Category: Art and Culture

Noche de Muertos (Night of the Dead) in Michoacán, A Journey of Love and Respect

Mexico Cooks!' full body bone scan, 2009.

Remember me as you pass by,
As you are now, so once was I.
As I am now, so you will be,
Prepare for death and follow me.
…from a tombstone

What is death? We know its first symptoms: the heart stops pumping, breath and brain activity stop. We know death's look and feel: a still, cold body from which the spirit has fled. The orphan and widow know death's sorrow, the priest knows the liturgy of the departed and the prayers to assuage the pain of those left to mourn. But in most English-speaking countries, death and the living are not friends. We the living look away from our mortality, we talk of the terminally ill in terms of 'if anything happens', not 'when she dies'. We hang the crepe, we cover the mirrors, we say the beads, and some of us fling ourselves sobbing upon the carefully disguised casket as it is lowered into the Astroturf-lined grave.

Octavio Paz, Mexico City's Nobel Laureate poet and essayist who died in 1998, is famously quoted as saying, "In New York, Paris, and London, the word death is never mentioned, because it burns the lips."

Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán panteón (cemetery), Mexico Cooks! photo. These fellows sing to la Descarnada (the fleshless woman) on November 2, 2009.

In Mexico, on the contrary, every day is a dance with death. Death is a woman who has a numerous affectionate and humorous nicknames: la Huesuda (the bony woman), la Seria (the serious woman), la Novia Fiel (the faithful bride), la Igualadora (the equalizer), la Dientona (the toothy woman), la Pelona (the bald woman), la Patrona (the boss lady), and a hundred more. She's always here, just around the next corner or maybe right over there, behind that pillar. She waits with patience, until later today or until twelve o'clock next Thursday, or until sometime next year–but when it's your time to go, she's right there, ready to dance away with you at her side.

November 2013 altar to La Santa Muerte (Holy Death), Sta. Ana Chapirito (near Pátzcuaro), Michoacán. Devotees of this deathly apparition say that her cult has existed since before the Spanish arrived in Mexico.

In Mexico, death is also in the midst of life. We see our dead, alive as you and me, each November, when we wait at our cemeteries for those who have gone before to come home, if only for a night. That, in a nutshell, is Noche de Muertos: the Night of the Dead.

In the lower center portion of this photograph, you can see the Quiroga, Michoacán, panteón municipal (town cemetery). Late in the afternoon of November 1, 2013, most townspeople had not yet gone to the cemetery with candles and flowers for their loved ones' graves. Click on any photograph for a larger view.

Over the course of the last 30-plus years, Mexico Cooks! has been to countless Noche de Muertos events, but none as mystical, as spiritual, or as profoundly magical as that of 2013. Invited to accompany a very small group on a private tour in Michoacán, I looked forward to spending three days enjoying the company of old and new friends. I did all that, plus I came away with an extraordinarily privileged view of life and death.

A magnificent Purépecha ofrenda (in this case, a home altar) in the village of Santa Fe de la Laguna, Michoacán. This detailed and lovely ofrenda was created to the memory of the family's maiden aunt, who died at 74. Because she had never married, even at her advanced age she was considered to be an angelito (little angel)–like an innocent child–and her spirit was called back home to the family on November 1, the day of the angelitos. Be sure to click on the photo to see the details of the altar. Fruits, breads, incense, salt, flowers, colors, and candles have particular symbolism and are necessary parts of the ofrenda.

Detail of the ofrenda casera (home altar) shown above. Several local people told Mexico Cooks! that the fruit piled on the altar tasted different from fruit from the same source that had not been used for the ofrenda. "Compramos por ejemplo plátanos y pusimos unos en el altar y otros en la cocina para comer. Ya para el día siguiente, los del altar pierden su sabor, no saben a nada," they said. 'We bought bananas, for example, and we put some on the altar and the rest in the kitchen to eat. The next day, the ones in the kitchen were fine, but the ones from the altar had no taste at all.'

Preparing a family member's ofrenda (altar) in the camposanto in the village of Arócutin, Michoacán. The camposanto–literally, holy ground–is a cemetery contained within the walls of a churchyard. The candles used in this area of Michoacán are hand made in Ihuatzio and Santa Fé de la Laguna.

Come with me along the unlit road that skirts the Lago de Pátzcuaro: Lake Pátzcuaro. It's chilly and the roadside weeds are damp with earlier rain, but for the moment the sky has cleared and filled with stars. Up the hill on the right and down the slope leading left toward the lake are tiny villages, dark but for the glow of tall candles lit one by one in the cemeteries. Tonight is November 1, the night silent souls wend their way home from Mictlán, the land beyond life.

At the grave: candlelight to illuminate the soul's way, cempazúchitl (deeply orange marigolds) for their distinctive fragrance required to open the path back home, smoldering copal (frankincense) to cleanse the earth and air of any remnants of evil, covered baskets of the deceased's favorite foods. And a low painted chair, where the living can rest through the night.

Waiting through the night. This tumba (grave) refused to be photographed head-on. From an oblique angle, the tumba allowed its likeness to be made.

"Oh grave, where is thy victory? Oh death, where is thy sting?"

Noche de Muertos is not a costume party, although you may see it portrayed as such in the press. It is not a drunken brawl, although certain towns appear to welcome that sort of blast-of-banda-music reventón (big blow-out). It is not a tourist event, though strangers are certainly welcomed to these cemeteries. Noche de Muertos is a celebration of the spirit's life over the body's death, a festival of remembrance, a solemn passover. Years ago, in an interview published in the New York Times, Mexico Cooks! said, "Noche de Muertos is about mutual nostalgia. The living remember the dead, and the dead remember the taste of home."

One by one, grave by grave, golden cempazútchiles give shape to rock-bound tombs and long candles give light to what was a dark and lonely place, transforming the cemetery into a glowing garden. How could a soul resist this setting in its honor?

"Our hearts remember…" we promise the dead. Church bells toll slowly throughout the night, calling souls home with their distinctive clamor (death knell). Come…come home. Come…come home.

