This Holy Family is made by a group of women in an isolated mountain village called Alta Vera Paz in Guatemala. The village is an 8-hour trip from Guatemala City, with 4 hours of the trip spent on a one-and- a-half lane winding dirt road that goes up the mountains. The figures are made from dried corn husks (corn is the mainstay of their diet) and dressed with colorful hand-woven Guatemalan cloth (the same material the women use in making their own skirts). Joseph stands approximately 7.5 inches tall.
Each Holy Family is unique, so every set is one-of-a-kind. Two sets are shown in the photo as an example of the variation. In some sets Mary holds baby Jesus in front of her, while in other sets Jesus is carried on Mary’s back, which is a common practice in this Guatemalan village.
The women who made the dolls are participants in a humanitarian literacy program. None of them had the opportunity to go to school as children but they go to school now three days per week. They take their babies and preschoolers with them when they go to class. Some of them have to walk long distances to be able to attend school. In this program the women attend school for three years to gain the equivalent of six years of traditional education. When the women finish their schooling they are then given vocational training and an opportunity to receive a small micro-credit loan. The first loans were given in September 2011; after only one month some of the women have already earned enough to pay off the loan because of the businesses they chose to pursue with their money. Many of the women used their loan to buy the material to make these cornhusk Holy Families.
The villagers of Alta Vera Paz live in small homes with dirt floors. Usually the whole family sleeps in the one room, which is a kitchen as well as a bedroom. The village has no electricity and the villagers often have to walk long distances to get water. Many of the families eat only one meal a day.
The Garding Family Nativity Collection 