Category: Tours

Creche, Manger Scene, Nacimiento: The Central Focus of Christmas in Mexico

A Christmas tree may be the central focus of your home decoration during this joyous season of the Christian year. In most parts of Mexico, the Christmas tree is a fairly recent import and the primary focus of the holiday is still on the nacimiento (manger scene, creche, or nativity scene).

One of Mexico Cooks!' biggest delights every late November and early December is shopping for Christmas–not hunting for gifts, but rather for new items to place in our nacimiento (manger scene). Truth be told, we have five nacimientos–or maybe six–that come out each Christmas season, but only one of them keeps growing every year.

The tiny figures in this nacimiento are made of clay; the choza (hut) is made of wood. The shepherds and angels have distinctive faces; no two are alike. One shepherd carries firewood, another a tray of pan dulce (sweet breads), a third has a little bird in his hands. The tallest figures measure only three inches high. The Niño Dios (Baby Jesus) is not usually placed in the pesebre (manger) until the night of December 24. The Niño Dios for this nacimiento is just over an inch long and is sleeping on his stomach with his tiny knees drawn up under him, just like a real infant. This nacimiento was made about 30 years ago in Tonalá, Jalisco, Mexico.

Mexican households traditionally pass the figures for their nacimientos down through the family; the figures begin to look a little tattered after traveling from great-grandparents to several subsequent generations, but no one minds. In fact, each figure holds loving family memories and is the precious repository of years of 'remember when…?''. No one cares that the Virgin Mary's gown is chipped around the hem or that St. Joseph is missing an arm; remembering how the newest baby teethed on the Virgin's dress or how a long-deceased visiting aunt's dog bit off St. Joseph's arm is cause for a family's nostalgic laughter.

Nacimiento en vivo (living nativity scene), Lake Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico. In 13th century Italy, St. Francis of Assisi was inspired to re-enact the birth of Christ. The first nacimiento was presented with living creatures: the oxen, the donkey, and the Holy Family. Even today in Mexican communities, there are hundreds of living manger scenes.

Holy Family, 18th century Italy. The first nativity figures, made of clay, were created in 15th century Naples and their use spread rapidly throughout Italy and Spain. In Spain, the early figural groups were called 'Belenes' (Bethlehems).

A few weeks before Christmas, our tiny nacimiento de plomo (manger scene with lead figures, none over four inches high) comes out of yearlong storage. The wee village houses are made of cardboard and hand-painted; each has snow on its roof and a little tree in front. You might well ask what the figures in the photo represent: el Sr. San José (St. Joseph, who in Mexico always wears green and gold) leads the donkey carrying la Virgen María (the Virgin Mary) on their trek to Belén (Bethlehem). We put these figures out earliest and move them a bit closer to Bethlehem every day. This nacimiento is the one that grows each year; we have added many figures to the original few. This year we expect the total number of figures to rise to more than 150.

Click on the photo and you will see that the Holy Family has not yet arrived in Bethlehem; the choza is empty and St. Joseph's staff is just visible in the lower right-hand corner. Click to enlarge the photo to better see the figures in the nacimiento: gamboling sheep, birds of all kinds, shepherds, shepherdesses, St. Charbel, an angel, and Our Lady of Guadalupe are all ready to receive the Niño Dios (Baby Jesus). Notice the upright red figure standing in the Spanish moss: that's Satan, who is always present in a Mexican nacimiento to remind us that although the birth of Jesus offers love and the possibility of redemption, sin and evil are always present in the world.

Detail of the lead figures in our ever-growing nacimiento. To the left is a well (with doves) and a woman coming to draw water; to the right is an arriero (donkey-herder) giving his little donkey what-for. No matter how many figures are included, the central figures in any nacimiento are the Holy Family (St. Joseph, the Virgin Mary, and the Baby Jesus). In Mexico, those three are collectively known as el misterio (the mystery).

A very small portion of one of the largest nacimientos on display in Mexico City. It measures more than 700 square meters and includes thousands of figures. They include everything you can think of and some things that would never occur to you: a butcher shop, a running stream and a waterfall, sleeping peasants, and washerwomen. A nacimiento can include all of the important stories of the Bible, from Genesis to the Resurrection, as well as figures representing daily life–both today's life in Mexico and life at the time of Jesus's birth. Photo courtesy El Universal.

Papel roca (hand-painted paper for decorating a nacimiento), a choza (little hut), and two kinds of moss for sale in this booth at the Guadalajara tianguis navideño (Christmas market). This year, Mexico Cooks! has purchased figures of a miniature pre-Hispanic loinclothed warrior, a tiny shoemaker working at his bench, a wee man sawing firewood, and a shepherd standing under a tree while holding a lamb. The shepherd's tree looks exactly like a stalk of broccoli and makes us smile each time we look at it.

Where in Mexico can you buy figures for your nacimiento? Every city and town has a market where, for about a month between the end of November and the first week in January, a large number of vendors offer items especially for Christmas. Some larger cities, like Mexico City, Guadalajara, Morelia, and others, offer several tianguis navideños (Christmas markets) where literally thousands of figures of every size are for sale. Last year we found a tiny figure of the seated Virgin Mary, one breast partially exposed as she nurses the Niño Dios, who lies nestled in her arms. It's the only one like it that we have ever seen.