Watching. Prayers. No me olvido de ti, mi viejo amado. (I haven't forgotten you, my dear old man.)

Next year, come with me.

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7 de November de 2015
Revisiting Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) in the Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán Cemetery

Graves decorated for Noche de los Muertos (Night of the Dead) in the Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán panteón (cemetery). These recent graves lie within easy sight of the yácatas (Purhépecha pyramids, mid-center in the photograph) just across the road. The yácatas, dating to as early as 900 A.D., were formerly both a priestly burial site and the site of ancient Purhépecha religious ceremonies.

Rituals for the traditional Noche y Día de los Muertos (Night and Day of the Dead) take place all over Mexico on the night of November 1 and the day of November 2. One of the best-known celebrations of this enormously important spiritual holiday takes place in the town of Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán. A visit to the town cemetery on November 2 gives just a small idea of the beauty of the events. During this very Mexican, very special festival, the dead–at least in spirit–pay a visit to their loved ones here on earth. In an article in 2005, The New York Times quoted Mexico Cooks! as saying, "It's about mutual nostalgia: the living remember the dead, and the dead remember the taste of home."

The packed-earth paths among the graves at the cemetery in Tzintzuntzan wind through old trees and dappled sunshine.

This little car, decorated with cempasúchil (marigold) flowers, fruits, and pan de muertos (bread of the dead) in the shape of human figures, is the cemetery ofrenda (altar, or offering) for a baby born in October 2005 and dead the same November. Tiny white baby shoes are on the car's hood, along with a baby bottle. Click on any photo to enlarge it.

The faithful Purhépecha believe that the angelitos, the dead children, are the first of the departed who come to re-visit their loved ones each year during the day of November 1, arriving early in the evening. Their parents take an ofrenda (offering) of fruit, candies, and wooden toys to the children's graves and invite the little ones to come and eat. Late in the night, the godfather of a dead child goes to the cemetery with a boveda (arch) made of cempasúchil (marigolds). At home, the parents have already prepared beautiful altars to honor the memory and spirits of their children.

Cempasúchiles, gladiolas, and candles adorn this grave. The cross is made of red veladoras (candles in holders) in a framework of blue and white.

Each year, late in the night of November 1, the spirits of deceased adults make their way back to this earthly plane to visit their relatives. The living relatives, bearing food, bright golden flowers, strong drink, and other favorites of the dead, file into Purhépecha cemeteries to commune with those who have gone before. The assembled lay out blankets, unfold chairs, bring out plastic cups, cartons of beer, a bottle of tequila, and assorted food for their own consumption as they settle in for the long, cold night of vigil.

A band or two or three often wander the cemetery, hired for a song or two or three to entertain the living and the dead.

Copal incense burns, its mystic scent calling the souls of the dead home. Candles, hundreds and hundreds of candles, flicker on and around the graves, showing the way home to the wandering spirits. Food–especially corn tamales and churipo, a beef soup for festivals–and other personal gifts for the 'visitors' show the spirits that they are still valued members of their community. Special Purhépecha-style pan de muertos (bread of the dead) in the form of human bodies represents the relationship between the living and the dead. Seasonal fruits, including bananas, oranges, and limas, are hung on the ofrendas de cempasúchil to represent the relationship between nature and human beings.

This elaborate bóveda de cempasúchil (marigold arch) hung with an old family photograph and topped by a feather dove (the symbol of the Holy Spirit) decorates a family grave. Under the photograph, an angel stands vigil.

During the Día y Noche de Muertos fiesta, a loved one's grave becomes a place to pray, party, and reminisce. Candles, a glass of water to quench the deceased person's thirst, a bottle of his or her favorite liquor, and favorite foods such as mole or tamales, pan de muertos, calabaza en tacha, and seasonal fresh fruits are always placed on the grave. Baskets of favorite foods, prepared especially for the spirits of deceased family members, are covered with beautiful hand-embroidered cloths. The spirits partake of the food's essence; the living gather at the grave to partake of the material food.

Marigolds are used as symbols for their yellow color, which resembles the gold that was used as decoration for the ancient grand festivals. The flowers were used to adorn the visitor in the form of crowns or necklaces. Today, the belief is that the ofrendas de cempasúchil (marigold arches) aid the visiting spirits to identify their homes. Cempasúchil petals are also strewn over the bare earth mounds of the graves.

These modern coronas (wreaths) are made of ribbons and plastic, much more durable than fresh flowers. The brilliant colors eventually fade over the course of a year, but the wreaths will stay up till next October.

Cempasúchiles, pata de león (lion's paw, as cockscomb is known in this part of Michoacán), freshly cut gladiola, nube (baby's breath) and just-in-season flor de las ánimas (flowers of the souls–wild orchids) from the mountains are the flowers most commonly used on Tzintzuntzan's graves.

My favorite ofrenda of 2009: a terrific full-size bicycle made of cempasúchiles, decorated with various fruits–including a pineapple on the seat! The flowers at the base of the grave marker are flores de las ánimas (wild orchids). This elaborate style of figural ofrenda is very unusual.

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31 de October de 2015
Día y Noche de los Muertos: Another Look at the Day and Night of the Dead in Michoacán

Catrinas de papel maché (death-mocking skeletal figures made of paper maché). The catrín (male figure) and catrina (female figure) come from the late 19th and early 20th Century drawings by political cartoonist José Guadalupe Posada. Posada drew his skeletons dressed in finery of the Porfiriato (the era between 1875-1910 when Porfirio Díaz, a Francophile, ruled Mexico) to demonstrate the pointlessness of vanity in one's life that, in the end, covers nothing but bones.

Día (y Noche) de los Muertos (Day or Night of the Dead) is celebrated in Mexico each year late on November 1 and early on November 2. It's a festival both solemn and humorous, both sacred and profane: it's a wildly and uniquely Mexican fiesta (party), although other Latin American countries–Guatemala, Honduras, and Perú, among others–celebrate the dates in other ways.

