US Edition
These Men Carry Towers of Birds Through Mexico’s Streets. They Say Their Tradition Is Dying Out.
Pajareros face growing restrictions and criticism from authorities and animal rights groups, leading to a decline in the centuries-old Palm Sunday bird-selling tradition, part of 1.5 million street vendors.
- Cruz Monroy has carried towers of bird cages through Mexican streets near Mexico City for 32 years, continuing a tradition practiced by multiple generations of pajareros or bird vendors across Mexico.
- During Palm Sunday, hundreds of pajareros decorate tall stacks of bird cages with flowers and images of the Virgin of Guadalupe, then walk with their birds and families to the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City.
- Authorities and animal rights groups have increased restrictions and criticized bird selling for alleged animal abuse, causing many vendors to stop and leading to a decline in the tradition.
- Monroy and other sellers say they breed and care for their birds, avoid prohibited wild tropical species, and hope their children find more stable work away from bird selling due to harassment and legal challenges.
20 Articles
20 Articles
In Holy Week, men carry towers of birds through Mexico’s streets
SAN BARTOLO MORELOS, Mexico — For 32 years, Cruz Monroy has walked the streets of a small town on the fringes of Mexico’s capital with a tower of small cages filled with a rainbow of birds. The melodies of red cardinals, green and blue parakeets and multicolored finches fill the days of “pajareros,” or street bird vendors, like him. The act of selling birds in stacks of cages — sometimes far taller than the men who carry them — goes back generat…
Daily Journal
Photos of Mexico's bird vendors making their annual pilgrimage to the Basilica of Guadalupe
During the Catholic holiday of Palm Sunday, birds vendors, known as pajareros, from across Mexico flock to the capital and decorate 10-foot-tall stacks of cages, adorning them with flowers, tinsel and images of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico’s patron saint.…
During the Catholic feast of Palm Sunday, bird vendors, known as birdsmen, from all over Mexico flock to the capital and decorate piles of cages of 3 meters (10 feet) high, adorning them with flowers, oropel and images of the Virgin of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico. They walk kilometers through the streets of Mexico City with their birds and their families to the emblematic basilica of the city.
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