This booth at a tianguis navideño in Guadalajara offers Niños Dios in every possible size, from tiny ones measuring less than three inches long to babies the size of a two-year-old child. In Mexico City's Centro Histórico, Calle Talavera is an entire street devoted to shops specializing in clothing for your Niño Dios. The nacimiento is traditionally displayed until February 2 (Candlemas Day), when the Niño Dios is gently taken out of the pesebre in a special ceremony called the levantamiento (raising). The nacimiento is then carefully stored away until the following December.

Near Mexico City's Basílica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, this religious goods store also advertises that it will dress the Niño Dios for your nacimiento.

Piles of gold and silver glitter cardboard stars of Bethlehem, for sale at the tianguis navideño in southern Mexico City's Mercado Mixcoac.

Some new figures for our 2013 nacimiento. More than a dozen 3" high paper maché musicians (we think they're from India) make up this little band–and they have a little dog to lead them. Size and scale don't matter: you'll find crocodiles the size of your little finger and elephants as big as a soft drink can. Both will work equally well in your nacimiento.

Giant flamingos go right along with burritas (little donkeys). Why not?

Each traditional figure in a nacimiento is symbolic of a particular value. For example, the choza (the little hut) represents humility and simplicity. Moss represents humilty–it's something that everyone steps on. The donkey represents the most humble animal in all creation, chosen to carry the pregnant Virgin Mary. The star of Bethlehem represents renewal and unending light.

Which diablito (little devil) tempts you most, the one with the money bag or the one with the booze?

How many shepherds do you want? This booth at the Guadalajara tianguis navideño has hundreds, and in sizes ranging from an inch to well over a foot tall.

It wouldn't be a Mexican nacimiento without tortillas!

This Christmas, Mexico Cooks! wishes you all the blessings of the season. Whatever your faith, we hope you enjoy this peek at the nacimiento, one of Mexico's lasting traditions.

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21 de December de 2013
Christmas Piñatas :: Piñatas Navideñas

Traditional piñatas ready for sale decorate the door to the Hernández family's tiny taller (workshop) on Av. Lázaro Cárdenas in Morelia, Michoacán.

Among unadorned, new ollas de barro (clay pots), plastic receptacles filled with engrudo (flour/water paste), and colorful, neatly stacked rounds of papel de china (tissue paper), Sra. María Dolores Hernández (affectionately known as Doña Lolita) sits on an upturned bucket. She'll celebrate her 84th birthday on December 24, and she still lights up–just like a Christmas tree–when she talks about her business and her life.

The last point of the star-shaped piñata is in Doña Lolita's hands, nearly ready to be glued into place.

"When I was a young woman, raising my family together with my husband, it was hard for us to make a good living here in Morelia. We had eight children (one has died, but six girls and a boy survive) and we struggled to make ends meet. My husband was a master mason, but I wanted to help out with the finances. I knew a woman who made piñatas, and I thought, 'I can do that.' So I started trying my hand, nearly 60 years ago."

Doña Lolita adds another layer of newspaper to this piñata in progress. "You can't put too much newspaper on the pot, because it will take too long to break," she explained. "And you can't put too little on it, either, because then the first child to hit it will break it. That's no good, either. You just have to know how much to use." Click on the photo to enlarge it and get a good look at the clay pot inside the paper maché.

"The woman who made piñatas wouldn't give away her secrets, so I had to figure everything out for myself. You should have seen me the first time I tried to make a bird's beak for a parrot-shaped piñata! A man I knew told me to make it out of chapopote (a kind of tar), so I did. It hardened all right, but later in the day the weather warmed up and that beak dripped down to here! What a mess! I finally figured out how to make the shape out of paper, but I just about broke my head thinking about it!"

Pre-cut rounds of papel de china (tissue paper) wait to be glued onto a piñata. The black plastic bag holds strips of newspaper.

Doña Lolita told me about the different grades of paper used to create different styles of decoration on the piñata, and she explained different kinds of paper-cutting techniques; she's absolutely the expert. Here, her son-in-law Fernando cuts tissue paper for fringe. His hands are so fast with the scissors it made my head spin; he can even cut without looking.

"In those days, the clay pots cost four and a half pesos for a gross–yes, for 144. In the old days, I usually sold about 7,000 piñatas every December, so you can imagine the investment I made just in clay pots. In the 1960s, I could sell a large piñata for seven pesos. Now–well, now the pots are much more expensive, so naturally the piñatas cost more, too. The large ones cost 45 pesos. This year, I'll sell about 1,000 piñatas just for the posadas. "

Piñatas in various stages of completion hang from every beam in Doña Lolita's tiny workshop.

"When my daughter Mercedes was about eight years old, she wanted to learn to make piñatas. She'd been watching me do it since she was born. So I taught her, and I've taught the whole family.  Piñatería (making piñatas) is what's kept us going." Doña Lolita smiled hugely. "My children have always been extremely hard workers. There was a girl for each part of making the piñatas. Every year, we started making piñatas in August and finished at the beginning of January.

