Doña Pily, preserves the tradition of buying traditional Mexican toys

Published July 2nd, 2022

María del Pilar Ramírez Cruz is a merchant from Guanajuato who sells traditional Mexican toys, she likes to be called Doña Pily, she has known this work since she was born, since her family has been dedicated for decades to preserving the Mexican customs and traditions, such as the elaboration of old toys.

Doña Pily sells her toys in the Plaza de la Soledad in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, next to more merchants, in the place you can find all kinds of didactic artifacts for the spoiled of the home, as well as handicrafts with the intervention of Mexican hands in the objects.

In San Miguel de Allende, you can find traditional Mexican toys such as clay pots, wooden dining rooms for dolls, yoyos, baleros, flutes, wooden houses for dolls with furniture inside, wrestling rings, wooden soldiers and carts, drums, rattles, cardboard dolls, guitars, futbolitos, slingshots, lottery, masks, rocking horses, etc., there is an endless number of toys.

In San Miguel de Allende, the tradition of selling toys arose on the occasion of a religious celebration:

“Here in San Miguel, this custom started, as a motive of Corpus Christi celebration, the farmers would come to bless the seeds and that day was festive for the children because the parents when selling the seed, when selling the little animals they brought to the field, they would buy them a toy,” mentioned Doña Pily.

Years ago the variety of accessories was smaller, said the merchant who recalled how sales were in those days:

“The traditional toys at that time were a cardboard doll for the girls, trasteritos made of tin, canteens made of tin, today we have them made of wood, for the boy it was a Chaco is a more or less soldier type, a Roman soldier type helmet, it was his horse made of reed and cardboard, the little head was made of cardboard and the body well it was a reed and the wooden sword, it was the typical and traditional toy that was given to them on Corpus Christi day”, expressed, Doña Pily, vendor.

In San Miguel de Allende, the custom of celebrating children with gifts on a certain day was very different from the traditional Mexican custom:

“In San Miguel de Allende the day of Corpus Christi, was much very important for the children since they received a toy on Corpus Christi, rather than on Kings Day, it was more important that day in times gone by, that was when they would receive toys and not on Kings Day,” expressed the merchant, Doña Pily.

In spite of the fact that nowadays technology has reached the new generations, Doña Pily comments that this has not been an impediment for sales to drop, because parents want their children to inherit the traditional toys and learn how their ancestors had fun.

“Here in San Miguel de Allende, we have had this group of traditionalist women, to maintain this type of toys and encourage parents to come and teach their children the toys they used to play with, so sales have been low due to the pandemic in general, but in reality, if they come and teach their children with the toys they used to play with, then it is a memory for the adults, to see again what they used to play with and that their children and grandchildren know them”, said the saleswoman.

The Plaza de Soledad in San Miguel de Allende is the main point where foreign tourists who visit the city are forced to pass through, Pily comments that whenever they arrive at the stand they always express admiration for the traditional sales.

“They are surprised to arrive and see so many toys of different materials and if some who speak a little Spanish ask us why this exhibition of toys, we try to explain to them, but if they are surprised to arrive in San Miguel and see the toys, every year we sell toys for 18 days here in the plaza,” said the vendor.

Doña Pily recalled her favorite toys in her childhood: “They were the little clay pots and obviously if I liked it or not they brought me the cardboard monkey, but for me, it was very nice to buy or come to choose, we come from a very traditional family, my parents, my grandparents were dedicated to selling this, we have continued it for generations”, said the vendor.

Doña Pily looks to the future, she hopes that the day she is no longer here, her daughters will continue her tradition:

“I hope that the day I am gone, my daughters will continue with this tradition, in other families of vendors there are already young people who are working on this type of toys and are trying to keep these deep-rooted traditions here in San Miguel de Allende”, Doña Pily commented.

Currently, there are 11 families in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, with more than 40 years that are dedicated to the sale of toys on the occasion of the celebration of Corpus Christi, the Guanajuatenses try that these traditions never disappear.

“We try to maintain what is very traditional here in San Miguel, I am very happy now with the social networks, I know that we reach different parts of our country and perhaps other countries, and it makes me happy to preserve the traditions, to make an effort to continue preserving this activity”, expressed the Guanajuato native.