María Mercedes Canul Dzul (best known as Doña Mechita), a 94-year-old piñata maker, portrayed at her home in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico on July 25, 2023. Doña Mechita has been making piñatas for nearly thirty years, but she became famous when, a little over ten years ago, she started fashioning her piñatas as turkeys. She produces around 150 turkey piñatas from her home each year. She starts making them in January, and sells them for MX$350 (US$18) in the front room of her home each November, ahead of Christmas festivities. This income helps her cover her living costs and medical bills as the monthly pension of US$125 per month she receives from the Government is insufficient. “At my age, making the turkey piñatas is what has allowed me to keep on moving forward,” she says. A piñata is often made solely of papier-mâché, and nowadays, rarely uses a clay pot as a container. It is decorated with shiny paper and colored tissue, then filled with candy, fruit, and small toys, to be broken during Mexican celebrations, particularly on birthdays, during posadas, Christmas, and other festive occasions. Photograph by Bénédicte Desrus