This gigantic piñata, still unfinished, measures almost six feet in diameter from point to point.

"One time, we had so many piñatas to finish that I didn't think we could do it. So I thought, 'if we work all night long, we can finish them by tomorrow morning.' Only I couldn't figure out how to keep the children awake to work all night." She laughed. "I went to the drugstore and bought pills to stay awake. I knew I could keep myself awake, but I gave one pill to each of the children. And in just a little while, I was working and they were sleeping, their heads fell right down into their work! What! Those pills didn't work at all! The next day I went back to the drugstore and asked the pharmacist about it. 'Oh no! I thought you asked me for pills to make them sleep!' he said." Doña Lolita laughed again. "We finished all the piñatas in spite of those pills, but you had better believe me, I never tried anything that foolish again."

Doña Lolita builds piñatas with her son-in-law, Fernando Cedeño Herrera (left), her daughter Mercedes Ayala Hernández, her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren. A close friend, Oswaldo Gutiérrez López (background), works with the family. Her grandson Enrique, 19, says he intends to keep the family business going.

Oswaldo Gutiérrez works on this piñata in the doorway of the tiny taller. Doña Lolita has taught many people the art of creating traditional piñatas, but her family and her loyal customers say she's the best piñatera (piñata maker) in Morelia.

"People come from everywhere to buy my piñatas. I don't have to take them out to sell; I only sell them here in the taller. Because they're so beautiful and well-made, all the best people in Morelia–and lots of people from other places–come to seek me out and order piñatas for their parties. I've taught my family that our work is our pride and our heritage, and my children have all taught their children the same. That is our legacy, our family tradition."

Fill the piñata with candy like these bags of traditional colación (hard candies especially for Christmas).

But why piñatas, and why in December? During the early days of the Spanish conquest, the piñata was used as a catechetical tool. The body of the piñata represented Satan; each of the seven points symbolized the seven capital sins (pride, lust, gluttony, rage, greed, laziness, and envy). Breaking the piñata equated with the triumph of good over evil, overpowering Satan, overcoming sin, and enjoying the delights of God's creation as they pour out of the piñata. Doña Lolita's most sought-after piñatas continue the traditional style, but she also creates piñatas shaped like roosters, peacocks, half-watermelons, deer, half moons, and once, an enormous octopus!

Now, for the nine nights from December 16 through December 24, Mexico celebrates las posadas. Each evening, a re-enactment of the Christmas story brings children dressed as la Virgencita María (ready to give birth to her baby) and her husband Sr. San José (and a street filled with angels, shepherds, and other costumed children) along the road to Bethlehem, searching for a place to stay. There is no place: Bethlehem's posadas (inns) are filled. Where will the baby be born! For the re-enactment, people wait behind closed doors at certain neighborhood houses. The santos peregrinos (holy pilgrims) knock, first at one door, then another. At each house, they sing a song, begging lodging for the night. At each house, the neighbors inside turn them away in song: 'No room here! Go away! Bother someone else!' Watch a lovely slide show: Las Posadas.

Freshly toasted cacahuates (peanuts) also stuff the piñata. The wooden box holding the peanuts is actually a measure, as is the oval metal box.

After several houses turn away la Virgen, San José, and their retinue, they finally receive welcome at the last designated house. After the pilgrims sing their plea for a place to stay, the guests assembled inside sing their welcome,  "Entren santos peregrinos…" (Come in, holy pilgrims…). The doors are flung open, everyone piles into the house, and a huge party starts. Traditional foods like ponche (a hot fruit punch), buñuelos (a thin fried dough covered with either sugar or syrup), and tamales (hundreds of tamales!) pour out of the kitchen as revelers sing villancicos (Mexican Christmas carols) and celebrate the coming of the Niño Dios (the Child Jesus). Finally, all the children line up to put on a blindfold and take swings at a piñata stuffed with candy, seasonal fruits, and peanuts.

This five-pound bag of hard candies shows a blindfolded (but peeking) boy ready to break open the filled piñata. Luis Gómez, a merchant at Local 290, Mercado Independencia in Morelia, offers these and other bags of piñata candies.

Mandarinas (tangerines) are in season at Christmastime and round out the goodies in lots of piñatas.

The piñata, stuffed with all it will hold, hangs from a rope during the posada party. A parent or neighbor swings it back and forth, up and down, as each child takes a turn at breaking it open with a big stick. Watch these adorable kids whack away.

The piñata, lovely though it may be, is purely temporary. Nevertheless, happy memories of childhood posadas with family and friends last a lifetime.

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14 de December de 2013
Images of Our Lady of Guadalupe :: Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe en Imágenes

The actual tilma (cape-like garment made of woven agave cactus fiber) worn by San Juan Diego in December 1531. The framed tilma hangs over the main altar at the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, Mexico City.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTfzGNTaDYc&w=500&h=281]
Listen as this group sings La Guadalupana, one of the most popular of Mexico's many traditional songs honoring Our Lady of Guadalupe. The lyrics tell the story of her aparition to Juan Diego on the hill called Tepeyac, and also emphasize the honor felt by Mexicans that she appeared here.