Called Día de los Muertos in most of Mexico, in Michoacán the fiesta is known as Noche de los Muertos. The traditional celebrations in Purhépecha pueblos (indigenous towns) near Morelia are among the most famous in Mexico.

Everywhere in Mexico, it's traditional to eat pan de muertos (bread of the dead) before, during, and after the early November Día de los Muertos. Mexico Cooks! photographed this gorgeous pan de muertos at Panadería Hornos Los Ortiz on Av. Vicente Santa María in Morelia.

These catrínes de barro (clay) are tremendously elegant. They are the creations of acclaimed painter and bronze sculptor Juan Torres Calderón and his wife, clay sculptor Belia Canals. Maestro Torres and Belia Canals work in Capula, Michoacán, where in the early 1960s they started the now Mexico-wide tradition of clay catrines.

Cohetes (rockets) are another tradition for Día de los Muertos and other fiestas. Coheteros carry bundles of long-stick rockets in local processions, lighting one after another during the duration of the parade. The young boy walking behind the cohetero is carrying a pole to move electrical wires out of the way of the rockets. The intense boom! boom! boom! of the cohetes announces the arrival of the procession.

Calabaza en tacha (squash in syrup) is one of the most traditional foods for a Diá de los Muertos ofrenda (home or cemetery altar to honor the deceased). Delicious for breakfast or for a light supper, this squash brings the flavors and scents of home to the dearly departed.

During the Día y Noche de Muertos fiesta, a loved one's grave becomes a place to pray, party, and reminisce. Candles, a glass of water to quench the deceased person's thirst, a bottle of his or her favorite liquor, and favorite foods such as mole or tamales, pan de muertos, calabaza en tacha, and seasonal fresh fruits are always placed on the grave.

During this very Mexican, very special festival, the dead–at least in spirit–pay a visit to their loved ones here on earth. It's a mutual nostalgia: the living remember the dead, and the dead remember the taste of home.

An acquaintance in Pátzcuaro dedicated this very large ofrenda (offering, or altar) to his deceased parents and other family members. The colors, the candles, the foods, the photos, and the flowers are all part of the old traditional altar decoration.

Next week, Mexico Cooks! will take you to one of the most important cemeteries in Mexico for a last look at the special Michoacán traditional commemoration of Noche de los Muertos .

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

24 de October de 2015
Día de los Muertos en México: Day of the Dead in Mexico, A Primer

Highly decorated cardboard skull for Noche de Muertos.

Pantéon Municipal (Municipal Cemetery), Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán.

Mexico Cooks! will be touring Morelia and surrounding areas again during this special time of year. We'll be attending one or another special Noche de Muertos event every day for an entire week. Traditional ofrendas (altars dedicated to the dead), spectacular crafts exhibits, concerts, and annual concursos (contests) will fill our days and nights. Known in most parts of Mexico as Día de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead), here in Michoacán we call it Noche de los Muertos (Night of the Dead). By either name, the festival as it's celebrated in Mexico is unique in the world.

These four-inch-long skeletal figures, laid out on their petates (woven rush mats), are hooked up to intravenous bottles of either beer or tequila!

Tiny sugar footwear, in styles from baby booties to high-heeled pumps, are ready to be given as gifts or for placement on an ofrenda.

Mexico celebrates death as it celebrates life, with extreme enjoyment in the simplest things. Life and death are both honored states.

The home ofrenda (altar) may memorialize a cherished relative, a political figure (either reviled or beloved), or a figure from the entertainment world. Traditional decorations include cempasúchil (marigold) and cordón del obispo (cockscomb) flowers, which are used in profusion in churches, cemeteries, and homes.

Sugar skulls are often inscribed in icing with a living friend's name and given to that person as a small token of admiration.

Relatives take favorite foods and beverages to the grave of a loved one gone before. It's said that the dead partake of the spirit of the food, while the living enjoy the physical treats at the cemetery.

Pan de muertos (bread of the dead) is decorated with bone-shaped bread and sugar. The bread itself is flavored with orange and anise.

This miniature ofrenda (altar) is filled with tiny representations of treats that the deceased loved in life.

Several years ago, an article in the New York Times quoted Mexico Cooks! about the Noche de los Muertos: "There's a mutual nostalgia. The living remember the dead, and the dead remember the taste of home." That nostalgia imbues the cities and villages of Michoacán at this time of year just as surely as do woodsmoke and the scent of toasting tortillas.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours. And be sure to book your Mexico Cooks! 2016 Dia de los Muertos tour as soon as possible! We'll reserve space for you and your group to make sure you don't miss anything!

17 de October de 2015
Patron Saint of The Impossible: Saint Jude Thaddeus–San Judas Tadeo–in Mexico City

Mexico City's Templo San Hipólito, built starting in 1559 to commemorate the 1520 victory of the Mexica (later known as the Aztecs) over the Spanish invaders in a battle that became known as la Batalla de la Noche Triste (the Battle of the Sad Night), one of the worst defeats the Spanish suffered at the hands of the people they subsequently conquered. The church was finished late in the 17th century.

The church location has been a major influence in Mexico City since those early times. Prior to the building of the church, the first mental hospital in the Americas, founded by Bernardino Álvarez, stood on this corner. San Hipólito was the first patron saint of Mexico's capital city.

A prayer card image of St. Jude Thaddeus, patron saint of difficult or impossible causes. Your Catholic mother or grandmother–or maybe you yourself– probably have an image like this tucked into a Bible.

Not your grandmother's version of St. Jude. Photo courtesy Tattoomuch.com.

Today, Templo San Hipólito is the site of enormous devotion to Saint Jude Thaddeus, known in Spanish as San Judas Tadeo. The most venerated statue of the saint in Mexico is here, and Mexico is deeply devoted to him and to his image. San Judas's feast day is celebrated on October 28 each year, when as many as 100,000 faithful converge on the small church. The huge number of faithful who visit their beloved saint–starting with the first Mass celebrated at midnight–inevitably cause chaotic traffic jams at the corner where the church is located, one of the busiest junctions in Mexico City.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoEsO7rDFoA&w=420&h=315]
The video will give you an idea of the devotion to St. Jude.

