Architecture of Mexico: the hacienda
The haciendas were the landed estates of Mexico, some with territories as big as Belgium. For visitors to Mexico, they conjure up surreal images of ruined palaces; still possessing a faded grandeur, dominating a desolate landscape of cactus and agave. Before the revolution of 1910, when their lands were confiscated, the haciendas' collective power was enormous. Each one was a rural, autonomous social unit with its own history, and for each, myths accumulate over the centuries.
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Paradise Valley
Inspired by actual events, several Amish families — finding new state laws impossible to live under because they undermined their faith and way of life — set off in 1922 to begin a new life in Mexico. read more
Revolutionary Days: A Chronology of the Mexican Revolution
Uncovering Tonala's history at the National Ceramic Museum
Dating back to pre-Hispanic times, the nahual is a shape shifter who switches between human and animal forms and is often characterized as a shaman.
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Homer and the Aztec muse in Mexican literature
Discovering Clues to the Legacy of a Mexican Poet: Manuel Rocha y Chabre
Several years ago, I was rummaging through a box of family photos with my dad, when he showed me an old, yellowing image of his mother from 1908. He told me it was taken in Mexico at the wedding of her cousin, the poet and playwright Manuel Rocha y Chabre.
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Drums in the Hills: a personal story of the Mexican Revolution
Miraculously he survived, rescued by Yaqui Indians who saw his leg sticking through the pile of dead bodies…the leg was slowly moving. A Yaqui medicine man cleaned Frank's wounds and, even after gangrene had set in, restored him to health.
Frank's son, Frank O. Dolezal, and his son's daughter, Kathryn Dolezal Tyler, wrote this interesting adventure filled with intrigue, love, loyalty, deceit, suffering and survival, set for the most part in the early days of the Mexican revolution, much of it in and around Alamos. read more
Gods, Gachupines and Gringos: A People's History of Mexico by Richard Grabman
Gods, Gachupines and Gringos no more resembles the typical "history of Mexico" book than a rushing river resembles a dried-up arroyo. I was reading the book at the Lake Chapala Society in Ajijic this morning when a couple of buddies joined me. I told them about the book, and read them a few of the passages above as a little sampler. When I finished I looked up. They responded in unison, "Where can I buy a copy?"
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The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire by C. M. Mayo
Lake Chapala through the ages, an anthology of travellers' tales
There is something for everybody in Tony Burton's, Lake Chapala through the ages. Whether you are fascinated by the early history of the place where you now live or visit (or would like to visit), or whether you are interested in early accounts of the natural history of the region, or of the lake itself.
read moreDiego Rivera's monumental stairway mural in Mexico's National Palace, Mexico City, D.F. (1)
The center arch of the wall contains the Mexican eagle holding a serpent that showed the end of the Aztecs' migration. Included on the current Mexican flag, the eagle also represents a resurgent Mexico...
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Did You Know? Popular children's chorus features cockroaches and pot smoking
La Cucaracha (The Cockroach), one of Mexico's best known corridos, is a comic, satirical song, with infinite possibilities for creative verses. Versions of La Cucaracha have been performed by countless bands and musicians, including Louis Armstrong, Bill Haley & His Comets, Doug Sahm
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Did You Know? Quetzal Dancers in Puebla, Mexico
The Quetzal Dance is one of the most colorful folkloric dances anywhere in the country. It is also thought to be one of the most ancient. Both the dance and the spectacular headdresses worn b...
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Did you know? Mexico's Nobel Prize nominee and music revolutionary
A Mexican who tried to revolutionize the world of classical music was once nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics.
In 1950, Julián Carrillo was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physics. The nominat...
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Did You Know? Famous artists pioneer art community in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
A young couple who became famous artists pioneered the San Miguel de Allende foreign community.
San Miguel de Allende's vibrant art and music scene is deservedly famous. Among the early pioneers respo...
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Did You Know? Artists in Mexico with disabilities
Several famous Mexican artists had serious physical disabilities.
Three Mexican artists, whose very different works are admired annually by thousands, and who were born in successive decades of the ni...
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Did You Know? Some national symbols in Mexico are not what they seem
This month, Mexico celebrates her birthday, the anniversary of her independence from Spain. On the evening of September 15, the annual El Grito ceremony is held in town plazas all across the cou...
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The best records in the world: aids for genealogical research in Mexico
Out of Mexico's past: Photographs that speak volumes (Hugo Brehme and others)
Anyone out there on the information highway heard of an American photographer named North? Worked in Mexico, made dozens of daguerreotypes of the cities, churches and countryside circa mid-1800s? Gina ...
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Famous Mexicans on their stamps - Jesus Garcia
There are all kinds of heroes, from the international arena to the local, and in one's own neighborhood or family. Most heroes are defined by courageous or exemplary behavior while facing extreme adver...
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Mexican muralists: the big three - Orozco, Rivera, Siqueiros.
Mexico in 1910 was a country in despair. Foreign domination had been replaced by the tyranny of President Porfirio Diaz. Two-thirds of the people lived in abject poverty and slavery was growing at a fa...
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Modern Mexican Sculpture (A Blending of Old World and New World Sensibility)
Between 1920 and 1940 Mexico went through a period of radical transformation. The revolution had ended and in its wake an energy for transformation was unleashed that was unparalleled anywhere. For the...
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Francisco Goitia - A Product Of His Times
When we talk of Mexico's great painters, Francisco Goitia isn't the first name that comes to mind. Yet, without a doubt, he is one of last century's great painters. He the spirit of his times and refle...
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Maria Izquierdo - Monumento Artistico De La Nación
On October 25, 2002, one hundred years after her birth , the Mexican painter Maria Izquierdo was declared a Monumento Artistico de la Nación by Mexico City's National Commission for Arts and Culture. ...
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Rufino Tamayo
I've just recently seen the " Tamayo Illustrador" exhibition at the Museo del Periodismo y las Artes Graficas in downtown Guadalajara. Rufino Tamayo is a Mexican icon, and this was one show I did...
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