Narrator: Candle making has been in this family
for over 300 years.
Viviana Alávez is one of the last people
in her Mexican village who still knows
how to make these candles by hand.
They were commonly used
in church services and proposal ceremonies.
And it was Viviana's break from tradition
that saved the family business and the art form.
We visited Oaxaca to see
how Viviana's workshop is still standing.
Making candles starts with the wax.
Viviana's daughter-in-law, Guillermina, breaks it up by hand.
Then Viviana melts it over a fire
fueled by wood and corncobs.
Narrator: She learned the craft at around 8 years old.
Her parents left her when she was a child,
and her grandma couldn't afford to send her to school.
She taught her to make candles instead.
Narrator: Sixty-four years later, she runs the business with her family.
Narrator: But a lot has changed.
They used to get the wax from local bee farmers,
but a changing climate has forced them
to find another source over 200 miles away.
Narrator: Viviana uses a bowl as a mold
and dips it first into the hot wax,
then into cold water to harden it.
She can make up to 40 pounds of these discs in a day.
Viviana then lays them out on the roof of her house.
She lives in the small village of Teotitlán del Valle.
The Zapotec Indigenous people have been living here
since the 15th century.
The discs sit for up to a month, bleaching under the sun.
This purifies the wax and makes it a blank canvas
so it can be melted down again and dyed.
Then it's time to make the candlesticks.
These candles started out as bare wicks.
One layer at a time, they pour wax over them
and let them dry for 10 minutes
before adding the next layer.
It takes an entire month to get them to this size.
The biggest candle Viviana has ever made
was nearly 6 feet tall and weighed 30 pounds.
Finally, they cut the bottoms to make the candlesticks even.
This week, the family is filling an order
of 48 candles for a proposal ceremony.
Narrator: But business wasn't always like this.
Up until the 1980s, Viviana and other candlemakers
didn't get paid for their work.
Instead, they offered the candles
to the church in exchange for food.
Narrator: Eventually, most candlemakers couldn't afford to keep working
and moved on to other trades. But Viviana didn't give up.
She came up with new designs,
like flowers made out of wax instead of paper.
Narrator: Then, she broke tradition by selling her candles
in order to save the business.
But her grandmother was not happy.
Narrator: Her creations eventually became so popular throughout town
that she's now a local celebrity.
Narrator: Viviana and her family make hundreds of wax figurines each week
by cutting,
shaping,
and molding.
Viviana has preserved some of the original candle elements.
She still has the molds
that have been passed down for three generations,
like this one that she uses to make an angel figurine.
And all the dyes are natural.
The red color comes from an insect.
She still uses paper flowers like her grandma did,
but it's the flowers made from wax that she's most proud of.
Narrator: Each ornament holds a certain significance.
Narrator: Viviana is the first candlemaker
to sell outside of her village.
She now gets business from couples all over Oaxaca
and from a jewelry store in New York City.
In Mexico, each one of her candles
sells for 300 pesos, or $15.
And they're used for religious festivals too,
like the Mayordomía,
an annual celebration honoring the village's saint.
Narrator: But business has been slow over the past year
as the pandemic has halted the usual gatherings.
Narrator: Viviana is excited to get back to work.
Narrator: Viviana has taught the craft to young women in the village
so the tradition can live on after her.
Narrator: And she's counting on her daughter-in-law
to pass it on to her children, too.