Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlan celebrates its 100th anniversary in 1998. “[Mariachi] Vargas was one of the first organized groups to go to Mexico City and become popular. But that was just one style of music. During the thirties and forties, the record industry sort of standardized mariachi music. In a way that was good, and […]
Continue ReadingTraveling to Mexico is like having a fling, a stunning romance, a love affair so intense that everything becomes a romantic vision. Senses are heightened, feelings revive, and travelers find themselves newly innocent and unfettered by the constraints of their own societies. Depending upon our temperament, we are at once profoundly carried away so that we […]
Continue ReadingDid you know that the word “cigar” originates from the Mayan word xigar? The word was used to describe the action of aspirating or sucking which later came to signify the act of smoking tobacco. The Spaniards adopted the word from the Mayans and morphed it into cigarro to mean rolled smoking tobacco, and now the word is […]
Continue ReadingDid you know that the first people known to have used the peanut were the Mayans of Mexico? International explorers first recorded the peanut in Haiti, but were told it had originally been taken from the Mayan lands. The Mayans called it ” cocoa de la tierra“, because it is harvested from the ground. In fact […]
Continue ReadingDid you know that among the many things Mexico has given to the world, chewing gum is one of them? El Tzictlil, a Nahuatl word for resin from the Zapote Blanco tree, caught the attention of three American travellers, Thomas Adams, John Colgan and William Wrigley who noticed that the resin hardened when exposed to […]
Continue ReadingFrom 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 ReadingOne 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 world for manufacturing and industry. Found originally in the eastern part of the Yucatán peninsula, henequén was used by the Maya and Inca for ropes, cables, nets, […]
Continue ReadingMuch of the world has heard about the legendary “Mexican Jumping Bean”, the small seed that resembles the common “frijole” or bean, that, when warmed by the heat of the sun or when held in the palm of the hand, moves violently and sometimes jumps into the air. (The French call them “haricots sauters”.) The secret of the […]
Continue ReadingAnglo and Mexican sayings are often subtly different. For starters, consider your pet cat. In Canada or the U.S., cats are considered to have nine lives; in Mexico, however, cats only have seven (siete) lives. Perhaps they used up two lives as kittens just getting to be old enough to be a cat? Or perhaps the difference […]
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 […]
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