The annual feast of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe (Our Lady of Guadalupe) falls on December 12–in 2013, that's this coming Wednesday. Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is Mexico's patron saint, and her image adorns churches and altars, house facades and interiors, taxis, private cars, and buses, bull rings and gambling dens, restaurants and houses of ill repute. The shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, la Basílica, is a place of extraordinary vitality and celebration. On major festival days such as the anniversary of the apparition on December 12th, the atmosphere of devotion created by several million pilgrims is truly electrifying.

Statues of Our Lady of Guadalupe for sale at the many, many souvenir booths outside the Basílica. Statues range in size from two or three inches tall to life-size.

The enormous Basílica of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in Mexico City is the most visited pilgrimage site in the Western Hemisphere. Its location, on the hill of Tepeyac, was a place of great sanctity long before the arrival of Christianity in the New World. In pre-Hispanic times, Tepeyac had been crowned with a temple dedicated to an earth and fertility goddess called Tonantzin, the Mother of the Gods. Tonantzin was a virgin goddess associated with the moon, like Our Lady of Guadalupe who usurped her shrine.

Our Lady of Guadalupe tattoo.

There's a saying in Mexico: "No todos somos católicos, pero todos somos guadalupanos." (We may not all be Catholics, but we are all devoted to Our Lady of Guadalupe.)

Read the full story of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe here.

Our Lady of Guadalupe surrounded by fresh roasted peanuts, Morelia, Michoacán. November 2009.

Holy water bottles in rainbow colors of plastic, for sale at the booths just outside the Basílica.

Art casket, Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Basílica.

Primitive folk art depiction of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Statue in resin of Our Lady of Guadalupe and Pope John Paul II, who was devoted to her. This image is reproduced as calendars, statues of all sizes, and pictures to hang on the wall. More than 10 years after his death, Mexico continues to feel a deep connection to Pope John Paul II.

Portrait of Monseñor Diego Monroy, rector of the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. The painting is part of Monseñor Monroy's private collection.

In 1810, Padre Miguel Hidalgo carried this banner to lead the struggle for Mexico's independence from Spain.

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7 de December de 2013
Cuanajo, Michoacán: Cradle of Hand-Carved and Painted Furniture

The mid-autumn landscape is lovely along the road to Cuanajo, Michoacán. Sun-struck shocks of corn stand out against the patchwork of fields and mountains.

During September and October, expanses of mirasoles (wild cosmos) grace every open field.

The MIchoacán hillside near Pátzcuaro cradles Cuanajo, an entirely Purhépecha town of about 12,000 souls. The Purhépecha are the largest group of indigenous people in Michoacán. Nearly 500 years ago, when the Spaniards first traveled through this part of Mexico, the settlement lay some two kilometers south of its current location. The Purhépecha covered their yácatas (pyramids) with earth to prevent their takeover by the conquistadores and the town moved north.

The Casa de Artesanías (Artisans' Center) in Cuanajo is the home of artisan-carved wood furniture, textiles, and decorative items.

Just before this article was originally published in November 2008, Mexico Cooks! had the opportunity to talk with Emilio García Zirangua, the then-head of government in Cuanajo. Sr. García expressed deep concern about the future of centuries-old wood crafting in his town. "The Purhépecha of Cuanajo began carving wood when Don Vasco de Quiroga, the first bishop of Michoacán, brought Spanish artisans to teach us their methods in the 15th century. Now, we don't know what our future holds. So much wood has been taken from our mountains, legally and illegally, and even though the government makes promises about reforestation, we don't see the results of those promises."

Furniture factories are often just one small room.

"Cuanajo is part of the municipio (similar to a county in the United States) of Pátzcuaro. Actually, next to Pátzcuaro, we're the largest town in the municipio. We're working on gaining standing as a separate municipio because our needs here are so different from Pátzcuaro's needs. Our town is very rural, not so modern as that town."

Colorful Mexican themes decorate this queen-size hand-carved and hand-painted headboard. You'll find this one or others that are similar at Fábrica de Muebles Buenos Aires, at the corner of Guadalupe Victoria and Lázaro Cárdenas in Cuanajo.

Soft pastels decorate hand-carved larger than life size alcatraces (calla lilies) on this double bed headboard. It was also made at Fábrica de Muebles Buenos Aires.

Sr. García continued, "Not too many years ago, everyone in Cuanajo spoke Purhépecha. Today, few of the young people bother to learn the language. It's a huge loss. In that way, it seems as if our heritage is disappearing. What will be the next to go?"

One corner detail of a finely carved and painted dish cupboard from Cuanajo.

"At least we still take pride in our heritage of working with wood. Nearly everyone here knows wood carving and painting, and most of us earn our living from those things. We have an international reputation for making beautiful furniture and decorative items for the home."

This gorgeous bench from Cuanajo, hand-carved and hand-painted with images of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, is for sale at the Casa de Artesanía, Morelia.