Devotion to San Judas in Mexico City is so great that his feast day is celebrated not only on October 28 each year, but also on the 28th of every month. In July of this year, Mexico Cooks! went to visit the saint on his day.

Merchandise sold by vendors around the perimeter of the church–merchandise like these rosaries–is often colored green, white, and gold, the traditional colors of San Judas's clothing.

My companion and I arrived at Templo San Hipólito relatively early, but people had been pouring into the church for each Mass of the day; on the 28th, Masses are said on the hour, all day. This view, from outside the church entrance, did not prepare us for the packed sanctuary.

Once we entered the sanctuary, we were unable to advance beyond the half-way point due to the enormous number of people already inside. At the top middle of this photo, you see a very large statue of the Virgin Mary. Below her is San Judas.

Unlike predominately female crowds at Masses in other churches or at prayer services devoted to other saints, the majority of this crowd is male. While women are certainly present, you can see in the photo that the people in front of us were almost all male.

Custom here is to wrap a figure of San Judas in scarves, scapulars, beads, and medals. When I asked this woman, seated on a bench along the inside of the church, if I might take a picture of her statue, she said yes, but bowed her head to show him, not herself. It's also customary to take small gifts, such as the candy this woman is holding, to share with others at the church.

St. Martín de Porres is also much-venerated in Mexico. This life-size statue of him, holding a real broom, is at one side of the San Hipólito interior. Notice that much of the broom straw has been broken off and taken by the faithful. Click on the
photo (and any photo) to enlarge it.

This young man gave me permission to photograph him and his statue.

Many parents dress their babies in the green, gold, and white colors of the saint. Usually they have made a vow to St. Jude to do this in thanks for a favor granted; oftentimes, the favor granted is the birth of a healthy child after complications of pregnancy.

The man who carried this elaborately wrapped statue during the entire Mass set it on a stone wall so that I could photograph it.

Vendors along the sidewalks sell every kind of St. Jude-related goods. People carry these candles into the church to be blessed, and then carry them home to light their personal altars dedicated to the saint.

We visited many of the booths selling figures of San Judas. The sizes range from about six inches high–like the ones at the left in the front row–to life size or larger. The seated figure just right of center represents Jesús Malverde, an 'informal' saint (one revered by the people but not a saint in the church). Jesús Malverde, a Sinaloa legend, is also known as the 'narco saint', the 'angel of the poor', or the 'generous bandit'. The green sign refers to the copitas (little goblets) filled with San Judas's seeds of abundance just above it. Each goblet with seeds costs 10 pesos. That's approximately 60 US cents, at today's exchange rate.

Feeling like your world is standing on its head? You might want to try a chat with St. Jude.

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3 de October de 2015
The Joy of the Purépecha Language in Michoacán, Part 2

Adolescent boys walk the length of Santa Fe de la Laguna's Purépecha vocabulary-teaching wall. See the sombrero (hat) to their right? In Purépecha, it's kájtsikua. Just as in Spanish, a written accent over a letter in a word means that the stress of pronunciation falls on that letter. KAJ-tsi-kua.

Last week, Mexico Cooks! taught you the Purépecha names of various animals and insects. Today, we're going into the home and its garden to learn a few more words for common household items. All photos by my travel companion, Pamela Gordon, unless otherwise noted.

Native Mexican comestibles from the milpa (family food-growing parcel of land) include the calabaza (squash). In Purépecha, it's purhu.

Purépecha cooking includes the use of several varieties of yellow, red, white, or blue corn, all native to Michoacán and all grown in the milpa for family use. Each portion of the corn plant from tassel to stalk has a name; this elote (fresh ear of corn) is tíriapu.

Many species of wild mushrooms appear during Michoacán's summer rainy season. Here's an hongo silvestre (wild mushroom)–terekua—a common ingredient in soups and Purépecha guisados (stew-like dishes).

Handmade cucharas de madera (wooden spoons)–yurhesï–are some of the most-used utensils in a Purépecha cook's battery of equipment. Remember that the umlaut over the letter 'i' changes the pronunciation of the letter 's' to 'sh'. Yurhe-shi.

Here's a hand-carved bastón (cane). Now you know that in Purépecha, it's a t'óndasï. This type cane is commonly used by people who need aid for their balance or gait, and by dancers who use canes as part of their costumes.

Michoacán's iconic dancers, complete with t'óndasï: la Danza de los Viejitos (the Dance of the Little Old Men). Photo courtesy Google Images.

A rendering of the Purépecha woman's typical rebozo (rectangular fringed shawl): in Purépecha, atache. The atache has multiple uses: wrap yourself in it for warmth, fold it and put it on top of your head for shade, use it as a scarf, and wrap it around yourself in different ways to carry firewood, purchases from the market, large and bulky items, and most especially, a baby. Babies are wrapped close to their mothers' bodies from the time they're born until they are mid-toddler age. The legend of this
rebozo tells us that the blue is the blue of the Spanish eye, the black is the black of the Spanish hair, and the white is the ray of the sun.

You know the old adage: a new escoba (broom) sweeps clean. In Purépecha, it's a p'ankua. This charming painting lets you believe that the brand-new broomstick still has a leaf attached!

Ah, kawikua (hard liquor)! In Michoacán, we make and drink charanda (a very strong sugar cane liquor), mezcal (made from maguey cactus), and to a lesser degree, tequila. Here's an old Mexican toast to repeat as you raise and lower your glass, and before you sip your kawikua: Arriba! Abajo! Al centro! Adentro! (Up! Down! In the middle! And down the hatch!) Today, we're toasting the Purépecha language.

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5 de September de 2015
The Purépecha of Michoacán in the 21st Century

This is Imelda, a charming Purépecha child already learning the traditional kitchen skills used by the ancestral generations of women on whose shoulders she stands. Morelia, Michoacán, 2012.

