Carpinteros

In Carpinteros, about 30 minutes from the seat of San Agustín Metzquititlán, carnival masks are made by hand, and much of the community's name rests on it. There are five workshops. One of them, the Castillo family's, says the father began making masks in 2004 and that the workshop has operated formally since 2009; neighbours insist the local tradition is more than a hundred years old.

The process starts with a colorín trunk, chosen for having few knots. It is carved round over three or four hours, left to dry for a week (two days if rushed), sanded and scorched with a blowtorch; horns are glued on with Resistol and sawdust and filled with paste, and at the end the mask is painted and given hair, lights or glass eyes. The big sellers are devils, clowns, old men, animals and skeletons. The workshop makes about 400 a year, with prices from 450 pesos for the simplest to 8,000 to 10,000 for the most elaborate; most of it is made to order, though some is sold through the year.

Buyers come from Zacualtipán, Metztitlán and San Agustín, and from Huayacocotla, Tlachichilco and other towns in Veracruz. The masks go out to the region's verbenas and parades before Lent, and another strong season is Xantolo, in the Huasteca.

The community lies in the Sierra Baja at 1,933 metres, on plateau terrain with a temperate, sub-humid climate; INEGI counted 1,476 inhabitants in 2020, 15.62% of the municipality. In 1960 there were 797, the low point of its series since 1900, and by 2020 there were nearly twice as many.