This Cuanajo chair, one of a set of four painted with images of figures from the 1810 Mexican revolution, is also for sale at the Casa de Artesanía, Morelia.

This is just one detailed scene from a Cuanajo-made table top.

Cuanajo is substantially off the beaten tourist track but well worth the time and effort to get there. If you're looking for highly detailed painted furniture or other home decoration, it's the best place in Michoacán to find what you want. Please contact Mexico Cooks! if you'd like a guided tour.

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30 de November de 2013
Flaneur Part Four: Shopping, Cooking, Eating in Mexico City and Beyond

Calabaza de Castilla on display at the Mercado Medellín, Colonia Roma, Mexico City, October 2013. A winter squash (this particular example measured 16" or more in diameter), it has the hardest shell imaginable. I suspect that it had been cut in half using a band saw; no ordinary knife could have sliced through it so beautifully.

Ah, Michoacán, how I miss your flavors! This enormous taco de carnitas from Quiroga (with a slice of brilliant yellow pickled chile perón on the side) went a long way toward being just the 'fix' I needed in early November. True confession: I ate two of them. Michoacán's carnitas (huge hunks of pork, long-cooked in boiling lard) really can't be replicated at home. Although you might find some recipes on the Internet that will try to tell you how to make a small batch, you really need to come with me to Michoacán to eat the real thing.

From the sublimely traditional taco de carnitas to the equally sublime but completely modern star menu item at Hamburguesas Richard's in Morelia. Just looking at this photo makes my mouth water: Richard's prepares hamburgers just right: this one is a double, with two freshly made beef patties, a slice of melting yellow cheese, a slice of gooey white cheese, fresh chopped tomatoes, thinly sliced grilled onions, a touch of mustard, and condiments to add at table–including chiles toreados (chiles serrano, sautéed in oil along with finely sliced white onion until the chiles' skin blisters) and meant to be eaten on the side, bite by bite till smoke comes out your ears. Add to your hamburger: mayonnaise, crema de mesa (Mexican table cream), chile Valentina (Mexico's ubiquitous bottled red salsa), more mustard, or a shot of catsup, and WOW. A side of fries (ask for them bien doradas (crispy-fried) and eat them like I do: dipped in a squeeze of chile Valentina that you've mixed into mayonnaise.

Currently in season at Mexico City's Mercado San Juan: percebes (goose barnacle). These strangely beautiful crustaceans are hugely popular in Spain and Portugal, but this was the first I'd seen them in the market. Here's a recipe, if goose barnacles are available where you shop: percebes.

Bright red maguey cactus worms. These creatures, known here in Mexico as chinicuiles, are a pre-Hispanic delicacy that's still popular today. They are the inch-and-a-half-to-two-inch long larvae of a type of butterfly that lives in the leaves, heart, and roots of the maguey cactus; typically, the larvae are in season from May until the end of October–approximately the rainy season in central Mexico. More true confessions: although chef-friends have tried to convince me of the delicious flavor of these worms, I have never eaten one; it's impossible for me to get past the…well, enough said. I have never eaten one.

More from the Mercado San Juan! These are pichones (squabs), with part of their plumage intact. Pichón is the word used for young pigeons; it's also used in its diminutive (pichoncito) to refer to someone who is (or who wants to appear) still young. "Tengo 84 años ya." "Tú? No puede ser! Sigues de pichoncito!" 'I'm 84 years old.' 'You? That can't be! You're still just barely hatched!'

A beguiling trompe l'oeil bluebird, perched on a light switch at Rosetta, the popular and elegant northern Italian restaurant in Colonia Roma.

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23 de November de 2013
Noche de Muertos (Night of the Dead) in Michoacán, 2013

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 right over there, behind that pillar. She waits with patience, until later today or until twelve o'clock next Thursday, or sometime next year–but when it's time, she's right there 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 in 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 li
fe.

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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16 de November de 2013
10th Annual Encuentro de Cocina Tradicional de Michoacán: Festival of Michoacán’s Traditional Cuisine

The look on nearly every face at the 10th annual Encuentro de Cocina Tradicional de Michoacán was the same grin sported by Mexico Cooks!' long-time friend Gayla Pierce. An inveterate lover of Mexico and its food, Gayla hails from San Diego, California. This was Gayla's first year to attend the festival and it's easy to see how she felt about it: two thumbs up and exactly what the sign says: I LOVE Michoacán! The young man holding the sign above Gayla's head was one of a team that roved this year's festival eating area with several different signs.

For the first time this year, the stage was set as a typical Michoacán kitchen, this one in the style of Tzintzuntzan. Some of the festival judging took place on stage, with one or another of the home cook contestants talking to the crowd about their dishes. In addition, the this stage was also the backdrop for the festival's invited speakers. Click on any photo to enlarge it for a better view.

The left-hand corner of the kitchen. On the table are typical fruits and vegetables from Michoacán, and on the shelf you see the regional pottery of Tzintzuntzan. In this case, the design is light and dark brown, with a swan in the middle of each plate. Tzintzuntzan is also famous for black and green pottery with similar designs, and cream-colored pottery with dark brown figures drawn onto it.

