and other figures built directly onto standing candles, historically inherited from European candle-making practice and adapted across several Mexican regions into functionally and technically distinct traditions — Oaxaca's dipped-and-cut floral candles, Michoacán's cera escamada ("scaled wax") technique, and Puebla's Nahua mayordomía-linked ceremonial candle production — representing the archive's first documented wax-based craft medium.
Risk level: Vulnerable · Not currently inscribed on a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list; Mexico is a State Party to the UNESCO 2003 Convention (ratified 14 December 2005) and could nominate this technique in the future.
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