Today, more than 120,000 Purépecha live in 16 municipalities in the Zona Lacustre (Lake Zone) and the Meseta Purépecha (Purépecha tableland) of Michoacán. Within those municipalites are numerous towns and villages. Most Purépecha are bilingual. Generally the language spoken by the family at home is Purépecha. Children learn Spanish when they are part-way through primary school. There are still approximately 10,000 Purépecha who speak only their native language.

Maíz criollo (native Mexican corn) in three colors, grown for personal use in a Purépecha family's garden.

The present-day economy of the Purépecha is based, for the most part, in agriculture. The Purépecha grow corn for their own use and grow wheat to sell. In the Zona Lacustre, there are also a number of people who fish commercially.

Making the fragrant base for a pine needle basket. Uruapan, 2010.

Another significant source of income is the creation of arts and crafts. In the mid-16th century, Don Vasco de Quiroga taught the Purépecha not only Christianity but also the idea of self-sufficiency based on the refined production of items for daily use: pottery, textile weaving, copper smelting, and wood carving. Approximately 40,000 families in Michoacán presently work at one form or another of artesanía.

Eleven-hundred-year-old petroglyphs from Tzintzuntzan have a new home (with the approval of INAH, the Instituo Nacional de Arquitectura e Historia) in a visible but untouchable space in a Morelia, Michoacán gallery. It is believed that these and other Michoacán petroglyphs have spiritual and religious meaning that we cannot yet guess.

The ancient Purépecha believed that the Universe was divided into three parts: the region of the heavens, the region of the Earth, and the region of the dead. Each region had its own set of gods. The most important gods were those of the first region–the heavens–and among those, the most important were Kuerajperi, the Lord of Light, and Xaratanga, the goddess of the moon.

Today, the Purépecha practice a Catholicism colored by their reinterpretation of the teachings of the early Franciscan and Dominican missionaries. Many Purépecha believe that God, the Virgin Mary, Jesus, and the saints have special powers which interact among them. The devil, in some of his manifestations, has an importance which goes beyond that of the saints.

Many Purépecha continue to live in small villages, in some respects isolated from cultures other than their own. Their homes, called trojes, are made of heavy, hand-hewn thick pine boards. Each room of a troje is separate from every other room. The buildings are constructed without nails and can be dismantled and moved. The kitchen, living quarters, sleeping and storage rooms are individual small buildings such as the one in the photo to the right.

A close Purépecha friend, Débora Cortés, who has passed away since I took this photo, washed dishes in an outdoor pila (combination water storage basin, sink, and scrub board). The pila is the only source of running water for the household. Her bathroom was an outdoor toilet. She warmed water for bathing in buckets placed in the afternoon sun. My friend was fortunate to have a township water source rather than face the daily necessity of hauling water from a well. Note the roof of the troje at the upper left of the photo and the stalks of corn at right center. The greenery closest to the foreground is a coffee tree. Débora usually kept a pig in the garden, to raise for market and for meat. Mexico Cooks! photo, 2002.

Life for the Purépecha today is a battle for survival, both economic and cultural. Physical survival depends on many factors, including money sent home by the sons and daughters of the pueblos who now work in Morelia (the Michoacán state capital), Guadalajara, Mexico City, and in the United States.

The design on this troje is made with old music CDs. Pre-conquest Mexico, meet the 21st century. Angahuan, Michoacán, 2013.

Cultural survival is constantly assaulted by the influences of television, print advertising, and innovations brought home by the sons and daughters who work 'away'.

Cherán, an indigenous Purépecha community in the west-central part of Michoacán, is well known for its high level of political awareness and activity. The banner in the photo reads, "CHERÁN DEMANDS SECURITY AND JUSTICE" and is signed, "The indigenous community of Cherán".

Political survival is crucial to the continuation of the Purhépecha nation. In Cherán, Michoacán (pictured above), the Purépecha community holds its own community elections and does not subscribe to state and national elections.

Night of the Dead altar dedicated to a deceased relative, private home, Santa Fe de la Laguna, November 2013. The Purépecha tradition of spiritual and religious practices combines ancient rituals and customs with Roman Catholic beliefs. The amalgam sustains and nourishes a community which is itself a combination of the ancient and the modern.

Spiritual survival depends on the handing down of the old ways, the old traditions, by a generation of elders that is fast disappearing. The question of globalization in indigenous communities is not an idle one, but one which must be addressed if the Purépecha are to survive as more than a curiosity in the modern world.

Next week we'll make our final stop (for now!) in the Purépecha towns of Michoacán, in which a delightful visit to Santa Fe de La Laguna turns into a language lesson! Come with us!

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

22 de August de 2015
Don Vasco de Quiroga, First Bishop of Michoacán, and the Purépecha Legacy

Archeologists generally consider the yácatas (pyramids with round bases) in Tzintzuntzan to have been a ceremonial center and residence for early Purépecha priests. Originally, on each of the yácatas was a temple made of wood in which the most important rites of the Purépecha people and government took place, including burials, of which about sixty have been found. The burials that have been excavated contain rich grave goods and are probably of kings and high priests. Although reconstruction began in the 1930s, two of the yácatas remain in their found condition. Photo courtesy Google Images.

The Purépecha make up the largest indigenous population of the state of Michoacán. Their ancient kingdom, centered in the town of Tzintzuntzan on the shores of Lake Pátzcuaro, is purported to have been an advanced and prosperous civilization as early as 900 A.D.

Archeologists discovered this very early tripod-form Purépecha vessel inside ceremonial rooms of the yácatas. Photo courtesy Famsi.org.

Less is known anthropologically about the historical antecedents of the Purépecha than about any other important Mexican group (the Olmecs, the Toltecs, and the Mexica, for example). The Purépecha had no written language and therefore kept no written record of their lives, culture, or activities. All of their history is extrapolated from post-conquest documents written by the Spanish. The Purépecha language was established long before the arrival of the Spanish and is in no way related to any other indigenous language of Mexico or any language anywhere.