Foreground, 2013 festival judge Carmen 'Titita' Ramírez Degollado, guiding hand behind Restaurante El Bajío in Mexico City. Behind her and to the left is one of Michoacán's greatest home cooks, Antonina González Leandro of Tarerio, Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán. Titita is tasting Antonina's competition preparation of traditional calabaza en tacha (winter squash cooked in heavy syrup).

Here's another of Antonina's dishes: these are charales (tiny fish, about the size of your little finger). In this case, they are fried whole and eaten with a sauce. Mexico Cooks! confesses to not being a fan of charales, but most everyone else in Mexico loves them.

These two Purépecha women, both masters of their regional cuisine, prepare fresh, hand-made tortillas for the hordes that lined up at their booths. The 55 women who came to cook at the festival broke attendance records this year, receiving more than 20,000 people over the course of the 3-day event.

This, readers, is a regional sweet atole made from burned corn silk. It's called atole de chaqueta and it is meant to be thick and black, just as it is in the photo. Atole is a hot drink made from either milk or water, thickened with corn masa (dough), and flavored with seasonal fruits or vegetables. Sweet atole is normally drunk either for breakfast or for supper, accompanied by pan dulce (Mexican sweet bread), but there are also savory atoles that are wonderfully rich and delicious. My particular favorites are atole de guayaba (guava) and atole de habas (fava beans), one sweet and the other savory. Or wait, maybe my favorites are atole de zarzamora (blackberry) and this atole de chaqueta. Or…I left out atole de tamarindo (made of tamarind pulp)! The list goes on!

Just a portion–and a small portion, at that–of the crowds of people who showed up for the Saturday of the 10º Encuentro de Cocina Tradicional de Michoacán. As far as the eye could see, people were lined up for big plates of regional Michoacán food, hundreds were sitting at every available table, and more people kept coming through the gates. The festival does not charge admission and it's not the sort of place where you get just a taste of this or that. Here, the marvelous cooks serve full meals on real pottery dishware with real silverware. You buy tickets to exchange for your meal(s); if you have tickets left over at the end of the weekend, take them back to the ticket booth to exchange for money.

The woman in the photo is Sra. Jovita Gil Arácuaro from Patamban, Michoacán. She is grinding wheat, not corn, to make a mole de trigo y lentejas (mole made of wheat and lentils). You can see that the freshly ground wheat falls into a batea (wooden bowl) in front of the grinding stone. Sra. Gil told me that she is 78 years old–and still grinding wheat on the metate (the three-legged volcanic stone grinder with its metlapil, volcanic stone rolling pin). Younger women kneel on the petate (woven reed mat) in front of Sra. Gil, but a woman her age sometimes sits on a low chair to grind corn, seeds, spices, cooked beans, or toasted chocolate beans. The work requires enormous upper body strength and a lifetime of practice.

This was Mexico Cooks!' year to try new dishes at the Encuentro. The meat and sauce are birria, in this case, a long-cooked preparation of beef. I've frequently eaten birria de chivo (made of goat) and birria de borrego (made of lamb), but this style beef birria was new to me. Sra. Esperanza Galván of Zacán, Michoacán prepared this according to her mother's recipe. The dish is sweet, salty, spicy, and just redolent with fragrance and flavor. Sra. Galván has realized her most cherished dream: she and her daughters have opened their own restaurant in Zacán. I'd go to Zacán just to have another plate of this birria. It's served here with blue corn tortillas and two corundas: small unfilled tamales, another Michoacán regional specialty.

For several years, our housekeeper in Morelia occasionally asked me if I'd like her to bring me an iguana from the rancho (farm) to cook. No, thank you. No? Umm..no. For all that time, I was guilty of contempt prior to investigation. On the Saturday of the Encuentro, Sr. Eloy Velázquez López told me he'd have freshly prepared iguana in his booth the following day and I would surely want to try it. Umm…thank you so much for the offer. On Sunday afternoon, friends and I had eaten our meal and were sitting at our table enjoying the passing scene–and suddenly Sr. Velázquez was standing in front of me! "How would you like your iguana, Señora? In mole, or in caldo (broth)? This time, there was no escape. I chose the caldo, so as not to mask the flavor of the animal with a heavy sauce. My friend Gayla and I swore we would at least taste it, so as not to offend Sr. Velázquez. Lo and behold, iguana is delicious–really delicious–and it tastes (I swear to you) like chicken. What you see in the soup plate is the hind-quarters of the animal, accompanied by caldo, a chile güero, some carrots, and a piece or two of chayote. I'd eat it again any time, and I'm sorry I let so many iguanas slip through my fingers in years gone by.

Pozollilo is similar to the more-familiar pozole. The major difference is that this pozolillo is made from fresh corn kernels; pozole is made from nixtamal-ized dried maíz cacahuatzintle–dried field corn that is soaked and simmered in water and cal (builder's lime) to remove each kernel's hard covering. The nixtamal-ization process allows the corn to soften and 'flower' (expand to a popcorn-size kernel) and allows the human body to access corn's vital nutrients during digestion.

