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 the wealthy person¹s toiletry. The formula for Castille soap was a highly guarded secret in Spain, primarily because of its financial viability […]
Continue ReadingDid you know that one of the highest, most elegant and sumptuous arts of pre-Conquest Mexico was arteplumaria, the art of feather painting? Used to decorate headdresses, standards, staffs, lances, fans, bracelets, and sandals, arteplumaria was also employed to cover every one of the pre-Cortez ceremonial shields ever recovered or recorded. This rare type of ornamentation was […]
Continue ReadingI hadn’t realized how much help an escribano might be. An escribano – sometimes called evangelista – is one of those fellows who works at a typewriter under the downtown arches. And I found out some things about those arches, too. I had a form to fill out for the Mexican government. It was long, with a lot of lines. Worse, […]
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Cogan’s Reviews Here’s a most unusual collection of photographs and MexConnect is delighted to bring them to you. They are all, despite the title, photos taken in San Miguel de Allende where photographer Carol Stein visited last year. All of them exhibit odd and striking views of the town as well as the unusual abstract approach that […]
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From the outside, this bullring resembles nothing so much as a red erector-set construction but inside, it is a concrete-stepped cone funneling down to the sand, on which are painted two white rings, one inside the other. Entering the arena, your bags are searched to make sure there are no bottles to throw at the picadores, or […]
Continue ReadingThe Mexicans can’t dance my legs off, I’ll tell you that — oh, well, in the “barrios” they can, but there the dancing is more like Olympic gymnastics. If you’re just going out in the evening to “dar un chanclazo” (kick the old shoes around) at a neighborhood party or dance hall you can train for it like I […]
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What is Dia de los Muertos or the Day of the Dead? Día de los Muertos is a time to honor and celebrate deceased loved ones. The celebration occurs on November 2 in connection with All Soul’s Day. Unlike Halloween, which is characterized by goblins, witches, and the occult, Day of the Dead, was initially […]
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Habiendo estudiado arte en una escuela oficial, Rivera viajó a Europa, estableciendose en París, donde conoció a las principales figuras de la época, incluyendo a muchos del llamado movimiento cubista. En 1922 Rivera comenzó su trabajo sobre La Creación, uno de los murales para los que fue comisionado en la Escuela Nacional Preparatoria y que revivió […]
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As I walked through the gardens of La Nueva Posada, my eyes were riveted on the young indigenous girl seated on the garden wall. Her vivid yellow skirt and blue top reminded me of our magazine’s masthead. To the Huichols, an eclipse is the symbol of a new era. For the Huichol, indigenous people of […]
Continue ReadingClicking on the book title will take you to more about the book at amazon.com People’s Guide to Mexico: Wherever you go… There You Are Carl Franz, Lorena Havens, Steve Rogers A different type of guidebook — anecdotal, instructive, personal and very informative/educational. It is written from a narrative or story telling point of view. […]
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