In the early 1500s, the Lake Pátzcuaro basin had a population between 60,000 and 100,000 inhabitants spread among 91 separate settlements ranging over 25,000 square miles. Purépecha government was necessarily strong, with effective social, economic, and administrative structure. A strong religion with many gods and goddesses underlay and supported the society.

Tarascan (Purépecha) civilization. Detail of mural, Diego Rivera, 1942.

What happened to the Purépecha and their strong kingdom?

On February 23, 1521, the first Spanish soldier appeared on the borders of Michoacán. Even before this, however, the effects of the first contact had begun to be felt among the Purépecha. The previous year, a slave infected with smallpox had come ashore after crossing the Atlantic Ocean with the army of Spanish explorer Pánfilo de Naraváez and had triggered a widespread and disastrous smallpox epidemic among indigenous peoples, none of whom had previously been exposed to this sort of illness.

Tzuiangua, the Purhépecha calzonci (king) died in the smallpox epidemic of 1521. Measles and other diseases came along with the earliest Spaniards and led to further reductions in population. Partly as a result of these catastrophes, the young, newly-invested calzonci (king) Tzintzicha Tangaxoana chose to accept Spanish sovereignty when the first Spanish soldiers arrived, rather than suffer the fate of Tenochtitlán, the grand Aztec pyramid city located near present-day Mexico City. As evidence of his submission, he accepted baptism and brought Franciscan missionaries into the region under his protection.

It is unclear whether Tangaxhuan II, the new young king, failed to fully understand the Spaniards' intentions and how their system worked, whether he thought he could pull the proverbial wool over their eyes, whether he was poorly advised, or some combination of the three.

Torture and death of the last Purépecha king. Detail of mural titled "La Historia de Michoacán", painted in 1941-42 by Juan O'Gorman on the back wall of the Biblioteca Gertrudis Bocanegra, Pátzcuaro, Michoacán.

The Spanish had intended to allow Tangaxhuan II to keep some symbolic measure of autonomy for himself and his empire as a reward for his cooperation. However, when the Spanish discovered that he was continuing to receive tribute from his subjects, they had him executed. On February 14, 1530, the last native king of the Purépecha was put to death at the hands of the conquerers.

So begins the mystical creation history of the Purépecha people and Lake Pátzcuaro, the center of their spirituality. Still numerous and active in the modern world, the Purépecha maintain much of their supernatural culture in spite of the intrusion of globalization and the present-day world. The mid-20th Century Mexican-Irish muralist Juan O'Gorman painted the history of the Purépecha nation in the Pátzcuaro public library. The mural, a detail of which is shown above, depicts O'Gorman's vision of pre- and post-Conquest Purépecha life.

Don Vasco de Quiroga and a Purépecha woman, carved in cantera (a volcanic stone) and crowned with flowers. Outside the huatápera in Santa Fe de la Laguna, where Tata Vasco, as he is lovingly called to this day, founded the first hospital (house for shelter and relief) in Michoacán.

In 1533, Don Vasco de Quiroga, a Spanish aristocrat, was installed as the first bishop of the province of Michoacán. At that time, the province was much larger than the present-day state. Don Vasco governed an area that encompassed over 27,000 square miles and 1.5 million people. Don Vasco oversaw the construction of three Spanish-style pueblos (towns), each of which included a hospital, as well as the great cathedral of Santa Ana in Morelia, numerous churches and schools, and founded the Colegio de San Nicolás Obispo (College of St. Nicholas the Bishop), the first school in all of the Americas. Quiroga is immensely important not only to the history of Michoacán but also specifically to the Purépecha nation.

In The Christianization of the Purépecha by Bernardino Verastique (pp. 92-109), the author states that the primary task assigned to Quiroga was to "rectify the disorder in which Nino de Guzmán had left the province after the assassination of the cazonci." Unlike Guzmán, who was a viciously murderous and enslaving conqueror, Quiroga was largely benevolent. He assumed a pastoral role of protector, spiritual father, judge, and confessional physician to the Purépecha.

Tata Vasco teaching the Purépecha the Utopian ideas he held dear. Detail of Juan O'Gorman mural, "La Historia de Michoacán".

St. John the Baptist, fashioned as a Purépecha man. He's wearing his woolen jorongo (like a poncho) and his huetameño (straw hat from Huetamo, Michoacán). This early statue, so tender and so beautiful, so tattered and beloved, is hiding in plain sight in a one-room chapel just off the plaza in Santa Fe de la Laguna. His gentle demeanor melted my companion's heart and mine as well.

Tata Vasco organized the Purépecha villages into groups modeled on Thomas More's Utopia and thus extended his territorial jurisdiction. His actions brought him into direct conflict with the Spanish encomenderos (land grant holders). Quiroga recognized that Christianizing the Purépecha depended upon preserving their language and understanding their world view. He promulgated a multicultural, visual, and multilingual access to Christianity.

Even the Purépecha nation's name is debatable. Erroneously called Tarascans since the Spanish conquest, in the last 40-50 years the Purépecha have begun to reclaim their original name. The term 'tarasco' means brother-in-law in the Purépecha language. The newly arrived Spanish took Purépecha women, heard the Purépecha men use term 'tarasco' to ironically refer to themselves, and mistakenly believed that it was the name of the entire nation.

Descendants of the Purépecha remain in Michoacán, particularly in the Lake Pátzcuaro area. The language is still spoken, and many children speak Purépecha as their first language. During the last 50 years, a written Purépecha language has been devised and is used in a regional newspaper and in books.

Olive trees in what is now the atrium of the Templo de Sta. Ana, the oldest Catholic church in Michoacán. These trees were planted by the Spanish in the mid-1500s.