Beautiful fresh Michoacán trout sizzles in a clay cazuela (multi-purpose cooking dish) over an open flame.

My very dear Morelia friend Alma Cervantes Cota and I, just after Alma's excellent conference, Michoacán: Flavors with a Story. Each of the 2013 conferences was filled with fascinating information about little-known, recently researched aspects of Mexico's cuisine. Alma spoke about nearly-forgotten aspects of Michoacán's regional cuisine. Ricardo Muñoz Zurita spoke about his research into all but unknown varieties of chiles.

Rosalba Morales Bartolo (left) won honorable mention for her Ceremonial Fish for Holy Week. Sra. Rosalba receives her award from Lilia Malandra, on the right in the photo. The theme of the 2013 Encuentro was El Platillo Cuenta una Historia: The Dish Tells a Story.

Sra. Amparito Cervantes of Tzurumútaro, Michoacán, receives a lifetime achievement award. Doña Amparito, now nearly 90 years old, said, "My mother taught me all she knew of culinary arts and I've always loved the kitchen. Since I'm from the country, I married–and well, you have to know how to cook, but you also have to know how to sow crops, and cultivate them, and harvest them. Doing that, you just get grabbed by the pleasure of it. Now, I teach others how to do it." Sra. Cervantes still loves to come to the Encuentro to cook for all of the attendees. To her right in the photo is Michoacán's Secretary of Tourisim, Roberto Monroy, García, who presented the award to doña Amparito.

Michoacán, the soul of Mexico. We look forward to seeing you at the 11th Annual Encuentro de Cocina Tradicional de Michoacán. Don't miss it: the dates are October 3, 4, and 5th, 2014. Mexico Cooks! would be happy to guide you through the festival, explain regional ingredients and food preparation for you, and introduce you to a world of wonder in beautiful Morelia, Michoacán.

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9 de November de 2013
Day of the Dead in Mexico :: Día de los Muertos en México

Highly decorated cardboard skull for Día de los Muertos.

During November 2007, Mexico Cooks! was so excited during the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) festivities to tour both Guadalajara and Morelia with our friend Simon Majumdar, who was visiting from his home in England. Here's a look back at that trip, which was Simon's introduction to some of the joys of Mexico: Día de los Muertos 2007 and Día de los Muertos 2007, Part 2.

Pantéon Municipal (Municipal Cemetery), Tzintzuntzan, Michoacán.

Mexico Cooks! is touring Morelia and Pátzcuaro again during this special time of year. We'll be attending one or another special Noche de Muertos events every day for several days.

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), 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 the cempasúchil (marigold) and cordón del obispo (cockscomb) flowers, which are used in profusion in churches, cemeteries, and homes. In Michoacán, it's also wild orchid season, and those pale purple blooms are also used to decorate ofrendas and graves.

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 those 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.

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2 de November de 2013
Flaneur Part Three: In and Out and About in Mexico City

Floripondio (datura brugmansia) blooming in the garden at the Casa Museo Frida Kahlo in Coyoacán, in the south of Mexico City. This lovely, easy-to-grow flowering plant, often called angel's trumpet in the English-speaking world, is a fragrant and hypnotic seductress with strong medicinal properties. But be careful: every part of the plant is poisonous, especially the seeds and leaves. It's also known as Jimson weed. Insomnia sufferers note: it's said that you can pluck one leaf, put it under your pillow at bedtime, and be assured of a good night's sleep. Just don't make a salad with it.

MUCHO (Mundo Chocolate) is one of Mexico City's newest museums–and it's all about chocolate! Located in a 100-year-old house in central Colonia Juárez (at the corner of Calle Milán and Calle Roma), the museum offers a truly fascinating voyage through the history of chocolate in Mexico. After all, chocolate originated here, and how wonderful to taste its glory throughout history. The museum offers tours, workshops, and talks, all given surrounded by the heady scent of chocolate. And don't miss the gift shop!

Huitlacoche (foreground), sometimes known in English as corn smut, is revered and sought-after in Mexico but is barely recognized as food in other parts of the world. The magnificent fresh fungus is available in Mexico City's indoor and outdoor markets.

Meet Agustín Yáñez–not the noted writer and politician, but the noted merengue (meringue) maker and vendor. Sr. Yáñez frequents Mexico City's Mercado de Jamaica, where he sells his home-made treats. His recipes have been handed down for decades in his family. On the left are basic merengues, in the center are merengues con chochitos (colored sprinkles) in little cups, and on the right are duquesas, merengue wrapped in buñuelos. The secret ingredient of Sr. Yáñez's merengues mexicanos? A little pulque, added to the stiffly beaten egg white and sugar mixture before baking. These are prepared fresh every day, and are simply delicious!

Just a week after we experienced EXPOCAN (the dog show from the October 12, 2013 Mexico Cooks! article), we had to go to EXPO-GATO, Mexico City's latest TICA cat show. EXPOCAN was pure canine chaos, compared to the relative peace and quiet of the much smaller EXPO-GATO. This gorgeous kitty is a straight-ear Scottish Fold, exhibited by Avana.

