What is a Mexican Nicho box?
The nicho is a 3-dimensional recessed shadow box that is protected by a hinged glass door. The small shadow box is surrounded by appendages of wood or tin and often painted with bright colors. The tin is often stamped or punched to create shapes and embossed patterns in the tin.
What is a Nicho shrine?
Themes. Thematically, traditional nichos are part or extensions of household altars, and depict patron saints, ancestors, or an ex-voto. They can act as shrines, protection, or devotional objects, and may be part of active religious practice.
What is a Nicho Dia de los Muertos?
Celebrate Mexico’s Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) by creating a personal nicho. A nicho is a small shadow box filled with items that are special to the person who creates it (small photos of a loved one, a tiny piece of jewelry, a mini toy, etc.).
How do you pronounce nicho?
Phonetic spelling of nicho
- Ni-cho.
- nicho. Cathrine Wilderman.
- NIY-Kow. -1 rating rating ratings.
What are Mexican retablos?
Mexican retablos are small, colorful oil paintings, generally made on tin. The term retablo, from the Latin retro tabula, or “behind the altar,” originally referred to the large paintings depicting saints, Jesus, or the Virgin Mary, which hung behind altars in Catholic churches.
What do you put in a nicho?
Any small box could be made into a nicho. Cardboard cigar boxes, lightweight wood, and tin were common materials. Our DIY nicho boxes are going to have even more humble beginnings- cardboard tubes. Grab a few empty toilet paper or paper towel trolls- they’re going to form the three dimensional portion of your box!
What purpose do nichos serve as part of this celebration?
Nicho boxes are sometimes a part of the ofrendas of the traditional Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead. The word ofrenda means offering in Spanish. They are also called altares or altars. These ofrendas are not meant as a way to worship the deceased, but as away to remember and honor the deceased.
What are retablos used for?
Peruvian retablos are portable boxes that are decorated to represent scenes from everyday life or devotional figures, like saints.
What are retablos painted on?
Retablos are devotional paintings depicting the patron saint of a family or a saint venerated in the village church. They were first painted on canvas and wood, then on hand-hammered copper plates.
What does major shrine mean?
a place of worship hallowed by association with a sacred person or object.
What is a retablo box?
Retablos are a sophisticated Peruvian folk art in the form of portable boxes which depict religious, historical, or everyday events that are important to the Indigenous people of the highlands. It is a tradition originated in Ayacucho.
What objects can be found in a shrine?
Shrines often contain idols, relics, or other such objects associated with the figure being venerated. A shrine at which votive offerings are made is called an altar.
What do you put on a shrine?
Some Suggestions:
- Personal objects that remind you of, or which are connected to, your loved one.
- Natural objects such as flowers, fruits, rocks, crystals, shells, sticks or branches from your back yard, pinecones, leaves, abandoned birds’ nests, etc.
- Candles, oil lamps, or incense.
- Small strings of lights.
What are retablos made of?
Retablos are also a form of storytelling since they represent and preserve oral traditions. Typical retablos are made of cedar wood boxes, painted with vibrant colors. The figures are made out of special clay, a mix of potato flour and gesso, carefully crafted and fixed inside the box.
What can be used for sacrifice?
Sacrificial weapons, like the utensils, vary according to the nature of the sacrifice. The most common weapon is the knife, which is used to slit the throat of the human or animal victim, a practice observed, for example, by Semites, Muslims, and ancient Greeks. Sometimes the knife is cast into the sea after use.
What is a Nicho box?
A nicho box, or simply ‘nicho’, is a three-dimensional or recessed display box, much in the spirit of a shadow box, used as a portable shrine to an important figure or loved one. They originated as an adaptation of the Roman Catholic ‘retablo’, which is a painting of a patron saint on wood or tin.
What is a Mexican Nicho?
Of all the Mexico crafts for kids a teacher could ever offer, Mexican Nichos are hands-down the one project that brings creativity to the absolute forefront for children, especially when coupled with our clay calacas craft.
What are nichos made out of?
They can be constructed of humble materials: wood, tin, glass, and even cigar boxes. Nichos are also notable for colorful and varied decorations, which can range from simple paint or paper, through more complicated renditions to include milagros, glitter and sequins.
What is the difference between a Nicho and retablo?
The nicho has evolved away from the retablo in other ways, too. They serve loved ones during Dia de los Muertos celebrations and they frequently honor a combination of both people and objects in popular culture. They can be constructed of humble materials: wood, tin, glass, and even cigar boxes.