Olive trees planted by the Spanish conquerers nearly 500 years ago still thrive in the churchyard at Tzintzuntzan, the former capital of the Purépecha kingdom, on the shore of Lake Pátzcuaro. Some of the trees measure nearly 15 feet in diameter. Nearby, Purépecha descendants still produce the crafts of the old days: wood carving, pottery making, and tule (a kind of lake reed) weaving. The present-day town has a population of less than one-tenth of the Purépecha capital at the height of its power, and it continues to lose many of its young people as they migrate in search of jobs to other Mexican cities and to the United States.

Purépecha woman selling deliciously edible flor de calabaza (squash flowers), near Paracho, Michoacán. Photo copyright Mexico Cooks!.

Anthropologists are of two minds concerning contemporary Purépecha life. One group, the 'Hispanists', argues that the Purépecha remnant has become primarily a Spanish-speaking Mexican peasant culture. Though they have maintained their language and some of their basic Mesoamerican cultural elements (in particular their diet of beans, squash, chiles, and corn), they have become Hispanicized with regard to their religious lives, their economy, and their forms of traditional or 'folk' knowledge. In contrast, the other group is more persuaded by the consistencies they see between traditional Mesoamerican culture and the modern-day life of the remaining Purépecha. They note in particular the areas of relationship between language and culture, gender relations, socialization, and world view.

Next week: a look at Michoacán's Purépecha communities in the 21st century. Come with us!

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15 de August de 2015
Las Apariencias Engañan :: Appearances Deceive :: Casa Museo Frida Kahlo

This article was originally published in 2012, shortly after the Casa Museo Frida Kahlo mounted the exhibit titled Las Apariencias Engañan. Due to overwhelming demand, the exhibition continues to be open and the article bears repeating.

Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón, age three or four, and friend. Photo by her father, Guillermo Kahlo.

Which is the Frida Kahlo who most touches your imagination? The innocent toddler in her beribboned shoes?

The iconic self-portrait dressed as a Tehuana (woman from Oaxaca's Isthmus of Tehuantepec)?

The pain-wracked, alcoholic, drug-addicted, unadorned, exhausted Frida? This photo was taken on July 2, 1954, at her last public appearance. She (in her wheelchair), Diego Rivera, and a group of friends and colleagues marched in Mexico City to protest the involvement of the United States Central Intelligence Agency in the overthrow of Guatemala's president. Frida Kahlo died on July 13, 1954.

There was a time, and not too long ago, when I thought I understood the moments that these photos purport to reveal. Photos and self-portraits are a record of life, just as black-and-white as the first and last of these three. Except–perhaps not. Perhaps, as the on-going exhibit at Casa Museo Frida Kahlo is titled, las apariencias engañan. Appearances deceive. What we see is tricky. Appearances are as fluid as blood in the veins, as liquor down the throat, as dye seeking fabric, as paint on a palette. And as Anais Nin is alleged to have said, "We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are."

The original drawing used for the exhibit poster is part of Frida Kahlo's diary.

When Frida Kahlo died, Diego Rivera insisted that the places in her home where the majority of her personal effects were stored (two bathrooms, some trunks and closets) be sealed for the following 50 years. In 2004, under the close supervision of museum directors, workers knocked down bathroom walls and pried open long-locked doors. They found literally thousands of items belonging to the couple, including more than 300 of Frida Kahlo's dresses, some of her jewelry, some hair ornaments, shoes, and orthopedic appliances.

A few of the Oaxaca-style skirts and huipiles (blouses) from Frida Kahlo's closets and trunks, currently showing in Room 2 of the exhibit space. If you are familiar with her paintings, you may recognize one or two.

Detail of encaje (lace) and other fabrics from the skirts shown second and third from the right in the above photo.

Las Apariencias Engañan opened in late November 2012. According to museum personnel, the exhibit was to have been on display for approximately one year, during which time the mannequins' clothing was to have been changed every three to four months. Not only did these changes give the public an opportunity to see more of the 300 dresses found when the walls were knocked down, but long-stored delicate fabrics have not been subjected to the stress of their own weight as they are displayed.

The Tehuana headdress from the self portrait shown above. Click on any photograph to enlarge it for a better view.

The restoration period has lasted nearly eight years. Despite the conditions under which Frida's clothing and other belongings were stored for 50 years, what we see is a marvel of both natural preservation and expert resurrection. The mounting of the exhibit, supervised by curator Circe Henestrosa and mounted by prominent British architect and designer Doctor Judith Clark, stuns with its mix of the lovely, the grotesque, and the matter-of-fact.

You may well be familiar with some of Frida's famous hand-painted plaster of Paris corsets, decorated with her fabled fantastical flowers, animals, and even the Communist hammer and sickle. They are beautiful. About five years ago, the museum's exhibit of the artist's night bedroom included both her death mask, wrapped in a rebozo, and a plaster of Paris corset.

These three corsets suspended (by white ribbons meant to evoke bandages) from white-tile walls that are symbolic of the bathrooms where the items were found, are not beautiful to any eye. They are what they are: early 20th century medical appliances meant to bind, to support, and inevitably to inflict pain on the wearer.

A pair of Frida's black suede shoes. Srta. Maricarmen Rodríguez López, my personal guide to the exhibit, said, "People ask why Dr. Clark insisted that we mount these shoes showing the back rather than the pretty front with bows on the toes. Look closer. The right shoe has an elevated heel to compensate for the shortness of Frida's right leg." Srta. Rodríguez also mentioned that the entire exhibit is designed to emphasize the disabilities that Frida suffered from the time she was a child of six, when she had polio which left her right leg thinner and shorter than the left.

Frida's calf-high, crimson leather lace-up boot–the left boot, with its wedge heel, decorated with panels of Chinese embroidery and a bell on a ribbon (…rings on her fingers, bells on her toes…).

The right boot and prosthesis, quite literally the other side of the story. Compare the wedge heel on this boot with the wedge on the other. Due to gangrene, doctors were forced to amputate Frida's long-injured right leg in 1953.