Mexico Cooks! prepared deviled eggs for a very special birthday party at home. For a major celebration, no ordinary eggs would do: these are deviled quail eggs, each half measuring less than an inch long. The 12" platter held about 36 halves. Judy (my wife, the birthday girl) said, "You could have prepared an entire Thanksgiving dinner in the time it took to take the shells off those tiny eggs!" Cue music–'what I did for love…'.

The view from the 51st floor of the Torre Mayor on Avenida Reforma. The Torre Mayor is Mexico City's tallest building. Mexico Cooks!, invited to a special event at Club 51, took advantage of the twilight to take this photo of rainy Mexico City.

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26 de October de 2013
Going to the Dogs in Mexico City: EXPOCAN Internacional 2013

And now for something completely different! There's only one reference to food in this article–see if you can find it.

This jolly wire-haired terrier is Thor, a mere boy of nine months. Like many of the dogs in Mexico Cooks!' dog show photos, he was just visiting EXPOCAN Internacional 2013 to see the canine stars–but as you can see, he had his own moment on the alfombra roja (red carpet). He certainly got my vote for Sr. Congeniality.

Several weeks ago, a friend from Jalisco emailed Mexico Cooks! to say that he would be in town for the 10-day edition of EXPOCAN Internacional 2013, the all-breed dog show taking place at Mexico City's World Trade Center. EXPOCAN Internacional is held annually under the auspices of the Federación Canofila Mexicana (Mexican Dog Fanciers' Federation). It's been a very long time indeed since Mexico Cooks! has been to a dog show, and my beloved wife had never been–so we were going to the dogs for sure!

Meet Kendra, a 3-year-old Newfoundland dog. Kendra was just hanging around at her breeder's booth the day we were at EXPOCAN.

When you think about a dog show, you might well think about the Westminster Kennel Club show, held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. It's televised every year and beamed into a lot of living rooms all over the world, so you get to see the sanitized version: no indecorous smells, no noise other than polite applause for the winners, no milling crowds, and certainly no indelicate piles of anything to step over.

From the comfort of their Florida Keys home, my wife Judy's son, Bradley Bennett, and his best buddy Rex are mesmerized by the canine goings-on as televised by the Westminster Kennel Club dog show.

The EXPOCAN assailed our senses from the moment we stepped through the World Trade Center's front door: lots–really lots!–of noise, lots of non-show dogs, and a huge number of show attendees. Our friend was right there to great us, in his doggy element and eager to take us to see the dogs like his: American Staffordshire Bull Terriers, almost ready to head into the show ring for judging.

American Staffordshire Bull Terriers are judged in two classes, white and colored. This all-white fellow looks tough, but he was a very sweet guy.

Our friend's bull terrier, Rafi (who stayed home and missed the show), is more colorful. He's two and a half years old. The breed, which originated in mid-19th century England, fought bulls and hunted rats in those early days. Today, they are primarily companion dogs.

Four years old, Grizzly the Pomeranian would easily fit in a purse, or even a pocket. His Mexican owners laughed when they told me his name was, "Grizzly, como el oso!" (Grizzly, like the bear!). He looked more like a tiny powderpuff than a grizzly!

Judge Elaine Young, of Seattle, Washington, inspected this Xoloitzcuintli (pronounced shoh-loh-eets-QUEEN-tleh)–the dog most English-speakers know as the Mexican hairless. Often called simply the Xolo, the breed comes in three sizes: toy, miniature, and standard, and two varieties (hairless and coated). There were examples of each size entered in the show, and many Xolos and their owners in the audience.

A standard male Xoloitzcuintli: Chanok, age three.

One of the world's oldest and rarest breeds, the Xolo can justly be called the first dog of the Americas. Archaeological evidence indicates that Xolos accompanied man on his first migrations across the Bering Straits. Their name is derived from the name of the Aztec Indian god Xolotl and Itzcuintli, the Aztec word for dog. With a reputation as a healer, the breed and its warm skin is often put to use in remote Mexican and Central American villages to ward off and cure ailments like rheumatism, asthma, toothache and insomnia. Xolos were also believed to safeguard the home from evil spirits and intruders. (Courtesy American Kennel Club). In addition, the ancient Maya used the Xolo for warmth and food. Today, the dog is valued for protection and for companionship.

Everybody has to be groomed to a fare-thee-well before going into the show ring. These wire-haired terriers are primped to within an inch of their lives.

Who remembers The Thin Man movies from the 1940s? Those movies made the wire-haired terrier, Asta, a household word and brought the breed to prominence. Here he is with Nick and Nora Charles (William Powell and Myrna Loy), the human stars of the films.

Lucky, the English bulldog: he's just a big baby at 16 months old. A mature English bulldog male will generally weigh in at a hefty 50 pounds.

Ribbons for the winners! These were on the judges' table during the EXPOCAN Internacional 2013 American Staffordshire Bull Terrier judging.

We had quite an exciting time at EXPOCAN Internacional 2013. It's always fun for us to do something totally out of the ordinary, and this definitely fit the definition!

And by the way–did you find the reference to food? This is, after all, Mexico Cooks!.

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19 de October de 2013