Inside Mexico's Christmas wonderland with hand-crafted glass ornaments: Video
In the mountain town of Chignahuapan in Mexico, Christmas is a year-round craft and a cultural identity.
Known as Mexico’s “paradise of baubles,” this Puebla community has quietly grown into one of the world’s most important centres for handcrafted Christmas ornaments, attracting tourists, collectors, and global buyers alike.
At the heart of this festive tradition is El Castillo de la Esfera, “The Castle of the Bauble”, a workshop that has come to symbolise Chignahuapan’s artistry. Footage captured on Saturday, November 29, shows artisans shaping molten glass with steady breaths, transforming glowing droplets into fragile globes. Once cooled, each ornament is hand-painted with the kind of precision and creativity that has become a hallmark of the town’s craft.
“The Castle of the Bauble started 30 years ago as a tiny workshop of no more than five people,” recalls sales director Javier Tirado Lozada. “Today, we are a team of more than 120.”
Despite international recognition, Chignahuapan’s artisans face stiff competition, especially from mass-produced ornaments in Asia. China’s dominance in plastic baubles has reshaped the market, pushing the Pueblo Mágico to innovate without losing its soul.
“To keep competing with the giants is our biggest challenge,” Tirado says. “We started producing plastic baubles about seven years ago, but with the same artisanal decoration, preserving that essence of craftsmanship.”
This commitment has paid off. Chignahuapan has become a magnet for holiday visitors, with families travelling from across Mexico to witness the ornament-making process and stock up on Christmas treasures.
“We love coming here in November,” one visitor shared. “We come mainly to buy baubles for the Christmas tree.”
According to the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the town’s 370-plus workshops produce more than 70 million baubles each year, an astonishing figure for a community rooted in tradition rather than mass manufacturing.
Chignahuapan’s craftsmanship has earned global prestige. The town was designated a Pueblo Mágico in 2012, and in 2011, its ornaments were even used to decorate the Chapel of the Virgin of Guadalupe in the Vatican grottoes.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