The metal supports for this and other items in the exhibit symbolize the iron handrail that pierced her abdomen and uterus in the 1925 trolley-car accident in which she suffered other serious injuries: a broken spinal column, a broken collarbone, broken ribs, a broken pelvis, eleven fractures in her right leg, a crushed and dislocated right foot, and a dislocated shoulder.

Arguably the most famous page from Frida's diary: Pies para qué los quiero si tengo alas pa'volar. (Feet, what do I need them for, if I have wings to fly.) Dated 1953 and painted just prior to the amputation of her right foot.

From Frida's trunks, a hair ornament. The tiara includes aluminum and textile flowers and green linen leaves.

Another hair ornament, in the form of a butterfly.

Gold chokers and other necklaces.

Who will see my brokenness, when the glory of my wardrobe hides my pain? In the exhibit, even the limbs of the mannequins resemble prostheses.

A full cabinet of Frida's long-stored belongings: clothing, jewelry, shoes, even a pair of golden cat's-eye sunglasses came from the closets and trunks.

Las Apariencias Engañan is intended to be a revolving, year-long exhibit. Sponsored in large part by Vogue Magazine, as well as BMW, The Anglo Mexican Foundation, British Airways, The BBVA Bancomer Foundation, the Japan Foundation, Lasalle College of the Arts, Montblanc, the University of the Arts London, and Valentino Parfums, the exhibit also includes a roomful of newly created items of haute couture based very loosely on Frida's wardrobe. This dress and jacket are by GQ's 2012 Designer of the Year Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy. Still more designer dresses are by Costume National and Jason Wu, among the other couture houses involved in the show.

From Frida's diary: arrows point to all of the parts of her body where she had surgeries. A tear falls from her right eye. I asked Srta. Rodríguez, "But she never had surgery on her head…?" "No, la flecha esa simboliza el daño psicológico…" ('No, that arrow represents the psychological damage.') Although the drawing shows only a few arrows, Frida actually had 22 or more surgeries.

Frida Kahlo chose her very Mexican wardrobe with extreme care. Each item was designed to flatter this part, cover that part, hide the other part. Under her embroidered and boldly colorful square-cut huipiles (in this instance, Oaxaca-style blouses), terrible leather-and-metal corsets were barely noticable to others. A maimed foot, a withered leg, a missing leg? Let the boots take center stage, let the lace-bordered skirts be a frothy smoke screen. Don't attend to my limp, look at the wreath of flowers in my hair. Pay no attention to this wheelchair, raise your eyes to my multiple gold necklaces, the bracelets on my arms, the rings on my fingers.

The exhibit reveals in a way that a photo, an article online, or a biography cannot show how and why Frida Kahlo invented the appearance of festive health for herself. The psychology that moved her to create this way of life and this wardrobe, the fractures (both physical and mental) that shaped her need for window dressing: all is apparent in the exhibit, and we see both the color and the shadow, the harsh reality and the fugue of fashion. Frida stands naked before us, a human being rather than a souvenir.

Las Apariencias Engañan has enjoyed such an enormous audience that it continues to be on exhibit at the Casa Museo Frida Kahlo. Mexico Cooks! suggests that in order to buy tickets in a timely manner for the exhibition, you will want to arrive at the museum approximately one-half hour prior to the museum's opening time. Otherwise, the wait to enter is often very lengthy.

HOURS
CLOSED MONDAYS
Tuesday: 10:00 – 17:45 h
Wednesday: 11:00 – 17:45 h
Thursday through Sunday: 10:00 – 17:45 h

LOCATION
Calle Londres #247
Del Carmen, Coyoacán
Mexico City, Mexico
___________________________________________________

With profound thanks to Hilda Trujillo Soto (Directora Casa Museo Frida Kahlo), Patricia Cordero (Coordinadora de Difusión y Contenidos Digitales, Casa Museo Frida Kahlo), and Maricarmen Rodríguez López (Redes Sociales y Difusión, Casa Museo Frida Kahlo) for their time and effort in arranging a private guided tour of Las Aparencias Engañan for Mexico Cooks!.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

18 de July de 2015
More Travels Around Mexico: Sights You’ll See Along Your Way

Rueda de la fortuna (ferris wheel), Cuanajo, Michoacán. Every small town, every city, has its annual fiestas patronales (patron saint's fiestas). A ferris wheel is never an option–it's always a necessity!

Templo Santo Domingo, San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas. Every candle represents a prayer, whether of gratitude or petition or simple remembrance.

Mojiganga (10 foot tall papel maché dance figure). On parade, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato. This band-following girl partied hearty as she twirled her way down a cobblestone street.

Guajolotes callejeros (turkeys in the street), San José de las Torres, Michoacán.

Chicharrón (fried pork skin) with small squares of meat left attached to the skin. The creamy meat combines perfectly with the crispy skin for a big punch of flavor. Mercado de Jamaica, Mexico City.

Burrita y su dueño cargados (loaded donkey and its owner) with corn stalks, Ajijic, Jalisco. You have to look hard to see this hard-working burrita.

Trajineras (traditional boats), Xochimilco, Mexico City. There are few things more fun than a Sunday outing on the canals of Xochimilco! It's bumper boats all the way, with a mariachi accompaniment.

Casa particular (private home) with bougainvillea, San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas. The dream of Mexico…

Tourist police at Parque Alameda Central, Centro Histórico, Mexico City. They're from the government, and they're truly here to help you.

Pájaro de la suerte (fortune telling canary), Morelia, Michoacán. For just a few pesos, the little bird will pull your fortune–written on a folded slip of paper–from the box to the left of its cage. But watch out! Do you want to see more of your fortune? You'll have to pay again.

Dog obedience school, held daily, Parque México, Colonia La Condesa, Mexico City. Dogs of every spot and stripe learn to sit, stay, and keep quiet in this canine institute of study.

Guerrero-style pozole blanco, Mexico City. If you love pozole and want to know where to get a spectacular bowlful like this, you'll have to come along with me. The spot has been a well-guarded secret for more than 60 years.

Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.

20 de June de 2015