Mesoamerican religious concepts part one
When the Spaniards first arrived in Mexico, they were completely mystified by the religious practices of the Aztecs, Maya, and other indigenous peoples with whom they came in contact. Even the hardened...
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Cultural concepts of history
One man's history is another man's myth. Voltaire
The Maya and the Aztecs, among others, developed many different forms of literature long before the arrival of the Spaniards. They were also ...
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Did you know? Sinaloa has the most beautiful women in Mexico.
A chance remark recently by Mexico Connect publisher David McLaughlin has prompted me to examine the statistics on Mexican beauty.
As a single footloose and fancy-free 20-something-year-old in Mexico ...
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Mesoamerican Religion: Symbolism of the Gods Part One
Our main sources of information on pre-Hispanic religion in Mesoamerica include archaeological monuments and Classic murals, as well as Landa's Relación and ethnological reports of surviving religious...
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Did You Know? The Hero of Nacozari
November 7, 2007, marks the centenary of the death of Jesús García, the "Hero of Nacozari."
The small town of Nacozari occupies a valley nestled in the foothills of the Western Sierra Madre (Sierra ...
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Art and History - The National Emblem
The Mexican national emblem, an eagle standing on top of a blooming cactus, in a tiny barren island in the middle of a lagoon, has its origin in a legendary event in the foundation of Mexico. The story...
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Baja California - The Wedding
I rented a small house in La Gloria, in the hills between Rosarito Beach and Tijuana. It was a cozy place. I had painted inside and out and landscaped the yard. A willow tree shaded the back patio and ...
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Blacks In Mexico - A Brief Overview
To begin a discussion of the Black Experience in Mexico, it is important to establish the quantitative significance of the black slave population in the colonial era. One of the most frequent responses...
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Did You Know? - At One Time Alaska Was Part Of Mexico?
In the second half of the 18th century both the Russians and the British began to penetrate into the Alaskan peninsula, an area considered a Spanish possession as Spain was credited with "discovering" ...
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Did You Know? - Castille Soap
From the late 17th century and throughout the 18th, Castille soap was the reigning soap of Europe. It surpassed even the French soaps that, at their peak, were considered supremely prized elements of t...
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Did You Know? - Henequen - Sisal
One of the greatest gifts the Indigenous peoples of Mexico shared with the world was their discovery and cultivation of natural fibers. One of these, henequén, continues to be used throughout the...
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Did you know? A sacred game
The ancient game of amalla was not mere sport. The ballcourt was a "middleworld" between gods and humans, a battleground for the cosmic tension between life and death, good and evil, sacrifice and...
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South of Yesterday: A True Story by Virginia Downs Miller
"South of Yesterday" is the story of my mother's life as a bride coming to a strange land. The book flows through the charmed life of an American living in Guadalajara in the early nineteen hundreds, into the violence of the Revolution, escape from and return to a much-beloved Mexico. I related never before publicized events of history."
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Mexico's Zapatista Movement - then and now
The only thing that is definitely known about Subcomandante Marcos, the ski-masked mystery man who leads the Zapatista rebels in the jungles of Chiapas, is that he is an intellectual. Conflicting sourc...
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Dog with a human mask: The ceramic dogs from Colima
Mexicans love wearing masks. My favorite is a statue of a dog wearing a human mask created about 300 A.D, and found near Colima. Masks are part of the Christmas pastorelas, depicting the devil, ...
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Life and death ritual: La corrida de toros
I have never been an ‘ aficionado’ or ardent fan of bullfighting, but during the summer of ’57 I went to the bullfights regularly while spending the summer in Mexico City as a student. It l...
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La Bruja: Mexican witchcraft
As you may know, there are Brujas Blanca's (white witches) and Brujas Negra's (black witches). The white witches do good and the black witches cast spells for which mean or envious people...
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