Some years ago, my parents and I lived at Ana Capri between Tuxcueca and Mismaloya on the south shore of Lake Chapala. Ana Capri was built as a motel but never saw any business because of its difficult location, so we rented it from the owners. There I met Salvador Cardenas, the gardener and caretaker, […]
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Some years ago, Huichol art became very popular and was being sold at fabulous prices at exclusive boutiques around the world. On one occasion I helped my Huichol friends Nacho and his son-in-law Juventino sell some large yarn paintings. Shortly afterwards I was invited to attend the annual peyote fiesta at Las Guayabas, Nacho’s home […]
Continue ReadingLOCATION: The state of Baja California Sur is located in northeastern Mexico, on the peninsula of Baja California. It is bordered to the north by the state of Baja California Norte, to the west by the Pacific Ocean, and to the south and east by the Gulf of California, also known as the Sea of […]
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The Huichol Peyote Fiesta takes place around the end of May or the beginning of June, the start of the traditional rainy season in Mexico. The main purpose is to assure that the rain gods return to refresh the earth and nourish the newly-sown crops of beans and maize. The Huichols are located in large […]
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I don’t like flying; or rather it’s the going up and the coming down that bothers me most. Once I’m in the air and realize there is nothing I can do about it, I become quite philosophical about it all and try to forget my good friend John Hindmarsh, a skilled pilot, who for no […]
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The tribute payable is: 2 strings of beads of jadeite, a green semi-precious stone a total of 4,000 handfuls of colored feathers 160 skins of the bird with a blue plumage 2 labrets (lip piercings) of amber encased in gold 40 skins of jaguar 200 loads of cacao beans, the main ingredient of chocolate 800 tecomates (cups […]
Continue Reading It seems that one can never take anything for granted in the academic world, at least because there is always someone somewhere waiting to contradict everything that has been said previously. This is especially true of revisionist history. Of course new evidence and different ways of interpreting the “facts” of history may justify revising standard […]
Continue ReadingLike Saint Augustine in the 5th century we all know what time is until somebody asks us to define it exactly. Likewise, the idea of literature seems clear enough until we begin to ask people what they regard as literature. Is it Shakespeare, the Bible, the morning newspaper, or what? In a complex society such […]
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To Part One Mesoamerican epic poetry and saga: What is epic? * * * * * Epic poems and sagas are a world-wide phenomenon from very early times to the present. Formerly, some cultures were thought not to possess any form of epic poetry and saga but this was often due simply to the lack of […]
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In Historia de la Literature Nahuatl (Mexico, D.F. 1971), the late Mexican scholar A. Garibay included a chapter entitled “Poesía Épica” (Epic Poetry) in which he gave a list of texts in Nahuatl (Classical Aztec) that he believed represented authentic Mesoamerican epic poetry and saga. Garibay was attacked on the grounds that he attempted to make the […]
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