The ceremonial bowls or jícaras, as they are called, are made of gourds which are prized for their light weight and durability as water vessels and storage containers. The bowls hold visions and creative inspiration gathered from a deeply spiritual culture that motivates all people to celebrate life and create colorful and sacred objects of meticulous beauty […]
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The art is made by overlaying carved wood or gourds — in the case of ceremonial bowls — with a beeswax – pine resin mixture, then meticulously placing the beads on this sticky base, by hand, one by one until all of the patterns seen by the minds eye take form and resolve into a […]
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The eclipse has special meaning for the Huichol, because it represents the eclipse of July 11 1991 at 10:21 A.M. Pacific Coast time. This is the sixth sun according to the ancient Meso-American Calendars of the Maya. When Cortez arrived it was the begining of the fifth sun. As we all know, Cortez changed their […]
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Chihuahua is a land of magnificent scenery — mountains, canyons, deserts and fresh, clean, clear air. Its spectacular canyons are the biggest in North America. Within the canyons are beautiful waterfalls, one of which is the highest in Mexico. Chihuahua also contains fertile valleys — orchards and crop fields that were coaxed from the desert […]
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Descendants of the Aztec, the Huichol number about 18,000, most of whom live in the sierra of Jalisco and Nayarit. Having withstood the Spanish Invasion, they are still striving to keep their culture alive and viable, despite the ever increasing physical and cultural encroachment of their Mexican neighbors. Peyote is a focal point for their […]
Continue ReadingFor five centuries, North Americans have been fascinated and intrigued by stories of the magnificent Aztec Empire. This extensive Mesoamerican Empire was in its ascendancy during the late Fifteenth and early Sixteenth Centuries. The Aztec Empire of 1519 was the most powerful Mesoamerican kingdom of all time. This multi-ethnic, multi-lingual realm stretched for more than […]
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Among the fertile volcanoes of Michoacan Lumholtz came across the Purepecha people, who were called Tarascan by the Spanish. Enemies of the Aztecs, the Tarascans flourished from 1100 A.D. to 1530 A.D. Their origins are still a puzzle, along with their stirrup-shaped, long-necked bottles and round temples called Yacatas. The center of the Tarascan Empire […]
Continue ReadingBecause I volunteer a few days each month as a Mexican genealogical consultant at the Los Angeles Family History Center, many people have asked me for assistance in tracing their indigenous roots in Mexico. For three hundred years, Mexico was blessed with an exceptional record-keeping system. For the most part, Spanish padres in the small […]
Continue ReadingPosted by Jim on Marzo 28, 2000 This very interesting article appeared the other day in the Toronto Star Mexico’s Indians target of sterilization `sweep’ Villagers recall threats, gifts by No. 3 Brigade By Linda Diebel Toronto Star Latin America Bureau (Jump to Forum Comments) AYUTLA DE LOS LIBRES, Mexico – Jose Toribio, a Mixtec […]
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Did You Know…? The inter-census population count in Mexico in 2005 found that more than one million people in Oaxaca spoke at least one indigenous Indian language. Close behind came the state of Chiapas with about 950,000 indigenous language speakers. A previous Did You Know column looked at how the Mam people of Chiapas have […]
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